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.
22. 8. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.
Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation has invited twelve representatives of Western Balkans media and civil society organisations to join a roundtable discussion at the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum.
The roundtable discussion will take place on 28 August, titled ‘The Line Is(n’t) Thin: Fact v. Opinion, Regulation v. Censorship’.
Western Balkan participants will be joined by Mr Jakub Kalensky of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and Mr Burak Ünveren, a journalist at Deutsche Welle.
Through an open and dynamic exchange, participants and guests will have an opportunity to touch upon questions that do not always have straightforward answers in the fight against disinformation, such as: how to ensure that democratic standards and freedom of speech are upheld while still curbing the spread of disinformation? Are the current projects and initiatives focused on countering disinformation largely on the right track – or do we need to adjust our course? How has the experience with Covid-19 and the Russian aggression against Ukraine changed journalism – have we learned anything?
Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation project continues to support efforts of Western Balkan governments, media and civil society to establish national mechanisms for countering disinformation. The roundtable event will further be an opportunity to discuss the way forward in these efforts, and in particular, the role of media and civil society.
After the roundtable discussion, Western Balkan participants are invited to join and enjoy the rich program of the Bled Strategic Forum on 28 and 29 August.
The project is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
6. 7. 2023 | EUSAIR, PR, Regional cooperation, Strategic Communication
Countries and regions face challenges that know no borders; hence to tackle them successfully, they need to be addressed collectively. The EU Macro-regional strategies identify common needs and challenges of the region, as well as regional cooperation potentials. They connect people across borders, sectors and governance levels and help to coordinate joint policies. The EU Macro-regional strategies are meaningful and make regions stronger, more resilient and attractive.
EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region directly influences 70 million people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. It contributes to further integration of the internal market, to the region’s stability, and to foster cooperation between EU and non-EU countries.
It is of utmost importance that great results of the EU Macro-regional strategies are presented to the public, which is often challenging as the issues are complex. For that reason, in the framework of EUSAIR, the EUSAIR Communication Academy was organised for EUSAIR key implementers, government communicators and journalists. While the first edition focused on the tools and techniques needed for effective digital communication, the second edition focused on transferring abstract issues simply, comprehensively and persuasively.
EUSAIR Communication Academy 2.0 occurred from July 5th to July 6th in Thessaloniki. Thirty participants from seven countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia) attended the Academy. Four speakers shared knowledge with us and answered two main questions: what to communicate and how to communicate it successfully. All the lectures were followed by practical and short presentations. Some great ideas sparked, and we had interesting discussions. Like always, the official programme of the EUSAIR Communication Academy was combined with a rich informal part aiming to foster an environment for experience sharing, creating new links and strengthening the old ones.
4. 7. 2023 | EUSAIR, PR, Regional cooperation, Strategic Communication
EUSAIR Communication Academy 2.0
(5-6 July 2023)
This week a second edition of EUSAIR Communication Academy will be taking place in Thessaloniki in Greece.
The training is a continuation of EUSAIR Communication Academy, a three-part capacity-building program that took place in 2022. Whereby the first edition focused on the tools and techniques needed for effective digital communication, EUSAIR Communication Academy 2.0 will focus on explaining complex and abstract issues in a simple, comprehensible, and persuasive way. The participants will gain the critical skills and tools to support them in effectively communicating EUSAIR to the stakeholders and interested public. Participants attending the EUSAIR Communication Academy are EUSAIR key implementers, government communicators, and journalists.
During a two-day programme 30 participants from EUSAIR countries will attend communication workshops on the topics of simplifying messages and simplifying language, leveraging AI tools for communication purposes as well as effective communication with the media. The theory will be applied to practical tasks conntected to EUSAIR and its communication, such as developing EUSAIR key messages and writing press releases.
The official programme of the EUSAIR Communication Academy will be combined with a rich informal programme aiming to foster an environment for experience sharing among diverse participants.
9. 6. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.
Global experts and practitioners increasingly warn that the phenomenon of disinformation should be viewed through a security lens. Malignant actors recognize and abuse the capacity of disinformation to undermine democratic processes and practices, erode the trust of the population in public institutions, and create tears in the social fabric of societies. While every country in the world faces the challenge of disinformation, Western Balkans is among those regions that have proven particularly vulnerable and often a target for foreign actors. 74% of Western Balkan citizens consider disinformation a security threat.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation organized a capacity-building training in Portorož on 6-8 June for representatives of Western Balkan governments, media and civil society to foster joint work on countering this threat.
About forty participants took part in the two-and-a-half day long training dedicated to exploring the building blocks of comprehensive and holistic national defence mechanisms in countering disinformation. Renowned experts from across Europe and the US taught the participants how to verify information, detect and react to disinformation, and establish a whole-of-society response model. Progressing from theory to practice, participants used their new knowledge and tools during practical exercises and tailor-made simulations of disinformation event scenarios.
The objective of the Project is to assist the Western Balkan partners to create national response mechanisms to counter foreign-perpetrated disinformation. The training provided space for national and regional cross-sectoral working group discussions that will feed into national recommendations and other activities developed within the Project.
The project is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
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31. 5. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Disinformation being false information deliberately spread to deceive people or secure economic or political gain, is becoming more dangerous by the year. 83% of Europeans believe disinformation presents a problem for democracy. They believe different groups of society should take responsibility to counter them. Among them are journalists, national authorities, and citizens (Euronews). Representatives of those groups and sectors (media, governments, and civil society organisations) from 6 Western Balkan countries will meet in Portorož for capacity-building training from the 6th to the 8th of June 2023.
The training will build upon the theoretical foundations participants gained at the last conference in November 2022 in Bled. The training titled ‘Detect & React’ will equip participants with tools to timely and effectively verify information, detect disinformation, and potentially debunk them.
It is organised in the scope of the project “Strengthening societal resilience and countering foreign perpetrated disinformation in 6 Western Balkans countries”, which was launched in 2020. It aims to enhance resilience and boost regional cooperation against disinformation with a whole-of-society approach, which is the distinguishing feature of the project. At this training, we will address another critical dimension: the collaboration of different levels of governance, meaning local, national, and regional, and get an even broader and more holistic overview of this dangerous phenomenon. Speakers from across Europe and wider will join us and share their expertise.
All our work should long-term lead to establishing national mechanisms for countering disinformation in each country (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia).
The project is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
