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Within the framework of boosting regional and international cooperation in the area of civil society development, the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs regularly participates in and organizes meetings with delegations from southeast Europe and beyond with the aim of sharing experience and good practice for the creation of an enabling environment for civil society development.
An expert meeting with the delegation of the Republic of Moldova was held as part of a study tour that took place from 27 February to 3 March 2012. It was the first activity within the project Engaging Moldovan Civil society in Building Pro-European Agenda through Acquiring Experiences from South-Eastern Europe. The project is being implemented by the Centre for Human Rights in cooperation with partner organization Foreign Policy Association from the Republic of Moldova. It is financed by the Open Society Institute within the East East: Partnership Beyond Boarders Program (EE:PBBP).
The aim of the five-day visit of the Moldovan delegation to numerous institutions and civil society organizations in Croatia namely, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Government office for Human Rights, the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs, the Office of the Ombudsman and many civil society organizations, institutes and foundations, was to transfer experience and adopt new knowledge in the area of society democratization on the path of the Republic of Moldova to the EU.
The staff of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs presented the mission and tasks of the Office and other bodies that make up the institutional framework for civil sector support in Croatia. Other presentations focused on key sector documents and challenges currently facing the civil society organizations in the task of encouraging civil sector development in Croatia as well as the ways of financing CSOs’ activities from the national and EU sources. Special attention was given to grant schemes from which CSOs can obtain funds for numerous activities related to civil sector strengthening, with the emphasis on the projects dealing with protection of human rights and combating corruption. The members of the delegation were especially interested in the topic of conflict of interest prevention in cases when CSOs are financed from the national funds while performing the so called watchdog activities, as well as in the allocation of national funds to particular sector policy areas which systematically support the contribution of CSOs.
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