First, on January 26, 2008 ECNL participated at the annual conference of the Federation of NGOs, the largest NGO umbrella organization in Serbia, which convened more than 300 participants from all regions in Serbia. Significantly, both the Speaker of Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister restated their commitment towards developing an enabling environment for NGOs. ECNL presented an overview of the draft Law on Associations as well as other legal and fiscal issues impacting NGOs.
Second, on March 10, 2008 the Parliament of Vojvodina (provincial Parliament) issued a Declaration on Volunteerism, which highlights an important role volunteerism plays in society, and endorsed the draft Law on Volunteerism. ECNL provided technical assistance in preparing the Declaration and the draft Law.
Third, in collaboration with Civic Initiatives (CI), ECNL provided technical assistance to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Team for Poverty Reduction in drafting a policy paper on an enabling institutional framework for Government/NGO collaboration in March. Significantly, the paper was commissioned by the Deputy Prime Minister and is the first policy paper on the topic ever commissioned by the Government. This initiative reflects an emerging consensus among key stakeholders that developing a framework for collaboration is a critical step towards the productive partnership with CSOs.
Fourth, ECNL continued to support working group efforts to prepare a new draft Law on Foundations. The working group, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, and composed of government and CSO representatives, lawyers, and academics has met three times in the reporting period and has made significant progress towards the completion of the draft.
Fifth, ECNL continues to play a constructive role in President Tadic’s Council on Civil Society. ECNL participated in a meeting to discuss the Council’s priority issues in 2008; significantly, CSO legal and fiscal reforms were identified as among the Council’s priorities for 2008.