Author: Tijana Ilić

PRaćka 2025: When communication becomes an act of civic courage

At a time when public space in Serbia is increasingly narrowing, communication is no longer just a skill – it is becoming an act of civic courage. It is precisely from this belief that PRaćka 2025 was held, a two-day conference dedicated to trends in communications in the civil sector, which is traditionally held every year, this year’s – the seventh in a row. The conference opened up key issues of voice, trust and responsibility, but also awarded PRaćka awards for Creative Communication to organizations and initiatives that in the previous year showed how communication can be a tool for real social change – the SHARE Foundation and the Feminist Digital Hub “Ujedančene”.

Through panels, workshops and masterclass sessions, PRaćka 2025 raised issues of voice, trust, responsibility and visibility in a society where the fight for the public interest is increasingly being fought under pressure. The conference was moderated by journalist Željko Veljković, and the opening speech was given by the ACT project team leader Gorana Radovanović (Helvetas Serbia). She stated on that occasion that by working with organizations, we have learned how important communication is and that it allows us to build trust, engage and motivate citizens, “that in an era when we have artificial intelligence and countless communication channels, our role has never been more important”. “Just like in the story of David and Goliath, which was the inspiration for PRaćka, we believe that if we have the right weapons and know how to hit the target, we can defeat even the biggest Goliath”, said Radovanović and wished the participants that during the conference they would receive “the right slingshots”, communication ideas and tools from communication experts and that they would return to their organizations inspired and ready to use what they had learned. Dragoslava Barzut from Civic Initiatives also addressed the attendees, wishing them successful and productive work because “transparent communication is very important in the work of the civil sector at the present time.”

Day 1.

The first day of the conference opened with a keynote speech by Pavle Pekić, theater and film actor and president of the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia, who spoke about how to find and preserve a voice today in a society full of challenges, but also about the responsibility of those who have that voice.

The panel “Creativity and Reality”, moderated by Minja Bogavac, discussed how creativity is becoming the language of social change, but also the limits of that language in public space. Teodora Perić (Urbana guerilla), Ilir Gaši (creative producer), Nemanja Marinović (Zoomer) and Ana Mirkailo (Ujedančene) spoke about art and artivism as tools of resistance, but also about the risks, misinterpretations and challenges that such practices face.

Through the workshop “Transmedia Communication – How to Build Trust“, Andreja Koršič addressed the question of how messages can grow into experiences that connect communities, using the resources that organizations already have. In parallel, Sofija Nikić presented at the workshop “Google Ads Grant for Nonprofits” how digital tools can contribute to greater visibility and gathering support, even for small organizations with limited capacities.

The day ended with the presentation of the PETLJA platform (www.petlja.online), a new digital network designed to connect organizations, initiatives and experts in the field of civil society. The platform was presented by Ema Štefanac from Civic Initiatives, highlighting its potential as a space for knowledge exchange, cooperation and visibility of actors acting in the public interest. With this presentation, PRaćka further opened the space for discussion on digital infrastructure solutions that meet the needs of modern civil society.

Day 2.

The second day of PRaćka was dedicated to data-driven communication, strategic action, and protecting freedom of expression in an increasingly demanding environment.

The masterclass “Data-Driven Communication”, led by Miloš Janković from Catalyst Balkans, focused on how data can become arguments, not mere statistics, and how it is used to strengthen credibility, trust and influence in the public space.

As part of the workshop “Freedom of Expression Under Pressure: How to Recognize and Avoid SLAPP”, Uroš Jovanović spoke about the risks faced by activists and organizations dealing with topics of public interest, such as corruption and abuse. Through practical examples and basic legal guidelines, participants learned how to recognize the elements of potential SLAPP lawsuits, how to formulate public statements and announcements that remain within the framework of freedom of expression protection, and how to avoid the most common legal pitfalls.

The workshop “Indecent Offer: Negotiation and Lobbying Skills”, led by Nenad Stojanović, was dedicated to communication in negotiations with various stakeholders — from partners and donors, to the media and the community. Through a dynamic blend of theory and practice, participants worked on recognizing the right moment for negotiations, understanding the interlocutor and clearly presenting ideas and projects, with a special focus on lobbying skills and strategic presentation.

PRaćka Award for Creative Communication 2025

The second award went to the SHARE Foundation, for the zvuk.labs.rs project, for its exceptionally fast, responsible and transparent collection and processing of data on the use, as reasonably suspected, of acoustic weapons to break up demonstrations at a peaceful protest on March 15 in Belgrade. Through thousands of collected testimonies, precise analysis and clear visualization of data, the SHARE Foundation enabled citizens to have a voice, and the public and media to have reliable information and tools for understanding and accountability.

PRaćka has once again shown that communication in civil society is not a matter of form, but a matter of responsibility and reflection. Through the exchange of experiences, concrete tools, and recognition of good practice examples, the conference confirmed its role as a space where knowledge is shared, alliances are built, and the public interest is defended even when it is most difficult.

In a time of pressure, uncertainty, and attempts at silencing, the message of this year’s PRaćka was clear: when space is narrowing, togetherness must speak louder and smarter.

This year’s PRaćka was implemented with the support of the Swiss Government’s project “Together for an Active Civil Society – ACT”, implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Civic Initiatives. The opinions expressed at the conference do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Swiss Government, Helvetas or Civic Initiatives.

February 2, 2026
Stojanović: Serbia in 2025 will be marked by an unprecedented struggle for human rights and increased repression

December 10, 2025.

Source: N1 Belgrade

The current year was marked by Serbia’s very poor level in the area of human rights, but also by an unprecedented struggle for them, said Maja Stojanović from Civic Initiatives.

Commenting on the fact that Civicus Monitor announced in its latest report that it had lowered the assessment of the civic space in Serbia to the level of “under repression”, which represents a turning point after years of escalating attacks on fundamental freedoms, Stojanović stated in a guest appearance on N1 Television that when it comes to respecting human rights, which must be guaranteed by the state, Serbia was at a very poor level in 2025.

“What somehow marked the year for me, unlike some previous ones, was the great fight for human rights and the fight for the rule of law, starting with students, then citizens and all other segments of society. Probably because of that fight and because citizens have seen the level of human rights for years, we have had this increased repression, but I would say never before, the fight for human rights since 2000,” she said.

He believes that the struggle will continue, because we have not reached the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“What is important to me is that I see success in the fact that this fight is consistent, that it is repeated day after day. It seems to me that these local elections that we know this year were also under significant attacks by the authorities during the elections themselves. Even those elections in which the previous government retained power and this year, the increase in people who voted for the opposition, the way in which citizens fought for those elections shows that it is now clear to all of us that democracy is fought for every day – not only now while we want to establish the basic criteria of democracy, but also later when that democracy stops. We cannot simply stop,” says Stojanović.

In the Civicus Monitor report, Serbia is placed in the “under repression” category, which is the second lowest in the global framework, and Stojanović points out that the problem is that we are currently at such a low level that basic rights and freedoms are simply not guaranteed for any citizen.

“On a human level, this means that the law simply does not apply to everyone, that the law is applied selectively. And it seems to me that now, also because of N1 television, most citizens are aware of how people’s rights are violated, how many people are fired, how students are arrested, what kind of police torture is. It simply shows how the state applies the law to those who are trying to fight for human rights,” says N1’s interlocutor.

One of the things that made Serbia so low on the list is the pressure on the judiciary.

“We know that our judiciary has not been completely free for a long time, but what has happened this year, when the president himself threatens judges and officials who are doing their job, various dismissals and changes in the judiciary indicate exactly how the state actually views the judiciary. In the last few months, we have also had various public officials calling out judges by name. There are various smear campaigns against them. So, any judge who has decided to apply the law in a case or a prosecutor who has filed indictments for certain things, such as this Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime regarding the issue of the canopy, are simply under enormous pressure,” says Stojanović.

When it comes to the situation in the media, she states that the media is under great pressure.

“We know that the situation is already dark. I will just remind you of the campaign from 2017 and 2018 about the media darkness, which we called it back then, and the situation is simple, similar to the judiciary. The situation was dark before this. What is happening now is much more naked pressure, attacks on the UM group and the ways in which pressure is being exerted on private owners to change editorial policy or resign in the media is an indicator, but what is also happening is great pressure on journalists and local media that have been reporting very well on the protest all these years,” says Stojanović.

December 10, 2025
[REPORT] Civic Associations: Narrowing the Space for Action in 2024.

Belgrade, June 24, 2025

Citizens’ Associations – Narrowing the Space for Action 2024 is the sixth report published by Civic Initiatives, which assesses the state of the space for action and work of citizens’ associations. The analysis was conducted with the aim of systematically describing the space for action of civil society in Serbia in the previous year through practical examples. The report points to key problems in the areas of fundamental rights and freedoms, primarily the rights to freedom of association, expression and assembly, as well as issues of civil sector involvement in the policy and decision-making process and cooperation with government authorities.

In the previous year, 2024, there was an intensification of the use of repressive mechanisms by the authorities against citizens with the aim of suppressing fundamental freedoms. The negative trend of increasing attacks, both physical and verbal, was accompanied by some new forms of pressure to which activists and citizens are exposed. Mass, arbitrary arrests, detentions for informational interviews, interrogations solely for posts on social networks, wiretapping of activists and journalists, expulsion of foreign citizens from the country, along with a constant targeting campaign and political abuse of institutions for the purpose of dealing with dissenters, reached unprecedented proportions in the previous year, and their application continued in the current 2025. During the previous year, a total of 234 cases of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms were registered, of which 110 related to freedom of expression, 54 to freedom of association and 70 to freedom of assembly. In terms of the type of attack, out of 248 individual cases, 63 were physical attacks, 62 verbal attacks and 123 cases of pressure. The figures indicate an increase in the threat to fundamental rights and freedoms compared to 2023, and the data collected so far in 2025 indicate that the situation is even worse than before.

Yet, despite all the pressures and attempts to stifle authentic civic reaction and the right to protest and free expression, it seems that the organization and action of citizens and activists has never been stronger and more united. This is due to last year’s environmental protests, and then the student protests against corruption, which once again brought citizens to the streets across the country. A new wave of organizing and fighting for the rule of law continues to run parallel to the government’s attempts to disable and stifle citizens’ democratic right to act.

You can download the full report at the following link:

CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATIONS – NARROWING SPACE FOR ACTION 2024.Download

June 24, 2025
More open about the past – collections of scholarly papers on the wars of the 1990s available online

30. April 2025.

Before you are electronic versions of two collections of scientific papers, “Sources and Actors – New Studies of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s” and “Reviews of the Wars of the 1990s”, which in different ways address topics related to the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. What makes these two collections of papers particularly special, in addition to the topics themselves and the fact that they are collections of scientific papers published by a civil society organization, is that the authors of the texts are young historians and young scholars from other related disciplines, such as art history, sociology, communication studies, etc.

In this way, these two collections have given space to a new generation of researchers to engage in research on topics that the academic public in Serbia is still somewhat shy of, especially in the field of scientific paper production. In addition, topics related to the events during the wars of the 1990s are most often viewed through the prism of daily politics, which usually carries with it a large dose of non-objectivity, bias and emotions.

That is why the special value of the collection before you is precisely the success and achievement of these young people – that, despite being only at the beginning of their academic careers, they managed to “come to grips” with the topic of the wars of the 1990s in an objective, healthy and mature way, bring new perspectives to their study and thus show that dealing with the region’s war past and facing it is the path towards recovery, building trust and a common peaceful future.

You can download the proceedings by clicking the button below.

Essays on the wars of the 90s Download

Sources and actors Download

The collection “Sources and Actors – New Studies of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s” has been translated into English. You can download the English edition by clicking the button below:

Sources and actors Download

The collections of works by young researchers “Reviews of the Wars of the 1990s” and “Sources and Actors – New Studies of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s” were published as part of the project “Dealing with the Past – New Generations, New Perspectives” implemented by Civic Initiatives as part of the project “European Union Support for Confidence-Building in the Western Balkans”, funded by the EU and implemented by UNDP, and implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

April 30, 2025
HOW CITIZENS’ MONEY IS SPENT: A Manual for Identifying GONGOs and Phantom Organizations
Do you know how your money is spent?

Every year, millions of dinars from the public budget end up in the hands of dubious organizations. Although public competitions should support the work of organizations that truly serve the public interest, the reality is different: funds often go to so-called GONGO organizations (government organized non-governmental organizations), which are often established solely to extract budget money.

Civic initiatives, together with organizations gathered in the coalition Open About Competitions – OKO, have been monitoring these abuses for years. Through an analysis of the competition, allocated funds, and related organizations, we documented numerous irregularities and corruption schemes that enable non-transparent distribution of money from the budget.

Our research methods and findings have now been translated into the “Handbook for Mapping and Tracking GONGOs and Phantom Organizations” – a tool that enables faster identification of these organizations and uncovering their connections with decision-makers. The manual is intended for:
- To members of competition committees – to allocate funds based on realistic criteria, not pre-agreed arrangements.
- Journalists and researchers – to make it easier to follow the money trail and expose rigged competitions.
- Organizations and citizens – so they know how to check suspicious allocations and demand accountability from institutions.
Abuses are systemic – there is no epilogue yet

Let us recall that back in 2014, after it was discovered that funds from the Ministry of Labor’s competition had been awarded to organizations with identical projects, many of which were founded just a few months before the competition and some even after the competition was announced, the then Minister Aleksandar Vulin was forced to cancel the competition. In the same year, we filed a criminal complaint against an unidentified person over the disputed competition, which was dismissed by the Prosecutor’s Office three years later. Iste godine podneli smo krivičnu prijavu protiv NN lica zbog spornog konkursa, koju je nakon tri godine Tužilaštvo odbacilo.

Even after almost a decade of continuous reports of irregularities, the situation has not changed – abuses are present at all levels.

Irregularities were identified in public competitions announced by the Ministry of Family Care and Demography, the Ministry of Youth and Sports/Ministry of Tourism and Youth, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Education, city and provincial secretariats, the cabinets of ministers without portfolio, and individual local government units. Detailed analyses of competition procedures and recipients of funds showed: Detaljne analize konkursnih procedura i dobitnika sredstava pokazale su:

Let us recall the 2021 Ministry of Family Care and Demography competition. The funds were transferred to the accounts of private agencies owned by family members and close people. Most often, the competitions were intended for the prevention of domestic and youth violence, but it was found that the activities were either completely absent or were carried out without compensation by school employees. In this way, five million euros were extracted from the Ministry.

In the same Ministry’s 2022 competition, researchers came across a network of 24 organizations that were “created” immediately before the competition was announced, by re-registering existing associations that had not been active for years before.

Criminal charges have been filed against the responsible persons in the Ministry, but the competent Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has not yet initiated an investigation.

What next?

Download the manual and find out how the system of drawing budget funds through GONGO organizations works.

Let’s not allow public money to be spent behind closed doors.

Share this information and demand accountability!

You can download the manual by clicking the button below.

MANUAL Download
March 4, 2025

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