MULTIFUNCTIONAL CENTER NORTH MITROVICA – CIVIC ENERGY CENTER (CEC)

Partners and Supporters:

Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS)

Project description:

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.

Project objectives:

·         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

·         TV Show “Sporazum”

TV Show "Sporazum" is a political talk show which was created with the aim to inform people and open debates on important political questions and challenges facing Kosovo. The idea of this TV Show is to initiate discussion on burning political issues of Kosovo not only on local, but also on regional level, thus to affect citizen perceptions on these matters in Kosovo, Serbia and further. Moreover, it gives the unique opportunity to ordinary people living in Kosovo to be heard and to directly pose some questions to members of high political elite sitting in our TV studio. Finally, "Sporazum" is broadcast twice a month and the concept of this project was created in coordination with our project partners (KFOS, Foundation Dokukino and TV Mreža).

·         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).

·         Point One

Point One (.1) is a Platform for qualitative research of public opinion and statistical analysis of data. The purpose of the project is to establish and empower a trained group of analysts who will be capable of providing statistical analysis of data acquired through qualitative and quantitative research as well as present data in an effective and interesting manner using GIS-based softwares. Comprehensive trainings in these areas would greatly benefit the CSOs aiming to profile themselves as think tanks since they would become independent from commercial research companies who are usually hired to do the analysis of collected data. Building the research and analytical capacities of CSOs will lead to publication of a greater number of reports on the problems of communities and with the inputs from the members of those communities, which, in turn will provide enough material for fact-based advocacy campaigns. Such an approach will ensure the level of citizen-participation required for the sustainability of the proposed solutions and support the democratic processes in the communities in general.

NGO AKTIV Mitrovica

NGO AKTIV Priština

NGO AKTIV Beograd