OSCE Mission to Serbia provides communication skills training to environmental NGOs

BELGRADE, 25 September 2009 - Some 20 environmental civil society representatives from northern Serbia are taking part in a communication skills training course that ends tomorrow in Subotica and was offered as part of a project supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The project, Green Info Network, implemented by the Belgrade non-governmental organization Eko Forum, aims to strengthen the capacity of environmental NGOs to communicate better with the media and the general public, and to establish a mechanism for more efficient exchange of information on environmental matters among civil society organizations, media, local institutions, experts and citizens.

"We hope that through the Green Info Network, environmental NGOs will develop their skills in delivering and exchanging information and increase their public visibility. These achievements are also expected to prompt civil society engagement in the environmental decision-making process," said Mihajlo Maricic, Project Manager of EkoForum.

"By improving the quality of environmental information and its accessibility to the public, the project contributes not only to greater inclusion of civil society in the environmental decision-making process but also to the efforts of the OSCE to support the democratic process in Serbia," said Olivera Zurovac-Kuzman, Environmental Adviser at the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Participants had the chance to take part in best-practice case studies, in which they were given the task to identify environmental challenges in their own towns and write feature stories and reports that will be posted on EkoForum's website (www.ekoforum.org).

This training course is the first in a series of events that will be conducted in nine towns across Serbia in December.