Presentation of select findings from the study "Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe: Monitoring 2019" with focus on the relationship between government institutions and service-providing CSOs in Western Balkan

Description

Civil society and its organizations play an important social, political and economic role in democratic countries. They provide (social) services, represent interests of minorities or vulnerable groups, perform a watch-dog function towards politics and public administration, and contribute to community building by involving different people, e.g. in volunteering and membership. The existence of a vivid civil society is an indicator of well-functioning democracies that give space to the full variety of different opinions, concerns and solutions. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are often established where a particular social or political concern emerges. At the same time, the political and social environment shapes the operating conditions of CSOs. For this reason, an open dialogue between civil society and political actors is a prerequisite for a lucrative relationship between the public and civic sector.
What is the status quo of state-civil society cooperation in Western Balkan countries? Within the scope of the recent study “Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe: Monitoring 2019”, WU Vienna and ERSTE Foundation, in collaboration with a group of local experts, have taken a further step to investigate the state of civil society in 15 CEE countries, and to reflect on how CSOs experience recent changes, opportunities and threats in their environment. In the current key note speech, study co-editor and co-author Flavia-Elvira Bogorin will present select findings, with a particular focus on the relationship between government institutions and service-providing CSOs in Western Balkan.

Period	10 Dec 2019
Event title	International Conference "Social empowerment of youth at risk" (ARYSE)
Event type	Unknown