BOS programme for youth and media CS for EU - Youth media EU BOS program för ungdomar och media CS för EU The contribution aims to activate young people in relation to development and reform agenda, which in turn contributes towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Activating the youth happens in stages: Awareness, Understanding and Action. Media plays important role to advance SDGs as powerful driver for advocacy, action and accountability.

The programme aims to encourage active citizenship: to identify and promote young change-makers, and to support free media as an actor of change working for democratic values and human rights. Organisationen Belgrade Open School (BOS), Serbien har hos Sida ansökt om 20 miljoner kronor för finansiering av programmet "CS4EU-Civil Society as a Force for a Change in the Serbia's EU Accession Process" under perioden 2021-2024. 

BOS är officiellt registrerad i Serbien som en civilsamhällesorganisation (”Association of citizens”) sedan 1996. BOS förekommer inte på någon av EU:s sanktionslistor och har erhållit stöd från Sida sedan 2012 och varit en direkt avtalspart sedan 2016. 

Insatsens totala budget är 20 miljoner kronor och Sida är enda bidragsgivaren. Ungefär 10 miljoner kronor är planerat vidareförmedlas till lokala civilsamhällesorganisationer som arbetar med framför allt unga och media.

Insatsen syftar till att ge det civila samhällets organisationer bättre möjlighet att ta aktiv del i Serbiens EU närmande process. Belgrad Open School ska genom detta program stödja kapacitetsuppbyggnad och stärka synergier mellan media, ungdomsorganisationer och ungdomar som arbetar med att ytterligare demokratisera det serbiska samhället. Programmets huvudsyfte är att uppmuntra unga människor att engagera sig i frågor som rör media och delta aktivt i det civila samhället genom att främja faktabaserad och oberoende journalistik.

Det är Sidas bedömning att det föreslagna programmet är i linje med Sveriges Resultatstrategi för reformsamarbete med Östeuropa, Västra Balkan och Turkiet för perioden 2014-2021 (förlängd) och att insatsen kommer bidra till ökad kapacitet hos serbiska civilsamhällesorganisationers att påverka och skapa bättre möjligheter för demokratisk samhällsutveckling och Serbiens EU-närmande, inklusive dess värdegrund. The latest Freedom House 2020 Report assesses Serbia as partially free with hybrid regime mainly because of declining standards in governance, justice, elections and media freedom. Despite a constitution that guarantees freedom of the press, media freedom is undermined by the threat of lawsuits or criminal charges against journalists for other offenses, lack of transparency in media ownership, editorial pressure from politicians and politically connected media owners, direct pressure and threats against journalists, and high rates of self-censorship. Academic freedom has largely been upheld. Private discussion is generally free and vibrant, but a pattern of retribution against high-profile critics of the government has contributed to an increasingly hostile environment for free expression and open debate. Foreign and domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGO) generally operate freely, but those that take openly critical stances toward the government or address sensitive or controversial topics have faced threats and harassment in recent years and were the targets of sustained smear campaigns in the media in response to their activities.
(https://freedomhouse.org/country/serbia/freedom-world/2020, last visited on 01st March 2021)
Young people in the context of Serbian society today mainly navigate through every days' uncertainty and social crisis by fragmented strategies and with no possibility of any long-term planning.  Their material position is unfavourable and they are largely dependent on the financial and housing resources of their parents. High unemployment is a serious structural obstacle to the social integration of young people, as well as the risk of social exclusion.
BOS aims with this programme to support synergy between media, youth CSOs and youth that are working on the same mission of further democratisation of Serbian society.
Programme activities: granting scheme is meant to support selected Media and Youth COSs partnerships Media CSOs will be supported to investigate and report on issues related to democratisation, rule of law and human rights. Youth CSOs will be supported to implement community initiatives aimed at areas of the investigative stories, i.e. propose and implement initiatives which bring democratic changes to the local communities, and promote youth engagement. Capacity building measures will provide training programmes and development of skills for beneficiaries of the financial support activity. Media will be strengthened to design successful outreach strategies towards young people, thus expanding their coverage towards younger audience and gaining their larger support for investigative stories. Capacity building will include the latest trends and innovative approaches in investigative reporting, fact checking, fight against fake news and evidence driven journalism with the aim to enable the creation of new investigative content for selected media. In turn, the selected youth CSOs will undergo trainings and gain technical and mentor support in applying new techniques in the work with youth beneficiaries and design of programme activities to promote media information literacy and strengthen youth to critically approach the media information. Activities will include group learning and peer learning and exchanges, with emphasis on personal/organizational development enabling a tailor-made approach and learning experience for each selected partner. The capacity building is meant for all selected media and youth CSOs, for specific smaller groups of media and youth CSOs based on their similar needs for capacity building, and individually for each supported partner. The programme will also work to support youth investigative journalism through a set of activities: training programme, mentoring and networking, and production of investigative stories.
Expected results: media and youth partnerships join forces to efficiently address relevant community issues related to rule of law, democracy and human rights. This is expected to result in improved information and youth activism in addressing obstacles for democratic development, in improved young citizens’ engagement in community mobilization for pursuing necessary democratic changes, and investigative stories mainstreamed into interaction between youth CSOs, communities and public authorities in specific policies and reforms. Associated capacity building measures are expected to result in strengthened organisational competences and skills of selected CSOs, improved young citizens' ability to identify different types of media and the messages they are sending, and advanced interest and raised citizen's awareness in investigative journalism content and issues of democratisation. Supported youth investigative journalism is expected to result in improved skills and knowledge of interested young investigative journalists for their continued engagement and achievements. 
This programmes aims to contribute to capacity development specifically of the media and youth CSOs to support their independence, and their ability to promote common interests.
The main aim of the contribution is to support and enhance EU integration related reforms in Serbia through an advanced role of civil society organisations. The role of civil society is essential for promotion and establishment of rule of law and human rights protection, i.e. fulfilment of Copenhagen criteria. Through the Programme CSOs will be supported to act as advocates of citizens’ interests in decision-making process. Specifically, the programme aims to contribute to CSOs’ democratic capacities and strengthen media and youth CSOs for greater impact on society during the reform process.
BOS presents the LFA through combination of quantitative and qualitative indicators to track the progress of implementation of the planned activities, and these will be revisited in a dialog with the BOS throughout the implementation to select appropriate indicators to measure and report the achievements in the programme depending on changes in the context. BOS will apply results-based management approach with focus on adaptive management which involves the active use of quantitative methods to measure programme performance and application of learning to improve decisions.