8. 9. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Za branje prispevka v slovenščini kliknite tukaj.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans has concluded its in-country visit to North Macedonia. On 5 September, members of the government, civil society, media and the international community in Skopje joined a half-day event dedicated to exploring the current activities and best practices in countering disinformation.
Representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Hybrid CoE and the Government of Estonia presented the theoretical and practical approaches to developing a national mechanism for countering disinformation, reflecting as well on the EU priorities, activities and support to the Western Balkans in that regard.
Speakers from North Macedonia, namely from the Citizens’ Association MOST and the Metamorphosis Foundation, tracked the current threat of disinformation in the country and the developments in terms of the joint, whole-of-society action to counter this threat, respectively.
The event saw a lively discussion and exchange among the participants, with great interest from the stakeholders in learning from the best practices of EU Member States and the EU as a whole.
In addition to the whole-of-society event, the Project also held consultations with government officials to trace the progress and discuss remaining challenges.
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.
8. 9. 2023 | POTC, PR
Click here to read this article in the English language.
Dne 13. septembra 2023 bo na Gradu Jable v Mengšu potekalo usposabljanje za uslužbence Ministrstva za obrambo in Slovenske vojske o nevarnostih trgovine z ljudmi v kontekstu mednarodnih mirovnih operacij in misij pred njihovim odhodom na le-te.
Problematika trgovine z ljudmi je kompleksna in zahteva združen pristop na nacionalni, regionalni in mednarodni ravni. Da bi se uspešno spopadli s to težavo, je ključno, da se vojaško in civilno osebje ustrezno usposobi.
V okviru tega boja deluje Medresorska delovna skupina za boj proti trgovini z ljudmi (MDS TZL), ki že dolga leta izvaja redna usposabljanja za strokovnjake s področja trgovine z ljudmi, med katerimi so policija, tožilstvo, centri za socialno delo, konzularno in diplomatsko osebje ter inšpektorji za delo. Vendar pa je za leto 2023-2024 sprejeta nova pobuda, ki vključuje tudi vojaško osebje.
Cilj usposabljanja je seznaniti udeležence z aktualnimi vsebinami s področja boja proti trgovini z ljudmi ter jih ozavestiti o njihovih dolžnostih, ko gre za zaznavo tovrstnih kaznivih dejanj. Poleg tega bo poudarek na zmanjševanju povpraševanja po storitvah in blagu, ki jih običajno izvajajo žrtve trgovine z ljudmi, v kontekstu samih mirovnih operacij.
To usposabljanje je v skladu z Natovo politiko boja proti trgovini z ljudmi, ki prav tako vključuje ozaveščanje in usposabljanje na tem pomembnem področju.
Organizatorji se veselijo predstaviti vsebine na tem ključnem usposabljanju, saj bo prispevalo k preprečevanju trgovine z ljudmi in zagotavljanju varnosti mednarodnih operacij in misij.
4. 9. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Young BSF
Ljubljana and Bled, Slovenia, once more hosted young leaders within the activities of the Young Bled Strategic Forum and Bled Strategic Forum. More than 40 young perspective leaders from 25 countries (Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United States of America) joined forces, experience and creative energy in a three-day training and capacity building organised between Friday 25th of August and Monday 28th of August 2023. The Young BSF strives to empower young leaders from different sectors (academia, civil society, private sector, public administration, and other fields of expertise) to build joint solutions for joint challenges of our societies through transnational cooperation. Young BSF 2023 was organised under the title ´Mitigating our Butterfly Effect´, underlining the power and responsibility of all stakeholders within our societies to make positive changes and contributions in the short and long term. The activities of the Young BSF continued with active participation within the Bled Strategic Forum, organised on Monday, 28th and Tuesday, 29th of August 2023 at Bled, focusing on contributions to ´Solidarity for global Security˙.
Day 1, or the opening day of the Young Bled Strategic Forum 2023, stressed the importance of cooperation and networking to share ideas to solve today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. New knowledge and development of skills will enable us to build a world we want to live in.
The Young participants were addressed by Mr Peter Grk, Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum and Ms Nina Čepon, Executive Director of the Centre for European Perspective, who commended the wide participation of young experts from different fields of expertise and countries. The opening discussion set the stage for the work and capacity-building of young leaders.
Day 2 began with a practical session focused on traditional and media literacy. Following was the Pillar I session, which focused on understanding our shared history, noting the role of narratives in our lives and the importance of critical thinking, followed by the Pillar II discussions focused on empowering youth through cooperation with the government, CSOs and various initiatives aimed at supporting and promoting active citizenship. Each pillar consisted of an expert panel followed by a world cafe, where Young BSF participants embarked on a deeper exploration of topics.
The second day concluded on a high note with a conversation with H. E. Ms Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, on the importance of solidarity, current global issues, Slovenia in UN SC, feminist foreign policy and more. “Be curious and brave. Curious, I say, as we live in this polarised world where everything is changing so fast, where we have to think outside the box to adapt,” was Minister Tanja Fajon´s opening call to the Young Bled Strategic Forum participants.
Day 3 of the Young Bled Strategic Forum continued with thematical Pillar III, focusing on the leading question: “How do we address our present actions to secure the future us and for the younger generations?”. The Young Bled Strategic Forum participants transferred from Ljubljana to Bled in the afternoon using a train. The last closing elements of the Young BSF included two capacity-building and inspirational sessions. The Young BSF was closed on Monday, August 28 2023, with presentations of participants’ group work that once more exposed the importance of ideas and work of young leaders that contribute to positive changes within our societies. Their ideas, recommendations and proposals will be joined within the Young Bled Strategic Forum Declaration, which will be published following the event. The Young perspective leaders joined the activities of the Bled Strategic Forum in the following days as panellists and active participants.
Young Bled Strategic Forum and Bled Strategic Forum are honoured for the opportunity to have hosted the first meeting of the CEI Youth Reference Points organised by the CEI Secretariat at Bled, Slovenia, on Tuesday, 29th of August, to exchange best practices, experiences and ideas for youth empowerment within the CEI region. The discussions pave the way for closer cooperation in the field of youth policies and transnational and cross-sector cooperation.
The Young Bled Strategic Forum is supported by the Central European Initiative, the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana grant, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung think tank, implemented within the activities of the Slovenian Presidency to the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region and supported as part of the Priority Area 10 Institutional Capacity and Cooperation, an Interreg Danube Region Programme project co-funded by the European Union.
31. 8. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
On 28 August 2023, Western Balkans media and civil society representatives gathered at the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum for a roundtable discussion, ‘The Line Is(n’t) Thin: Fact v. Opinion, Regulation v. Censorship’. Joining the discussion was a Deutsche Welle journalist and a Global Diplomacy Lab member, Burak Ünveren. Together, participants exchanged experiences regarding the role and position of fact-checking in their respective countries, touched upon the challenges of journalism and effective communication of facts to society in the digital, ‘post-truth’ age, emphasized the risks inherent to the current business model of media outlets and noted the difficulties in maintaining an effective government-media-civil society relationship. Participants also weighed government intervention’s pros and cons in introducing counter-disinformation regulation. While there is no clear-cut answer to any of these questions, ensuring the sustainability of professional and quality journalism and supporting journalistic standards was heralded as a priority for all societies.
The discussion was organised under the framework of the ‘Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in the Western Balkans’ project. The project also allowed participants to attend the panels of the 18th Bled Strategic Forum, held in Bled on 28-29 August.
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.
31. 8. 2023 | Strategic Communication, 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 making an in-country visit to Skopje, North Macedonia. On 5 September, the project is inviting representatives of civil society, media and academia, as well as the government and the international community, to attend a rich programme dedicated to exploring the way forward in the whole-of-society approach to countering foreign perpetrated disinformation. The programme will be supported by relevant researchers and practitioners from North Macedonia and beyond, including representatives of the EU External Action Service (EEAS), the Government of Estonia and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE).
North Macedonia is currently providing an example of good practice in the Western Balkans, having developed, through a multi-stakeholder consultative process, the Recommendations for Joint Action for Building Societal Resilience Towards Malign Influences of Disinformation. With this in-country visit, the Project seeks to support the next steps in the Recommendations implementation. The agenda will, therefore, showcase the successful approaches and practices of countering disinformation in other countries and situate the entire process within the context of joint EU efforts and the EU accession process.
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.
30. 8. 2023 | local self-government, PR, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe
With the first online meeting, cooperation between the municipalities of Zavodska and Domžale officially began within the framework of the development project of the Republic of Slovenia, “Reconstruction of Ukraine”, which is supported by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in cooperation with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’.
Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.
On 30 August 2023, the Centre for European Perspective held the first online working meeting between the mayor of the Ukrainian municipality of Zavodske and the mayor of the Slovenian municipality of Domžale, which officially started their cooperation in the project “Reconstruction of Ukraine”. In the next 18 months, a mentoring program will be implemented in Slovenia, which will strengthen the capacities of the municipality of Zavodske in the field of post-conflict reconstruction and modernization and contribute to other goals of long-term international cooperation. The targeted transfer of knowledge and experience during the project is guided by the specific needs of the municipality of Zavodske, which is currently facing complex challenges both in the provision of services that its residents rely on the most in this time of crisis as well as challenges in the field of local development and modernization.
The three-week mentoring visit to Domžale will take place in October 2023. It will transfer helpful experience and knowledge in establishing an effective civil protection system and responding to natural and other disasters, which, according to the city council secretary, are the Institute’s priority topics. Competent Slovenian state institutions will transfer key knowledge and experience to the mentees in planning and management at the national (intersectoral) level and the role of the local level. The Civil Defense of the Municipality of Domžale, fire brigades and other local organizations will also contribute, and they will also show the mentees the practical aspects of their work, including recent experiences of responding to devastating floods. The Municipality of Zavodske, with the support of Slovenian experts, will prepare plans or strategic documents that will contribute to more efficient planning and acquisition of financial resources in relevant areas.
Background
From 2023 to 2024, the Center for the European Perspective (CEP) will implement the project “Post-conflict Reconstruction in Ukraine”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. The project is taking place in cooperation with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’, implemented in Ukraine by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ. The project will enable the contribution of five Slovenian municipalities (Domžale, Hrastnik, Idrija, Kočevje and Murska Sobota) in the role of mentors to the partner municipalities of Bucha, Drohobych, Zavodske, Tiachiv and Vilnohirsk.
The mentoring municipalities will help the target municipalities (‘hromadam’) in Ukraine to face those challenges of early reconstruction and modernization, which will be easier to overcome in this kind of cooperation and will help to strengthen their capacities. Thus, the mentoring program for key representatives of the mentioned target municipalities, who will be visiting the mentoring municipalities in the Republic of Slovenia during this time, will contain the transfer of knowledge, experience and good practices, including those related to the technical requirements of the process of Ukraine’s approximation to the EU. By the end of 2024, the target municipalities will, with the help of the project’s support, also develop strategic tools for planning reconstruction and modernization, planning resources and obtaining financial resources adapted to the needs of each municipality.
Slovenia’s key contribution will have a positive impact on the lives of people in Ukrainian communities and their regions by helping to strengthen local capacities, which are most relied on in this time of crisis, in a sustainable manner and with appropriate placement, among other ongoing early recovery measures in Ukraine its inhabitants. While cooperation between some Slovenian and Ukrainian municipalities has already been established, the project will enable new opportunities for partnerships and further cooperation between Slovenia and Ukraine – both in post-conflict reconstruction and in meeting the requirements on its path to EU membership.
