Partners Serbia
Partneri za Demokratske Promene Srbija
Partners-Serbia is a civil society organization committed to advancing a
culture of change and conflict management, rule of law, democracy and human
rights, citizen participation, and civil society in Serbia and in the Balkans region.
Areas of Expertise
- Change and Conflict Management
Partners-Serbia participates in the development of public policies in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) by providing services such as capacity building, coaching, mentoring and mediating actual cases, mediation training, and outreach and awareness-raising. Partners-Serbia works to strengthen organizations’ and communities’ abilities to manage change, maximize the benefits of diversity, and prevent and resolve conflicts.
- Accountable governance & Anti-corruption
Partners-Serbia works in the areas of good governance and anti-corruption, anti-discrimination, environmental protection, and human rights promotion and protection to develop new initiatives and public policies, prevent corruption, promote the inclusion of minorities and empowerment of marginalized social groups, enhance the capability of local government to work with diverse constituents, and manage community change and conflict.
- Rule of Law
Partners-Serbia supports strengthening the rule of law through legal reform projects designed to build services and institutions that prevent and resolve conflict, provide better access to justice, promote and implement best practices, and work with the legal system to develop inclusive public policies. This work includes public policy development, assistance and cooperation with professional legal associations of judges, prosecutors and lawyers and providing initial and continuing legal education training.
- Civil society development
Partners-Serbia builds the capacity of non-governmental organizations and community groups to implement cooperative advocacy projects and develop collaborative community initiatives.
- Consulting Services
Partners-Serbia offers various consultation and advisory services customized to meet the needs of individual client/organizations; such as, strategic planning, organizational development strategies and resource identification, facilitation of decision-making meetings and large-scale sessions, evaluation of organizations, programs, and major cross-sector initiatives, individual coaching for leaders of organizations, mediation and other ADR services.
Current Programs
1. Integrative Mediation Project, South Serbia
This 3-year project brings together local leaders in four selected multi-ethnic municipalities in Kosovo, Serbia and (fyro-) Macedonia in Integrative Mediation processes that focus on conflict transformation at the local level by building skills in problem-solving approaches, raising awareness of the concerns of vulnerable groups, building trust among the communities, and developing strategies to institutionalize intercommunity cooperation. The project, which is funded by the CSSProject on Integrative Mediation, contributes to stabilizing intercommunity relations at the local level and supports the decentralization processes of each country.
2. Implementing the Public Data Protection Act
This 18-month program funded by the Open Society Foundation focuses on educating stakeholders to their rights and responsibilities under the Public Data Protection Act, including businesses, NGOs, citizens, media and government agencies. Partners-Serbia will convene different sectors to train them and raise awareness about new provisions in the Act and work directly with the independent Public Information Commissioner in the implementation of its mandate.
3. Educating the Next Generation of Leaders in Democratic Principals
Partners-Serbia is creating a series of 10 e-learning modules on 10 key democratic issues facing Serbia in the next decade. Drawing on leaders in the human rights, anti-corruption, and pro-democracy fields in Serbia, the modules will include self-paced online learning and facilitated offline discussion. Students in their 3rd and 4th year of university studies are targeted from throughout Serbia. The program builds on successful e-learning approach Partners-Serbia Director, Blazo Nedic, developed in 2006 when he worked at the American Bar Association in partnership with the CRIS Human Rights Network based in Nis. The program is funded by the European Commission.
Our Network
