The Balkan Alpe Adria Project (BAAP) and Fairplay- Vidc in co-operation with the European Council/ EPAS (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport) will meet with regional and international stakeholders for a workshop “Stronger Together – Football Unites” in Bar in Montenegro on 15 November.

Participants will include representatives of the Football Associations of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, FYROM (Macedonia) and Montenegro. Also represented will be UEFA and FARE.

Activists and policy makers will be given the opportunity to share expertise with a focus on gender equality and international dialogue in the Balkans as part of the “Football Unites the Alps, Adriatic and the Balkans 2010 - 2012“ project.

The workshop aims to discuss and plan initiatives and methods to overcome gender discrimination in sports on national and regional Balkans level.

A tangible outcome of the meeting will be to reflect after ten years of networking and campaigning in the Balkans debates to focus on experiences and recommendations for the future, it is hoped an action plan will be developed to ensure future campaigning against discrimination in sports in the region.

A full running overview of the day can be found here.

International Workshop “Stronger Together – Football Unites” on 15 November 2012 in Bar, Montenegro

In cooperation with 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 Đurdevac, General Secretary, Football Association of Montenegro, and Irena Bošković, 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 Kojičić, 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 Milošević 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 Đurdevac, Football Association of Montenegro, Ivan Anastasovski, Football Federation of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Igor Janković, Football Association of Serbia, Nermina Hadžibajrić, Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nina Pavlović, 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 Begović, 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 Blaće, QSport Croatia + EGLSF, Kaća Đuričković, United Nations Development Programme, Jovana Mrkić, Vice-captain of the Montenegrin National Women's Football Team, Fatima Rahimić, Sport Association of the City of Mostar, to the panel that is chaired by Nada Drobnjak, Parliamentary Commission for Gender Equality, Montenegro.

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.