11. 2. 2019 | PR, U-LEAD: with Europe, Waste management
Last week the third study visit “Travel to Know – Travel to Change” in the framework of „U-LEAD with Europe – Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development” programme concluded with a closing ceremony in Ptuj.
The visit took place between 3rd and 8th of February 2019 with 18 public officials from Ukraine visiting Ljubljana, Vrhnika, Celje and Ptuj, under the patronage of U-LEAD with Europe Programme. The project on the topic of waste management – “Upgrading Municipal Waste Management Services” – helps key actors of 36 selected amalgamated hromadas (AH) in three Ukrainian regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn and Zhytomyr) to implement green approaches in the waste management sector and to obtain knowledge about the best practices of transparent and accountable waste management services, which is responsive to the needs of population.
The third international study visit has had, alongside theoretical approach, a strong emphasis on practical cases of the Slovenian communities’ experience in municipal waste management planning, municipal waste collection, treatment and disposal options, so the participants visited Snaga Ljubljana, Kemis Vrhnika, CERO Celje, Toplarna Celje, Javne službe Ptuj and Saubermacher Kidričevo. Visiting a modern incineration and a waste treatment plants gave the participants an opportunity to get acquainted with new technologies that could be taken into consideration for further contribution of AHs to the regional waste management planning.
The multi-donor action U-LEAD of the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden was established in order to carry out demand-driven and targeted training for officials at the national, regional and local level.
See the photo gallery of the project below.
5. 2. 2019 | PR, Public administration, U-LEAD: with Europe, Waste management
U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme third international study visit that Slovenia is hosting kicked off on Monday, 4th of February with 18 public officials from Ukraine beginning the study visit at Jable castle. The main topic of the visit is waste management and the visit is a part of the project “Upgrading Municipal Waste Management Services”, which helps key actors of 36 selected amalgamated hromadas in three Ukrainian regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn and Zhytomyr) to implement green approaches in the waste management sector. Participants began their visit with an introduction day at Jable Castle, where they were welcomed by CEP director Ms Katja Geršak, administrative director Mr Andrej Vrčon, the participants were also greeted by Mrs Andreja Purkart Martinez from the Ministry of foreign affairs and Mr Andrii Borodenkov first secretary from the embassy of Ukraine. First day at Jable castle continued with an activity organized by the moderators of the visit, Ms Lara Habič and Ms Tina Krošelj and three lectures on the topic of waste management in Slovenia and EU and extended producer responsibility by Dr Lucija Jurić Soršak from the Ministry for environment and spatial planning and Mag Radovan Tavzes, former director general of the directorate for environment. In the following days the participants will have lectures on circular economy and the role of NGOs in efficient waste management and later on they will be able to see Slovenian waste management in practice, as they will visit Snaga Ljubljana and Kemis Vrhnika, followed by a visit to RCERO Celje, Saubermacher Slovenija and Javne službe Ptuj. The visit is taking place in the framework of the multi-donor action U-LEAD established by the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden. It is aimed to contribute to the establishment of multilevel governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine. U-LEAD with Europe is supporting the Ukrainian Government, represented by the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine (MinRegion) as a key political partner, in the coordination and implementation of the decentralisation and regional policy reforms. The Programme carries out demand-driven and targeted trainings for officials at the national, regional and local level.
3. 2. 2019 | PR, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe, Waste management
U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme continues with Slovenia is hosting the third international study visit on the topic of waste management.
The visit will take place between 3rd and 8th February 2019 with 18 public officials from Ukraine visiting Ljubljana, Vrhnika, Celje and Ptuj, under the patronage of U-LEAD with Europe Programme. The project on the topic of waste management – “Upgrading Municipal Waste Management Services” – helps key actors of 36 selected amalgamated hromadas in three Ukrainian regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn and Zhytomyr) to implement green approaches in the waste management sector.
Participants will begin their visit with an introduction day at Jable Castle, meeting a number of representatives of Slovenian administrative and governing bodies and NGOs. In the following days, the workshops will take the participants to the field, visiting Vrhnika, Celje and Ptuj.
The visit is taking place in the framework of the multi-donor action U-LEAD established by the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden. It is aimed to contribute to the establishment of multilevel governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine. U-LEAD with Europe is supporting the Ukrainian Government, represented by the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine (MinRegion) as a key political partner, in the coordination and implementation of the decentralisation and regional policy reforms. The Programme carries out demand-driven and targeted trainings for officials at the national, regional and local level.
16. 1. 2019 | LET4CAP, PR
Project partners of Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building – LET4CAP project, namely Arma dei Carabinieri – Project Leader from General Command in Rome, Italy; Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) in Vicenza; Centre for European Perspective (CEP), Slovenia; Polish National Police HQs (POLICJA), Poland; Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), Italy and Studiare Sviluppo (STSV), Italy have gathered in Ljubljana, on 15th and 16th of January 2019 for the Third Project Coordination meeting.
LET4CAP aims to contribute to more consistent and efficient assistance in law enforcement capacity building to third countries. The Project consists in the design and provision of training interventions drawn on the experience of the partners and fine-tuned after a piloting and consolidation phase. Project has so far benefited from the existing knowledge base, good practices and lessons learnt on law enforcement capacity building training within the EU and the UN, taking into consideration, among others, the materials and doctrine developed within CEPOL, ESDC, the ENTRi and EUPST projects. LET4CAP is organized in four main components:
- Stocktaking of existing good practices and lessons
- Development of the training course curriculum
- Piloting Training implementation
- Other dissemination & outreach activities.
CEP has so far created an evaluation plan, tailored to the goals and context of this project, provided guidelines for the evaluation of cooperation, project products, efficacy and impact on target groups, end beneficiaries and stakeholders, and defined quality criteria for the success of the project. CEP has also been present at three trainings carried out so far, as an evaluation expert, providing feedback on the content and execution of the trainings.
Partners have through a very successful meeting evaluated the work and achievements done so far, as well as planned future activities and things to be done by the end of the project.
17. 12. 2018 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR
Bled Strategic Forum Secretary General took part in First annual forecasting event “EU and Western Balkans in 2019”, held in Belgrade.
Event, organised by European Fund for the Balkans, Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and European Western Balkans, gathered more than 30 most influential opinion makers from the region and EU who gave their predictions about the trends and dynamics of policy developments in 2019. The aim of the discussions was to exchange views and to make conclusions that could influence the political decisions in the upcoming turbulent year.
What will post-election and post-Brexit EU look like? What could be predicted considering bilateral issues and regional cooperation in the Western Balkans? What trends the region could expect regarding the state of democracy, rule of law and media freedom? These are some of the topics discussed.
Main conclusion of the event was that European Union will not have the time for Western Balkans next year and, therefore, new energy for fight against stagnation and captured state has to be found. Read more about the discussion at
12. 12. 2018 | PR
Ms Katja Geršak has officially taken office as the new Executive Director of the Centre for European Perspective, succeeding Dr Gorazd Justinek. Ms Geršak started her mandate on 11 December 2018 with the aim to continue to strengthen the role of the Centre as a strong government foundation with diversified spectrum of activities, ranging from development cooperation programmes, research and think thank activities to peacekeeping and peace-building trainings.
Ms Katja Geršak has experience in private sector, she also worked as the Vice President of Business Angels of Slovenia and has co-founded Regional Dialogue, an NGO working in the area of justice sector reform in Uzbekistan of which she was the Deputy Director between 2010 and 2013.
The main aims of her mandate are further strengthening the role of CEP in the Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe through capacity building and other strategic projects, as well as ensure that CEP is a platform providing various perspectives on global issues, connect all spheres of society and contribute valuable analysis to foreign policy making of Slovenia.
Handover was marked by a policy discussion titled “Central and Eastern Europe at the Crossroads” and a reception at Jable Castle.
12. 12. 2018 | PR, THINK Initiative
Centre for European Perspective organized the annual policy discussion “Central and Eastern Europe at the Crossroads” and reception on Wednesday, 12 December 2018, attended by over 80 participants from public and private sector, NGOs and universities. Policy discussion also represented a concluding round table of the THINK Initiative project, where CEP is one of the partners in an international consortium.
The policy discussion addressed the current state of affairs in the Central and Eastern Europe with the panellists Mr Matej Marn, Political Director/Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Ambassador Iztok Mirošič, Bled Strategic Forum Programme Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sloveniaand Ms Nina Pejič, Young Researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, East Asia Resource Library Head of Research and THINK Initiative Researcher, moderated by Ms Katja Geršak, Executive Director of the Centre for European Perspective.
Ms Špela Lajmiš, President of the Executive Board of the Centre for European Perspective opened the event and thanked all the partners for cooperation and valuable presence in Centre’s activities. The Centre is not only carrying out its core activities but also venturing new adventures, she emphasized. Ms Lajmiš also announced a change in the leadership with Dr Gorazd Justinek leaving the Centre and Ms Katja Geršak taking the office as the Executive Director.
Ms Geršak, moderator of the round table, introduced the topic and the speakers. Mr Ingo Mayr-Knoch, CEO of the THINK Initiative, presented THINK Initiative, a platform for discussion of international affairs that aims to revolutionize how European strategies are developed. Platform aims to serve to exchange information, look at challenges and opportunities and develop more creative strategies of a common European response to the challenges. The current issue is that different sectors are not exchanging information nor thinking together; which is clearly visible when faced with Chinese initiatives – plenty of actors do not have a coherent strategy. The phase one of the project was focused on China, yet infrastructure, technology, digital technologies, Central Asia, defense cooperation present opportunities for the future research phases. Find more details about the project here.
Ms Geršak followed up with an overview of the state of the affairs in the CEE and asked the speakers to illustrate the current constellation of global powers in our region. Mr Marn pointed out clearly that the EU and NATO are the goals of the CEE region, but there is also a growing influence of other actors. He emphasized, there is a strong influence of Russia and China, whereas the two countries are also not united in their value system (various breaches of human rights, etc.), and continued with a claim that there is no clear strategy on what do we want to do with the presence of those actors – is there anything good they are bringing? He believes that the influence will get stronger closer that we get to the EU elections.
The discussion continued with a question “What should our policies be if we are to maintain EU peace and prosperity?”. Ambassador Mirošič explained that we are in the transition from multilateralism into a new world order, which is multipolar and multicentric in nature. Lack of security on the global level is reflected in the global strategy of EU, he believes. He pointed put that the lack of global strategy of EU is reflected in the lack of strategy in the CEE. The three major security powers that he sees are indeed China, Russia and the US. However, he neglected Ms Geršak’s challenge whether Russia and China will increasingly turn into strategic competitors. He believes that the main focus will stay on the US versus China.
Ms Pejič elaborated on the economic aspects of Chinese involvement in the region. She claimed that we are questioning Chinese influence because the CEE countries are letting China to influence their policies. She used the example of Rijeka Port, where Plenković openly said he wishes Chinese to take over the second track of railway to be built, even though there has been no open call for the bid yet. Ms Pejič explained that the main goal of Chinese infrastructure investments is to connect ports and transport infrastructure projects in order to connect the ports with the internal CEE and EU markets. They are indeed trying to be an alternative to Russia, in her opinion. She also pointed out that the CEE countries don’t have enough power against China, which is why her recommendation for them is to take a common stand in their response and approach to initiatives such as the 16+1 Platform.
Mr Marn elaborated on an important challenge in the EU – the lack of understanding of China (its language, culture, business ethics) and the fact that we are still underestimating China, which also leads to misperceptions. Ambassador Mirošič followed up with an economic issue that can follow from unsuccessful cooperation and is already visible in some of the other Belt and Road Initiative countries – if the infrastructure does not develop in a coherent way, the ports remain empty and the loans become very expensive.
Ms Pejič was very clear about the perceptions surrounding the Chinese investments – no policy comes with no strings attached and so doesn’t the investment. As an example, she pointed out the peacekeeping operations in Africa, where Chinese army is increasing its presence, predominantly as part of their development agenda, which contributes to the protection of their investments. She also compared European and Chinese approach – China is creating manufacturing investments in Africa, while Europe used African raw materials, China is building health clinics, while Europe send aid in money, she illustrated. She also emphasized that China approached the Western Balkans at the time when the European Commission announced there would be no enlargement in near future. She concluded that the European values only work if there is economic wellbeing attached to them. Mr Marn emphasized that China should not in any case be perceived as a security threat.
The policy discussion concluded with a Q&A session where ambassadors, public servants and business representatives got engaged in a discussion on wider CEE challenges and was followed by a reception at Jable Castle.
See the Photo Gallery below:
12. 12. 2018 | ENTRi, IECEU, PR
Date: 12 – 15 February 2019
Place: Nairobi, Kenya
Overall Aim
The course will aim to consolidate the understanding of the role of a mentor and processes of mentoring in peace operations with the necessary shift of mind-set and attitude: from being a ‘doer’, alias professionals with authority and decision-making and executive functions in their area into being an observer, listener and resource person to assist local officials and stakeholders in enhancing their ability and facilitating the identification of problems and possible solutions. The main aim of the course is to equip subject matter experts with knowledge and mentoring skills and to give future mentors in peace operations the ability to successfully build a working relationship with their local counterpart and implement their project goals.
Methodology
The course foresees a high degree of group work, discussions and role plays. A mixture of participatory methods encourages the creation of new knowledge and skills through the interaction that takes place among participants with diverse experience, professional skills, and cultural backgrounds.
Learning Outcome
After completion of the ENTRi Course on Mentoring, participants should be able to: 1.) Understand mentoring as capacity building 2.) Know how to build trust with a mentee 3.) Apply principles and processes of building capacity through mentoring (phases of mentoring and importance of the concept of local ownership) 4.) Utilize communication skills (working with interpreters, basic negotiation skills) and intercultural competence 5.) Develop strategies on how to build a working relationship with a mentee and how to cope with resistance from the mentee 6.) Recognise the role mentoring plays in fulfilling the overall mission mandate and how to support the evaluation process of the mission.
Pre-Requisites
– The target group of the training are civilian experts, expected to serve and/or working in civilian crisis management operations with mentoring and advising tasks in their work descriptions. Predominately this concerns the areas of rule of law, justice reform, democratization, corrections, policing, and security sector reform, but not limited to those areas.
– Maximum 20 participants, preferably from international civilian crisis management/peace support missions (EU, UN, OSCE, AU etc). Experts from NGOs are also welcome to apply.
– The organizers also welcome applications from national mission staff.
