#BreakingFear

BCSP, YUCOM and the People’s Parliament from Leskovac will launch a nationwide public campaign “Rastrašivanje [Breaking Fear]” with the aim of contributing to an active civil society by directly advocating for decision-makers’ changes in legal acts and practices that threaten civic activism in Serbia, in order to create a more favorable environment for citizens to fearlessly fight for their rights. On the other hand, the public campaign is also aimed at promoting the success of civic activism and conveying message that these activists are not alone and have the support of the community to overcome all the consequences they may have faced due to their actions. These two elements of the project create a synergy that contributes to encouraging other citizens to become active in defending their rights, rule of law and public interest.

This is especially important for activists and citizens from local communities, whose visibility this project will raise to the national level. This will increase their influence in the local environment, which directly contributes to solving the problems that activists point out. This project will directly involve activist and citizens as a target group in advocating for the necessary changes through their participation in storytelling, research, public campaigns (online – writing blogs, creating eBook “Voice of Defenders”, including participation in public forums in Belgrade and Leskovac) and the formulation of their messages and proposals to decision makers, thus increasing the visibility of their problems and solutions. Their direct involvement will be carried out both at the activist and at the level of contribution to practical policy proposals.