The European Commission, DG NEAR, plans to support Civil Society Organisations (CSO) through the Civil Society Facility (CSF) and Media Programme by launching a regional Call for Proposals in late 2023 or early 2024. They are asking CSOs to provide input through a survey to better understand their needs and align their support accordingly. The survey can be filled by 15 September 2023 by following the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/websiteFZ93HZX. The European Commission, DG NEAR's complete communication on this topic can be found below.

Dear Civil Society Colleague,  

Following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, all of Europe found itself in a new geopolitical reality. The immediate applications for EU membership submitted by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in the spring of 2022 demonstrated, once again, that the perspective of membership of the European Union is a strong anchor not only for prosperity but also for peace and security.

As a result of this new scenario, EU enlargement has been put back to the fore of the European agenda, with direct consequences on the Western Balkans. Following the 2020 Council decision to open the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, the first intergovernmental conferences took place on 19 July 2022, opening a new phase in the EU’s enlargement policy for these two IPA beneficiaries. Similarly, following the Commission’s recommendation in the 2022 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy, Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted candidate status by the Council.

In this context, Civil Society Organisations are called to play a crucial role in the EU enlargement process in key policy areas and in fostering participatory democracies. The strengthening of CSOs’ capacities and engagement opportunities in policy- and decision-making is needed across various thematic areas, including the ones identified in the Economic and Investment Plan (EIP) for the Western Balkans, launched by the EU in October 2020. To this end, the European Commission plans to provide substantive support to CSOs through the Civil Society Facility (CSF) and Media Programme with the launch of a regional Call for Proposals, which will be published between the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

On behalf of the European Commission, DG NEAR, the regional EU TACSO 3 project is carrying out this consultation in order to receive your inputs for this upcoming Regional Call for Proposals for the Western Balkans and Türkiye.  

This consultation will enable the European Commission to gather feedback from a hopefully large number of CSOs in the region before launching the 2023-2024 CSF and Media Programme Regional Call for Proposals and align planned interventions with the needs that CSOs and media in the region will articulate.

Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey (TACSO) is a regional project funded by the European Union (EU) that improves capacities and strengthens the role of civil society organisations (CSOs). As a part of the CSF EU mechanism, TACSO assists CSOs to actively take part in democratic processes in the region, and it also stimulates an enabling environment for civil society and pluralistic media development.

Please follow the link to the survey below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/websiteFZ93HZX

You are kindly requested to complete the survey by September 15th at 18:00 (CEST) so that your input can be processed and considered in the Guidelines for Applicants.   

Please make sure to provide your accurate and updated contact details in the first part of the survey so that you may be involved in further activities of the TACSO 3 project relevant to your organisation and your interests.

We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation, and we are looking forward to receiving your survey results.

With best regards,

TACSO 3 Project Team 

Source: https://bit.ly/45IcrpQ