Policy Reforms

By supporting Civic Initiatives, ISC is creating an enabling environment for the civil society sector in Serbia. This is done through advocacy initiatives for the adoption of the Law on Associations and its proper implementation, and also for a set of financial regulations that provide for a more favorable tax treatment of civil society organizations and create tax stimulations for businesses. In more general terms, we are working to strengthen civic participation, protection for human rights, and empowered youth.

Through the Balkan Community Initiatives Fund, ISC is supporting less-developed civil society organizations in Serbia in order to boost grass roots community level activism and to integrate citizen input and community ownership into local policy agendas. BCIF is also a key partner of ISC in promoting local philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. The European Center for Not-for-Profit Law contributes to the development of civil society in Serbia by facilitating CSO efforts to advocate for legal and regulatory changes; developing local expertise and capacity on legal issues affecting CSOs and civic participation; supporting the drafting of civil society legislation; and empowering local partners to expand upon legal reforms and advocacy initiatives.

In order to further nurture the climate for and assist the work of CSOs, ISC is encouraging voluntarism by conducting a nationwide advocacy campaign for the promotion of volunteer work and improvement of voluntarism legislation in Serbia. The campaign seeks to increase the level of public awareness on the importance of and the need for proper legal regulation of voluntarism in Serbia; to increase public awareness of the values and significance of voluntarism for the development of society; and to increase the level of citizens’participation in creating favorable conditions for the development of voluntarism in Serbia, including voluntarism legislation.