Activity Report
Title
of Project:
Reinvigorating Regional Cooperation through Fostering Local
Initiative: A Proposal for Reform of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe
Issue
Area:
Conflict Prevention in Southeast Europe
Research
Activity
Preparatory stages of the research
Preliminary
consultations with mentors regarding changes in the
originally proposed research as recommended by the IPF; -
Preparatory
research, analysis of academic literature and data relevant to the project. The latter
includes existing policy analyses focused on SEE; policy documents by
governments and international organizations pertaining to the SEE region; background
information. In addition, for the purpose of the cross-regional comparative
analysis suggested by the project mentors, I have analyzed academic literature
and policy documents focused on other regional associations;
-
Preparations
for the scheduled field research.
Field research
The
research consisted of in-depth personal interviews and analysis of resources
provided by these organizations/institutions. The changes in the focus of the
original proposal, which were also recommended by the IPF, were determined by the priority problems and themes
identified by my respondents and interviewees. Proposals by the project mentors
were also taken into account.
The field research included the following research trips:
» Field
research in Sofia, Bulgaria
The field research trips took place in the following periods:
12 May - 1 June 2002; 12 August 2002- 14 August 2002; 16 September 2002- 5
October 2002; 15 March 2003- 22 March
2003.
The field research was focused on the activities/work of the following
organizations (not in any special order):
-
Gender
Taskforce of the Stability Pact - Bulgaria.
-
The Bulgarian national working group of the Media Taskforce of the Stability Pact.
-
Project for strengthening democracy at the local level and local
government capacity building in the Harmanli county, Bulgaria (coordinated by the
National Centre for Regional Development, Bulgaria; the project is
funded by the Council of Europe and is executed within the
framework of the Stability Pact).
-
The
National Organizing Committee of the Link Diversity Initiative, part of
the Stability Pact.
-
The
unit responsible for regional transport infrastructure development in
the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications.
-
Bluelink, Bulgaria - information network created by major
Bulgarian environmental NGOs. The network in currently one of the leading
implementing agencies in a REReP
project coordinated by the Regional
Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) within
the Stability Pact.
-
Za Zemiata
(For the Earth)- Bulgarian environmental NGO closely
linked to Central and Eastern Europe Bankwatch Network (Bankwatch).
It is currently
involved together with Bankwatch in a project for monitoring of the Stability
Pact with regard to public participation in the reconstruction process
in Southeast Europe. The project is supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and REC.
-
Center for Environmental Information and Education- Bulgarian environmental
NGO closely linked to Bankwatch. The
member of the NGO that I talked to has substantial experience with
different projects.
-
A unit in the Bulgarian Ministry of the Environment and Waters responsible
for a REReP project within the Stability Pact.
-
The Bulgarian member of the executive board of the SEE environmental NGOs network
(SEEENN) established
by a REReP project.
-
Bulgaria Economic
Forum. The NGO organizes the annual Investment
Forum for SEE and publishes investment and business guides for the SEE
region as part of international projects.
-
Project for strengthening democracy at the local level and local
government capacity building in the Elena county, Bulgaria (coordinated by the Foundation
for Local Government Reform, Bulgaria; the project is funded by the Council
of Europe and is executed within the
framework of the Stability Pact).
-
The Bulgarian National Coordinator of the Stability Pact, Vladimir
Filipov.
The field research in addition included
-
Personal
consultation with the third mentor of the project. I have requested and
received a number of official documents pertaining to the project by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the cooperation of the Office of the
National Coordinator of the Stability Pact.
-
I attempted to research a current REReP project aiming at the
development of a Regional Environmental Information Portal for SEE.
Interestingly, however, the project stakeholder and implementing agency -
the Executive Environment Agency, Bulgaria- imposes strict
prohibitions on its employees to give any information whatsoever to researchers, and
subsequently called off a pre-scheduled meeting and did not react to a
formal email request for clearly specified concrete information. Thus, while
no substantive information was received, this case itself was informative
with regard to certain aspects of my research.
-
Several follow-up interviews aimed at updating findings from the earlier
research trips.
-
Several short phone conversations with people involved in projects funded
by international donors or initiatives, e.g. the Disaster Prevention
Preparedness Initiative within the Stability Pact.
The
project built on earlier research executed in December
2001 in the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Association
of the Bulgarian Enterprises for International Road Transport and the Roads (AEBTRI).
Some findings from these earlier interviews, after a follow-up research, have
been relevant for the current project.
» Field research in Budapest, Hungary
The short field research took place in the second half of October 2002.
It included research on the above-mentioned current Bankwatch project on monitoring of the Stability
Pact, which is closely related to my own research, as well as discussion with the project
coordinator in Budapest.
» Field research in Zagreb, Croatia
The field research took place between end December 2002 and early January
2003. It was focused on the activities/work of the following organizations (not
in any special order):
-
Gender Taskforce of the Stability Pact- Croatia.
-
The unit in the Ministry of Environment of Croatia that deals with international
funding for environmental projects and investment.
-
Programi
PINTA (Programs PINTA), Croatia. The organization was selected by the Ministry of Environment of Croatia
as an implementing agency in a REReP project within the Stability
Pact.
-
Zdravo Društvo (Healthy
Society), Croatia. The organization works on projects promoting multiculturalism and intercultural understanding.
-
Nacionalni savez mladih Hrvatske
(Croatian National Youth Council).
-
Demokratska Inicijativa Mladih
(Democratic
Youth Initiative), Croatia. The organization focuses on the education of
young people in advocacy and political activity.
-
Interkultura, Croatia. The organization focuses on promoting
multiculturalism.
Conferences
Attended
Participation
in the following conferences facilitated my research:
March
2002, Budapest: Workshop of the Blue Bird Project. Agenda for Civil Society
in South-East Europe. Organized by the OSI.
May
2002, Budapest: 4th Annual Graduate Student Retreat organized by the
Society for Comparative Research. (I presented an academic paper which is to
some extent relevant to my draft research paper and I benefited from comments by
senior and junior academics).
Project Output
The findings of the research can be found in the final research
report. I have also written a discussion paper that critically evaluates the
prevalent policy approaches to conflict prevention in SEE. This paper addresses
more general academic and policy debates. The
main findings of the study and the recommendations developed on the basis of the
research are summarized in the policy paper.
Dissemination
All papers written as part of the project, including the policy paper, are available on my IPF website. The following article published in a refereed Bulgarian
academic journal presents some of the main findings of the research:
Gergana Cisarova-Dimitrova. 2003. "International Assistance to
Southeast Europe: Solution of the Problems or Part of the Problem?" (in
Bulgarian). Dialog 4: 8-15. ISSN 13119206. Following significant revisions and continued research,
the discussion paper has become the basis of one chapter in my Ph.D.
dissertation. I plan further publications on this topic. Some parts of the research have been relevant for my
presentation at the CEEISA/ISA International Convention (Budapest, June 26 -28,
2003).
 top
of page
|
