NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program -SKINHEADS' ASSAULT ON PEACE CARAVAN

Nis, Serbia, May 11, 2007 NPA regional peace activist partners' network "Objection for Peace" has been organizing Peace Caravan once a year since 2005. In direct contacts with general, mostly youth public, the Caravan activists from all around the SEE region promote values of antimilitarism and peace building.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program - Presentation of the Youth Hostel Project

In partnership with NPA, Youth Club "Under the Same Sun", Jablanica, BiH, implemented the project "International Youth Summer Camp on the Jablanica lake 2006". During the implementation they managed to get support of local authorities and Danish partners for developing the idea of transformation of an unneeded old ruined school into a youth hostel.

SLOBODA ZA ZELJKA BODROZICA!

U Kikindi i Srbiji i danas, sedam godina po rusenju Milosevicevog rezima, novinare osudjuju na zatvorske kazne. Iako je Komitet UN za ljudska prava u novembru 2005. godine utvrdio da su u slucaju uglednog novinara Zeljka Bodrozica drzavni organi Srbije odgovorni za krsenje slobode izrazavanja garantovane Paktom o gradjanskim i politickim pravima i nadleznim organima ove drzave nalozio da otklone posledice tog krsenja i nadoknade troskove koje je Bodrozic platio u brojnim postupcima kojima mu je pravo prekrseno, drzava to nije ucinila do danas. Naprotiv, na njega je nastavljen pritisak, a 2. aprila 2007 Opstinski sud u Kikindi donosi odluku da novinaru Zeljku Bodrozicu preinaci novcanu u kaznu zatvora u trajanju od 80 dana! Na vest o skandaloznoj odluci suda reagovali su BG Centar, NUNS, NDNV i Lokal Pres:

"Pescanik" promotion in Podgorica

November 2007, Podgorica: The promotion of NPA’s partner Pescanik radio show and 9th edition of the book "Pescanik FM" was held in bookstore Karver, in Podgorica, Montenegro, on November 27, 2007.

Liberal radio show, conservative association row

20 November 2007 | Source: B92 BELGRADE -- A promotion of Peščanik, an independent radio show aired on B92, has been cancelled due to security concerns.

New Foot for Courageous Saranda from Kosovo

Norwegian People's Aid is supporting Saranda Kastrati from Kosovo with a new prosthesis. Saranda was employed by NPA as a deminer and later community liaison officer in Kosovo, and she was injured while clearing mines in Kosovo in the year 2000.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program: Youth Community Action in Jablanica, BiH

The main objective of NPA's partner Youth Club UNDER THE SAME SUN (Jablanica, BiH) is to mobilize community young people to solve the problems that directly affect them. After visiting and presenting the project in 10 local communities in the Jablanica region, the Youth Club made an open call to young people to present their problems and possible solutions in writing.

NPA Partner "Pescanik" receives "Signal for Europa 2006" award

Authors of "Pescanik" Svetlana Lukic and Svetlana Vukovic are one of the laureates of the annual Freedom Award - "Signal for Europa 2006" granted by Reporters Without Borders, Austria. "It's good news to hear about the award. For Ceca and me and all our guests in Pescanik it means that our work is noticed and recognised. It also means that chauvinists follow our programme and realise, even better than we do, the importance of the topics we adress in Pescanik" says Svetlana Lukic.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program - Together for a Change

Central part of the project Social Youth Action, implemented by FORCA, Pozega, is organization of series of seminars, workshops and public debates, aiming to give theoretical and practical insight into the fields that make direct influence on social engagement of young people - such as democratization, tolerance, respecting differences and multiculturalism.

NPA Youth Initiatives Program: Croatian Youth Network, Zagreb: Public debate on youth policy

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program - Peer Educators for Democracy in School

Within the project School parliaments II: Incubator for Peer to Peer Educators, implemented by Education Center Leskovac, Serbia, 36 high-school students have been educated as peer-to-peer educators to prepare primary school pupils to understand and participate in school parliaments once (in a year or two) they become high school students.

Norwegian People's Aid Closes Reconstruction for Return Project in Croatia

After six years of implementation, Norwegian People's Aid marked the closure of its Reconstruction for Return Project in Croatia on Friday 14. September.

Journalism training for members of NPA Partner Kosovo Media Association Network (KOSMA)

5 - 9 February 2007: Journalism training for members of NPA Partner Kosovo Media Association Network (KOSMA) started on Monday in the premises of radio “Kim”, Gracanica.

WOMEN CAN DO IT PROGRAMME - ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WCDI GLOBAL CONFERENCE

Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) and the Norwegian Labour Party (NLP) are organising the First Women Can Do It (WCDI) Global Conference in Belgrade, Serbia from November 16 to 18 in Sava Center.

PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION FOR LANDMINE AND UXO SURVIVORS FROM SOUTH-EAST EUROPE IN ROVINJ, CROATIA, July 15 - August 12, 2007

In the period from July 15 to August 12, 2007 NPA Mine Action Programme Croatia assisted Croatian NGO "Bembo" in the organisation and implementation of a project aiming at supporting the Psycho-social Rehabilitation for Landmine and UXO Survivors from South East Europe. The project was funded by The US State Department through the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program

REGIONAL MEETING: Rhythm Changes, Demilitarization of Mind and other 2007 plansJanuary 26-27, 2006, Hotel «JEZERO», Palic, Serbia

Founder and director of former NPA's partner "Vijesti" beaten

Zeljko Ivanovic, the founder and director of Montenegro's first privately owned newspaper, "Vijesti", former NPA partner, was beaten by unknown assailants on September 1. His assailants do not appear to have given a motive for the attack, but Ivanovic suggested it was prompted by his newspaper's investigations into the business dealings of a former prime minister and president, Milo Djukanovic. Southeast Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) in the letter addressed to the Montenegrin President, Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs condemned this attack and asked for necessary legal steps to be taken to protect Mr. Ivanovic's life.

FOCID KOVIN - WE CAN DO IT BETTER

In December, FOCID – Fund for Civil Society from Kovin has organized promotion of children rights in centre of Kovin (Vojvodina) and New Year parties in schools where they implement program for integration of Roma children into the regular education system. FOCID activists have also presented the project We can do it better that is supported by NPA SEE in School Management in Zrenjanin.

NPA Youth Initiatives Programme - Successful school parliament in Medvedja

Under the supervision of NPA's partner NGO Education Centre Leskovac, a school parliament was formed in "Nicola Tesla" technical school in Medvedja in 2005. Soon after, the first parliamentary elections were held...

Get Out To Vote – Women Can Do It

Women Can Do It network in Serbia organized GOTV campaign in 25 towns all around the country. Campaign has two main goals: to invite women to vote in Parliamentary Elections, scheduled for 21st January 2007 and to enforce political parties in Serbia to candidate 30% of women from the lists to be members of the future Serbian Parliament. Campaign will reach more than 30.000 women.

NPA Youth Initiatives Programme - Rhythm Changes Promotion Continues (Pula, Croatia and Arilje, Serbia)

End of the demining season 2006 – Norwegian People’s Aid, B&H

At the end of the demining season 2006, NPA Mine Action Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina successfully finalized one more Community Integrated Mine Action Project CIMAP - Grebnice (BiH North). For the period of April-November 2006, 11 different clearance and technical survey tasks, delegated by BHMAC, were demined by manual deminers, machines and mine detection dogs.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program – A regional youth activist project RHYTHM CHANGES

NPA's partners Peace Action, Macedonia in cooperation with Why Not, BiH, Antiwar Campaign, Croatia, EBCO Balkan, Serbia, individual peace activist text contributors and activist music bands in the SEE region created a project Rhythm Changes. The project produced 5000 copies of brochure and 5000 copies of CD. The brochure contains 17 texts on peace culture and activism written by 15 authors and CD contains 19 songs played by 19 bands (rock, hip-hop, and punk-rock) with lyrics engaged in social activism from all around the region.

CESID - Voters’ Motivation Campaign

On January 3rd this year CeSID has started the realisation of the campaign „With You It Does Make Sense”. The aim of the Campaign is to motivate voters to use their right and vote at the Parliamentary elections in Serbia that will take place on January 21st. The Campaign consists of two . Within the direct campaign, CeSID intends to directly contact one million of voters in Serbia. CeSID activists will knock on doors of 150.000 families all around Serbia; they will contact by phone 50.000 households and send letters directly to addresses of 600.000 voters in Serbia.

LIMA CONFERENCE ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS, 23-25 MAY 2007

The Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, the second conference in the international process to ban cluster munitions was held in Peru 23-25 May 2007. The conference was concluded with widespread support for a new treaty, as 28 new countries joined the 46 states that launched a new process in Oslo in February this year, committing themselves to drafting of a new international instrument banning all cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians by the end of 2008.

NPA Partner "Pescanik" continuing Public Promotions of “Pescanik FM” book throughout Serbia

November 2006, Nis: Sixth edition of the book “Pescanik FM” was promoted in Nis, at the University building. The book is composed of transcripts of the radio show Pescanik. Svetlana Lukić, one of the two authors, emphasized that since B92, hosting station of the “Pescanik” radio show received a national frequency, it is quite difficult to follow the program of B92 in Serbia, especially at certain hours.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program - Youth Action for Decent Work

Educational Center Leskovac, supported by its partner Norwegian People's Aid, participated at the international Conference "Youth Action for Decent Work" held in Berlin from 01-02 June along with the 200 young people from all continents.

NORWAY’S AMBASSADOR TO CROATIA OPENED "WOMEN CAN DO IT" PROJECT

The Women Can Do It (WCDI) programme is a regional programme for empowerment of women, realized since 2001 in co-operation between the Norwegian Labour Party, NPA and local partner organizations through specific training modules. NPA and its local co-operating partner CESI - Centre for Education, Counselling and Research (www.cesi.hr) started Women Can Do It programme in Croatia with a Training of Trainers. The seminar was officially opened by Her Excellency Ms Elisabeth Wallaas, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Croatia.

Bergen, Norway - Undiscovered magic

By Dejan Miladinovic - In a trip organised by Norwegian People's Aid, graphic designers from the association of local print media "Local Press" Dejan Miladinovic, Nenad Gavrilovic, Djordje Alimpijevic and Bojan Mandic, led by the Secretary General of Local Press, Snezana Milosevic, paid a 7-day working visit to Norway.

The NPA Youth International Meeting: Johannesburg, South Africa, 11-20 November 2006

NPA annual Youth International Meeting took place in Johannesburg, South Africa in the period November 11-20, 2006. At the meeting, youth activist representatives from NPA partner organizations Lingua, Kraljevo (Bojana Milicevic) and Forca, Pozega (Dusan Radovanovic) together with an NPA SEE representative presented the NPA SEE Youth Initiatives program as a whole, projects of the two youth organizations as well as the Women Can Do It program.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program - NPA Regional Meeting "NPA Partners' Plans for Local and Regional Projects in 2008"

May 17-20, 2007, Hotel "Bistrica", Jahorina, Bosnia & Herzegovina On May 17-20, 2007, representatives of 17 youth partner CSOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia (30 youth activists) convened, presented their work, discussed their plans for 2008 and started planning new ways of regional cooperation and networking.

Cooperation of Association of Print Media "Local Press" and NPA

“Series of analytical, investigative journalism texts on important socio-political topics in local newspapers” November 2006: the members of "Local Press" started the project “Free access to Information Law in Local Communities”. The objective of the project is to investigate the utilization of the Law among journalists and citizens. Texts will be written by local journalists in order to show the citizens of Serbia the impact of this law on local authorities. 19 local newspapers, members of Local Press participate in the project. Every Monday new texts are available on web site: www.localpress.org.yu

NPA and the Serbian Mine Action Centre opened new mine clearance project in Serbia 17. October 2006

NPA was asked by the Serbian Mine Action Centre in December 2005 to look into the possibility to assist the Serbian government in clearing the remaining minefields on the border between Serbia and Croatia of landmines. An area of 4.3 million m2 of land is contaminated with landmines on the Serbian border with Croatia. To date 2,2 million m2 have been cleared, and 3.5 million m2 have been reduced through survey. The minefields are located in the area of Sid municipality. NPA is supported by the Croatian demining firm DOK-ING that provides NPA with a MV-4 mini-flail for the first year of operations in Serbia. The project lies under the NPA mine action programme in Croatia, as NPA works on both sides of the border. The mine clearance project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

General Elections in BiH – NPA youth partners’ GOTV campaign

General elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina took place on October 1, 2006. Analysts unanimously agree that CSOs considerably contributed to the elections turnout. NPA youth partner organization Odisej (Bratunac, BiH) - together with other two youth organizations - Youth Center, Bijeljina (Republic of Srpska, BiH) and Youth Association “December the 4th”, Hadzici (Federation of BiH) – successfully conducted a Get Out to Vote (GOTV) campaign for increased youth turnout in Bratunac, Bijeljina and Hadzici. For instance, comparing the turnout in the Bratunac municipality in 2002 and 2006, it increased from 52 % to 66%.

Asocijacija nezavisnih elektronskih medija

ANEM Statement UNACCEPTABLE NEW ATTACKS ON DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND RETURN OF HATE SPEECH BELGRADE, September 11, 2006 – The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly protests over the article published in today’s edition of the Belgrade daily Kurir, which is just the continuation of unacceptable nationalistic campaign against the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Ivana Dulic-Markovic.

Fourth Regional Women Can Do It Conference

Fourth Regional Women Can Do It Conference Women Can Do It project has been implemented for several years now in Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Kosovo , Serbia , Montenegro, Moldova and Macedonia . It is one of the few gender equality oriented projects that despite the focus at the local level and women's engagement in politics, seeks to promote the regional cooperation and communication between women politicians, NGO activists and women journalist at the regional level. Conference gathered 48 participants from mentioned countries/territories and from Belarus , as well as representatives of Norwegian Labour Party, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and of NPA.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program

Educational Center Leskovac Jablanica District Conference: “ Improvement of life quality of youth based on socially responsible business and public sectors”, June 03-04, 2006, Motel «Predejane», Predejane/Leskovac, Serbia On June 03-04, 2006 , NPA's partner Educational Center Leskovac organized a conference, gathering 72 representatives from school parliaments and public and business sectors from the Jablanica District.

NPA SEE Youth Initiatives Program

Regional conference: Strategy Development to Increase the Youth Participation in Public Life May 27-28, 2006, Hotel «SINDI», Kotor/Muo, Montenegro On May 27-28, 2006, representatives of 17 youth organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro convened in a small place Muo (near Kotor) (Montenegro) and discussed, analyzing ways to develop a strategy to increase youth participation in public life.

NPA Partners receive awards

Veteran journalists of Radio B92 and authors of Pescanik (Hourglass), Svetlana Lukic and Svetlana Vukovic, are recipients of the City of Belgrade's Journalism Award in 2006. Jury elaborated on its decision by saying that authors "have chosen a hard and unpopular path to uncover what is so willingly being concealed", adding that the "authors persistently remind us of the lost civil energy and unabashedly point out citizens' missed opportunities to live a better life".

Golubic school opening

On Friday, May 19 th 2006 in presence of the Norwegian Ambassador to Croatia , Mrs. Elisabeth Walaas as well as high officials of Sibenik-Knin county authorities and representatives of NPA: Emil Jeremic, RR, Ivana Kahrmann RPgM, Zaklina Rados, PgM, Vera Kalmeta Civil Enginee and Boris Solaja Field Officer, a festive opening of the Golubic primary school took place.