9. 11. 2023 | PR, Regional cooperation, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe
On November 7th, we began the first three-week mentorship visits under the auspices of the project ‘Post-conflict reconstruction in Ukraine’ at the municipality of Domžale.
The ‘Post-conflict reconstruction in Ukraine’ project is funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs through the Slovenian Aid and Partnerships and implemented in partnership with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’ and aims to provide targeted transfer of knowledge and experience on the part of Slovenian municipalities and build the institutional capacities of Ukrainian municipalities, as well as establish arrangements for fostering cross-border partnerships between Slovenian and Ukrainian municipalities.
The first mentorship is taking place in the Slovenian municipality Domžale, which currently hosts two mentees from the Ukrainian municipality Hnivan. The programme of the mentorship is rich, encapsulating the needs mentioned by the Hnivan municipality (strengthening civil protection service at the municipality) as well as addressing topics crucial for further development of the municipality, such as project management, project writing and topics related to EU enlargement process on the local level. The municipality of Domžale, with its rich experience in civil protection, offers great knowledge not only through the presentation of good practices but also through site visits of stakeholders involved in the civil protection system of the municipality. Another expressed interest of Hnivan municipality was the waste management system of municipality Domžale, so the first site visit of the mentorship focused on the work of the central wastewater treatment plant Domžale-Kamnik, the history of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, funding of the construction, as well as the upgrade of the plant, pointing out all the advantages for the people, region and environment.
In the next weeks, representatives of Hnivan hromada will learn more about project planning, preparation and management, project funding, civil protection and emergency preparedness and resilience building through interactive workshops and site visits.
Photos of the visit can be seen below:
The ‘Post-conflict reconstruction in Ukraine’ project is funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs through the Slovenian Aid and Partnerships and implemented in partnership with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’. U-LEAD with Europe programme is a partnership of the Ukrainian government and the European Union, and its member states Germany, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Estonia and Slovenia to support the establishment of multi-level governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine.
3. 11. 2023 | PR, Regional cooperation, Strategic Communication, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Novica v slovenščini je dostopna TUKAJ.
Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in the Western Balkans spent the last week on the road, visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
The tailor-made program for Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered some twenty participants from different sectors of the country discussions on the most relevant issues for Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to countering foreign perpetrated disinformation: how to define and regulate such phenomenon, how to address it in a country that has a complex state structure, what role it will play in the EU accession process, and what are the pitfalls of current business models of media and NGOs. In addition, an expert from the Finnish Mediapooli led a workshop on Countering Disinformation through a Strategic Risk Approach to Media Landscape, which sparked interesting exchanges and a lively debate among participants.
In Serbia, the project held a highly productive working meeting with some key actors in the field of countering disinformation, who had the opportunity to learn about the good practice examples of Estonia and Finland, as well as to hear about the new developments, initiatives and expectations coming from the EU. The meeting was marked by a high-quality discussion between participants, which strengthened the existing and established new networks, that will invaluably contribute to further work of the project in Serbia.
In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the project held closed-door consultations with the representatives of the Council of Ministers and the Government Ministries, respectively. The purpose of these consultations was both to present the objectives and the way forward for the project and to gain insight and feedback on the implementation of the whole-of-government approach in countering foreign perpetrated disinformation.
The project will continue to work with both countries as well as with the rest of the Western Balkan region in the coming months, and looks forward to the remaining visits to Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
26. 10. 2023 | Decentralisation, local self-government, PR, Regional cooperation, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe
At the 12th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region held under the Slovenian Presidency, CEP’s Executive Director, Ms Nina Čepon, contributed to the panel discussion titled ”Bottom-up recovery and transformation of Ukraine–Supporting Ukraine and Moldova on their way to the EU” on the 24th of October.
She shed light on CEP’s impactful collaboration with Ukrainian municipalities, a process initiated back in 2018 under the scope of the Programme ‘U-LEAD with Europe’ implemented by the German organization GIZ in Ukraine. The dedication to enhancing Ukrainian municipalities continues through our ongoing development project titled ‘Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Ukraine’ funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and implemented in partnership with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’.
This project remains committed to transferring knowledge tailored to specific needs and providing sustainable assistance to Ukrainian municipalities as they advance in their development, modernization and contribute to the Ukrainian path toward EU membership while dealing with the everyday challenges of wartime. Activities are focusing on topics such as green transition, civil protection and resilience, economic development, anti-corruption and transparency in local governance, and deliver an important skillset to raise their absorption capacities in terms of donor engagement, namely those of efficient planning, project appraisal and obtainment of external funding.
Čepon emphasised that Ukrainian municipalities are set to play a pivotal role in post-conflict reconstruction and development in Ukraine as they are forward-looking, and they strive toward economic development and other objectives despite being faced with their complex everyday circumstances at this time. Slovenia’s wealth of experience in modernization and the EU accession process promises to bring significant, concrete value.
13. 10. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is continuing its in-country visits to the Western Balkans, with back-to-back visits to Sarajevo and Belgrade, on 24 and 27 October, respectively.
Joined by international and local experts and practitioners, we will discuss country-specific challenges and priorities in countering foreign-perpetrated disinformation. The program for each visit will take into account the inputs of national working groups from our regional capacity-building conference in Portoroz earlier this year, as well as consider new developments in the joint EU and Euro-Atlantic efforts to counter the threat of foreign-perpetrated disinformation.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will thus look at the example of Belgium to discuss the issues of establishing effective defence mechanisms in a complex state structure. Moreover, we will talk about the money and financing aspects in both the proliferation, and in countering disinformation.
In Serbia, we will look at best practices of national systems of countering disinformation, as can be found in Estonia or Finland. In addition to national efforts, we will also consider the potential benefits of multilateral cooperation in this field.
The events are open to representatives of government, media, civil society, academia, the international community and all other interested members of the public.
If you would like to join, you can register your attendance at the following links:
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
5. 10. 2023 | POTC, PR
Kliknite tukaj za branje članka v slovenskem jeziku.
The Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC), operating within the Centre for European Perspective, last week held Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT). The intense training took place between 24 and 29 September 2023 at Gotenica Police Training Centre.
The so-called HEATs are well-established trainings organised worldwide by different non-profit and for-profit organisations. For more than 10 years CEP, and now POTC, in close cooperation with Slovenian Police and Slovenian Armed Forces, has been the only provider of HEAT in Slovenia.
The general aim of HEAT is to train individuals to deal effectively with risk-associated and emergency/critical situations while deployed in hostile environments abroad. The latest training was attended by 24 participants; 19 from Slovenia (participants were mostly referred by the three partner institutions: Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and Ministry of Interior of Slovenia) and five participants from abroad. Participants attending either already work in hostile environments or plan to apply for positions that require a certificate of HEAT attendance, such as positions in peacekeeping missions and operations.
The training was a mix of interactive lectures that covered a wide range of topics, among others: how to provide for your own personal security (what is in your grab bag?), how to plan movements and what to do at (il)legal checkpoints (just follow the rules), about radio communication and orientation (GPS does not always work), movement during mass gatherings (don’t panic), surviving kidnap situations (cooperate and gather information), stress management (don’t forget to breathe), improvised explosive devices (if you do not know it, do not touch it!) and basic life support (slow is smooth and smooth is fast).
During the course of training the participants were surprised by a couple of unexpected situations that required their specific reaction. The training culminated in a day-long simulation exercise during which the participants were faced with many stressful situations that required appropriate responses.
We wish all our participants the best of luck in their hostile environments, hopefully, they will never need to apply the knowledge and skills gained at HEAT. To quote one of our lecturers (who quoted Seneca) “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
