On 28th and 29th of April 2016, within the project "Supporting Implementation of Civil Society National Strategy” and a study trip to Hungary and Croatia, the Ukrainian delegation visited the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
The delegation consisted of representatives of the Ukrainian civil society organizations, representatives of the OSCE, as well as representatives of public authorities such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Cabinet of Ministers, and others.
The purpose of this study visit, organized by the OSCE in Ukraine and in cooperation with the Cabinet of the President of Ukraine, was to gain international experience in establishing institutional mechanisms for the implementation of the National Strategy for civil society and to exchange knowledge on the establishment of effective mechanisms of cooperation between state and civil society in the implementation of the Strategy.
Since the inclusive consultative drafting process of the National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2012 - 2016 in Croatia presents a good example of practice, especially due to the fact that over sixty representatives of civil society organizations, local and regional governments, government bodies, academic community and the business sector actively participated in the making of the Strategy, while over a thousand citizens gave their contribution to the final content of the Strategy through public debate, the Ukrainian delegation wanted to hear our experiences and learn from the Croatian example of developing the Strategy.
On 28
th of April 2016 the Delegation attended the Public debate on the priorities of the National Strategy for the Development of Civil Society in the period 2017 to 2021. The goal of the discussion was to get feedback from civil society organizations on the priorities and challenges of the development of civil society in the new five-year period, together with the review of the implementation of the current National Strategy.
The public debates were held in Zagreb, Osijek, Split and Rijeka during the month of April 2016, and mark the beginning of the drafting process of new National Strategy. The process will be continued with additional thematic debates during 2016.
The debate was followed by the meetings with the representatives of the civil society organizations from Croatia that were active in drafting of the National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2012 to 2016. The meetings were held the next day, on 29
th April 2016, with the following representatives of NGOs: Toni Vidan - Green Action, Karlo Kralj - Croatian Youth Network, Katarina Pavić - Clubture, Ivana Kordić - Volunteer Center Zagreb, and Lidija Pavić Rogošić - ODRAZ - Sustainable Community Development.
The participants discussed the role of NGOs in the coordination, programming and monitoring of the implementation of the Strategy, and exchanged their experiences on mechanisms and ways of cooperation with state bodies in the creation and implementation of the Strategy.
The Ukrainian delegation also met with the representatives of the Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.
This was another in a series of international cooperation activities of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs, which confirms how important it is to exchange experiences and to set a good example for building relationships of cooperation between civil society and the state, but also to connect local civil society organizations with those across Europe. International cooperation and development is one of the thematic areas of the current Strategy, and the initiated activities will surely be continued within the measures of the Strategy for the period 2017 to 2021.
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International Cooperation
