Populari’s Executive Director Alida Vračić participated in the international conference “Intercultural Dialogue for Greater Europe – The European Union and the Balkans” that was held on June 23-24, 2008 in Zagreb, Croatia and organized by the EC Directorate – General for Education and Cultures. Academics, religious leaders, policy-makers and NGO representatives came together at a conference in Zagreb to discuss the role of intercultural dialogue for the Balkan region and for Europe as a whole. The theme of this conference, organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture, was chosen in light of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It also follows the tradition to discuss this…

Alida Vračić, Populari’s executive director participated in the Enhancing Sustainable Local and Rural Development in the SAP Countries by Introducing the LEADER Experience“ held on May 19-20, 2008 in Budapest, Hungary. The international conference and site visit were organized by the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) in cooperation with the Rural Workshop Foundation Hungary (RWF) and the Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development in South-Eastern Europe (SWG RRD). ICDT and its partners’ objective is to transfer EU and more particularly Hungarian experience and best practices associated with a successful EU-wide scheme on local development, and implement the crucial initial phase of a multi-stakeholder capacity-building program to implant the LEADER approach in…

Populari’s Executive Director Alida Vračić participated in the international conference “Civil Society Development in Southeast Europe Building Europe Together” that was held on April 17-18, 2008 in Brussels, Belgium and organized by the EC Directorate – General for Enlargement. The conference’s main objectives were to offer civil-society organisations (CSOs) from the EU and the enlargement countries a platform for networking, exchanging best practices and building partnerships, and to disseminate information among civil-society actors about financial support to civil-society development under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) and other EU programmes. The conference was opened by the Commissioner Mr. Olli Rehn who emphasised the importance of NGOs in the achievement of basic…