The representatives of National Rural Development Networks from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, together with the network in Croatia and the joint regional platform, the Balkan Rural Development Network (BRDN), have raised a joint concern regarding the difficulties facing in securing co-financing for the EU-funded regional project Farm to Fork Academy for Green Western Balkans – Our Shared European Future.
During the recent project partners’ meeting in March 2025, this issue was raised as a critical and urgent challenge that may jeopardize the successful implementation of this initiative. While the EU continues to be the main donor supporting civil society in the region, the reduction in funding from other sources has significantly increased the difficulty of fulfilling co-financing requirements. EU-funded projects require non-EU co-financing sources, and while public institutions often have direct access to state budget allocations for this purpose, civil society organizations remain in a disadvantaged position without structured mechanisms to meet these obligations.
The consortium calls all relevant stakeholders, national governments, EU institutions, and international donors to take immediate action to ensure that CSOs currently in the implementation phase of EU-funded projects are supported in meeting their contractual co-financing obligations and delivering the expected results.
The consortium remains committed to working closely with all relevant stakeholders to find sustainable solutions and looks forward to your support in addressing this pressing issue.
For more information, read the Open Letter prepared by the project’s implementing consortium.