28. 8. 2018 | Development (ODA), European Digital Diplomacy Exchange, PR
The Centre for European Perspective, together with the U. S. Department of State, is organizing another special event in the scope of the project“Enhancing Digital Diplomacy Activities in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe”. All activities will take place in two locations, our state capital Ljubljana and Bled, between September 9th and September 12th. The four day event will bring together participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Ukraine, as well as leading experts in the field of Digital Diplomacy from the U.S. Department of State, academia, private sector and media.
The initiative continues to serve as the hub for education and sharing of best practices in the field of Digital Diplomacy. After two trainings, organized in autumn 2017 and spring 2018, this event will focus on combining all the past and current ideas, knowledge and motivation to build a strong network for the project. It will be up to the old and new participants to BRIDGE different challenges in the field, and contribute to a fruitful program in the future.
The event is also special in two ways, as its activities are included in the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) and the Young Bled Strategic Forum (YBSF). Experts in the field of Digital Diplomacy will work side by side with the participants of the YBSF assisting them to properly deliver their messages to the target audience. Our project is moving to Bled for the last two days, where the participants will have an opportunity to join some interesting discussions, at one of the biggest international interdisciplinary conferences in Slovenia. Don´t miss our panel discussion titled Digital Bridge: Transformation for Institutional Resilience taking place on Tuesday. Our speakers and programme will remain a secret for now, but follow us on our social media to discover all about it in the next weeks.
24. 8. 2018 | BIH - Entrepreneurs, Development (ODA), PR, Start:up Balkan
The founder of the winning start-up of the Start:up Balkan programme Meerkiddo from Bosnia and Herzegovina will at the beginning of September travel to London and visit a global start-up hub. With the 5-day visit of the winning start-up to the global capital and financial centre, the Start:up Balkan programme will conclude its this year’s activities.
A special networking and business boosting programme supported by the British Startup Manufactory company includes several activities from visit to Google Campus and different entrepreneurial meetups to appointments with representatives of some tech start-ups and few entrepreneurship trainings on recent business topics.
Different opportunities and challenges on the British and Irish markets and business support prospects are foreseen topics for the discussion with the representatives of British government’s Department of international trade and Slovenian Embassy in London.
Meerkiddo is one of the over 30 start-ups from the Western Balkan region that were presented on start-up conference in Maribor and were selected as the most perspective through the Start:up Balkan tour. Meerkiddo created a parental control app that helps parents supervise their children using a mobile phone.
Start:up Balkan tour was a part of the Start:up Balkan programme that was conducted in February 2018 through all Western Balkans capitals. In each capital an event was organized with renowned international speakers and guests to support local young entrepreneurs and encourage them to be even better. The main objective of these events was to give local start-ups a chance for a three-minute pitch that was followed by a feedback delivered by experts and potential investors. The best start-ups from each capital were in May 2018 invited to the PODIM conference in Maribor and to take part in the PODIM Challenge pitching competition.
Three wining start-ups of the PODIM Challenge, were awarded with all-inclusive tailor-made programme in London that will take place from the 3rd to the 7th September 2017.
Start:up Balkan was program in the framework of the project ‘Establishing an Integrated Start-up Ecosystem in the Western Balkans’ powered by CEP and PODIM and supported by the BritishEmbassy in Ljubljana.
23. 8. 2018 | Bled Strategic Forum, Danube, PR, Youth
As Priority area 10 of the EUSDR is focusing on Institutional Capacity and Cooperation we aim to include young professionals in the policy processes that are defining not only youth policies but tackle the major societal challenges. Institutions need to be able and ready to work with various groups of the society, as most of their work is dedicated back to its citizens.
We have decided to take the opportunity of the Young Bled Strategic Forum that is an integral part of the annual Bled Strategic Forum, a leading conference in Central and South East Europe focused on discussing and seeking solutions to pressing regional and global issues, organised jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the Centre for European Perspective.
Special emphasis at the Forum will be given to cross-regional cooperation. A new generation of leaders will demonstrate that such cooperation is not only necessary, but inevitable for positive next steps in democratisation, fighting corruption, terrorism and climate change, and fostering social, economic, and cross-cultural sustainable development. To do this, young leaders have to learn from their peers from different regions, sharing their knowledge, ideas and know-how. Sustainable regional cooperation programmes are the key to a comprehensive, inclusive, and innovative approach that engages youth.
The Young BSF 2018 will host young leaders that will discuss Sustainable Security: The Role of Youth in Bridging the Divides. A ‘sustainable security’ approach prioritises the resolution of the interconnected underlying drivers of insecurity and conflict, with an emphasis on preventive rather than reactive strategies. The central premise of the sustainable security approach is that we cannot control all the consequences of insecurity successfully, but have to work to deal with the root causes of instability.
We have encouraged young leaders from Danube region between 18 and 35 years to participate through the public call. They needed to list their experiences, most pressing issues in their countries and proposed solutions that would have wider impact. The YBSF team selected 30 young professionals from 12 Danube countries that will join workshops, debates, round tables and study visits in Ljubljana and Bled, Slovenia, from 7 – 10 September. They have various backgrounds and working experiences – some are students or working at the Universities, some working for non-governmental institutions, international organizations, city administrations, there are as well entrepreneurs among them.
Discussions will than continue at Bled Strategic Forum will be held from 10 – 11 September and will bring together experts, practitioners and politicians who will tackle the hot topics of the world, joined together under title Bridging the divide. There are particularly three panels that will address challenges related to the action of the Priority area 10 and its targets within the Action plan for the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube region:
Digital Bridge: Transformation for Institutional Resilience
Digitalisation is a modern imperative. Institutions find themselves in a fast-paced and evolving environment in which rapid changes in communications media and power dynamics have significant effect on the role and voice of governments, business, media, and civil society organisations. In order to remain resilient and pliant while further serving the best interests of society, institutions must embrace on the digital future and transform and transcend traditional ways of operating. They must form the bridge.
Bridging the Trust Divide between People and Institutions
Levels of trust in institutions vary across time and cultures. The 2018 Edelman TRUST BAROMETER, measuring trust across a number of institutions, sectors and geographies, reveals a world of seemingly stagnant distrust in business, government, NGOs and the media. However, trust in institutions is one of the most critical elements of healthy societies, as it matters for their legitimacy, well-being and, ultimately, stability. This participatory panel will seek to discuss the root causes of people’s declining trust in well-established and alternative institutions and share experiences of how this challenge is addressed in various regions and at different levels.
Western Balkans: Lost Years or New Hope?
The EU enlargement process has always been a political process. Despite the technical benchmarks, monitoring missions, evaluations and progress reports, it took only one sentence from the President of the European Commission five years ago to raise doubt and fear about belief in the enlargement policy and the Western Balkans. After several years of uncertainty, it again took only one sentence from the same President to revive hope and enthusiasm in the region, which in the past was much more concerned about having a positive external appearance than internal reforms. This hope was translated into concrete language with a new strategy on enlargement; new tasks have been divided among the countries of the region, and uncertainty has been replaced by actual dates for enlargement.
All expert discussions are designed in interesting formats, host excellent guests and are enriched with inspiring moderators. However, many times participants (more than 1100 yearly) put rich networking opportunities into the spotlight of the reasons to come to Bled. It is an excellent opportunity for seeking fresh opportunities, starting new partnerships and exchange of ideas between political and business leaders.
Check some interesting impressions at Bled Strategic Forum YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/bledstrategicforum
More details on the topics discussed are available at Young Bled Strategic Forum and on Bled Strategic Forum website.
16. 8. 2018 | LET4CAP, PR
LET4CAP is a project funded by the EU within the framework of the Internal Security Fund with the objective to foster a process of harmonization of training for Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) toperform capacity building tasks in third countries and to create a common Law Enforcement capacity building culture founded on EU fundamental values.
The Project is implemented by a consortium that includes two law enforcement agencies (the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units of the Italian Carabinieri and the Polish Police), two centres of excellence in research and training, namely the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy) and the Centre for European Perspective (Slovenia) and one Italian governmental agency specialised in project management of EU funds (Studiare Sviluppo).
The training programme is based upon a preliminary desk research ,,good practices and lessons learnt in the field of the existing law enforcement capacity building . All training materials will be consolidated after the four training courses in e-learning tools disseminated via institutional channels and the project website. More info on the project is available at: http://www.let4cap.eu/
Its training activities aim at developing a more consistent and efficient assistance in lawenforcement capacity building to third countries. The envisaged result of the training course and training tools is to support the LEOs personnel engaged in international activities, especially in crisis areas, to:
– comprehensively understand their capacity building role and function and how best to use their position to contribute to fulfilling the mission mandate/project goal (increased efficiency)
– display a high standard of skills in their relevant functional areas grounded on a common law enforcement capacity building culture founded on EU fundamental values (increased consistency)
In this endeavor, four training courses will be offered, based on the curriculum developed within the project. One training already took place in Vicenza (IT) in July 2018. The following courses will be organized in:
→ T2: Slupsk (Poland) 8th -12th October, 2018
→ T3: Vicenza (Italy) 26th – 30th November, 2018
→ T4: Vicenza (Italy) 21st – 25th January, 2019
Course target training audience:
LEOs from EU member States of all ranks, from police officers to border guards and customs officers, as well as, where appropriate, other state officials (such as prosecutors) called to perform law enforcement capacity building tasks in third countries and trainers of national Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).
Priority course admission is based on the following criteria: nomination by EC Institutions, International Organisations, EU member States LEAs or other relevant institutions; proven employment/nomination /selection/deployment to a CSDP mission or an EU Delegation, or programme/agency related to law enforcement capacity building; gender balance; balance of nationalities; balance of international/national staff; professional background related to the course topic. Each course will accommodate a maximum of 25-28 participants.
Course learning outcomes:
After completion of the 5-day LET4CAP Training, participants should be able to:
– Review EU tools for law enforcement capacity building in third countries; – Understand key aspects of the capacity building and development in a reform environment; – Be able to conduct local capacity assessments to determine promising and sustainable knowledge transfer approaches; – Design and develop strategies on how to build a working relationship with the local counterparts and how to cope with resistance from them; – Work with local communities to design and implement programs; – Manage challenges raised by political, social and cultural differences; – Recognize the role knowledge transfer processes play in fulfilling the overall mission mandate/programme objective and how to support the evaluation process of the mission/programme.
Services provided during the training
The LET4CAP project will cover the following costs for individuals attending the training:
– Return flight from the country of residence to the training location (economy fare);
– Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee breaks);
– Accommodation with Wi-Fi connection;
– Transportation services from/to the arrival airport/station to training centre (if not covered by public transportation). A social event will be also offered during the course.
In Slupsk, the accommodation will be provided in the oldest Polish police school dating back to 1945 (please see also http://www.slupsk.szkolapolicji.gov.pl/). The school offers accommodation rooms and high level training facilities (media enabled classrooms; dedicated Wi-Fi connection; sports hall, shooting range and simulation rooms used for rehearsals of police interventions) and medical assistance point.
In Vicenza, the accommodation will be within the CARABINIERI Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) Compound (please see also www.coespu.org), i.e. a training center and a doctrinal hub & think tank, which offers accommodation rooms and high level training facilities (media enabled classrooms; shooting range; simulation room; dedicated Wi-Fi connection and internet point; gym, places of worship; barber, laundry and medical assistance point).
The applications are accepted for the second course edition, to be held in Slupsk (Poland) from 8th to 12th October 2018. The application can be sent to the following email address: [email protected] and copies to [email protected] please mention
“Application LET4CAP training” in the email Ref.
Deadline for application is 5th September
Access the registration form here
The Consortium will select up to 28 participants in compliance with the above-mentioned criteria (see§ 2.): In case of over-representation of one specific category of participants, the consortium reserves the right to put the registration on hold. Participants put on the reserve list for the first course will be asked whether they want to opt for attending one of the following course editions. Participants who have duly filled in the registration form and have been admitted to the course will be contacted by the organising agency (Studiare Sviluppo) for logistics and organisational arrangements
