Civil society organizations and the media are starting the implementation of their projects as part of the second cycle of the "Learn, Mobilize, Participate" program.

As part of the second cycle of the "Learn, Mobilize, Participate" support program, the Belgrade Open School organized a three-day training in Vršac for local partners involved in environmental protection and improvement.

The training was attended by representatives of 17 civil society organizations and media partners whose projects are supported by the program.

The projects of the supported organizations and media will be implemented from September 2024 to April 2025, with the support of the BOS team. The activities of local partners will focus on the development and reform of environmental protection, concentrating on issues such as air quality, waste management, climate change, nature conservation, and horizontal legislation.

Local partners will implement their project ideas in Niš, Vršac, Leskovac, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Valjevo, Smederevo, and Kraljevo.

At the training, the selected organizations and media had the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills for successful financial and programmatic project management, as well as for applying methodologies to monitor the implementation of local public policies relevant to environmental protection.

In addition to the formal part of the training, we visited the Vršac Mountains' area of exceptional qualities and the Vršac Tower, where we got to know all the partners BOS will collaborate with in the coming months.

The training participants received promotional materials in tote bags made from upcycled textiles, created in collaboration with the Women’s Center Užice, as well as notebook-coloring books with illustrations of protected areas, made in partnership with the Manonija workshop, which uses recycled paper. In this way, we supported small, local producers who base their work on the principles of the circular economy.

The program is part of a five-year project "Together for the Environment," jointly carried out by the Belgrade Open School (BOS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Young Researchers of Serbia (YRS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia (AmCham), and the ENECA association.