“The existence of an active civil society is crucial to the vitality of political democracy. The continuous trend in Europe in the last few decades shows that more public services have been outsourced from the governments to CSOs. For that reason, it is of utmost importance that the CSOs are adequately supported and provided with relevant tools in order to fully exercise their rights and to effectively play their role in the democratic society.”
The EU funded Project, “Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations” (TACSO), commenced its activities in 2009 aiming to address these issues and to prepare the citizens of the Western Balkans region and Turkey for the European Union.
The TACSOs project intends to strengthen the overall capacities and accountability of civil society organisations (CSOs), to guarantee the quality of services of CSOs and their sustainable role in the democratic process, ultimately leading to the creation of a civil society friendly ‘environment’ and culture.
Who are we?
The project is implemented by a Consortium led by SIPU International, Sweden and is composed of the Civil Society Promotion Centre (CSPC), Human Resource Development Foundation (HRDF), Foundation in Support of Local Democracy (FSLD) and Partners Foundation for Local Development (FPDL).
The project TACSO was awarded to the consortium following a competitive tender. All the resident advisors come from local Civil Society Organisations. The consortium invites other CSOs (particular from the Western Balkan and Turkey) to collaborate with TACSO since TACSO aims at using local experts as much as possible.
Background
Civil societies within the Instrument for Pre-Accession assistance (IPA) countries have attained differing levels of development and effectiveness, and the CSOs which comprise these civil societies exhibit a marked diversity in regards to organisational category, type of activity and degree of capacity development. These civil societies share, however, a number of key challenges to their becoming significant actors in the development of their own country, whether as legitimate advocates with and for citizens, as partners of government in policy dialogue, or as participants in the wider process of European integration.
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Across the region civil societies are poorly networked and short of harmony and cohesion. Networks often lack depth or numbers, and are thus insufficiently informed, unrepresentative and short on “muscle.” As a result, one can observe the slow progress CSOs have made to date in forming cooperative relations with the government and governmental institutions in the fields of policy and social planning on the one hand, and in influencing government through advocacy and lobbying on the other.
Target group
The target groups of the TACSOs project are primarily the CSOs operating in the region of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/1999, Montenegro) and in Turkey. Additionally, other stakeholders addressed by this project are the governments as well as the private and public sector in the respective countries. However, it is crucial not to leave out the media who have and will play a significant role in informing the public.
The approach
This project assists in overcoming the above challenges through intensive, inclusive and interlocking measures focused on increasing CSOs’ access to relevant information and strengthening of their institutional capacities. The project also supports effective cooperation between the CSOs, government and other stakeholders to create a platform for facilitation of learning processes within/among organisations and institutions and sharing of knowledge, skills and experiences.
Mainstreaming of gender, human rights, HIV/AIDS, and poverty are encouraged and carried out by the Consortium’s experts at the highest level throughout the project implementation.
What TACSO offers
The TACSOs project, implements numerous activities targeted to provide relevant support to the stakeholders, such as activities on the development of needs analysis in each participating country, capacity development activities through tailor-made trainings in relevant fields and through the organisation and implementation of networking events.
Duration
TACSOs project will be implemented throughout August, 2009 – August, 2011.