1 September 2009

BELGRADE - The OSCE Mission to Serbia together with the environmental NGO "EkoForum" from Belgrade, launched, on 5 August 2009, the project dubbed "Green Info Network", aimed at increasing the visibility of environmental civil society organizations, their public activities and communication with the media.
The project, funded by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and implemented by EkoForum, features a series of workshops designed to enhance public relation skills of environmental non-governmental organisations and render a mechanism for more efficient exchange of information on environmental issues among key stakeholders - civil society organizations, media, local institutions, experts and citizens.

"We hope that the project 'Green Info Network' will achieve to develop skills of environmental NGOs necessary to produce environmental information of better quality, enhance exchange of information, increase the visibility of public activities related to the environment and civil society organizations, in order to prompt their engagement in the decision-making process, which is a chain of events vitally important for improving the state of environment in Serbia", said Mihajlo Maricic, Project Manager of EkoForum.

During the workshops, representatives of NGOs will participate in brainstorming sessions conducted to identify actions to be taken with regards to environmental challenges in their towns and write feature stories and reports, which will be accessible on EkoForum's website (www.ekoforum.org).

"As the project aims to promote the Aarhus Convention principles, its activities relate to the programmatic objectives of the OSCE Mission to Serbia by supporting further development of democratic processes in Serbia through improving the quality of environmental information, freely accessible to the public and inclusion of the civil society in the environmental decision-making process", said Olivera Zurovac-Kuzman, Environmental Advisor of OSCE Mission to Serbia.

With this is mind, the project will have a country-wide spread and will be implemented in nine towns in Serbia: Subotica, Pancevo, Vrbas, Sabac, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar, Bor, Bujanovac and Pirot. Representatives of the local NGOs will undergo trainings, conducted by project team members on how to build their capacities for successful communication with the media and general public. By doing so, the civil society will be encouraged to take active participation in the decision-making processes, address environmental issues and garner recommendations for the local authorities with an appeal to act responsibly against environmental threats.

Towards the end of the project, in December 2009, workshop participants will compile a review of the state of the environment in Serbia based on the inputs and reports produced during the workshops. Their comprehensive summary will be presented at the final media event in Nis in mid- December 2009.

Source: OSCE Mission to Serbia