This project seeks to promote and communicate the EU facilitated dialogue by bringing people and attitudes closer together.
KCSS since October 2018, is part of the Kosovo Serbia Policy Advocacy Group (KSPAG) 2018. KSPAG represent a consortium of think tanks and NGOs who strongly believe in the process of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The organizations were brought together by ashared energy to renew support for the deteriorating dialogue when there was little civil society interest in such initiatives. The individual and joint efforts synergise to create innovative approaches to sustain the dialogue and transform the narrative for the public. Partners of the consortium are also members of the Berlin Process Civil Society forum where we advocate for swift and sustainable solutions to bilateral disputes.
As part of KSPAG, KCSS has played a crucial role in research component of the project “Promoting and Communicating Benefits of the Kosovo-Serbia EU Facilitated Dialogue”. This project seeks to promote and communicate the EU facilitated dialogue by bringing people and attitudes closer together. Activities have been designed to reach out to the wider public – including, Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Serbian citizens to highlight the ‘good news stories’ of the impact of the technical dialogue. Research will magnify the human stories that have benefited from the technical agreements and at the same time, present different perspectives and challenges of the dialogue. The peer-to-peer component offers participants opportunities to engage with other perspectives, build alliances and challenge stereotypesand misconceptions which will contribute to constructive discussions on the dialogue.
The overall objective of the action is to promote and communicate the benefits of the EU facilitated technical dialogue on the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia to the wider public by focusing on a number of communication and outreach activities, peer-to-peer cooperation, research and local engagement.
-Broaden the support for the Kosovo-Serbia EU facilitated technical dialogue and normalisation of relations between citizens from Kosovo and Serbia by creating effective channels for sharing thebenefits and outcomes of the dialogue.
- Review the citizens’ perspective on the Kosovo-Serbia technical dialogue and its process to allow a better attuned normalisation process and measures.
-Facilitate cooperation and networking among, youth, CSOs, opinion-makers and media to support the Kosovo-Serbia technical dialogue.
-Enhance communication and fostering the citizens’ progressive perspective on the Kosovo-Serbia technical dialogue and normalisation of relations.
- Establish a standing group of CSOs and think-tanks capable of advocating for and supporting the technical dialogue between Kosovo-Serbia.
KCSS role in this project is to implement the research activities of the project. All involved partners and the project have agreed to use the focus groups as the main research input. In addition to the focus groups, the implementing organizations have agreed to use the online survey aiming to target the expert level and opinion makers to further complement the research in relation to the Dialogue facilitated by the EU. To date, KCSS has conducted ten focus groups in five municipalities of Kosovo where five focus groups were held with young participants and five with participants older than 35. Also, KCSS has conducted the online survey which targeted active members of CSOs, business sector, media representatives and youth. The data collected will be published in form of a comparative research paper which will be published in the first part of 2020.
The Kosovo Serbia Policy Advocacy Group was established in early 2018, as a tool to challenge the narratives at the society level and help policymakers to make the agreements in a more transparent manner. The Consortium is comprised of eight likeminded NGOs: Balkans Policy Research Group (BPRG), Democracy for Development Institute (D4D), Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) and NGO AKTIV from Kosovo, and Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE), Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), European Movement in Serbia (EMinS) and Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) from Serbia.
This project is funded by the European Union and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
