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Interviews with many nonprofit organizations across the Western Balkans during the current and the previous year provided us with a slightly clearer insight into how they are coping with the aftermath of the pandemic. What do their regular activities look like? How did they proceed with the implementation of their programs? How demanding was it to move from the physical to the online world without denying the many forms of support they provide to their users?

You will find some of the answers in this text, where the Association MoSt from Croatia, Žene Bara from Montenegro, KRIK from Northern Macedonia, and Kosovo Women's Network enabled us to learn some of the examples of practices used in the region, as well as ways to adapt to new rules of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

Coronavirus significantly affects human lives and poses a threat to our health and society as a whole. The global threat of the Covid-19 virus motivated and inspired the company Nextsense from Skopje to contribute to joint efforts in the fight against the global pandemic. To support global efforts to stop coronavirus spread, Nextsense has developed contact tracking technology and provides it free of charge to other countries.

Nextsense donated its technology to Northern Macedonia and Hungary, which was implemented in mobile applications for tracking contacts, in addition to the government's measures in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Northern Macedonia has implemented the StopKorona! app to track contacts. Additionally, Hungary has launched the VirusRadar mobile app to allow health authorities to identify potentially exposed people more quickly and break the coronavirus transmission chain, preventing a potential new epidemic.

Let's find out more about their contribution from the app's creators.

As the Covid-19 virus is still present in our lives, we reviewed nonprofit organizations from the region, which explained to us in 2020 and 2021 how the pandemic affected their work, daily activities, and lives in general.

It is possible that some of their systemic adaptations to new circumstances inspire other organizations that encounter this text to devise new ways or apply some of the existing examples in their program activities.

In today's text, you will be able to get to know some of the prominent organizations from the Western Balkans and their methods of adapting to the new normality.

SIGNS of Solidarity and Solutions is a regional two-day event organized by SIGN  as a closing ceremony of three-year long project funded by the European Commission, Balkan Trust for Democracy, Balkan Civil Society Development Network and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Informal group Ženski solidarni front formed spontaneously when a group of motivated women felt the need and obligation to respond to the effects of the pandemic their local community in Vranje suffered. They gathered around the idea to organize a grand charity ball and bazaar in order to raise money for children whose parents had died of COVID-19.

The initiative gathered a number of successful women from Vranje and was supported by the Center for Media Transparency and Social Responsibility (CMTDO). As a result, in just two weeks and with the support of the community, by 20 August, a total of RSD 600,000 was raised  (5.000 EUR)  and 26 direct donations were provided to help the children who had lost one or both parents since the beginning of the pandemic.

In addition to this large initiative in August, the charitable women of Vranje helped their community throughout the pandemic year of 2020 by raising around RSD 3 million (25.500 EUR) for the support to the healthcare system, with the assistance of good and responsible fellow citizens.

Milica Anđelković Jovanović, who wanted to help the children of Vranje and activate her community, made only one Facebook status and launched a chain of support engaging hundreds of women who wanted to contribute to the humanitarian initiative. Today, this informal group has more than 700 members, including several men who have joined recently, since the fact that membership was exclusive to women was criticized by men in the beginning, as Milica points out.

In the interview, Milica talks about the power of community in the circumstances which caught us all completely unprepared. She told us about their motives to get together and help children and families, about obstacles they had to face, and about how one Charity Ball in August 2021 united the citizens of Vranje in common cause.

As part of The state and future of philanthropy business meeting conducted by the Mozaik Foundation with partner organizations and with the support of USAID, on November 3 at the Hills Hotel in Sarajevo, at the event organized to improve the legal framework for philanthropy, we presented the results of our annual research on the state of philanthropy by providing key insight of the "Giving Bosnia and Herzegovina 2020" report.

According to our estimates, philanthropic donations in Bosnia and Herzegovina increased significantly in 2020 regarding donated amounts. The estimated value of donations is € 38.5 million, almost three times more than the previous year. Even when all donations aimed at the pandemic are excluded, the amount donated exceeds the amount of all donations from 2019. This increased average per capita donations from € 3.7 in 2019 to € 11.7 in 2020.

The global pandemic has created a new reality and numerous challenges for all segments of society. In such circumstances, the key question is how to inspire companies and citizens to strategically contribute to the common good. The answer lies in new types of cooperation and communication channels, use of new technologies, improvement of the environment for giving in Serbia, digitalization of philanthropy through the prism of new opportunities for initiating and implementing philanthropic initiatives, as pointed out at the National Conference on Philanthropy: New Reality - New Opportunity, organized by the Trag Foundation, with the support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), within Framework for Giving project.

At tomorrow's closing of the National Conference on Philanthropy, on November 5, the director of the Catalyst Balkans Foundation, Nathan Koeshall, will also speak in his closing remarks. The broadcast can be followed live via this link, and simultaneous translation of the program into English, as well as translation into sign language, are provided throughout the event,

Founded in 1996, Kosovo Women’s Network was originally an informal network of women's groups and organizations from different regions of Kosovo. Since its inception, KWN has developed into a network advocating for Kosovo women, locally, regionally, and internationally. Representing the interests of its 168 members, including women's organizations of all ethnic groups from across Kosovo, KWN is a leader among civil society organizations in Kosovo and the region.

In an interview with Etleva Malushaj, Coordinator of the Kosovo Women's Network project "Strengthening women's participation in politics" supported by the EU, we discussed her personal motivation to join the nonprofit sector, what are their current activities and she also explained why it is important for their network to strengthen the feminist movement in Kosovo.

Catalyst Balkans is a regional nonprofit that provides data, research, tech, and advice for other nonprofits and companies to do more good in their communities.

With our research on philanthropy in Serbia and throughout the Western Balkans, donors, recipients, beneficiaries, decision-makers, and citizens are able to improve their understanding of the status of and trends in philanthropic giving in their countries. Information on giving increases knowledge on who is giving, for which purposes, to whom and for whom.  It also serves as a support to evidence-based advocacy for a better legal and fiscal framework. Catalyst’s philanthropy research is the most comprehensive source of information on giving in Western Balkans and is used by global, regional, and national actors and networks that report on philanthropic giving.

With our tools – Giving Balkans philanthropy insights app, CiviCatalyst community relationship management platform, Donacije.rs crowdfunding platform, and Neprofitne.rs, a nonprofit transparency platform – we help nonprofits and CSR departments make better decisions and have a greater social impact in their communities.

Now we are looking for an Accounting and Compliance Coordinator with both the skills and passion to join our team.