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2010-07-08
Open Society Institute;
Presents Bosnians' views of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in terms of ethnic cleansing victims' justice; achievements, failures, and performance; truth and acknowledgment of crimes; and impact on local courts' prosecutions.
2012-06-01
Open Society Foundations;
The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.Both media organizations and the organization of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been profoundly affected by ethnocentrism, political clientelism, the withdrawal of international donors, and the financial crisis. As a result, the country's march towards digitization has been protracted and uneven.Nevertheless, there have been recent signs of progress, with the installation of digital transmitters developing apace in 2012. Advances in the rest of Europe have put pressure on authorities to get their act together and the new deadline of 2014 for analog television switch-off may yet be achievable.This report proposes a series of compelling policy recommendations aimed at catalyzing the digitization process, improving the function of public service broadcasting, and enhancing the stability and independence of both media markets and the regulatory institutions that oversee them. These include a call for new legislation on media ownership; ensuring efficient work of the Digital Terrestrial Television Forum with a view to expediting switch-over; a new system of funding for the Press Council; a range of measures to protect the autonomy of the Communications Regulatory Agency; and greater coordination between public broadcasters and adherence to their mandates.
2012-02-01
Open Society Foundations;
Young children with disabilities frequently face stigmatization; they are more prone to exclusion, abandonment and institutionalisation—often leaving their developmental needs unmet. Equally, the parents of children with disabilities can face isolation and poverty as they attempt to negotiate adequate services for their children to enable them to reach their potential.Segregated special education kindergartens and schools, although often focussed on meeting children's needs, can in fact exacerbate children's isolation in society. The Early Childhood Program at Open Society Foundations strongly advocates for inclusive access to education and children's services as outlined in the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Recognising parents as experts on the barriers to full inclusion that their children face, the Early Childhood Program believes that family involvement is paramount in promoting inclusive practices. This report on the attitudes and actions of parents of children with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, researched by the Open University with support from the Open Society Foundations, highlights the importance of parent's organisations as a resource and support network for children and parents alike. It also emphasises the potential of parents groups to become powerful advocates for inclusive education.
2019-05-01
Women for Women International;
Since 1993, Women for Women International has served more than 479,000 marginalised women affected by conflict. Through our yearlong programme marginalised women are supported to: earn and save money; influence decisions; improve their well-being; and connect to networks for support. We see promising results in our monitoring and evaluation efforts.Based on our evidence and complemented by global studies, we highlight four key, interlinked components that are necessary for effectively supporting women's economic empowerment in conflict:1. Work with men to address discriminatory gender norms. All members of society suffer from patriarchal attitudes and have a role to play in promoting gender equality – these are not just "women's issues".2. Holistic and integrated programming. Women's needs and experiences in conflict are complex and interlinked. Solely economic interventions alone have not proven to yield long-term benefits.3. Build women's economic knowledge and skills. This is vital to supporting them to build agency and influence decisions, increase their income and increase their resilience to economic shocks.4. Informal and formal support networks. In the absence of government and financial services, networks are key to supporting women to access financial support, particularly for savings and income.In conclusion, this paper makes five recommendations for international governments and donors to effectively deliver on international commitments and support marginalised women's economic empowerment in conflict-affected contexts:1. Urgently increase funding for women's rights organisations.2. Support economic empowerment programmes that include men in their programme design.3. Target the most marginalised women.4. Support holistic and integrated programming.5. Listen to the needs of marginalised women and actively include them in the design, implementation and review of economic empowerment programmes.
2018-05-04
Foundation Center;
Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for Civil Society Organization (CSOs) around the world. Although a variety of toolkits and research papers exist examining specific sustainability strategies , many CSOs continue to struggle to develop and maintain the resources needed to carry out their missions. The Facilitating Financial Sustainability (FFS) activity was launched in 2017 to develop and test ways that different actors (including donors, policymakers, intermediary organizations, and CSOs themselves) can work together to improve the factors that drive financial sustainability for local organizations in different developing world contexts. This paper synthesizes the findings from the analyses of both funders and CSOs. This represents one part of the three-part FFS research series, and is best considered alongside the other papers in the series to give a holistic perspective on CSO financial sustainability: "Understanding the Drivers of CSO Financial Sustianabiltiy", which includes an analysis of specific factor combinations that support CSO sustainability in different contexts, and "Funder Approaches to Financial Sustainability", which provides an overview of the funding landscape for CSO financial sustainability int he six countries included in the study.
2018-05-04
Foundation Center;
Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for Civil Society Organization (CSOs) around the world. Although a variety of toolkits and research papers exist examining specific sustainability strategies , many CSOs continue to struggle to develop and maintain the resources needed to carry out their missions. The Facilitating Financial Sustainability (FFS) activity was launched in 2017 to develop and test ways that different actors (including donors, policymakers, intermediary organizations, and CSOs themselves) can work together to improve the factors that drive financial sustainability for local organizations in different developing world contexts. This paper covers an analysis of the drivers of CSO sustainability based on interviews with CSO representatives. This represents one part of the three-part FFS research series, and is best considered alongside the other papers in the series to give a holistic perspective on CSO financial sustainability: "Funder Approaches to Facilitating CSO Financial Sustainability", which provides an overview of the funding landscape for financial sustainability in the six countries included in the study, and "Facilitating Financial Sustainability: Synthesis Report", which brings together the key findings from both other papers in the series.
2018-05-30
Foundation Center;
Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for civil society organizations (CSOs) around the world. Although a variety of toolkits and research papers exist examining specific sustainability strategies, many CSOs continue to struggle to develop and maintain the resources they need to carry out their missions. This constraint limits organizational autonomy by inhibiting long-term planning and flexibility in designing and implementing activities. Financial sustainability is also a key piece of the puzzle to empower local organizations to take greater ownership of the development process, as a robust resource base provides the resilience needed for organizations to experiment with new models that reduce long-term donor dependence. This paper synthesizes the findings from the analyses of both funders and CSOs. This represents one part of the three-part FFS research series, and is best considered alongside the other two papers in the series to give a holistic perspective on CSO financial sustainability: Funder Approaches to CSO Sustainability, which includes a deep-dive analysis of the landscape of strategies used by funders interested in supporting sustainability, and Understanding Factors Driving CSO Financial Sustainability, which lays out the full findings from interviews with representatives from more than 30 CSOs.
2018-05-04
Foundation Center;
Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for Civil Society Organization (CSOs) around the world. Although a variety of toolkits and research papers exist examining specific sustainability strategies , many CSOs continue to struggle to develop and maintain the resources needed to carry out their missions. The Facilitating Financial Sustainability (FFS) activity was launched in 2017 to develop and test ways that different actors (including donors, policymakers, intermediary organizations, and CSOs themselves) can work together to improve the factors that drive financial sustainability for local organizations in different developing world contexts. This paper covers an analysis of funder strategies to support CSO financial sustainability. This represents one part of the three-part FFS research series, and is best considered alongside the other papers in the series to give a holistic perspective on CSO financial sustainability: "Understanding the Drivers of CSO Financial Sustainability", which includes an analysis of specific factor combinations that support CSO sustainability in different contexts, and "Facilitating Financial Sustainability: Synthesis Report", which brings together the key findings from the other two papers in the series.
2019-08-01
ERSTE Stiftung;
Presently, the culture of open discussion seems to be threatened in an increasing number of countries. In Central and Eastern Europe's (CEE's) democracies, recent political developments appear to jeopardize progresses made in the past. Against this background, this study aims at shedding light on the dynamics of CEE'scivil society and gives a brief overview of the status quo and recent developments that directly affect civil society. The study was conducted by the Competence Center for Nonprofit Organizations and Social Entrepreneurship at WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business), commissioned by and in collaboration with ERSTE foundation as well as with a group of country experts. The inclusion of expert assessments on civil society aims at giving a voice primarily to practitioners. Therefore, the study included an online survey in each participating country, addressing CSO representatives operating in various fields of activity.
2014-10-01
King Baudouin Foundation;
This paper was developed in the context of the Trafficking Victims Re/integration Programme (TVRP), which funds NGO's in several countries of Southeastern Europe. It is the fifth of a series that aim to shed light on good practices in the area of re/integration as well as on important lessons learned.This paper addresses the issue of the re/integration of trafficked children and youth, drawing on the first hand experiences of service providers in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia.Children and youth have become an increasing portion of persons being trafficked from and within the Balkan region. Some are exploited sexually, others are exploited for different forms of labour, including begging and street selling. This paper discusses each of the different services and types of support needed to meet the specific re/integration needs of trafficked children and youth in the light of international standards. It also looks into challenges facing service providers such as the identification of trafficked children, prosecution of perpetrators due to gaps in the criminal code as well as forster care.
2014-11-01
European Center for Not-for-Profit Law;
That study explores the operating environment for public-benefit foundations in the Western Balkans region. Examining the legal and tax framework for foundations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, it draws on data provided by local foundation law experts in each of the countries surveyed and presents a comparative analysis.
2014-02-13
Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy;
What makes the global spread of community philanthropy organizations so exciting is the variety of forms they take, adaptations to different local contexts, challenges, resources, and leaders. The core similarities matter -- all in some way help geographic communities mobilize financial and other kinds of capital for improvement of the lives of residents. But so do the differences. Some have endowments, some don't. Some are large, more are small. Some call themselves community foundations, others do not. This diversity is one sign of community philanthropy's flexibility, potential, and rising popularity.But it also presents a challenge to those who want to better understand and support community philanthropy, especially on a global level. A practice so varied, so organic and tied to local conditions, complicates classification, resists general conclusions, and calls for lots of learning through example. A movement relatively young and quickly evolving, with a limited body of applied research, requires ongoing documentation and study.The case studies presented here provide intriguing snapshots of locally driven development in communities across the globe.
