Western Balkans hub in Podgorica presents projects on rights and freedoms

Around fifty civil society organisations and content creators from the Western Balkans met in Podgorica under the patronage of the European Union to present results from projects aimed at strengthening the rights and freedoms of citizens.

Hub objective and media participation

The two-day hub in Podgorica gathered NGOs and journalists so project teams could show how journalistic stories should be constructed — from identifying the components to presenting them to the public. TV Telma was the sole national outlet from North Macedonia invited to participate and reported from the seminar, where journalists exchanged experience on cases related to human rights and civil liberties.

Samra Luchkin, manager for strategic communications and campaign coordination at We Balkans, said the organisers want to give journalists the building blocks for reporting: "We want to articulate voices in a form that you will present to your viewers. That is important because you as journalists know how to recognise the story and we want to reveal to you all the segments of that story."

The gathering was part of a project run by the General Secretariat for Enlargement. As part of the initiative, a public-opinion survey conducted across the Western Balkans identified the biggest anxieties among citizens: economic insecurity and existential concerns, healthcare and dissatisfaction with the state of freedom of expression, the right to assemble and media freedom.

During the workshop NGOs presented more than 40 projects carried out in North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrating local initiatives intended to improve conditions in communities across the region.

Photo: press material from the event