October 21st to 23rd 2010 marked the days of the 3rd edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum, a flagship event for Romanian civil society engaged in development cooperation. Recognizing the fact that in spite of many shared elements (history, politics, economic challenges) synergy still lacks in the region, the Black Sea NGO Forum seeks to increase the level of dialogue and coordination among NGOs in the region. The event was co-organised by the Romanian NGDO platform FOND, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission Representation in Romania.This year’s edition included on its agenda the review of major political and economic developments in the region, country developments (from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Romania), donors’ and international actors’ perspectives as well as a number of thematic panels (on Democracy and Citizens’ Participation, Sustainable Economic Development, Bridging Divided Communities, Environment and Youth) and Cross –Sector Panels (Capacity Building, Challenges for the independence of CSOs, Networking and Solidarity and New Media, PR and Communication Campaigns). Numerous interesting and intriguing topics engaged around 150 participants from around 18 countries in intense discussions and debates. TRIALOG facilitated one of the cross-sectoral panels, discussing the experiences of EPAN and those of working to create and sustain civil society platforms.
Certainly the initiative needs to further crystallize concrete ways of cooperation and synergies between the different actors involved. But the momentum is there, together with other complementary initiatives (i.e. the Eastern Partnership Forum) and many participants are looking forward for the 4th edition!
Information provided by Andra Tanase, TRIALOG
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