Awarding of the project “Female Government of the Western Balkans EU” represents significant success, not only for our organization, but for our country as well, because this is the first time an organization from Montenegro was selected to be a coordinator for this program of support – Selena Tasić, programme manager of the Public Policy Institute said in an interview for Pobjeda newspaper.
“I’m emphasizing the even greater success: the very theme of the project is common. Projects from the field of human rights no longer have significance if main aspects and problematic areas are not connected via planned activities with other important fields that represent the foundation of healthy functioning of the society”, she has said.
The project “Female Government of the Western Balkans EU”, which is coordinated by Public Policy Institute, has been chosen on the competition Europe for Citizens, through General directorate of the European Commission for communication policy, as one among the best of 23 projects submitted on all levels of the EU.
The project is aimed at improving female entrepreneurship in Western Balkans via specially created training programmes, which will be used as a foundation for training of women participating in the project for specific areas and professions they already have. The problematic area in developing countries is insufficient visibility of female entrepreneurship, so the special attention will be paid to their representation in public and labor market”, she said.
According to her, some of the supporting activities will include networking with women business platforms on EU level, by connecting companies, projects and joint initiatives. “So: a very complex project, on which the selected participants from three countries of Western Balkans and one EU country will receive a set of skills, techniques, and ready made platforms that will help them work on their professional development. It is important to note that the project will include volunteering and providing opportunities for building of work experience to young women, who are especially important target group in implementation of policies in the field of gender equality”, Ms. Tasić pointed out.
From the very opening of the Institute in Podgorica, attempts to disable our work in Montenegro at any cost have been present.
“When we got the first grant from the US Embassy in Podgorica, then later from NATO, some representatives of the NGO sector in Montenegro, who got sudden competition, pressed the donors in all possible ways, in order to disrupt, i.e. practically disable, our operating. After we had got the IPA project, we were the main topic of a certain the daily newspapers for days. That amount of hate, anger, insults and envy was really unbelievable”, Ms. Tasić have said.
Selena Tasić points out that the issue wasn’t the quality of the project and their work, but the fact that someone dared to disturb the order on Montenegrin NGO scene at the time, where the roles are divided for many years back and where everybody knows who’s untouchable and what kind of consequences await those who disturbs them. “What is absurd is the fact that the organizations which started this, which allegedly work on women’s rights, have not made any reference to the topic of the project or the things which could be changed by the project in the sense of women’s positions in Montenegro. Hence one gains an impression that mentioned ‘women fighters for human rights’ fight actually for as good as possible material and social position of their own”, she thinks.
Source: http://www.cdm.me/ekonomija/dobijanje-projekta-je-zajednicki-veliki-uspjeh
