In order to develop a dialogue between the civil and public sectors, the Belgrade Open School will implement the project "Dialogue of Change: Nurturing Participative and Evidence-Based Policy Dialogue in Reform Processes in Serbia" in the period from 2021 to 2023. The project will be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Societal Dialogue, the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies, the EU Public Policy Center of the University of Belgrade, the Olof Palme Center, and the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. 

Data from the European Commission's report for Serbia for 2019 indicate that no progress has been made in establishing a favorable environment for the development and financing of civil society and that further efforts are needed to ensure systematic cooperation between the government and civil society.

Project objectives:

The overall objective of the grant support is to enable constructive and meaningful policy dialogue based on evidence from practice.

Specific objectives:

• To support local CSOs involvement in decision making and policy development;
• To strengthen capacities of CSOs for active and meaningful participation in policy development; 
• To improve communication on policy dialogue between CSOs and public authorities.

Main activities:

• Financial support for projects of civil society organizations aimed at dialogue, problem-solving and positive changes in specific public policies;
• Financial support for research aimed at solving specific problems in the community;
• Exchange of knowledge and experience related to multi-sectoral dialogue on solving specific problems in the community;
• Capacity building for CSOs for effective involvement in decision-making processes and policymaking;
• Promoting examples of good practice in a dialogue between CSOs and public authorities leading to the reform process.

Expected results: 

• At least 100 CSOs will improve their technical capacities in concrete sectors thanks to the mentoring support, cooperation with individuals producing researches in specific policy areas, and additional support in acquiring specific knowledge and its usage in decision making process;
• At least 40 CSOs will receive financial and mentoring support to implement projects directed towards institutional changes in specific policy areas.
• At least 30 individuals (professors, researches, post-graduate students) will receive financial support to conduct research aimed at empowering CSOs to influence community reform processes;
• Public officials and decision makers in at least 60 local municipalities will have access to evidence, data and information from the researches produced and will acquire specific knowledge on policy development thanks to public policy capacity building programme;
  
• At least 5 line ministries of the Government of Serbia will expand their capacities and opportunities for networking, dialogue and cooperation with different stakeholders throughout policy dialogue;
  
• The University of Belgrade (faculties, institutes, academics, researchers etc.) will acquire mentoring support and improve their managerial skills in transferring evidence and data gathered in policy research into compelling policy instruments and communication tools needed to facilitate process of achieving positive sectoral changes in reform process;
  
• Media reporting on reform processes will improve their capacities to access and process evidence and data from different policy areas into easily understood information that can be communicated to wider interested but non-informed audiences.

The Dialogue for Change project will respond to existing challenges in the cooperation between civil society organizations and public authorities in the decision-making and policy-making process to address specific community problems. The project will enhance existing and develop new approaches in the dialogue between different stakeholders. The results of the conducted research will be used for capacity building of civil society organizations to be involved and influence the reform processes in Serbia. The project will also contribute to increasing the visibility, understanding, and overall recognition of dialogue as a key tool for decision-making and solving problems of public concern.

The project is supported by the EU Delegation to Serbia and will be implemented in the period from 2021 to 2023.