Civic Energy Center (CEC) is a social center that supports civil initiatives and promotes a culture of open dialogue on relevant political issues and practices related to the Serbian community in Kosovo. The purpose of CEC in north Kosovo is to create a public space that will connect local civil society with leading, local decision makers. The Center gathers citizens, NGOs, CSOs, government representatives, media and activists together in order to facilitate open dialogue between them, and encourage them to participate in the fostering of a new social reality. The Center is a platform for public opinion to be heard. Its goal is to contribute to the development of democracy, a culture of open discussion and debate and the identification of shared solutions to current political, economical and social issues.

The founder of CEC is KFOS (Kosovo Foundation for Open Society) and its users are all non-governmental organizations in north Kosovo that will use it in order to promote democratic values and a culture of open dialogue. NGO “Aktiv” is charged with overseeing the day-to-day workings of the Center, as well as for the coordination of activities with civil sector in Kosovo and the surrounding region.

Project objectives: The overall objective of this project would be to contribute to democratic developments in the Kosovo North. This objective will be attained through opening of public spaces where citizens could be exposed to quality programs and where they could engage in open discussions with decision makers.

In order to achieve this, project seeks to establish first public/community civil center to serve as a focal point for open dialogue initiatives, aimed to enhance public participation of citizens and media participation in the local and national affairs.

Mitrovica Social Club

Mitrovica Social Club comprises of a series of debates which intend to provide a platform for inclusive discussion in order to contribute to a culture of open debate in North Mitrovica. The concept of Mitrovica Social Club was developed by AKTIV in 2014, and aims to create open-dialogue framework for citizens of northern Kosovo. The idea behind Mitrovica Social Club was to open Mitrovica to different ideas and perspectives and promote certain topics other than only political, which are of interest to Serbian community in Kosovo, particularly: economy, unemployment, environment, youth violence, religion, culture, but also, current issues from the international scene. The topics selected for this project reflect the needs of community which have been identified through AKTIV’s work in northern Kosovo over the last several years.

Advocacy platform “Empirica”

Practice of participation of Kosovo Serbs representatives at local and central level decision making circles insofar was very poor. Consensus on substantial and far-reaching participation of Kosovo Serbs in Kosovo political system was never reached. Under such circumstances, there were no accountability driven incentives of civil sector to engage in the process of monitoring and lobbying at central level of governance. However, recent political events and opening of the public spaces has, created a liability of civil sector to engage in lobbying and advocacy at policy level and monitoring of the work of local and central government. Advocacy platform envisaged through this program aims to create the framework for converged advocacy initiatives in northern Kosovo and further Kosovo Serb community. The platform will aim to gather CSOs, discuss the prime areas of interest of the Serbian community, develop proposals and policy recommendations and deliver them to decision makers at central and local level. and promote the researches, studies, policy papers and similar which offers empirical evidences for substantiation of existing local, national and regional policies of concern for Kosovo Serb community. Through creation of recognizable identity, lobbying and communication channels with Kosovo decision makers (both local and national level), and assurance of substantial visibility (media coverage), “Empirica” will sought to became a central advocacy platform for civil society organizations in northern Kosovo and wider, Kosovo level and region, on the matters of interests of Kosovo Serb community (minority rights, cultural heritage, rule of law, human rights etc.) and developmental initiatives (economic development, social equity, environmental initiatives, local democratic practices etc).