slovak-hungarian capacity building initiative for serbia

timeline: April 2005 – March 2007
donor: Sasakawa Peace Foundation
sectoral priorities: Civil Society, Cross-Sectoral Cooperation, NGO partnership building

The goal of this project is to contribute to sustainable development of local civil society in Serbia – the largest and most important country in the Western Balkans. It is designed to increase fund-raising and programming capacities of five leading NGOs from Southern and Central Serbia, which has been largely neglected by foreign donors.

We seek to primarily achieve the following results:
a) new cross-sectoral partnerships established in five towns of Central Serbia, through which the business sector will be involved in solving problems of local communities
b) institutionalization of news skills and know-how in five selected NGOs, especially in corporate philanthropy (tapping local resources for future funding opportunities)
c)  joint projects/partnerships of other Slovak and/or Hungarian NGOs with their Serbian counterparts, submitted primarily for the official development assistance programs, run by the Slovak and Hungarian governments (established as national agencies called Slovak Aid and Hunida), but later also for the EU funds

The NGO sector in Serbia faces a difficult situation, characterized by an absence of strong, experienced and high-profile NGOs situated outside of the capital city of Belgrade. Many NGOs lack a clear idea of their role in the partnership with local governments and business sector, missing necessary skills and vision. A similar experience with the transition to democracy in Slovakia and Hungary, especially with regard to building civil society and cross-sectoral partnerships, now offers great opportunity for the Pontis Foundation and DemNet to share their skills and know-how with local NGOs partners in central Serbia.

This project intends to assist NGOs in Serbia with a long-term, intensive capacity-building scheme of five leading local NGOs. An over-all aspiration is to leave behind more institutionalized organizations, which are stronger and sustainable. It will facilitate know-how transfer from Central Europe to Serbia, and increase the awareness of the Slovak and Hungarian non-profit sector about problems faced by their Serbian counterparts. Within the first year of the project, which is the subject of this proposal, the capacity-building scheme will include training seminars (related to the corporate philanthropy and cooperation with local government), regular in-country consultations and study trips of selected Serb NGOs to Slovakia and Hungary will be carried out.

For two years of the project implementation, both Pontis Foundation as a leading organization, and DemNet as a sub-contracted partner, offer full assistance to their partner NGOs in the form of continuous, long-term, targeted animation, with positive approach that is much needed in the NGO sector in Serbia.

Our NGO partners in Serbia:

1. CEDI - Center for Social Initiative, Smederevo
2. Pirgos, Civic Library, Pirot
3. NGO Forum, Kraljevo
4. Edukativni Centar, Kruševac
5. Protecta - Center for Civil Society Development, Niš