Following the successful promotion and broadcast of the documentary “Neighbors”, the film was selected to participate in the Mobilkom Austria Award 2008. This prestigious award stands for socio-political dedication in order to facilitate freedom and democracy. More information on the competition is available at www.mobilefuturetalk.at/award.

A distinguished jury, comprised of leading representatives from politics, economy and media, shall execute the selection and present the winner on 14 October 2008 at mobile.futuretalk 08 in Vienna.

Please follow the link to view the film at B92 YouTube blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-wsviOrbl4

The film “Neighbors” deals with ethnics stereotypes and prejudices in the region of the Western Balkans, showing how the individuals of different national background - Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Macedonians, Slovenians and Bosniacs - view their neighbors from the region. This is a comparative study of the critical transitional and integration issues in the South-East Europe, through participation of the experts (sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists), representatives of political parties and citizens. The focus is on omnipresent issue of nationalism, as well as the ethnic and religious hatred. Citizens of the larger cities of the ex-Yugoslavia answer questions related to their personal view upon their own and the neighboring nations.

“Neighbors” are produced in a way that is easy to relate to by all citizens, and that points to value of tolerance and respect of human rights.

The film was made during late 2005 and 2006, with financial support of the German Marshal Fund - Balkan Trust for Democracy. It is 50 minutes long, with a signature of Vesna Simic as Author. The executive production was done by the Democratic Transition Initiative.

Within the project “Youth for young entrepreneurs”, implemented in partnership by City Municipality of New Belgrade and Democratic Transition Initiative, under the auspice of the City of Belgrade Economy Department, on 06 February at 4 pm in the Conference Hall of the Municipality of New Belgrade the first round of training will begin. The training is intended for young entrepreneurs and future young entrepreneurs, those young people that have the will, desire and knowledge to try themselves in creating their own entrepreneurial career. The training will be delivered in several segments:

• Basics on entrepreneurship
• Creating a business plan
• Market analysis and marketing
• Financial management and legal regulation

Below are the dates of the training sessions:
1.       06 February – introduction workshop, introducing the plan and program, distribution of work material
2.       07 and 08 February – what is entrepreneurship?
3.       14 and 15 February – market analysis and marketing
4.       25, 26 February and 03 March – business plan, what is a business plan and how to make one
5.       04 and 05 March – financial management

During the training, we will have the opportunity to meat representatives from the banking system and Economy department of the City of Belgrade, who will discuss the possibilities and means of financing and crediting of entrepreneurial businesses.

Ceremonial opening and promotion of the Business & Technology incubator of technical faculties Belgrade took place on December 14, 2007. The B&T Incubator was officially opened by Ambassador of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Hans Ola Urstad in the presence of more than 100 guests – ambassadors, representatives of the ministries, the City of Belgrade and many municipalities in Serbia, university professors, successful entrepreneurs. Vice-Rector Professor Aleksandar Sedmak and the Chairman of the Municipality Palilula Danilo Bašić have pointed out the significance of the B&T Incubator and announced further strong support by these institutions. Gordana Danilović Grković, the general manager of the B&T Incubator, emphasized the support that the B&T Incubator has from the Ministry of science of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Belgrade - Secretariat for the Economy, as well as the help from OSCE Mission to Serbia, the Israel Government and USAID.

The B&T Incubator was founded by the four Technical Faculties of the University of Belgrade (Civil Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical and Technological/Metallurgical), Palilula Municipality and Democratic Transition Initiative.

Tonight at 9pm on TV B92, a documentary “Neighbors” will be aired. For all of those that have not attendant the promotion of our film - the author Vesna Simic made this remarcable story on stereotypes in the Western Balkans region, under the project “Road to Europe”, financed by the Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) and produced by DTI. The documentary film “Neighbors” portrays how different ethnic groups – Serbs, Croatians, Albanians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Slovenians and Bosnians – see there neighbors within the region. The film is 50 minutes long.

The municipalities of Indjija, Irig, Sremski Karlovci, Stara Pazova and Sid have held preliminary meeting regarding the support of the regional solid waste management project. The objective of the program support is to constitute an approximately similar level of quality services in the above stated municipalities, as well as exchange of experience and maintaining tighter cooperation in regard to protection of the human environment and waste management. The Program was initiated by DTI and Municipality of Indjija, and financed by the Embassy of Finland, in order to implement the Cooperation Agreement on opening of the Srem District’s regional landfill on the Municipality of Indjija’s territory.

The Program is being implemented under the name “Protection of human environment at the local level – setting up Srem District’s regional landfill”. On the preliminary meetings, besides the officials from Municipality of Indjija’s Mayor’s office, Public Communal Enterprise “Komunalac” and DTI, the representatives of other municipal administrations and public communal enterprises were present. It was agreed that in the program’s first phase, four public meetings are to be held in the stated municipalities, where the participants are to discuss and speak about own results, problems and experiences in solid waste management, while Municipality of Indjija will present is own waste collection and waste separation model.

Municipal officials and clerks, human environment organizations, media and representatives of school parliaments that deal with protection of human environment are intended to be present on the public meetings, as well as all the citizens concerned with the problem of human environment protection. The Public meetings will be held by the end of this month, and later on, based on the presented experiences on collection and separation of solid waste, DTI will prepare and distribute informational material in cooperation with the partner municipalities, with the aim of increasing citizen’s consciousness and bringing to their attention the importance of waste separation and more responsible relation to our environment.

During the Program’s final phase, DTI and Municipality of Indjija will provide technical assistance in the partner municipalities in the process of harmonizing municipal regulations and decisions in the area of waste management and protection of human environment.

Municipality of Negotin is implementing a project on reconstructing forest-park „Flower shop“ with the help of European Agency for Reconstruction donation, through the INTERREG program, in cooperation with the partner from Romania – Agency for protection of human environment „Turnu Severin“. Currently the project is in the final phase of completing the main project documentation and the beginning of construction works is expected by mid February. In order to bring the „Flower Shop“ to function, it is not enough to just reconstruct the area. It is necessary for citizens – future users of park’s content -  to be included in the proposing and designing content and activities that will be done in this given area.
For that purpose, and in cooperation with DTI, EAR and Municipality of Negotin are taking steps to form consulting citizen bodies that will be previously educated and later on participate in the contemplation of the plan of activities that need to be done in continuity in the park.  In such way, the park will constantly be filled with positive substance and as the result, the citizens will preserve and take care of the park’s appearance and its safety.
The two citizen groups - Citizen Advisory Board and Youth Task Force - will in the following month undergo an education program and a series of meetings, in order to produce a feasible activity plan for the park and commence its implementation.

It is our pleasure to announce that the seminar on citizen participation, held last week in Aeroklub, Belgrade, has successfuly completed.

The seminar attended: Šemsudin Kučević, President of the Municipality of Tutin; Amer Bakić, PR of the Municipality of Tutin; Milorad Rubaković, Head of Financial Department, Municipality of Čačak; Mira Milinković, Expert Associate for Development Projects, Municipality of Čačak; Radmila Stojanović, Head of Management Unit, Municipality of Nova Varoš; Ljubica Gordić, Secretary of the Assembly of the Municipality of Nova Varoš; Vasvija Gusinac, Project Coordinator in the Cabinet of the President of the Municipality of Novi Pazar; Dženana Hamidović, Head of Assembly of the Municipalty of Novi Pazar; Ljubica Bogosavljević, President of Assembly of the Municipality of Arilje, Ivana Novaković and Milan Petrović, Municipality of Arilje.

DTI and Agora CEE want to thank all participants, hoping to continue successful cooperation in the future.

Agora Central Europe and Democratic Transition Initiative
Supported by the Standing Conference of Cities and Towns (SKGO)
Organize
Seminar on Partnership Building and participation in decision-making processes on municipal level
4-5 October 2007
“Aeroklub”, Belgrade

Seminar Aims: Presenting the possibilities for more citizen participation, including explaining the methods in which those possibilities can be successfully used. Getting acquainted with these methods through practical work and interactive workshops. Presenting the successful projects on the theme of participation in Serbia and abroad (Czech Republic).

Target Audience: representatives of local self-governments and municipal officials. Expected to come are one politician (mayor, president or vice-president of the municipality) and one employee from the municipal bureaucracy.

Lecturers:
Dr. Ing. Pavel Micka - employed at Agora Central Europe. Rich experience with citizen participation programs in Czech Republic. Expert in the field of preparing and organizing surveys.
Ing. Jitka Materová - employed at Agora Central Europe. Primary focus public planning, specialized for preparing public hearings and working groups.
Jelena Nesic - DTI President; positive experiences realized in 15 municipalities in Serbia, in implementing similar projects.

The seminar is held in cooperation with Municipal Support Program (MSP) and PRO Program. The project is financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic through Transformation Cooperation Program.

On Tuesday, 2nd of October 2007. at 17:30 hours, in the premises of Aeroklub, Uzun Mirkova Street 4, Belgrade.

The documentary “The Neighbors” deals with ethnic stereotypes in the Western Balkan region, exploring the ways that different nations - Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Macedonians, Slovenes and Bosniaks - view upon their neighbors. The film is 50 minutes long; executive production was done by the Democratic Transition Initiative (DTI), as part of the project “A Road to Europe“, financially supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD).

Entrance is free, but you are kindly requested to confirm your arrival by sending your name (number of guests) to office@dti.org.yu not later than Friday, 28th of September 2007.

As part of INTERREG project The Development and Promotion of Local Systems to Support Innovative MSP in Albania, Bosnia and Serbia, coordinated by the University of Bologna, the Democratic Transition Initiative (DTI) organizes a workshop

Entrepreneurial Challenges in Global Competitiveness

On 26th and 27th of September, from 10 to 16 hours,
In the Great Hall of the Municipality of Kragujevac

Lecture will be given by Prof. Piero Rovigatti from Italy on the topic of entrepreneurial empowerment, thus the workshop is to be attended by primarily the young people, wishing to start up their own business, possibly in cooperation with Italian companies. Simultaneous translation from Italian to Serbian and all necessary materials are provided by DTI.

As part of the project a series of seminars will be held, aiming to help the attendants develop business plans, followed by a mini-competition. The authors of the two best ideas (the best business plans) will get the opportunity to go on a study tour of Italy and Italian companies in the developed northern region of the country.

We would like to thank the National Employment Service (office in Kragujevac) and the local LED office of the Municipality of Kragujevac (who helped us provide the premises for the lecture) on cooperation and assistance in organizing this action.