Training on Environmental Watchdog for representative of CSOs

Environmental policy-making and decision-making are at an important stage due to the moment of Albania's political dialogue on its EU integration process (approximation of environmental policies according to the environmental acquis/chapter 27).

Given this, the role of civil society organizations is a catalyst and necessary for the orientation of environmental policies towards EU models and for enhancing the participation and transparency of these processes. To increase the participation and effectiveness of interaction between civil society organizations and decision-making structures in charge of environmental and energy policies, watchdogging and active participation are essential.

EDEN Center, on October 7 and 11, organized two training sessions to build the capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs) on environmental watchdog in order to strengthen the role and position of CSOs in the process of the country's EU integration process, focused on environmental acquis. More than +15 environmental civil society organisations benefited from the training sessions.

During this training, CSO representatives were introduced to the practice of environmental watchdog, the main steps in starting a watchdog campaign, the history of environmental watchdog cases in the country and the region, possible current cases that can be followed by environmental CSOs through environmental watchdog. In the following, participants interacted to build plans for environmental vigilance campaigns, combining their previous experience with the knowledge and skills gained during the training.

We thank the participants for their contribution and active engagement in discussions and working group sessions.

The program for building the capacities on environmental watchdog comes as part of the "Empowering Civil Society Activism and Concrete contribution into EU accession negotiation process in Albania", implemented by EDEN Center and EDMI, with the financial support of the European Union in the frame of IPA 2017 program.