22. 1. 2021 | EUCTI, PR, Security
The activities of the new EU funded project coordinated by CEP have begun at the beginning of the year. The Secretariat of the project, the European Union’s Civilian Training Initiative (EUCTI), is located at CEP.
The overall objective of the EUCTI is to improve the EU position as a peace actor.
EUCTI aims to improve the life of people living in the conflict-affected societies by enhancing the quality of training provided to individuals joining the crisis management missions – either civilian crisis management missions or missions consisting of civilian, police and military elements (integrated missions).
CEP has been active in the field of civilian crisis management for a decade. During this time, a large part of the related activities was implemented through an EU funded Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi).
As a part of ENTRi, CEP delivered a variety of training activities including Training of Trainers, Monitoring, Mentoring and Advising, Pre-deployment Training for various missions, Hostile Environment Awareness as well as mission administration and support-training. Moreover, CEP lead and contributed to several working groups developing standards on evaluation, online learning tools and packages of training materials that were made accessible for everyone interested. Furthermore, CEP was active in several other projects related to the civilian crisis management such as Improving the Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention (IECEU) and Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building (LET4CAP) just to name few. Based on its experience and engagement, CEP was recognized by its international counterparts as capable and suitable for hosting the secretariat with four people for the new multi-annual EUCTI project.
EUCTI consortium consists of eight renowned training institutions with sound knowledge and expertise in designing and delivering civilian crisis management training. Apart from Slovenia, the other consortium members are located in the following EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In practical terms, EUCTI will organize tailor-made training activities for individuals working in the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) -and other international missions, support third countries in their endeavours to develop efficient training materials and activities, design new course curriculums based on the needs of the missions, work on standardization of the training activities offered and develop new methodologies that will maximize the outcomes of the learning processes.
Further information about the project can be found here and more will be made available soon on new EUCTI web site – stay tuned!
4. 1. 2021 | Macedonia - corruption, Macedonia - Finance, Macedonia - Resources, North Macedonia - RoL, PR
End of 2020 active to strengthen the capacities of the Republic of Northern Macedonia for financial investigations.
More about the project in Slovenian language.
For all those in charge of financial investigation in the Republic of North Macedonia, as well as for Slovenian representatives of the Police, the Financial Administration and the State Prosecution the end of 2020 was even more busy than usual.
On 29 December 2020, an online workshop was held with the purpose of presentation and discussion on a feasibility study to increase the availability of data, which are needed to conduct financial investigations. What is needed for an effective financial investigation of proceeds of crime and also the property which can be subject to extended confiscation for which the suspects of serious crime, punishable by imprisonment of a minimum of 4 years or set catalogueally cannot prove it was gained from legal income, that is to say, in a lawful way?
Study shows in detail investigators need to be supported with an appropriate legal basis that allows them access to data they need in the financial investigation. They must also have at their disposal up-to-date, complete and accurate data available from various data holders who exchange data with different efficiency within the established interoperability platform in North Macedonia. Furthermore, the obtained data are useful to us only if we know how to evaluate them correctly and determine proceeds of crime and volume of property, which could be of illegal origin. With the help of the study and the workshop, concrete possibilities for increasing the availability of data for financial investigations have been identified, which is an important step towards their realization.
The activities of the presentation workshop of the feasibility study on increasing the availability of data in the field of financial investigations successfully complete the two-year development assistance in the field of financial investigations in the period 2019-2020. At the same time, it opens a new two-year period of development aid 2021-2022, when Slovenian support to North Macedonia in the field of financial investigations continues.
The project is part of programme activities of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation Programme financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and carried out together with the State Prosecution, Financial Administration, Ministry of Interior and Police of the Republic of Slovenia.
Further information:
Andreja Dolničar Jeraj
Programme Director
CEP
18. 12. 2020 | European Digital Diplomacy Exchange, PR
We successfully concluded two Digital Diplomacy trainings in Ukraine and Georgia. The first training was organized for Ukraine and took place between 14 and 15 December, while the second training was organized for Georgia and took place between 16 and 17 December.
In total 120 government communicators from different ministries and institutions participated in the training, which was organized virtually on ZOOM platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a limited time, we managed to create an agenda with interesting speakers that covered a variety of topics related to Digital Diplomacy – communication theory, the evolution of the digital media information landscape, digital rhetoric, developing effective messaging campaigns, countering disinformation and propaganda, usage of social media and essentials on visual communication.
We would like to thank all the speakers for their time and knowledge that they shared with us – Matt Jacobs from U.S. Department of State, Mykolas Mazolevskis from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Matthias Lüfkens from Burson Cohn&Wolfe/Twiplomacy, Roman Osadchuk from Digital Forensic Research Lab – Atlantic Council, Laura Napoliello and Teddy Wilhite from Facebook, and to Ingrid Omahna from Centre for European Perspective.
Special thanks goes to Ukrainian and Georgian government for making this roadshow possible and to participants for their engagement.
The Training was organized by the Centre for European Perspective, together with the U.S. Department of State.
15. 12. 2020 | European Digital Diplomacy Exchange, PR
First stop of the EDDE Eastern Europe Virtual Roadshow – in Ukraine – has come to an end. Fully packed two-day training took place on 14 and 15 of December over ZOOM platform. Almost 100 government communicators gathered to listen to the lectures ranging from communication theory, the evolution of the digital media information landscape, digital rhetoric, developing effective messaging campaigns, countering disinformation and propaganda to the usage of social media and essentials on visual communication.
The second – and the last – virtual tour stop will take place on 16 and 17 December in Georgia for Georgian government communicators
The Training was organized by The Centre for European Perspective, together with the U.S. Department of State.
15. 12. 2020 | Learning compass, PR, Youth
Learning Compass activities in BiH end with a high-level meeting
For more about the project click here.
The activities of the Learning Compass project, focusing on the exchange of experience among teachers, special educators and everyone involved in the educational process of children with disabilities, were presented to the representatives of ministries for the field of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, headmasters of schools involved in the program and other participants of the discussion.
The meeting on Monday was opened by words of welcome from CEP Executive Director Ms Katja Geršak and with the opening speech by H.E Ms Bukinac, Slovene Ambassador in BiH, who expressed the importance of the issue for Bosnia and Herzegovina. We thank the Ambassador and the Embassy of SLO in Sarajevo for their support during the project activities.
Mr Jernej Grahor, CEP Project Manager, Mr Marko Strle, Director of the Centre for Communication, Hearing and Speech Portorož and Dr Anica Mikuš Kos, Psychiatrist, Paediatrician and President of the Slovene Philanthropy later presented the project activities and its aims and shared the remarks on the complications of education of children with disabilities during COVID-19 as expressed by training participants during the training in November.
Ms Lejla Kisić, President of Udruženje Soci also shared the experience of special educators, especially during the ongoing pandemic and the work of Udruženje Soci. The teachers present during the November training have also worked to pass their knowledge and experience among their colleagues, further expanding the learning compass network.
The training program might have concluded, but what all three speakers stresses was the following – the trainings were just a part of a learning process and contributed another block in the building of a network of educators, that will include the cooperation of more individuals and continue the mission of the project – continued cooperation, sharing of experience and helping educators, teachers and all involved in the education of children with disabilities in ensuring a better future for children with disabilities.
The project is part of programme activities of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation Programme supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve RS.
Further information:
Jernej Grahor
Project Manager
CEP
12. 12. 2020 | European Digital Diplomacy Exchange, PR
Due to covid-19 pandemic, the second part of European Digital Diplomacy Exchange (EDDE) Eastern Europe Roadshow, taking place in Ukraine and Georgia is touring virtually. It is starting off with a training for Ukrainian government communicators on 14 and 15 December following with the training for Georgian government communicators on 16 and 17 December 2020. Both trainings are organized by The Centre for European Perspective, together with the U.S. Department of State.
ICT revolution has undoubtedly transformed the way people across the world communicate and exchange information. The effectiveness of digital diplomacy in each country is very much dependent on how diplomats and other professionals use digital communication tools to understand and transform their online presence to achieve their goals and objectives. At the times of covid-19 pandemic, the era of broken trust, the knowledge and skills that government representatives need to aquire to effectively communicate with their citizenry are proven to be more important then ever.
This trainings will help to improve the communication approaches, learn about how to develop effective messaging campaigns to perform better in the digital space. Moreover, the trainings will not forget about the dark side of the digital, so the participants will be able to know more about disinformation and how to counter this phenomenon.
