Addressing the representatives of civil society, the Swiss Head of Cooperation, Mr. Kohli, expressed his satisfaction at the presence of a significant number of organizations that are working in the interest of the public and their local communities. He pointed out that this was a great sign that the ACT project had already contributed to social change, since it has been supporting and engaging all organizations present at the conference in their efforts towards building a more democratic and pluralistic society.

During the conference, participants had the opportunity to discuss several topics of importance for the further growth and development of civil society in Serbia and the region. They discussed global trends and new innovative models for organizing communities, strengthening civic activism in the Western Balkans, and issues of cooperation between the civil and public sectors at the level of local governments, public advocacy, and networking of CSO through alliances and networks in order to further strengthen civic participation in the decision-making process and in creation of public policies.

The Panellists and facilitators of the conference were guests from the region, such as Bistra Kumbaroska from Northern Macedonia, Safet Kubat from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marina Škrabalo from Croatia and Tina Divjak from Slovenia.

The ‘ACT Community Days’ was a unique opportunity to meet, share experiences and network. With almost 200 directly and indirectly supported organizations, through 6 grant schemes and over 100 grants, the ACT project has brought together a significant part of Serbian civil society.

The Swiss Government is allocating EUR 5.37 million for the project "For an Active Civil Society Together - ACT" for the period 2019-2023.