October 20-21 2010 The last seminar of the Think and Link Programme 2009-2010 was held in Belgrade. Representatives of 12 think tanks from the Western Balkans gathered to discuss the role of think tanks in independent policy research and in the reform of policy process in the Western Balkans.
The first day of the seminar was organized as a closed workshop with the Think and Link Grantees. The summary of assessment of received policy papers was presented by two trainers: Maja Djuric and Sue Newport (ODI – Overseas Development Institute). The training was focused on strengthening evidence based policy making, effective communications and influence on policy makers.
Rosa Balfour, Senior Researcher in the European Policy Centre in Brussels opened the second day of the conference with topic Political Dynamics in the EU Regarding the Western Balkans and Their impact on the Region. During the first panel participants had a chance to discuss about the question of ownership of the public policy in the Western Balkans. The panelist were Sonja Stojanovic, Executive Director, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Belgrade, Sanel Huskic, Director, ACIPS, Sarajevo and Gledis Gjipali, Executive Director, European Movement in Albania, Tirana. Goran Buldioski, Director of Think Tank Fund, Open Society Institute from Hungary moderated the second panel about the effectiveness of Think Thanks and the lessons learned from Central European Think Tanks. Participants of this panel were respective representatives of Think Tanks from Central Europe: Sebastien Leclef, Board Member, CASE, Warsaw, Milan Sagat, Deputy Director, Via Iuris, Bratislava, Ctibor Kostal, Executive Director, Slovak Governance Institute, Bratislava and Sandor Koles, Senior vice-president, International Centre for Democratic Transition, Budapest. The conference was closed with the discussion about the reform of policy process in the Western Balkans. Vladimir Todoric, Executive Director, New Policy Center, Belgrade, Aaron Presnall, Executive Director - Jefferson Institute, Belgrade and Engjellushe Morina, Executive Director, Kosovo Stability Initiative, Prishtine, presented their views about the next steps in the reform process of think tanks. The next T&L Call for Applications will be announced in November 2010.
