In cooperation with the Council of Europe/EPAS (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport), the Football Associations of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, FYROM (Macedonia) and Montenegro, FARE member organisations FairPlay-VIDC and the Balkan Alpe Adria Project (BAAP) are organising an international workshop in the framework of the joint project in the Balkan regions for the sixth time. It will take place on November 15 in Bar, Montenegro, lead by the motto “Stronger Together – Football Unites”.
Regional and international stakeholders, project partners and NGO representatives will come together to exchange their opinions and share expertise on “Gender Equality and International Dialogue in the Balkans”. The focus of the workshop is set on discussing and working out initiatives as well as methods to overcome gender discrimination in the field of sports on national and international level. The aim is to extend the network that includes stakeholders and athletes, and to debate future prospects in the Balkans.
The participants of the workshop will be welcomed by Momir Durdevac, General Secretary, Football Association of Montenegro, and Irena Boškovic, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights-Department for Gender Equality.
The FARE network will be represented by executive director Piara Powar who will speak in the morning session chaired by Michael Fanizadeh from VIDC who will also introduce Jovan Kojicic, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Montenegro for human rights and protection from discrimination, Sonia Parayre from EPAS, Ann de Mol from the King Baudouin Foundation, Patrick Gasser from the Football and Social Responsibility department of UEFA, Ivana Miloševic from BAAP and Selma Kustura from FairPlay-VIDC.
The following panel will see a discussion of the football associations supporting and participating the project:
Momir Durdevac, Football Association of Montenegro, Ivan Anastasovski, Football Federation of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Igor Jankovic, Football Association of Serbia, Nermina Hadžibajric, Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nina Pavlovic, Croatian Football Federation.
The main topic of the workshop is “Gender Equality and International Dialogue in the Balkans” and to reach a high quality discussion the organisers invited Marko Begovic, co-autor of the study “Gender and Sport in Montenegro”, Nikola Staritz, project coordinator of the "Football for Equality" project at FairPlay-VIDC, Sonia Parayre, EPAS, Željko Blace, QSport Croatia + EGLSF, Kaca Durickovic, United Nations Development Programme, Jovana Mrkic, Vice-captain of the Montenegrin National Women's Football Team, Fatima Rahimic, Sport Association of the City of Mostar, to the panel that is chaired by Nada Drobnjak, Parliamentary Commission for Gender Equality, Montenegro.
The aim is to extend the network that includes stakeholders and athletes, and to debate future prospects on the Balkans.
The international workshop is part of the campaign “Unites the Alps, Adriatic and the Balkans 2010-2012“ which was initiated by FairPlay-VIDC in cooperation with the Balkan Alpe Adria Project (BAAP), the King Baudouin Foundation, the Football Associations of Bosnia-Herzegovina, FYROM (Macedonia), Serbia and Montenegro, EPAS, FARE and many other regional and international partners.
In the afternoon session the participants will take part actively in two working groups on the issues "10 years of networking and campaigning in the Balkans" and "Ideas for future campaigning against discrimination in sports in the Balkan region".
The international workshop is part of the campaign “Unites the Alps, Adriatic and the Balkans 2010-2012“ which was initiated by FairPlay-VIDC in cooperation with the Balkan Alpe Adria Project (BAAP), the King Baudouin Foundation, the Football Associations of Bosnia-Herzegovina, FYROM (Macedonia), Serbia and Montenegro, EPAS, FARE and many other regional and international partners.
Between January 2011 and December 2012 many activities have been realised. This year’s workshop is the final activity of the two-year campaigning phase.