The Western Balkans Fund (WBF) is delighted to unveil the list of winners for its inaugural grant-giving mechanism, the WBF Move Grants. Following a meticulous selection process, a total of 23 regional projects submitted by organizations and individuals have been awarded grants, marking a significant milestone in providing support for mobility initiatives.
The response to the call for applications surpassed expectations, with an impressive 424 entities initiating the application process through the WBF’s automated portal. Nearly half of the applicants successfully completed and submitted their proposals, highlighting the immense interest and enthusiasm within the region.
Adhering to the guidelines set forth by the WBF, the selection of the winners was concluded precisely 40 days after the call’s deadline, which closed on April 18. In a bid to ensure fair representation, each of the six Contracting Parties of the Western Balkans Fund awarded a minimum of three and a maximum of five applicants. Notably, the budget allocated among the winners from each Contracting Party is equal, underscoring the WBF’s commitment to impartial distribution of resources.
In addition to announcing the winners, the WBF is pleased to disclose another significant decision. In June, the WBF Move Grants program will be open once again, offering additional funding opportunities to regional stakeholders. This presents a valuable chance for organizations and individuals in the Western Balkans to further advance their mobility projects and contribute to the region’s development.
The WBF Move Grants initiative has sparked optimism and excitement throughout the Western Balkans, as it marks a pivotal shift in supporting mobility and fostering collaboration across the region. By encouraging the exchange of ideas, experiences, and knowledge, these grants pave the way for innovative initiatives that contribute to regional cooperation and development.
The WBF congratulates the winners of the First Call and expresses its gratitude to all the participants who demonstrated their commitment to promoting mobility and regional integration. The Fund remains dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations in the Western Balkans, and looks forward to the positive impact that these awarded projects will undoubtedly generate.
The Swiss Government supports technically and financially the Western Balkans Fund’s institutional strengthening and portfolio diversification. WBF Move Grants is part of this support.
Note: WBF recognises the names of the Contracting Parties by the name of their capitals. This does not mean that the projects are selected only from the capitals. As a matter of facts, the location of our beneficiaries and the actions of the intended projects are very diverse and spread throughout all the corners of the WB Region
| BELGRADE | |||||||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |||||
| Western Balkan Cultural Bridge – Camerata Balcanica – WBCB | ArtLink | BiH, ALB, MKD | The project contributes to regional cooperation and cohesion in WB6 region through enhancement of regional intercultural dialogue and cultural cooperation through joint participation of young artists from WB6 while supporting, facilitating and increasing cultural cross-border cooperation and co-production of young talented artists. | Arts and culture | |||||
| TAKT Fest 2023 | Association Kulturanova | ALB, BiH, KS*, MNE, MKD, RS | The project upscales the regional impact of the international festival that gathers young artists, experts and experts from a dozen European countries, focusing on young people from the Western Balkans. The centre of the multi-day Festival is the songwriting competition of young people from the entire region promoting people-to-people links and good unneighborly relations. | Arts and culture | |||||
| Serbia-North Macedonia MOVE collaboration for the PROteoMics discovery of new photodynamic therapy targets for cervical carcinoma. | Marijana Petkovic | The PROMETHEAN project aims to establish collaboration between the two leading scientific institutions from SRB and NMK to develop a new therapy against cervical cancer (CCa) and educate students in complementary research techniques. Although the CCa incidence rate has decreased, some Western Balkans economies are still among the top in Europe, and CCa represents a significant health burden. | Education and Scientific Exchange | ||||||
| Balkan Love | Aleksandar Crnogorac | BiH, KS, MNE, MKD, RS | The project fosters awareness of the interethnic and inter religious couples in the Western Balkans through photo documentary project that aims to boost multi-ethnic coexistence and peace in the Western Balkan region via a travelling exhibition. | Arts and culture | |||||
| Study visits and bilateral academic exchange- Faculty of Economics (UOM) and Faculty of Economics (University of Belgrade) | Predrag Bjelić | MNE, SRB | The project contributes to increasing regional academic exchange through bilateral study visit and between the professors of the universities in the Western Balkans. The main goal of the study visits and academic exchange is to share expertise and practice with colleagues who teach similar courses. | Education and Scientific Exchange | |||||
| PODGORICA | |||||||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |||||
| Balkan Short Film Network | NGO iACT – OJQ Unë veproj – NVO Ja djelujem | RS, MKD | The specific objective of the project is to boost the cooperation of cultural CSOs in the Western Balkans and reinforce their regional connections, contributing to the creation of a vibrant civic space that upholds democratic values, nurtures dialogue, intercultural exchange and peace-building. | Arts and culture Education and scientific exchange Media | |||||
| Study visit and bilateral academic exchange – Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Economics | Maja Bacovic | MNE, SRB | The project contributes to increasing regional academic exchange through bilateral study visit and between the professors of the universities in the Western Balkans. The main goal of the study visits and academic exchange is to share expertise and practice with colleagues who teach similar courses. | Education and Scientific Exchange | |||||
| Football and friendship for gender equality | Football club Breznica | BiH, MNE, MKD | The project aims to address is the lack of equal opportunities for young women and girls’ participation in sports activities, which hinders their development and realization of full potential and leads to underrepresentation in local communities’ activities, structures and life and low level of women’s economic and social rights. | Sports | |||||
| PRISHTINA | |||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |
| Enhancing Regional Cooperation of Young Researchers on Migration & Development | GERMIN | MKD, MNE | The project aims to increase the region’s mobility and access to research infrastructures, empowering young researchers to generate impactful research and establish professional networks. The fellows will receive practical training, mentorship, and support supervision. They will be guided by experienced supervisors while working on challenging assignments that correspond to their academic and professional experience. | Education and Research | |
| Residential Exchange Program for Youth in Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina | Residential Exchange Program for Youth in Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina | RS, BiH, MNE | The project is a one-week residential exchange program for young people from Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the goal of promoting reconciliation and peacebuilding. Led by YIHR KS and in close cooperation with YIHR BiH, YIHR SRB, and YIHR MN, the exchange will bring together 20 young people aged between 15 and 30 years old, with priority given to young women and at least 50% of participants being young women. The exchange program will be led by a professional trainer and will focus on transitional justice, dealing with the past, intercultural dialogue, and negotiation skills. | Education and scientific research and peacebuilding | |
| SUMMER SCHOOL- TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE, HISTORIAN TEACHERS AND STUDENTS | Association of History Teachers Kosovo | BiH, MNE, ALB, MKD | The Summer School on Transitional Justice in Kosovo will provide an opportunity to study in depth the challenges associated with the transition from an authoritarian regime to a state of justice and the restoration of justice in a society that has experienced violence or conflict. Three historians from these countries, members of historians’ associations and our collaborators over the years will be involved in this summer school. The summer school on transitional justice by historians will focus on the study of transitional processes in historical context and on the role of history in transitional justice by historians. | Education and scientific research |
| SARAJEVO | |||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |
| 15th Sarajevo Youth Film Festival | Udruzenje Mladih Umjetnika | BiH, MKD | The primary goal of the festival is the promotion of young filmmakers, actors and producers from the Balkan region and other through networking and exchange of experiences and promotion of human rights, individual freedoms and democratic values | Arts and culture | |
| Preliminary) Research: Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality in Western Balkans (BiH, Serbia, Montenegro) | Nikola Vucic | BiH, MNE, RS | The purpose of this project is preliminary research proposal on the role of men in building gender equality in the Western Balkans. As a journalist, researcher and author of the book Critique of Toxic Masculinity, the applicant wants to continue working on the topic in the context of a network of socially engaged men for gender equality, who play a valuable role as allies of women in actions against structural inequality and patriarchal obstacles | Education and Scientific exchange, Peacebuilding | |
| WB6 Diasporic Belonging and Democratic Politics (WB6 DIASPOL | Aida Ibričević | BiH, RS, KS | The project’s main purpose is to establish cooperation between PhD scholars in three CPs, to develop a competitive concept note in response to the Horizon Europe call “The interrelation between social, cultural and political identities, as well as the sense of belonging, and democracies” through initiating a project consortium that will work exclusively in the framework of this Call. | Education and Scientific Research |
| SKOPJE | |||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |
| 20 International comic showroom “VELES 2023” | Comic Center of Macedonia | RS, KS | Through this project, lead applicant and partner organizations will organize a comics colony (16 comic authors) in Veles (North Macedonia) which will lay the foundations for official cooperation and partnership in the field of comics culture | Cultural Cooperation | |
| MEF Energy Forum 2023 | ZIP Institute | KS, MKD | The project aims to contribute to a more diverse, inclusive and direct exchange of expertise, practices and plans for the European and Western Balkans energy sector and improving the triangle “policies – financing – energy technologies” for greater energy resilience and green transition through organizing the sixth edition of the energy forum. | Economic Development | |
| Study/research stay | Marija Krsteva | MKD, MNE | The project falls within the area of literary studies while also it will enable future joint projects between different Universities in the Western Balkans. The topic of the research is the history and current trends of writing and publishing biographies and fictional biographies in different languages on the Balkans. The main project activity of the research stay will take place at the University of Montenegro, Faculty of Philology in Nikšić where the latest titles in the above genre will be explored. | Education and Scientific exchange | |
| BEB – Balkan Entrepreneur Bridge | The Association for Unification of Young Entrepreneurs PHOENIX RISING Skopje | MKD, MNE | The “Balkan Entrepreneurs Bridge” project [BEB] is an action that unites young entrepreneurs from three CPs, with their peers in two mobilities of three-day study visits in Skopje and Budva, offering valuable opportunities for like-minded entrepreneurs to connect with others in their industry and expand their networks, learn from one another, improve their skills and establish a successful platform which enforces the regional cooperation. | Economic Development | |
| Serbia-North Macedonia; PROMETHEAN | Katarina Davalieva | MKD, RS | The PROMETHEAN project aims to establish collaboration between the two leading scientific institutions from SRB and NMK to develop a new therapy against cervical cancer (CCa) and educate students in complementary research techniques. The newly formed WB collaboration will strengthen scientific excellence in this field. The group at the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences (VINS), the most prominent Serbian multidisciplinary research Institute, will work on developing photodynamic therapy against CCa. | Education and Scientific exchange |
| TIRANA | |||||
| Name of the Project | Name of the Lead Applicant | Partnership | Overall Impact of the Projects | Area of Intervention | |
| Sustainable Communities Made of Us | United Nations Association Albania | RS, MKD | Under this framework, an incorporated “Regional Youth Peace Forum” – bringing together roughly 50 graduates, young professionals and experts from the Western Balkans, and beyond – will strive to provide a safe space for exchange and interaction, aiming to build shared commitments for peace in our region. In addition, this project, besides strengthening the partnership’s trust and capacities to undertake across the border actions, will help showcasing “Peace Week” and its adjacent “Regional Youth Peace Forum”, as a good practice of peace education, thus establishing the Western Balkans, and the as a role model on conflict transformation, at international fora, such as the United Nations General Assembly, and the SDG 16+ Forum. | Peacebuilding | |
| Museums Partnership Beyond Borders | Muzelab | ALB, MNE | The project proposal “Museums Partnership Beyond Borders” will lead two organizations from Albania, MuZEH Lab and from Montenegro, NGO Veritas in an exchange study visits. The aim of this project consists in creating friendly environment between two non-governmental organizations, learning and sharing best practices deriving from their experience in museum field. | Arts & Culture | |
| Beyond Borders: International Law Training in Belgrade | Dael Dervishi | ALB, RS | The applicant will deliver a course/exchange practice on Business and Corporate Law with a special focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in Serbia, that aims to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the legal aspects of running a business while also taking into account the social and ethical implications of their actions. The course will cover various topics such as contract formation, international corporate governance, PPP, international business law, international insurance law, and other, with a special emphasis on how these legal frameworks intersect with CSR. | Educational Exchange | |
| Balkan Film Food Festival of Pogradec | Art Im Pulse | ALB, RS, MKD, MNE, KS, BIH | the Balkan Film & Food Festival is a regional festival, organized in Pogradec, Albania that offers the opportunity to actors, film producers, and citizens interested in cinematography to attend, discuss and enjoy movies from the region of the WB. The project will broadcast around 70 long and short movies, prepared by film producers from the region | Cultural Cooperation |
