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Balkan Trust for Democracy Bulletin – Summer 2007 July 01, 2007

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

We at the Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) have just concluded our fourth year of grantmaking and policy work.  What began as a project with three original partners (the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation), has grown to include an additional seven donors from seven nations (the Greek government, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Sweden’s SIDA, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (U.S.), the Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy), the Robert Bosch Foundation (Germany), and the Tipping Point Foundation (Bulgaria).  These contributions have made BTD a true public-private and transatlantic partnership.  Now we are growing yet again: USAID Bulgaria is closing its programs and GMF/BTD has been selected to act as a legacy mechanism to bridge the gap between the end of USAID donor assistance and the availability of EU accession funds.

A hub to connect various stakeholders and policymakers within the Balkans and abroad, BTD continually works to raise awareness of the issues in the region.  BTD has hosted recent visits from senior staff from the Mott Foundation in their first visit to our office and a delegation of the board of trustees from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a group that was also making stops in Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo.  In the run-up to a decision on Kosovo and in view of future enlargement of the European Union, other visitors have shown their interest in the region and have paid a visit to BTD: CDU/CSU German Bundestag members on a fact-finding mission in the region; the European Commissioner for Consumers, Meglena Kuneva, who was also Bulgaria’s chief negotiator for EU accession; and representatives from the Ministry of Defense of Sweden.

Events abroad have also demonstrated interest in the future development of the Balkans.  Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt spoke on the challenges of Balkan enlargement at Brussels Forum in late April, and I participated in a panel on Kosovo’s future at the Institut Francais de Relations Internationales in Paris, which gathered an audience of approximately 50 French policymakers and academics.

Drawing political leaders and senior officials from Southeastern Europe, the EU, and the United States for off-the-record policy discussions in Athens, the Balkan Regional Roundtable on Ethnic Relations held its ninth high-level event on “The Balkans as a Source of Security and Stability in Europe.”

BTD staff members have also been working tirelessly to meet and connect stakeholders within the region with recent trips to Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania.

An external evaluation of the four years of BTD’s operations is currently underway, which will result in a comprehensive report outlining our performance since inception.

And finally, we are pleased to announce our newest team member, Program Officer Jovan Jovanovic, who will cover Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo.

As we look forward to our fifth year of productive work, we offer you our best wishes for a happy summer,

 
Ivan Vejvoda
Executive Director

Discussing EU strategy on the Western Balkans

From April 15-16, GMF and the Brookings Institution co-hosted an international conference in Belgrade on “The Challenges of Stabilization and Reform in the Western Balkans: Assessing the EU's Strategy.”  The conference brought together regional stakeholders and members of the international community, including Michael Leigh, director general for enlargement at the European Commission, and Stefan Lehne, special advisor to Javier Solana.  In addition to regional-level discussions, panels tackled timely topics, including unfinished business in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the on-going process of finding a solution regarding the status of Kosovo, and Serbia’s course toward the European Union.

Belgrade welcomes third group of American Marshall Memorial Fellows

BTD hosted five American Marshall Memorial Fellows (AMMFs) from March 23-28.  The program introduces young leaders from a myriad of professions to people, ideas, and realities from the other side of the Atlantic.  Belgrade was one stop on the American fellows’ month-long tour of Europe, which included other cities such as Paris, Lisbon, Athens, Brussels, Warsaw, and Bucharest.  In Belgrade the fellows visited the country’s leader in election monitoring and analysis, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), where prospects of the formation of a coalition government were discussed; and civil society leader, Civic Initiatives, where discussions focused on the sector’s impact on policy formation.  They also participated in a roundtable on Kosovo’s status, moderated by Chad Rogers, the National Democratic Institute’s Executive Director in Kosovo, during which they learned about the complex situation from various stakeholders.  A highlight of the trip was a visit to Smederevo, the site of the largest foreign employer of local workers, U.S. Steel, where the fellows toured the facilities and learned first-hand about the benefits of foreign involvement in socio-economic development, as well as the benefits of cooperation.

Meanwhile the selection process of six new European fellows from the Balkans is already underway, with final interviews of candidates set to occur in early September.

Vejvoda awarded Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity
 
On July 5, the Italian government decorated Ivan Vejvoda, executive director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, with the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, second rank (Comendatore) at the Italian Embassy in Belgrade. Vejvoda was recognized for enhancing Italian-Serbian bilateral relations, his contribution to the democratization and Euroatlantic integration processes in Serbia and the Balkans, and for his roles as foreign policy adviser to former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and as executive director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy. Read more...

Four private European foundations form initiative to bring the Western Balkans closer to Europe

The European Fund for the Balkans (EFB), a sister initiative of BTD, is a new collaborative project of several European foundations including the Robert Bosch Foundation, the King Baudouin Foundation, the Compagnia di San Paolo, and the Die ERSTE österreichische Sparkasse Privatstiftung.  Based on the findings of the International Commission on the Balkans, EFB will undertake and support initiatives to bring the Western Balkan countries closer to the European Union. It will also serve to engage European foundations more actively in Southeastern Europe, engaging those already active, but also those who until now have not worked in the region. The Fund will be both operational and grantmaking and will support initiatives in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, including Kosovo, that prepare the societies of the countries of this region for their future in the European Union.  EFB’s main activity will be providing fellowships in the area of European integration for young civil servants from these countries in order to prepare them for negotiations with the EU in their countries’ accession processes.

Bulgarian citizens discuss issues affecting Roma

A constructive Bulgarian national debate centered on issues affecting the country’s Roma population was held during the weekend of April 14-15 in Sofia.  Organized by the Centre for Liberal Strategies, supported by BTD, and profiled in the New York Times, this project utilized deliberative polling for the first time in Bulgaria, a trademarked process that uses public opinion research to allow public consultation to play a stronger role in the policy formulation process.  The life conditions and marginalization of Roma (10 percent of the country’s population; 80 percent of Roma are unemployed, and less than 5 percent of Roma children have access to secondary schooling) in Bulgarian society reflect the failure to create a more equitable and inclusive role for this minority.  To address this issue, a scientific sample of 255 citizens from across the country was polled before and after deliberation on three issues affecting Roma: housing, crime, and education.  After six hours of debate among participants, responses changed significantly. Only 21 percent agreed that “Roma should live in separate Roma neighborhoods,” compared with 43 percent before the discussions.

With Bulgaria having assumed the presidency of the international initiative “Roma Inclusion Decade,” and with support from the Bulgarian National Assembly and its president, Georgi Pirinski, this project is not only timely, but may contribute to more meaningful policy and serve as a positive case study for the region at large.

Macedonian government adopts all policy recommendations for recognition of foreign diplomas

Macedonia’s Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), although only three years old, has already become a recognized and respected research institute, enjoying multiple successes with policy changes implemented as a direct result of their work.  Recently, BTD-supported work on the issue of recognition of foreign diplomas succeeded in bringing about major national-level policy changes.  It is estimated that 10,000 exceptional graduates are adversely affected by the current diploma recognition process.  Graduates are often unable to gain employment because they await recognition of their foreign diplomas, the cost of which can run as high as 1,300 euro.  CRPM produced and distributed a policy paper, invigorated debate in the media, and advocated for policy change, including arranging meetings with policymakers and EU and U.S. embassy representatives.  As a result all policy recommendations proposed were adopted by the Macedonian government.  These included: defining a timeframe for a decision (either 8 days or 20 days, depending on the institution conferring the degree), drastically reducing the cost of the procedure, automatic recognition should a candidate receive no response within the designated timeframe, and bilateral agreements on recognition of foreign diplomas (agreements have been signed with Albania, Bulgaria, and Turkey). 

As the daily newspaper Vreme reported on April 10, “CRPM has demonstrated that Macedonia was the country with the slowest, most cumbersome, and expensive recognition procedure in Europe,” but now the Minister of Education has announced new policies designed “to shorten the recognition procedure, offset the brain-drain phenomenon, and enable young, educated people to come back to the country.”

Croatian civil society examines accomplishments and prepares for future

Approximately 150-200 representatives of Croatian civil society and those contributing to its development gathered June 13-15 in Zagreb to discuss the sector’s future sustainability at the conference “Civil Society in Croatia: Work in Progress.” The event marks this summer’s closure of the USAID-funded nongovernmental organization development program in Croatia, CroNGO, implemented for the last six of its nine years by the Academy for Educational Development (AED).  Plenary sessions focused on the three topics most important to the sector’s future: advocacy and legal environment, financial viability, and organizational development.   Practical experiences from Croatian NGOs were shared, while international practitioners, government offices, businesses, international donors, and other relevant stakeholders addressed issues of concern. Among those contributing were BTD staff members Ivan Vejvoda and Jovan Jovanovic.  As donors exit the country, cooperative efforts of civil society are necessary to ensure the sector’s sustainability.

Investing in young Moldovan political leaders

The Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) is an independent think tank advocating social and economic reforms in Moldova.  Their current project with BTD is a three-year initiative which provides political training to selected young leaders in preparation for the 2007 local and 2009 parliamentary elections.

As part of this project, a conference on the “Europeanization Agenda and Its Impact over Public Institutions in the Republic of Moldova” was held on April 27.  Participants had the opportunity to present the results of their research undertaken within the project and to practice their newly improved rhetoric skills. That was followed by lively debates with local and foreign experts, including Professor Dan Dungaciu from Bucharest University, who engaged participants in a debate about Moldova’s EU prospects and Brussels’ views on Eastern Europe and further enlargement.  Pavlina Filipova, program officer with the Balkan Trust for Democracy, participated on behalf of BTD.

The fellows’ comprehensive presentations and active participation in discussions and various analytical efforts demonstrated the participants’ thorough understanding of the political processes and their willingness to suggest and start implementing solutions.