12.10.2010 .

The Institute of Sustainable Communities (ISC), as part of its training program, has organized a wide variety of training events for more than 750 civil leaders and activists from over 200 civil society organizations in Serbia. One of the most successful training events conducted by USAID's Civil Society Advocacy Initiative (CSAI) program, implemented by ISC since 2006, was held in Zlatibor from October 6-8, 2010. The Advocacy Academy gathered more than 30 representatives from the civic sector, representing the most talented civil leaders in Serbia, who received training on implementing effective advocacy initiatives through organizing well-planned, strategic public relations campaigns.

The training, organized in cooperation with Production Group Mreza, marked the end of the two year Mobile Advocacy School (MAS) cycle, which targeted activists, young leaders and talented promoters of public advocacy throughout Serbia. ISC's Training Team (Alexsandra Veselinovic and Jelena Bekcic), organized the Advocacy Academy at Hotel Olympus in Zlatibor, which gathered civil society representatives from Sombor, Temerina, Pirot, Nis, Novi Pazar, Tutin, Majdenpek, Bor, Donje Trnave, Kraljevo, Knjazevac, Uzice, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Priboj, Zrenjanin, Kikinda and Presevo.

ISC, unlike other international donor organizations, provides capacity building and tailored technical assistance on basic and advanced advocacy concepts, budget monitoring, project management and implementation, and strategic communications skills to civil society organizations that have not received financial assistance from the program.

As part of the overall programmatic efforts targeted at supporting the development of civil society, improving its image and disseminating the tools and resources needed to better represent the interests of citizens, ISC encourages citizen participation in public life and the development of civic networks that can be mobilized to address important local, regional and national level issues.

Working Segment

Intensive communications and PR training was conducted by a team of high-profile journalists, editors and media professionals from PG Mreza, including by Lila Radonijic, Maja Divac and Olja Beckovic. Mrs. Radonijic demonstrated to civil society representatives how to successfully communicate with media representatives, with a special emphasis on preparing press releases, the function and purpose of press releases and key principals of effective public communication skills. Training on preparing for public appearances, creating and disseminating newsworthy content, and practical lessons on etiquette and body language to be used while on camera, was delivered by Maja Divic, editor and presenter PG Mreza. All the lessons and tips were well received by the participants and provided for interesting debate.

A highly anticipated, but demanding work segment, awaited the participants with the well-known Serbian journalist and host of the most popular in-country talk show, Olja Beckovic. Through one-on-one work, as well as through group discussions, Mrs. Beckovic imparted the participants with sound advice on the most important aspects of public relations. The lion's share of the participants could not hide their admiration for the simplicity and convenience by which this high-profile journalist advised on how to best capitalize on the time afforded to them in media outlets, particularly while on television.

"For me, everything sounds simple and easy while I listen to Mrs. Beckovic, but when I get in front of the camera I suddenly get the butterflies and completely forget what project I work on and what I'm supposed to advocate for. However, during the mock-interview, I pulled myself together quickly, and was extremely pleased with myself when I received high praises from Olja at the end of the interview," said a participant from Pirot.

During the Advocacy Academy, ISC's Monitoring and Evaluation Team (Dragan Sreckovic and Svetlana Radosavljevic) organized five, region-specific panel discussion about the sustainability of the NGO sector. Each panel discussion included up to five participants from Vojvodina, Sandzak, Central, Eastern and Southern Serbia. Panelists discussed to what extent civil society organizations have developed, in terms of the legal environment, CSO capacity, financial sustainability and other key metrics used to measure the development of the sector.

The conclusions from these panels will form the basis of the annul report NGO Sustainability Index, which is a tool used by USAID to gauge the year-over-year improvements and/or setbacks in the development of civil society in Serbia and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Almost all the panelists expressed their contentment with the changes made to the Law on Associations, since for the first time the law clearly defines the roles, rights and obligations of CSOs. The panelists also agreed that that the CSO re-registration process obligated under the new law is straight-forward and transparent. On the other hand, participants pointed to the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to identify and secure funding sources. In particular, due to the effects of the global economic crisis and the fact that international donors - the primary source of funding for civil society organization - for some time now, have been pulling out of Serbia, as well as due to the centralization, or otherwise called Belgrade-ization.

The overall aim of the Advocacy Academy was to gather the best of the best of civil society in one place and train them to implement effective advocacy initiatives through strategic communications campaigns.

Ceremonial Part

The last day of the academy included a formal awards ceremony, which featured several prominent figures from civil society, who discussed topics of common interest to all civil society representatives. Amongst the guests of honor at ISC's Advocacy Academy were colleagues from ISC's Pristina office, including ISC Chief of Party Robert Garnett and Radovan Jovanovic, Grant Director.

The Executive Director of the Balkan Fund for Local Initiatives (BCIF) Miodrag Shrestha discussed the small grants program coordinated by BCIF that assists local-level civic initiatives. Participants were particularly interested to hear about the requirements needed to participate in future tenders and the selection criteria used to award grants. Mr. Shrestha talked about BCIF's current individual gift giving and its awareness raising campaign focused on inspiring citizens to contribute with small donations to charitable organizations. BCIF is one of ISC's four implementing partners selected to assist with the joint implementation of the Civil Society Advocacy Initiative program.

The topic of corporate social responsibility and strengthening ties between civil-private sector partnerships (both firms and individuals) was covered by Neven Marinovic, Executive Director of Smart Kolektive, one of ISC's implementing partner in Serbia. Mr. Marinovic discussed ways how civil society organizations can position themselves with private sector businesses, who are constantly seeking for avenues to fulfill their own corporate social objectives, to serve as financing sources for CSO-related projects, given that Seriba, like many other transitional countries, is moving in the direction of sustainable cooperation between the civil and private sector.

"Every other manager in Serbia, with whom we spoke to about whether his company was socially responsible, responded negatively. However when asked, ‘Did your organization help someone in a local community to address a problem' - all the responses were positive," explained Marinovic in an effort to both help the participants understand that this represents a failure in understanding the essence of corporate social responsibility and an opportunity for organizations to partner with and identify potential project funding sources.

Civic Initiatives (CI) representative Natasha Govedarica discussed with participants the big picture behind donor financing, the impact of taxes on the civil sector and best-practices employed by civil society organization to create long-term financial sustainability, which provided for a dynamic discussion amongst the participants. Civic Initiatives plays a leading role in pushing for reforms within the financial and legal framework regulating civil society organizations in Serbia.

The Serbian Assistant Minister in charge of Media, Natasa Vuckovic Lesendrić, spoke to participants about the most prevailing trends in fundraising which represent an opportunity for civil society organizations to form mutually beneficial partnerships with media outlets. Additionally, Mrs. Lesendrić confirmed the good will of the Ministry to involve civil society representatives in all phases of public life.

A number of practical lessons emerged following the presentation given by the editor in chief of Beta Agency Ivan Cvejic. Mr. Cvejic explained to participants the extent of the information that every news agency in Serbia receives in just the span of twenty-four hours. He also stressed the importance of the language that must be used by civil society organizations to get their key messages across in media and highlighted the importance of carefully selecting the timing for implementing particular activities, as news agencies assiduously prioritize news content to report on. "Beta News Agency receives approximately 3,000 daily announcements, invitations and/or press releases related to public occurrences each day. In my newsroom, there exists no bias against reporting on the activities of the civil sector, however, to succeed in winning over the attention of the editor, it is essential to use the tricks of the trade – clarity, conciseness and, most importantly, good timing," advised Mr. Cvejic.

During the formal ceremony organized on the last day of the academy, Marilyn Schmidt, USAID Deputy Head of Mission, and Sandra Stanic, CSAI Deputy Chief of Party, bestowed graduation diplomas to all the participants of ISC's Advocacy Academy.