FOSI ROM - 2006-2007 Strategy

[1] The "twin track" approach to SAA negotiations means dealing with the two republics on policies which they conduct separately, notably trade, economic and sectoral policies, while continuing to work with the State Union where it is the competent authority, for example on international political obligations and human rights.

Activities of the Foundation were concentrated in the main reform sectors, such as education, public and local administration, judiciary and protection of marginalized groups (Roma, women). The two pillars of the Foundation's mission - to support Montenegro in introducing the EU standards and to help strengthen its institutional capacity to carry out the reform tasks - have been realized through two cross-cutting programs: EU program and the Capacity Development Program (in partnership with UNDP and the Government).

This period was marked by intensive cooperation with partners from the NGO sector, the state sector, local authorities, as well as with other donors operating in Montenegro. Foundation's support to state and local governments' sector was in the most cases combined with an attempt to encourage cooperation between the state and civil sectors, mainly in drafting the legislation, in training, as well as in the development and implementation of some common strategies, such as the Communication strategy for the EU integration process. In sectors such as education, support to institutional building was concentrated on a newly established state institutions, like the Bureau for Educational Services and the Examination Center, while teacher training was conducted in cooperation with the Foundation's Step by Step spin-off, the Pedagogical Center of Montenegro.

Most of the Foundation's advocacy and monitoring activities were carried out in cooperation with NGO partners only. Some of the most significant areas of monitoring were implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as implementation of anti-corruption laws. The Foundation also supported a distinguished and reliable NGO partner to observe the attitude of citizens toward major social reforms - judiciary, education system and local government, and EU. This particular project consisted of three main activities: four public opinion surveys conducted as of April 2004 in quarterly intervals, a detailed analysis of the results and tendencies in the public opinion, and their timely presentation to the public. On the basis of the results of the survey, the Foundation was able to define its courses of action in the mentioned reform segments.

Intensive education on EU issues was successfully accomplished through a consortium of NGOs and targeted representatives of both state and civil sector. Young politicians - members of all Parliamentary political parties, were also involved in regular EU education programs, such as, for example, the EU Integration School. The same target group was also trained through an additional program called ‘The School of Democratic Management", designed to upgrade the knowledge and skills of young political leaders (25-35 years) from various parties in Montenegro regarding political organization and reforms.

One of the main Foundation's programs, the Education Reform Program, was evaluated in June 2005 and evaluation results were presented to the FOSI ROM Board in July this year. The evaluation was conducted by an independent education expert from Great Britain and covered the period from 2000 - 2005. Findings of the evaluation were highly positive and the contribution of the Foundation was recognized as a "strong and humane voice in the shaping of the country's commitment to fairness and equity in educational provision for all"[2].

Capacity Development Program was also evaluated at the end of 2004 by an eminent international consultant. The final conclusion was that "the CDP represent the best practice of capacity building for public management in terms of partnership, management and sustainability of results".[3] Additionally, it was found that the CDP employs a credible collaborative structure that on the one hand preserves the notion that the program is government managed and on the other hand that implementation is a shared responsibility among the partners - i.e. government and international partners. Program ownership was found to remain clearly vested with the government.

Cooperation with UNDP represents an example of the Foundation's successful cooperation with other donor organization. Also, in other programs, significant part of the Foundation's projects was done through partnership with UNICEF, Council of Europe, OSCE and USAID implementing agencies.

The Foundation has also worked on its visibility in this period: the website was developed and regularly updated, and PR activities have been strengthened.

[2] Quote from the document "Evaluation of the Work and Achievements of the FOSI ROM", by Johanna V. Crighton, independent consultant

[3] Quote from the document "Independent Review of the Capacity Development Program", by Richard Flaman, FMP International

During the year 2005, the Foundation's Board has been analyzing further engagement of the Foundation from two points of view:

Regarding the referendum, the Foundation's management has discussed with Mr. Soros various modalities of the Foundation's respond to this burning political and social issue. We have agreed that the European Program in 2005 and 2006 should be enriched by one-time activities aimed to contribute to the transparency and legitimacy of the process. In 2005, The Foundation will work on a more active involvement of local and international legal experts in the discussion about the legal framework of the referendum, while in 2006 we will support civil society to actively monitor the whole process, including the level of transparency of the referendum campaign and also the regularity of the voting process. As have agreed with Mr. Soros, activities in 2005 will be covered from the existing budget, while in 2006, allocation of 60,000 $ will be add to the European Program budget as a one-time support for the civil society monitoring activities.

As regards support to reforms, the Foundation's Board agreed that in 2006 we should keep the same line as in period 2002-2005. Namely, the Foundation will continue to contribute to quality implementation and sustainability of reforms in Montenegro in line with already adopted EU standards in education and law reforms, as well as the reforms of central and local governments. Also, we intend to help introducing EU standards and good practice and strengthen open society values, all aimed at providing equity and quality of education and justice for all, with special focus on marginalized groups and minorities. As it was the case in previous years, we will also concentrate on increasing the efficiency and transparency of institutions at central and local levels. Also, the Foundation intends to continue its cooperation both with NGO and GO sectors and to further develop its cross-cutting approach in realization of the programs.

In Education Reform Program, we will continue to work on building of the capacity of central institutions and on developing the human resources for carrying out the reform tasks. We also intend to further support teacher education, transparency of the reform and timely and correct public information. Particular attention will be placed on monitoring of the quality of reform, through both international monitoring tools (OECD PISA) and national testing mechanisms. In 2006, when the first results of the national assessment are to come out, the Foundation intends to support the state institutions (Ministry of Education, Bureau for Educational Services, Examination Center) to do the secondary analysis and to develop the necessary policy changes. The Foundation also intends to develop better relationships with new donors in education, e.g. the World Bank, CIDA and Finland.

In European Program, we will continue to support EU education programs for different groups of stakeholders through the EU Integration School, as well as through various trainings for NGOs. Support to NGO - GO cooperation will also stay in focus of our activities. We intend to also contribute to a better understanding of the general public about the reforms and its connection with EU integration process. Given the polls results according to which the citizens get most of the information on EU through the media, we will focus our attention to trainings of journalists and chief editors on EU issues. In order to raise awareness about the necessity of harmonizing the domestic legislation with EU gender standards, special attention will be given to building the advocacy capacity of Women NGOs.

In Public Administration and Local Government Program, the Foundation will further support activities related to building up of professional abilities of civil servants to act in accordance with the new legislation. As in 2005, special attention will be given to cooperation between NGOs and local authorities, mainly in the area transparency, i.e. public discussions on draft laws and bylaws. Capacity Development Program will remain in the Foundation's focus. Activities within this program will be mainly related to the horizontal (cross-sectoral) capacity building. Using the positive evaluation of the program as an excellent advocacy tool, partners in the project have undertaken intensive fundraising activities, which successfully resulted in a significant increase of the project's budget. New donors, like SIDA, Dutch Government, Norwegian Government and the World Bank are ready to invest about 2 million USD in further operation of CDP. The Foundation is not going to invest any funds in CDP in 2006, but will continue to actively participate in the main decision-making body of the project (Supervisory Board), as well as in the Executive Committee and in the Advisory Group.

Monitoring and implementation of international and domestic legislation will remain the subject of the Law Program. Obligations derived from the Serbia and Montenegro membership in the Council of Europe, particularly those related to the European Convention on Human Rights, have created a high demand for intensive training for judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals. The Foundation will continue to support this kind of training together with its donor partners. In the monitoring sphere, we intend to continue our cooperation with a professional local NGO which has so far been engaged in monitoring of the implementation of the Convention in 2005. Similar activities are foreseen in the area of criminal and anti-corruption legislation.

Women's Program will continue to support educational, research and the information - documentation projects, while special focus will be placed on strengthening its monitoring component. The program will in some of its segments remain focused on Roma women issues, but will also include training and advocacy for integration of gender issues in the EU integration processes. However, in the field of violence against women, the Foundation's Board agreed to reduce support to this subprogram for two reasons: firstly, the WP has already reached its maximum by establishing local teams (NGOs, police, social services, hospitals, local authorities), and secondly, the local teams have become the focus of other numerous donors.

Due to the changed external factors, such as the expected political developments in the country, as well as the change in OSI policy, two areas of operation will be slightly modified in 2006.

In line with the agreement of the Foundation's Board with Mr. Soros to actively respond to the specific political and social momentum in Montenegro regarding the state status, the scope of the European Program will be extended by one-time activities, such as organization of legal experts' conference on referendum standards, as well as the civil monitoring of the referendum process. By carrying out these activities, we hope to be able to contribute to the creation of a constructive atmosphere in which there will be little room for political manipulations and professional and general public will become better positioned to make informed judgment of this issue.

Modifications of the Roma Program are in line with the broad OSI initiative to concentrate all activities and funds related to education around the Roma Education Fund. Since most of the Foundation's budget in 2005 was spent for the purpose of Roma Education Initiative (60,000$ out of 70,000$), Roma Program will operate under the budget of 10,000$ next year. However, since our partners in Roma Education Initiative (REI) sent a proposal to REF in order to continue with the program in 2006, the Foundation will keep its position in the Supervisory Board of the project. This, in fact, means that the Foundation, although not contributing funds to REI any more, will continue to actively participate in the decision making process. Moreover, given the significant policy role of the Foundation in the overall education reform, the Foundation will continue to influence policy in the realm of formal education of Roma, i.e. in strengthening standards in the area of inclusive education and institution building. We will also be active in monitoring projects, such as the EUMAP "Equal Access to Education for Roma", as well as in monitoring of the implementation of the Roma Decade Action Plan.

FOSI ROM Education Reform Program operates in rather difficult and complex economic and political contexts. With 12,2% of the total population living below the poverty line (defined as receiving an income per capita below 116,2 EUR per month), over 20% living on an income just above the poverty line, and with the economy burdened by a high percentage of low or unappropriately qualified workforce, Montenegro is still very far from reaching a stable economic growth. Among the reforms of public administration and economy, education has been highlighted by the Government of Montenegro as a third area of top priority for further economic and social development.

The political complexity comes primarily from the fact that attention of the political elites - both the governing coalition who is in favour of independence and the opposition parties who are against it - has been focused to the greatest extent on the Montenegro statehood issue and its potential solution through the holding of a referendum in the first half of 2006. Painstaking and slow as they are by their nature, many of the reform processes, i.e. in education or in public administration, are almost completely overshadowed by the current political turmoil. In such exteremely politicized context response to education reform issues - even the very specific ones such as, for example, expectations of the general public related to increase in employment due to an education suited to the needs of the labor market - most often turns out to be a political reaction rather than a rational attitude towards an issue in education.

It is in such rather unfavourable environment that implementation of the school reform will enter its second year. In 2004 new curriculum was introduced in the first grade of 20 primary schools (out of 165), and in the academic 2005/6 a group of another 27 primary schools will enroll 6-year olds in the reformed first grade. Civic education as a compulsory subject is going to be introduced as of this year in the reformed 6th grade in the first group of 20 primary schools. It is planned that all general secondary schools will start implementation of the new curricula in 2006/7. The main implementing agency for the reform and the assurance of educational quality is the recently established Bureau for Educational Services. With its very wide reform agenda and the need to at the same time develop its own human and institutional capacities, the Bureau for Educational Services is in a great need of technical and financial support.

It is important to mention that the first World Bank loan for education reform in the amount of 5.5 mil. USD has become operational since July this year. It covers the areas of teacher training, textbooks, assessment, ICT and education finance. Besides OSI, UNICEF and the European Agency for Reconstruction (vocational education), a few other other bilateral donors have provided support for education in Montenegro, i.e. Canada (institutional building for change management), Finland (inclusive education), Hungary (infrastructure).

Strategic goal of the FOSI ROM Education Reform Program for the next two years is to help ensure a sustained and accountable continuation of the education reform proces that it had initiated and so far integrally supported. FOSI ROM will contunue to support the building of sustainable and competent central institutions, particulary their monitoring, assessment and evaluation functions, as well as provide »quality and rapid-response« help to schools and teachers.

The Education Reform Program in 2004 - 2005 has focused on providing support to government institutions and non-governmental organizations implementing projects in this field.

In partnership with the Bureau for Educational Services, the Foundation has been involved and has provided financial and expert support for a series of projects that can be divided into several areas:

Building institutional and organizational capacity, as well as human resources and preparation for the education reform implementation

Working with the Department for Textbooks and Teaching Aids, Podgorica, the Foundation has implemented several joint projects:

In cooperation with NGOs involved and interested in education, Education Reform Program has undertaken the following:

Through the Capacity Development Program, a joint project of FOSI ROM, Government of Montenegro and UNDP, education reform process was supported in the fields of external relations and public relations, quality assurance and strategy development.

As envisaged by the Evaluation Plan set out in the Education Reform Program Strategy for 2003 - 2005, evaluation of the FOSI ROM Education Reform Program was conducted by Ms. Johanna Crighton, education expert, in the period 16 - 21 July 2005. Due to the changed circumstances, i.e. continuation of the education programs in a number of the Balkan countries, evaluation had an additional purpose to the one formulated in the Strategy for 2003 - 2005. Namely, instead of being part of the education program exit strategy, evaluation findings were now to become basis for the development of the FOSI ROM Education Program Strategy for the period 2006/7.

One of the conclusions from the evaluation is that FOSI-ROM's contribution to education reform in Montenegro is readily acknowledged at all levels of the system and especially by the Ministry of Education and the Bureau for Educational Services leadership. "They have been here from the beginning, and all through the worst times; without FOSI, there would still be little real reform in Montenegro," was one of the statements recorded by the evaluation expert during her visit to Montenegro.

In terms of the strategy development, evaluation expert's opinion was that, now that the implementation phase has begun, FOSI-ROM's Education Reform Program should continue to focus on building sustainable, competent central institutions, as well as on its more traditional role of providing practical "rapid-response" help to schools and teachers.

Based on the evaluation recommendations and the current context of the education reform in Montenegro, i.e. involvement of new donors, the increasing demands on the central institutions and schools starting the new curricula, as well as complex economic and political situation, the strategic goal of FOSI ROM in the next two year period is help ensure a quality and accountable continuation of the education reform process which we have so far integrally supported. FOSI ROM most valuable contribution has been recognized as "its strong and humane voice in the shaping of the country's commitment to fairness and equity in educational provision for all," and we believe that our role should lie in making sure that the principles and ideas set out in the main reform documents are put in place and respected throughout the reform implementation as much as they were in its conception.

The Foundation intends to do so by strengthening the human and institutional capacities of central institutions in areas such as, for example, evaluation, monitoring and/or quality assurance, by continuing to insist on the principle of openness and transparency with an aim of informing all stakeholders on reform activities, as well as by relying on its more traditional role of providing practical rapid-response help to schools and teachers.

The Foundation will continue to have a flexible approach which will make possible for us to deliver support where most necessary in the context of increasing presence of other donors in education. The criteria of sustainability and accountability will be "the guiding principles for every decision about activities and funding."

Strengthening of human and institutional capacities of the Bureau for Educational Services (BES) and the Examination Center (EC)

Assistance to BES in the development of new skills and expertise in the field of quality assurance, evaluation, and curriculum renewal. Monitoring and policy functions are also be developed order for the central institutions to be able to react and affect the permanently changing educational environment.

Support to BES in raising its awareness on the use and purpose of the PISA project, developing its capacities to do the secondary analysis of PISA results and disseminating clear and helpful information to schools and parents

Assistance to the Examination Center in developing expertise for conducting assessment of learners' outcomes. Based on the results of the main the main study of the national external assessment project for primary school third-graders, special attention will be given to building the currently lacking capacities for results analysis and policy advice.

FOSI ROM will continue to monitor the attitudes of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents and general public - on the changes related to curricula, teaching methodologies, textbooks, etc., introduced into the education system. The Foundation may undertake a project in monitoring the change in attitudes of schools (teachers, headmasters, students) related to the introduction of civic education as a compulsory subject in primary schools.

Education Reform Program will help the Bureau for Educational Services and the Examination Center in projects related to raising awareness of general and professional public about education reform issues, i.e. development of assessment culture among teachers, and/or informing and involving parental councils in the implementation of civic education as a new subject, etc.

Support to training of Civic Education teachers, development of the system of marking in civic education, self-evaluation, etc.

Improving of the system of pre-service teacher training by organizing a series of reform-related seminars in university departments, etc.

In 2006 - 2007 FOSI ROM Education Reform Program will attempt to develop a balanced and flexible approach to the education reform process which will include, on one hand, a grant-giving component and support to activities most necessary for implementation and, on the other, monitoring of the quality of implementation and development of recommendations for improvement. Such flexibility of approach will allow the Foundation to respond to the needs of education reform process in a changing political, social and economic environment. The foundation would thus be able to react accordingly in case of both positive (stable government supportive of the reform, steady reform process, involvement of other donors) and negative ‘scenarios' (unstable government, lack of donor support, obstacles to education reform process).

According to all public polls, European integrations have a widespread support among the citizens of Montenegro. Majority of citizens believe that EU membership will bring a better living standard, but only a small percentage of respondents understand that way to Europe implies introduction of EU standards, continuation of reforms, as well as strenghthening of European values.

One of the positive developments that have happened in 2005 was the signing of a Parliamentary Declaration on EU integrations by the ruling coalition and the major opposition party. NGO European Movement in Montenegro was actively involved in the negotiation process related to the drafting of the text of the Declaration and contributed to the final agreement. Although the two signing parties did not agree on the association model, the Declaration represents the first and an important step in reaching internal consensus on the most important developmental goals of the country.

In April 2005 the Europan Commission finished the analysis on the preparedness of Serbia and Montenegro to negotiate a Stabilization and Association Agreement with EU (Feasibility Study). According to the EC plans, negotiations are expected to start in October 2005. Due to the previously defined "twin-track" approach, the most of SAA will be negotiated separatly. After the EU Councill of Ministers have officially adopted the Feasibility Study, the Montenegrin Government started to prepare for the SAA process. The negotiating team, led by the Minister for Foreign Economic Relations and EU Integrations, was established, and six working groups for negotiating the particular SAA areas were formed.

As one of the cross-cutting activities, the Foundation supported our partner organization CEDEM (Center for Democracy and human Rights) to conduct four public opinion polls in order to follow the trends in public opinion in areas of the Foundation's interest - education, judiciary, public administration/local government, as well as the citizens' attitude towards EU. As the surveys have shown, the citizens are interested to learn more about EU issues. At the same time, they expect to get most of the information about EU from the Government and from the media.

The fact just mentioned was the reason for the Foundation to organize trainings and workshops with journalists, for the purpose of increasing their knowledge and skills to provide timely and in-depth information about the subjects related to the European Union and European integrations. During these activities, the journalists were faced with a special task to make the public aware of the effects of European integration on economic and social relations in Montenegro, particularly the effects on the every day life of average citizens. Most of the activities were organized in direct or indirect contact between the trainees and the focus groups.

Additionally, the Foundation supported one particular module on EU within a multi-year project of the Montenegro Media Institute - The School for Journalists (targeting mostly young professionals). In addition to professional skills and abilities, participants were also able to acquire general knowledge in politics, law, economics, social policy and protection of human rights, history of the EU, institutions, functioning of EU, as well as the Communication Strategy of Montenegro for EU accession.

In order to boost cooperation between NGO and GO sectors in EU process, the Foundation supported the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and European Integrations and a group of prominent NGOs dealing with EU issues to inform the public about the process of accession of Montenegro to the EU through the newsletter "EuroMont". The newsletter was printed in the local language as a supplement to the daily paper "Vijesti", and the English translation was delivered by post to certain addresses in the country and electronically to the potentially interested abroad. "EuroMont" is also regularly placed on the website www.integracije.cg.yu, which is in local language created by the GO and NGO sectors. The web-site supplies the public with comprehensive information about the EU, its structure, work, institutions and joint policies, about the relations between the Republic of Montenegro, i.e. Serbia & Montenegro, and the EU, as well as about the activities related to integration processes.

The multi-year project of the Foundation - the School for EU Integrations, was successfully conducted by a reliable partner NGOs during 2004 and 2005. This project is a continuation of a comprehensive alternative education program that makes the trainees capable of understanding the European integration processes. The School offers basic information about the history, law, political system and institutions of the European Union, as well as about the European integration economy and human right protection system in the EU. The School is created to encourage the candidates themselves to undertake activities aimed at promoting and embedding the European standards in the modern society in Montenegro. The third generation of the School was trained from March to August 2005; the lecturers were experts from various academic and other domestic and foreign institutions and organizations, as well as diplomats from EU countries.

Until September 2005, more than one hundred of young people have successfully completed the School. In order to maintain the unity of the group and to enable their further engagement in NGO sector, the Foundation supported follow-up meetings/workshops with the School participants and partner NGO organizations who are implementing the School (Center for Civil Education, Center for NGO Development and European Movement in Montenegro). NGOs presented their EU activities apart from the School and suggested possibilities for the School students to actively participate in them. The gatherings resulted in new ideas for projects to be developed by the students themselves or in cooperation with the mentioned organizations, thus opening the possibility for the engagement and use of creative potential of students. The experience and knowledge acquired in this project was also used in planning the teaching and working process for the 3rd generation of the School.

The Foundation supported the institutional strengthening of the European Movement in Montenegro. After renewing its work in late 2004, this NGO established cooperation with a number of players in the public and private sectors and initiated and implemented activities promoting the European idea.

In cooperation with the Foundation's Women's Program, the project "Gender Equality in International Documents" was supported. The project covered the translation, typesetting and printing of the EU and the Council of Europe gender conventions and provisions related to equal rights to women and men. These publications will be necessary for legislation development and will also be used for educational projects, such as the School for Human Rights, School of Democracy, as well as for the Foundation's School of European Integration. The materials will also be distributed to students, NGOs and state institutions. Also in cooperation with the Women's Program a comprehensive survey was conducted into the knowledge of WNGOs on EU gender legislation and their capacity to advocate for equal opportunities for women and men within EU integration process. Findings of the survey published in the brochure titled "WNGOs towards EU integrations" (www.osim.cg.yu) will be used for developing follow-up projects based on the defined needs and priorities.

Within the regional activities of OSI/ESI initiative for extending the EU pre-accession assistance to the West Balkans states, the Foundation organized several events in order to promote ideas set in the ESI's "Study on the Economic Situation and European Prospects of the West Balkans Countries". Events included the presentation of the Study to the Government's Commission for EU Integrations, to the participants of the School for EU Integrations (all three generations), as well as brain-storming meetings with NGOs related to their further engagement in the diverse processes related to EU integrations. The conclusions and recommendations of the ESI Study were also promoted in the media promotion.

The Foundation supported the partner NGO CEDEM to produce inputs for the next Monitoring Report of the European Commission. The document covered human rights, judiciary, public administration, NGO sector, as well as conditions for the development of free entrepreneurship. In cooperation with OSI Brussels, the Foundation organized a visit of NGO representative to Brussels, in order to present the document to officials of the European Commission, European Parliament, several permanent representatives to the EU, as well as to the representative of the Council of the EU.

The Foundation's Board agreed that the European Program should continue to operate within the same set of goals:

The Board has also agreed that the Foundation should continue to support cross-cutting initiatives related to human rights, the political system, the status of reforms and compliance with standards set in the Copenhagen documents.

Given the specific political momentum in the beginning of 2006 regarding the final solution of the state status, the Board Chair and the Director have discussed with Mr. George Soros the modalities of the Foundation's involvement in programs that can contribute to open and democratic dialogue about the issue.

Better understanding by the stakeholders of the issues related to EU integration

The Foundation will continue to support cross - cutting projects related to scanning of the state of the game in the most significant political and social developments in Montenegro. The Board agreed that the Foundation, together with its partner NGO, should consider various models for such projects in 2006, and, among others, the Open Society Index (developed within the Croatian Foundation and Freedom House's Democracy Index) was discussed in order to define the most appropriate model for Montenegro. Given the limited budget of the Foundation, the project should be co-funded by other donors.

The Foundation will continue to support its partner NGO Montenegro Media Institute to further develop project aimed at building the capacity of journalists to report on EU issues. As in 2004/2005, both chief editors and young journalists will be involved in various trainings, workshops and discussions on the issue. In 2006 we intend to strengthen the component of the projects related to the exchange of experiences/best practice between journalists from Montenegro and the region.

Implementation of the Communication Strategy for EU Integration developed in 2004/2005 as a joint activity of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and European Integrations and the group of NGOs will remain in our focus in 2006. In 2005, Montenegro Media Institute joined the group of NGOs who signed a Memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry. One of our Women NGO partners, Women's Action, is on its way to do the same. Since the Memorandum represents a base for implementation of the Strategy, we expect that projects in 2006, such as awareness rising campaigns, bulletins and web-sites, will cover a broader area of issues related to EU.

A large part of the Action Plan for implementation of the Communication Strategy is related to activities at the local level. The Foundation intends to support projects for involvement of local civil servants, especially in municipalities in which we have already developed and conducted various projects through other Foundation's programs, such as PALG and Women's Program.

The School for EU Integration will be continued in September 2005 and in 2006. In line with the rising need for organizing such courses in the north of Montenegro as well, our partner NGOs have designed two parallel Schools for participants from the central and south regions and for the participants from the northern region. The program of the School is redesigned and adjusted for the new decentralized model. The two groups will gather together at two workshops, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the course, while the program in between will be conducted separately. We expect this new model to enable better communication among the participants from different regions, as well as to broaden the possibilities for development of joint projects.

The Foundation intends to support various trainings for NGOs that would strengthen their ability to explore and to use funds available under the CARDS program of the EU. Also, we plan to support trainings on policy paper writing skills, communication of policy skills, as well as programs designed to enable NGOs to do a more effective advocacy campaigns.

EU standards related to gender equality will remain in our focus. We plan to support cross - cutting activities together with the Women's Program, which will enable the continuation of our programs with Women NGOs that have been initiated in 2005.

More activities related to networking with EU based NGOs will be conducted in cooperation with OSI Brussels. We also intend to cooperate with OSI Brussels in organizing open and direct dialogues of NGO representatives from Montenegro with the EU officials.

Concerning the Foundation plans related to expected political and social developments regarding the state status, the Board agreed with Mr. Soros to organize the following activities in autumn 2005/spring 2006:

In 2003 - 2005 a set of new legislation related to public administration and local government has brought about a wide spectrum of changes, which represented a prerequisite for further progress in the reform process:

New approach to human resource management brings novelties in state administration by establishing the Agency for Human Resources and by the introduction of a performance related assessments and an obligation for professional development.

Public Administration lacks capacities necessary to address the issues coming from the new legal framework. New legislation implementation requires substantial knowledge as well as developed skills. Since there are no courses in PA at the University of Montenegro, civil servants need to increase their knowledge and to develop their skills through a system of in-service training.

Devolving competences and responsibilities from central to local level has given more power and independency to local authorities. New organizational structure of the local government enables local authorities to exclude the political factors in human resource policy, because it is envisaged that new local key positions will be held professionals.

Direct election of Mayors provides an opportunity to the citizens to elect a Mayor directly by voting for a person, rather than for a political party list (which was the case so far). However, the influence of political parties is still of crucial importance in local communities.

A more active role for the civil sector in local affairs is stipulated through the principle of equal opportunity for political parties, political coalitions and groups of citizens to appoint their candidates for the Mayor.

Increased transparency of local' finances, is expected to enable a better insight for the citizens in the municipalities' revenues and expenditures. Besides, local governments are obliged to carry out public discussion on the local budget. This issue is very important especially having in mind that the main income of the municipalities comes from property taxation.

Increased transparency of the processes of preparation, adoption and implementation of the bylaw acts enable the citizens to better understand, be informed and participate in the decision-making processes on a local level.

Due to the political circumstances the legislative framework for the process of decentralization is still incomplete and the following laws have not yet come into force: Law on Territorial Organization, Law on the Capital, Law on Local Elections and Law on Local Government Property. Implementation of adopted legislation related to the local government has been postponed until local elections take place (in 2006 after the referendum on statehood). So far six municipalities have already held elections and they are therefore obliged to implement legislation, but there are still a number of issues to be addressed. For instance, civil servants have not yet developed the capacity to respond to the demands coming from the new legislation; performance of the local governments performing is not on a satisfactory level; the work of the local councils is obstructed in the municipalities where major is not a member of majority party, etc.

Other municipalities are in processes of preparation of the bylaw acts and procedures in order to be ready for new legislation implementation after local elections.

Adoption of the new laws has also attached some new responsibilities to the Ministry of Justice in terms of overseeing the reform implementation and consultancy as regards to the Council of Europe conventions dealing with local governments. The Ministry prepared an Action Plan aimed to support decentralization processes as well as increase their own capacities to face the challenges coming from new responsibilities.

A number of international agencies present in Montenegro are dealing with reform of public administration and local government in different ways (e.g. European Agency for Reconstruction has supported public administration reform by legislation development, and establishment of the Agency for Human Resources; USAID is focused on fiscal decentralization, local taxation and local treasury; etc.)

In 2005 the Foundation has supported reforms in the field of public administration and local government, legislation implementation, public debates, training of state administration/local government civil servants and NGO activists with a view to building up their professional and technical expertise and abilities and establishment of citizen bureaus in two municipalities. Particular attention has been given to providing information for the general public on the reform and its specific segments, public opinion polls relating to the course of reforms and cooperation with other organizations in the reform process through joint donations and activities.

Build-up of professional and technical expertise and skills of PA sector representatives

Capacity Development Program is a joint initiative of the Foundation Open Society Institute, Government of Montenegro and UNDP. The main objective of CDP is to build capacities in the central government of Montenegro to meet its strategic priorities for economic reform, educational reform, and reform of public administration. During 15 months of implementation CDP has been providing technical assistance in reorganization and staffing of the Ministry of International Economic Relations and European Integration (MIEREI), Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Science, and Bureau for Education Services by developing Strategic Plans and new Systematizations.

CDP has been instrumental to creation of two new departments in the Ministry of Education - Department for Information and Public Relations and Department for IT implementation, as well as introduction of Quality Assurance in the Primary Education.

In the ministry of Justice CDP is/has been providing assistance with drafting of the new legislation, including law on territorial organization, law on historical and cultural center, law on capital, law on obligations, law on non-litigation procedure, family law, law on probate procedure, law on mediation, law on advocacy, and a governmental decree on official titles for court staff; while in the MIEREI assistance have been provided for legal harmonization and wide range of EU Integration issues.

When it comes to cross cutting/horizontal activities, CDP has been assisting with developing/implementing the Fiscal Impact of Legislation (FIA) and mandatory compliance of all legislation with EU Aquis.

CDP has provided training for more than 200 civil servants in using IT, Quality Assurance, Change Management, and implementation of FIA. CDP has also provided adequate IT Equipment for beneficiary institutions.

In order to increase capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, the Foundation supported the training on the Law on Inspection Control for its inspectorates to get an insight into the procedure of inspection control and be able to implement the law in their specific field during the control. Follow up to this training was the publishing of the Manual for Inspectors in the Ministry of Agriculture which provides guidelines with models of all documents necessary for inspectors who are not lawyers by vocation. The Manual will certainly help them a lot to carry out their duties as efficiently as possible and remove dilemmas regarding the enforcement of the law on inspection control.

Public discussions on draft laws, Public surveys, Dissemination information' on the progress of reforms

In cooperation with the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Justice, the Foundation organized a Round Table on Draft Law on Territorial Organization of the Republic of Montenegro, i.e. an exchange of views on the proposed Draft Law and its comparison with Council of Europe standards and the European positive practice. The Round Table participants included: the Ministry of Justice Working Group in charge of drafting the Law, representatives/experts of the CoE, representatives of ministries, political parties, media, etc.

Public Opinion' Pools in Montenegro in 2005. Project includes 4 public opinion surveys in Montenegro to be held during the year in quarterly intervals, a detailed analysis of the results and shown tendencies in the public opinion, and their timely presentation to the public. The subject of the research is the attitude toward major social reforms - of the judiciary, education system and local government, and toward the EU. The survey is to cover a sample of 1,000, which is representative of the population of Montenegro by their ethnic, social and other relevant characteristics.

On the basis of the results of the survey, the Foundation will define its courses of action in the mentioned reform segments. In 2005, based on the findings, activities will focus on assisting citizens to understand the reform processes. This is joint project of PALG, Law and Educational Reform Program.

In order to make current developments in the field of legal reform, education reform and PALG reform available to the public (citizens, media, etc.) the Foundation supported the publishing of the "Inforeformator" - a monthly magazine whose electronic version is placed on the web page of the Ministry of Justice. This is a joint project of PALG and Law Program.

Build-up of professional and technical expertise and skills of LG sector representatives

In order to encourage involvement of local stakeholders in the prevention of family violence and develop the capacity of local family violence prevention teams, the Foundation supported a series of trainings on writing and managing projects, domestic violence and method of work with victims of violence in 5 municipalities of Montenegro. This is a joint project of PALG and Women Program.

Civil Dialogue as a Means of Reaching Efficient Local Government was project aimed to raise public awareness on the need for citizens to participate in democratic processes and to instigate authorities and their institutions to have in mind priorities of men and women equally in the process of problem solving. This is a joint project of PALG and Women Program

Training of local' inspectorates' (roads, traffic, communal, civil engineering) on the Law on Inspection Control and the Law on General Administrative Procedure. The Project is designed to enable local inspectors to understand the procedure of inspection control, implement the Law on Inspection Control through preparing administrative acts, decisions, conclusions, minutes, etc. This is joint project of the Foundation (PALG Program) and OSI/LGI.

In order to empower the future carriers of social changes and drivers of initiatives and reforms on local level, the Foundation supported the workshops on Decentralization and European Integration in Montenegrin context within the School of Democratic Management. Workshops upgraded the knowledge and skills of young political leaders (25-35 years) from various parties in Montenegro regarding the main principles of decentralization resulting from the new "local laws," the relations between local and central authorities, the role of citizens and cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in local decision-making, European charters, EU recommendations and directives regarding LG; structure and manner of functioning of the EU and regional experience in the EU accession process (through presenting a practical experience from a candidate country).

Build-up of professional and technical expertise of civil servants and establishment of citizen bureaus in municipalities in the north of Montenegro

Citizen Bureaus with Information Centers and Registry Offices in the municipalities of northern Montenegro. The goal of the project is a better response to citizens' needs for services through an improved quality of service that local government provides to the citizens. Besides purchasing the modern IT equipment and software, the Foundation paid special attention to the training for the staff of the citizen bureaus and registry offices in the field of personal communication skills and communication of the municipality with the citizens.

In order to build the capacity of local governments in the field of investment projects and responsibilities, the Foundation supported a Specialized Course on Software Support to Investment Project Management: MS Project. The course was designed for civil servants from 3 municipalities of Montenegro that had the local elections after the enactment of the Law on Local Government. The training consisted of lectures and courses in programs for computer planning of investment management.

Build-up of professional and technical expertise and skills of NGO representatives

Writing effective public policy documents. The project is designed to help the NGO sector to better articulate recommendations to public policy-makers. The seminar brought together representatives of major NGOs/think-tanks from Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. Participants have been introduced to methodology for writing effective public policy documents, exchanged views on the most important issues in this field and have discussed regional initiatives and possibilities for joint projects. The project has also enabled discussion on modalities for a better and more effective NGO sector participation in reform monitoring, presentation of best examples in development and implementation of Public Advocacy strategy and sharing of experience and discussion on best practices on a common, regional basis, in the context of association to the EU.

Citizens' participation in local government decision-making processes (Public Debates on by-laws in municipalities)

In order to strengthen the role of citizens in decision-making processes on a local level, the Foundation supported the drafting of the Sample Decision on the Council for the Development and Protection of Local Government. According to the Law on Local Government, every municipality should set up such Council. Members are the renowned citizens distinguished in areas relevant for local government. Their task is to influence local policies through recommendations, initiatives etc. Sample will help to the municipalities in their own drafting processes. This is a joint project of the Foundation (PALG program) and the Urban Institute, USAID implementing Agency.

Citizen' participation in LG' decision-making process. The Foundation supported a series of Public Discussions on drafts of bylaw acts which specifically regulates local issues in 4 Montenegrin municipalities (Statute, Rules of Procedure of the Local Council, Decision on Local Population Participation in Conducting Public Affairs, Decision on Municipal Communities, Decision on LG, Decision on LG Agencies, Decision on Municipal Police, Decision on Using the Emblems, Decision on Seals). Citizens had the opportunity to influence the decisions' contents by giving their comments, proposals and suggestions. Completion of the public debate process is followed by a publication of a brochure containing final texts of the decisions adopted, along with information on the number of citizen proposals and suggestions that have been made part of the final decisions.

The Foundation intends to continue with support to public administration/local government reform processes in order to create better conditions for the implementation of new legislation. Special attention will be placed on building the capacities of civil servants, both in PA and LG, as well as cooperation and coordination among NGOs, state institutions and citizens, in order to secure the involvement of all stakeholders in the reform process.

The Foundation will continue to support strengthening of the relevant state institutions to implement new legislation according to European standards and best practices of EU.

The Foundation will help implementation of the new decentralization-related legislation following European conventions and recommendations; support the transparency and accountability of local governments as well as their level of efficiency in order to achieve EU standards

The Foundation will continue to support cooperation between the civil sector and local authorities as well as initiatives aimed at developing capacity of local communities.

As in 2005, the Foundation will continue to support programs for civil servants in public administration through two channels:

Regarding the first channel, the CDP, the Foundation will continue to actively participate in designing its policy, planning the activities and program' goals implementation. However, in 2006, no OSI funds will be added to the CDP budget. Namely, due to very positive evaluation of its performance[4] CDP raised funds of USD 1,220.000 for two projects: Strengthening Capacities of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning - approved by Dutch Government and for Strengthening Capacities of Central Government Office - approved by Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

Additionally, three projects are currently under negotiation with donors, USD 1,730.000 in total - with the World Bank, we are negotiating about the project for Strengthening Capacities for Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) implementation. Strengthening Capacities for Development Assistance Coordination and Management is under negotiations with SIDA, while Norwegian is our negotiating partner for the project Government Introduction of Performance Related Assessment in Civil Service.

However, through the "independent" programs of the Foundation we will continue to strengthen relevant state institutions to implement new legislation according to the European standards and best practices of EU, primarily through increasing the capacity and skills of civil servants. Like in 2005, we intend to organize seminars and trainings for particular groups, like inspectors, to understand the new legislative changes and to perform their job in accordance with standards envisaged by the legislation. Where it's necessary, we will also support developing, printing and disseminating the rules of procedure which will serve both directions - inspectors to better perform their job, and to citizens to be aware about the scope and limitations of the inspection procedure.

Public discussions on draft laws, public surveys and transparency of reform in this area will be continuously supported in 2006. So far practice of the Foundation to organize roundtables on draft laws has shown very good results and will be continued in 2006. The Foundation will also support publishing of leaflets and handbooks for citizens, which will provide citizens with information about their rights to be timely and properly served by the authorities and to understand better the legislative changes.

Recently established state Agency for PALG Human Resources Management will also be in our focus. In 2006, we intend to support institutional development of the Agency, especially when it comes to management skills.

The Foundation will continue to support the surveys of the public opinion towards new legislation. The polls will put special emphasis on the level of implementation of new decentralization-related legislation and its impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments. Results will serve as a basis for the Foundation to develop plans for the capacity development of local authorities to implement best practices and achieve EU standards.

We will also provide support and training to local governments in order to strengthen their capacities to respond to the citizens' needs. According to opinion polls, citizens are not satisfied by existing quality and level of service delivery in municipalities. Therefore, we intend to organize trainings for local civil servants which will enable faster and easier information flow, timely handling of the requests submitted by the citizens, etc.

In 2006, our program for young political leaders - members of the local Parliaments, will be continued. We intend to organize trainings for this target group which will cover issues like decentralization, new legislation, and implementation of EU standards at the local level.

In order to foster horizontal communication between municipalities, the Foundation intends to support the Union of Municipalities to organize coordinative meetings of peers - chief administrators in municipalities, heads of investment departments, etc. We expect these meetings to enable exchange of ideas, to strengthen cooperation between municipalities, and also to facilitate dissemination of knowledge and lessons learned. We also intend to invite guest speakers from new EU member states (like Slovenia) to share their experience about the horizontal cooperation, especially in areas in which two or more municipalities have a common interests.

The Foundation will continue to support programs that enable better communication and collaboration the between civil sector and local authorities through stimulation of joint projects of common interest. Focus will be on sharing best European practices in involvement of the civil sector in local affairs, best practices of devolving local competences to NGOs (in spheres where LG lacks capacity) and joint LG/NGO initiatives for addressing common issues on local level.

Especial attention will be paid on training of local civil servants and NGOs regarding the use of EU funds. Again, experience from the region (especially Slovenia) will be explored. The Foundation intends to organize trainings on project writing, as well as on project management. NGOs and local civil servants will be encouraged to develop common projects and to apply for EU funds available under the CARDS program.

Additionally, we plan to invite LGI trainers to organize trainings on writing an effective policy papers, as well as trainings on public advocacy for NGO representatives and local civil servants.

The Foundation will cooperate with other international donors or project implementing institutions acting in Montenegro (European Agency for Reconstruction and Development, Council of Europe, OSCE, USAID/Urban Institute, etc.).

[4] During November -December 2004 team of eminent international consultants conducted an external evaluation of the CDP activities. The final conclusion was that: "CDP represent the best practice of capacity building for public management in terms of partnership, management and sustainability of results". Additionally, it was found that the CDP employs a credible collaborative structure that on the one hand preserves the notion that the program is government managed and on the other hand that implementation is a shared responsibility among the partners - i.e. government and international partners. Program ownership was found to remain clearly vested with the government.

The judicial reform in Montenegro, which had started back in 2002, continued relatively successfully in 2004 and 2005. Following the earlier adoption of the systemic laws and drafting of related regulations and by-laws, appropriate implementation was expected to take place.

The Law on Courts from 2002 envisaged as one of the most important goals the establishment of two new courts - the Administrative Court and the Appeals Court. However. The two new courts were to be established by July 1st, 2004. However, since it turned out to be impossible to observe the given deadline, an amendment to the Law on Courts was adopted and a new deadline set for December 31, 2004. Judges of the Administrative Court were elected in December 2004, and the court began operation in the first days of January 2005. The Appeals Court was also delayed in starting its operation and the judges for this court were appointed in March 2005, instead in December 2004

The large backlog of cases is evident in all courts and is an inevitable cause of the unreasonable length of the proceedings in all areas of court procedure. It is however expected that the Law on Mediation, enacted in 2005, will facilitate the work of the courts. The Law on Notary Public, when it is adopted and implemented, is to serve to the same effect, because many of the responsibilities which are currently burdening the work of the courts will be taken over by the notary public.

There were several occasions when the Parliament failed to elect some of the candidates proposed for judges. An opinion exists that the Judicial Council should make certain steps with regard to this issue and develops specific criteria for the election of judges. Besides the question related to the election process, the issue of relief of duty is also raised. Up to this point, there has been no motion for relief of duty, despite the assumption that some judges are not doing their job in a quality manner.

The enactment of a number of extremely complex reform laws indicates the need to organize intensive training programs for judges and prosecutors. The activities to enact a Judiciary Education Law have been initiated to this effect; the law will stipulate permanent mandatory training for the holders of judiciary functions, candidates for these functions and experienced judges and prosecutors. The European Convention on Human Rights and its implementation is another area of necessary training for the representatives of judiciary in Montenegro.

The enactment of the Law on State Prosecution in 2003 initiated extensive activities on the reform of this structure. Particular progress is observable in the training process, where the highly serious approach adopted by the prosecutors is evident, which is in contrast with the former period. The Special Organized Crime prosecutor was appointed, but the issue of premises, equipment and financial support is not fully resolved. With assistance from abroad, the prosecutors accepted for the first time the use of manuals. Investigative actions have been started regarding deeds that contain elements of organized crime.

In case of the petty offence law reform no major activities have been initiated so far, although enactment is planned for the end of the year. Initiation of work on this project is expected to take place soon.

Although it is out of doubt that a number of quality steps have been undertaken in reforming the judiciary and the work of the courts and increasing the transparency towards the public, the public surveys show a low degree of trust by the citizens in the judiciary system. The citizens believe that there is a lot of corruption, and that no or very few corruption cases are processed in regular court proceedings.

FOSI ROM has focused its activities on the reform of the judiciary in Montenegro. The Foundation continued its assistance to the Ministry of Justice in this field and in that regard support has been given to drafting the Judiciary Education Law. This law will regulate mandatory professional training of judges and prosecutors in the Republic. The Foundation has provided the necessary financial support to the working group drafting the Law on Court Fees, which has been considered important not only from the aspect of ensuring access to courts, but also in terms of indirectly addressing the issue of backlog and enhancing efficiency of courts.

Having in mind that in 2003 and first half of 2004 the essential Laws in Criminal legislation have been adopted, FOSI ROM supported the preparation and printing of a compilation of regulations titled "New Criminal Legislation in Montenegro." This volume comprises the texts of the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Law on State Prosecutor, Law on Amendments to the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions and Law on Witness Protection. Furthermore, on the occasion of one year since the start of application of the criminal legislation a round table was launched about the experiences in the implementation of the new legislation in Montenegro. This was an opportunity for the judges, prosecutors, police and attorneys to present their comments and opinions, thus preparing the ground for necessary amendments. Drafting of the amendments has also been supported by the Foundation.

Concerning the growth of organized crime and its impact on all the aspects of life in the Balkan countries, the Foundation sponsored a Public Opinion Poll in Montenegro, as part of a wider regional research, about the attitude of citizens towards organized crime. Results of the poll were presented to the representatives of the judiciary and the police in Montenegro.

Special attention has been paid to the prosecutor's organization, where - with a view to strengthening the prosecutor's organization and ensuring technical and human resource prerequisites for its better functioning - the Foundation has supported developing and printing the Manual for Practical Work of Prosecutors. Also, six-months English language courses were organized for prosecutors from the basic, higher and state prosecutor's offices in Podgorica. Finally, the Foundation supported the preparation of the State Prosecutor's Rules of Internal Procedure.

In view of the need for enhancing commercial courts in Montenegro, given their important tasks in ensuring the necessary legal environment for any foreign investments and their role as the implementer of new economic legislation, the Foundation has supported three programme activities related to purchasing and installation of a data base of regulations, court practices and decisions relevant for the jurisdiction of Podgorica and Bijelo Polje Commercial Courts. FOSI ROM also provided funds for a nine-month professional training of younger judges and judicial trainees in the two above courts in terms of new legislation and relevant practices, as well as for the publishing of a professional bulletin.

Finally, taking into account the findings of opinion survey indicating inadequate level of information of the general public on the progress of judiciary reform in Montenegro, Foundation has supported a public information project proposed by the Ministry of Justice called "Inforeformator." This publication is expected to contribute to informing the citizenship on the accomplishments of the reform of the judiciary, state administration and local government

Having in mind exquisite significance of the European Convention on Human rights and its implementation through the legal system in Montenegro, the Foundation has continued its support to NGO "CEDEM" and sponsored organization of thematic trainings for judges, prosecutors and attorneys at law. Since autumn 2004 and throughout the spring of 2005 five seminars have been organized with an intention to examine the current situation in terms of the respect of the rights guaranteed by articles 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, a 10-month research of the court practice in Montenegro from the aspect of length of court proceedings is currently being conducted, having in mind that the right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time is the most often violated right guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

In relation to support to legal capacity development FOSI ROM has continued its support to promotion and improvement of the legal clinics at the Law Faculty in Podgorica. After several years, the Foundation will finish its financial support to this project in 2005, mainly due to the fact that the legal clinics have become a self-sustainable part of regular curriculum in the Faculty.

With respect to anti corruption initiative and in cooperation with the Open Society Justice Initiative, FOSI ROM supported a nine-month project on "Monitoring of the Political Party Financing in Montenegro." This was a research project designed to examine the current prerequisites in the Montenegrin context for the implementation of the Law on Political Party Financing and identify the modalities for its successful implementation. In this regard, a database with information related to political party financing, earnings of public officials and public procurements has been established and is currently being loaded and updated. It is planned that all data be posted at the website and thus made available to citizens.

However, it is important to mention that in June 2005 the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on the Amendments to the Law on Political Parties Financing, which is by some considered not to be in accordance with international standards and giving privilege to the parliamentary parties in terms of the funding available from the state budget. FOSI ROM has provided to support a project through which the disputed provisions will be analysed and compared with international standards, with a view to possible initiating a campaign for abolishing these provisions in case it turns out to be necessary from the research results.

Having in mind the previously explained context in which the Foundation carries out its Law Program, the strategic goals of the Foundation will be defined as follows:

Certain regulations still need to be adopted in order to complete the reform of criminal legislation in Montenegro. In this respect the Foundation intends to support the Ministry of Justice in drafting the Law on Criminal Responsibility of the Legal Entities, which is a completely new institution in the Montenegrin legal system and is expected to exert significant impact on completing the reform of criminal legislation. Once it is adopted, this law will introduce a totally new concept related to criminal responsibility, having in mind that so far only physical persons could have been criminally responsible. Therefore there will certainly be a strong need for raising the public awareness about this issue, as well as for a quality training of the staff responsible for the application of the law.

FOSI ROM intends to organize different events in order to bring relevant experiences to Montenegro, as judges, prosecutors and attorneys need to be informed about similar practices and case law from the countries that have much more experience in this matter.

As already adopted laws are being considered mainly in accordance with international standards, FOSI ROM also intends to continue its engagement in fostering the implementation of the new legislation and the capacity building of the relevant legal institutions and professionals. FOSI ROM will continue its support to the State prosecutor and Association of Prosecutors in all capacity building related activities. Although important and satisfactory, the activities so far undertaken in relation to this matter have turned out to be insufficient from the aspect of the new legislation implementation. In this respect the Foundation intends to support projects concerned with quality training of the prosecutors in relation to new substantial and procedural criminal legislation. Having in mind that the new Criminal Code introduced a very important concept of organized crime in the domestic legal system, and the Law on State Prosecutor provided for a prosecutor with special competencies in this area, the Foundation will also support the Office of Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime. Although formally established, Office of the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime have not started to perform its function in full capacity, mainly due to the lack of competent and trained staff, as well as necessary technical equipment.

Having in mind importance of the civil sector's participation in the process of implementation, the Foundation will continue its activities in relation to NGOs and professional public involvement into this area.

Another possible area for the Foundation's activity in the next year will be the reform of petty offence law. Under current legal solution in Montenegro, administrative bodies rather than courts are competent for petty offences proceedings. Having in mind that, according to the European Convention on Human Rights, no one can be deprived of liberty without examination of the legality of that act performed by the judge, and that the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro when ratifying the European convention expressed its reserve as to the segment concerning petty offence in relation to Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention, the reform of the petty offence law can be expected soon. In that respect FOSI ROM may also engage in support to the drafting of the law, as well as the public awareness raising campaign and capacity building of judges/officials responsible for its implementation.

As a consequence of the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights and its becoming the part of domestic legal system, the issue of the capacity of Montenegrin judicial bodies and legal professionals to perform their responsibilities in compliance with the newly introduced standards is still very topical.

The Foundation will support further education of legal professionals on the rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and its provisions. In that respect the Foundation sees interesting ground for its involvement in the area of competence of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro. Offer for cooperation and help will be extended to the Constitutional Court in the field of provision of tailor-made training for its staff. This is very important particularly because it is evident that, having regard to the policy of Council of Europe, as well as case law of the European Courts of Human Rights, and, finally, necessity for the Montenegrin legal system to comply with these standards, the competence of the Constitutional Court will soon have to be broadened onto the cases concerning human rights violations, just as it was the case in a majority of the countries of Balkan region.

Furthermore, tailored trainings need to be provided on some of the rights particularly important from the aspect of local court practice, such as the right to liberty and security of person, particularly the right to judicial examination of the reasons for deprivation of liberty and habeas corpus, the right to access the independent and impartial tribunal, and the right to a fair hearing within reasonable time. FOSI ROM will support relevant initiatives addressing these issues.

FOSI ROM intends to further strengthen capacity of the local civil sector to monitor implementation of human rights standards through court procedures. Moreover, Foundation will support or organize monitoring of the level of compliance of the Montenegrin judicial practices with the standards set in the European Convention in order to develop recommendations as to how these practices may be improved according to the guidance of the European Court on Human Rights.

Concerning the recent adoption of the Law on Amendments of the Law on Political Parties Financing in Montenegrin Parliament, which, according to the reactions of the civil sector, allegedly departed from the international standards in this area and discriminated the non-parliamentary parties in relation to funding from the state budget, FOSI ROM intends to support NGO-led activities in this area aimed at observing the situation development, analyzing the effects of the new law and its (non)compliance with the international standards. Foundation also intends to continue with its support to monitoring of the implementation of the political party financing process, as well as other related regulations (e.g. conflict of interest provisions, public procurement regulations, etc). Support to further development of reference tools that would advance accessibility of information to general public about different aspects of the political party financing process, earnings of public officials and public procurements will be considered.

Draft Law on Free Access to Information has finally entered the parliamentary procedure after several delays and is likely to be adopted by the Parliament during the summer 2005. Foundation will offer support in the forthcoming period to the monitoring of its implementation. In this respect there is an intention to organize different events with a view to raising public awareness on the new possibilities opened up to the public by the new law in relation to accessing public information by interested subjects. The Foundation may also get involved in the capacity building of the officials who will be responsible for the implementation of the new law. Trainings for targeted professional categories, e.g. local self-government officials, journalists and/or representatives of public administration, etc., will be entrusted to the local NGOs.

Roma population represents the most marginalized minority in Montenegro in terms of poverty, discrimination and access to education and employment. Furthermore, the great number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) population are treated as refugees and displaced persons, and their legal status is not defined and solved yet. Within the territory of Montenegro there are around 20 000 persons who belong to Roma ethnic community (although certain per cent of this population do not declare themselves as Roma) and their share in the total population is 3,3%. Yet percentage of the children who attend regular schools is very low (on the basis of the data collected by NGO sector, about 1% of students in schools are Roma children), and percentage of illiteracy of Roma extremely high (76%).

The Roma population in Montenegro is mainly concentrated in the suburbs of Podgorica, as well as in the municipalities of Niksic, Bar, Tivat, and Berane. They live predominantly in illegal settlements, very unfavorable from the sanitary aspect, without the basic infrastructure. However, it is impossible to get a more accurate insight in the socio-economic position of the Roma displaced from Kosovo, because they slip the official statistics, and specific surveys undertaken by certain NGOs reveal just a part of the picture of the situation and the way those families live. Additional problem is caused by the fact that a large number of Roma refugees and displaced persons do not speak the local language as well as constant tension and intolerance between domestic Roma population and Roma IDPs.

On February 2nd 2005 initiative of Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 was established, during which the countries of the Decade, would focus on reducing disparities in key economic and human development outcomes for Roma, as identified in respective Action plans for the Decade. Montenegro officially joined the Decade. Government of the Republic of Montenegro in cooperation with international organizations and NGO sector drafted its action plan for the Decade, which was officially launched on April 8, 2005, and represents the framework for the activities directed towards the integration of Roma population within the Montenegro society.

Following the initiatives of establishing the initiative for the Decade, in the beggining of 2005, under intiative of World Bank and Open Society Institute an international Roma Education Fund was established in Paris with a view to contributing to closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma, including the desegregation of educational systems. In relation to that there was a broad OSI initiative to concentrate all activities and funds related to education, previously distributed through Roma programs in its national Foundations, around the Roma Education Fund.

Adopting to the newly established conditions for funding and having in mind exquisite significance and the results achieved with the implementation of the REI project in Montenegro, The MoE in cooperation with the Pedagogical Center of Montenegro submitted proposal for the third phase of the REI project directly to the Roma Education Fund asking for support in further implementing of this project, which is envisaged to be spread on four additional municipalities in Montenegro. The project proposal is still pending with the REF.

In the previous period education has remained the most dominant sphere of work of the Foundation within Roma program. The Foundation continued with is engagement in matter of formal and informal education of Roma. In accordance with its commitment to support the raising the quality of educational programs concerning Roma population, after successfully having completed its first phase in 2004, in January 2005 the Foundation supported the second phase of the project Roma Education Initiative (REI) that was carried out until June 2005 in three Montenegrin municipalities (Berane, Podgorica and Niksic). The project was aimed at providing a positive/successful educational model that the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Montenegro (MoE) would, after the termination of the envisaged period of project implementation (school years 2003/2004 and 2004/2005), continue to develop and advance depending on the available human and financial capacity.

The main implementing partner in this project was MoE, which, unlike some other countries that implement REI projects, represents positive example of understanding and cooperation between government, civil sector and international organizations and donors in Montenegro. In addition to MoE which acted as implementing partner in the part of the project dealing with the activities in relation to integration of Roma children in formal education system, in the places where this was not possible, the Pedagogical Centre of Montenegro in cooperation with several Roma NGOs and international institutions committed to the same task carried out informal education of Roma children and Roma assistants.

Implementation of REI project has affirmed the model of the integration of the marginalized social groups in the educational system in Montenegro. The enrollment level of the Roma children in the preschool and elementary education increased 20% compared to the number of Roma children enrolled in 2003/04. The realized aims defined with REI project are in compliance with aims of the reform of the educational system of Montenegro (accessibility of the elementary education; equal chance principle; good education for all etc.) as well as with the Action Plan for Decade of Roma Inclusion.

The barriers between formal and informal education are eliminated for the first time, through establishment of clear cooperation between formal education institutions and NGO sector. The importance of the functioning of Roma assistants for the full integration of Roma children in the education was recognized and the systematic monitoring of the results of Roma children, both at the school and MoE level was established.

Furthermore, with a view to ensuring continuity in implementation of successful projects of non-formal education of Roma children in those places that have not been covered by the "Roma Education Initiative", the Foundation has supported organization of workshops for Roma children of preschool age in Stari Bar. Within the framework of this project catch-up classes have been organized for Roma children who are regular elementary school pupils and a special literacy programme has been carried out for those Roma who are beyond the age limit for enrolment in a regular school.

Finally, having in mind that there were no exact data on Roma children included in formal education system in Montenegro, the Foundation supported and completely financed the project aimed at establishing the complete database on Roma children included in formal education system. The data collected are divided by municipalities, schools and classes.

Having in mind that the most of the activities in Roma program in 2005 were related to the education projects (REI was the biggest and the most significant one) and that due to the circumstances described above, in 2006 Roma Program will operate under significantly decreased budget, the Foundation will tend to ensure the clear monitoring of the Government's activities and efforts in the implementation of the Action plan for the Decade at the national level. Therefore, it will intensively conduct monitoring activities in that regard.

Given the significant policy role of the Foundation in the overall education reform, the Foundation will continue to influence policy in the realm of formal education of Roma, i.e. in strengthening standards in the area of inclusive education and institution building

Furthermore, since the MoE and the Pedagogical Centre applied to the REF for support of the third phase of the REI project, the Foundation will be available for all kinds of contribution to technical and any kind of assistance and collaboration process in the implementation, if the project is supported by the REF.

Finally, the Foundation will take active part in monitoring process within the OSI EUMAP's project Equal Access to Education for Roma, and in that regard it has already proposed the possible candidates for Montenegro team in this project.

Creating necessary preconditions for Roma to realize their rights through offering legal assistance

The Montenegrin National Action Plan for the Decade makes no reference to Roma IDPs from Kosovo who are severely disadvantaged in Montenegro. The only camp for IDPs is Konik, situated on the outskirts of Podgorica. The camp is inhabited entirely by Roma, and is split between two locations: Konik I and Konik II. Conditions in these camps are extremely poor, with overcrowded, unhygienic dwellings. UNHCR has been collaborating with the German NGO, HELP, to construct multi-storey apartment buildings to accommodate selected Roma from Konik. However, even as these residents are moving out of the barrack-style housing, additional Roma IDPs are moving into the camp from the surrounding area, so the population of the camp is expected to remain steady. Currently there are approximately 1.300 Roma refugees and displaced persons (240 families) situated in camp Konik 1 and 320 persons (58 families) situated in camp Konik 2, who live under bad living conditions. Moreover, in the vicinity of the camps are situated around 200 families of RAE IDPs. Although they have been previously supported by different international organizations and donors, the situation in that respect is deteriorating due to obvious retreat of donors. The only organization that is constantly working with this population is Red Cross of Montenegro.

On the other hand there are approximately 850 members of Roma population in Niksic, the second biggest city in Montenegro. There are 131 families, out of which are 59 families of IDPs, and they are situated in five settlements in the suburbs of city with similar living conditions as in camps in Podgorica. They also lack of all kinds of help in relation to realization of their rights in regard of their civil status, documents, and realization of all the other rights provided for by the domestic legislation.

Although completely aware of the priority areas for activities provided for with the national Action plan, such as education, health, employment and housing, the Foundation notice that the Roma people in Montenegro lack some preconditions necessary for realization of their rights. This problem has also been identified by the Red Cross of Montenegro, and other Roma and non-Roma NGOs dealing with Roma issues. Firstly, the most significant problem in this area is the fact that great number of Roma population does not possess personal documents and to the great extent they do not have civil status solved. There are several reasons for that, such as usual discrimination in relation to realization of their rights (entire Roma population was out of main-stream administration process), non-effectiveness of Local government institutions and bodies, negligence of Roma population or ignorance to their obligations in that respect and partly due to the great number of refugees and displaced persons. Also it is evident that Roma people to the great extent are not informed of their rights provided for by the national legislation. Furthermore, even if they were aware of their rights, due to lack of skills, knowledge (76% illiterate) and material and technical support they are not in position to initiate proceedings or to ask for expert help for realization of their rights. As a consequence even in situations where it is relatively easy to realize the rights, it causes loss of will to continue their efforts in that respect. On the other hand it is evident that Roma population, since they live on the margins of society, adopt alternative attitude toward almost all cultural values, including personal documents as well as the rights provided for with the positive legislation.

In its efforts to create necessary preconditions for Roma to realize their rights, the Foundation intends, in cooperation with the Red Cross organization from Podgorica and NGO Roma Centre Niksic to establish an office for legal aid to Roma people. In the office, which would be active once a week in Podgorica and Niksic, the attorney at law would provide Roma with free legal advice, drafting actions, lawsuits, appeals, applications, objections and other petition requests, drafting contracts, wills, statements and other documents, and in certain cases (that are to be determined under elaborated criteria) represent clients before the courts and other state bodies. The implementing partners would provide space for the office and conduct activities in regard of informing Roma people about the possibilities of legal aid and services that the office would provide, as well as coordinate and collect data relevant for improvements in providing legal aid.

Economic and political contexts within which the FOSI ROM Women's Program operates in Montenegro are both rather difficult and complex. With 12,2% of the total population living below the poverty line (defined as receiving an income below 116,2 EUR per month), over 20% living on an income just above the poverty line, and with the economy burdened by a high percentage of unqualified workforce, Montenegro is still very far from reaching a stable economic growth. According to a research conducted by UNDP in 2003, women in Montengro earn by 17% less than men. The political complexity comes primarily from the fact that attention of the political elites - both the governing coalition who is in favour of independence and the opposition parties who are against it - has been focused to the greatest extent on the Montenegro statehood issue and its potential solution through the holding of a referendum in the first half of 2006. Painstaking and slow as they are by their nature, many of the reform processes, i.e. in education or in public administration, are almost completely overshadowed by the current political turmoil. Unfortunately, the international community do not seem to be contributing much to a constructive solution of this issue. In this context, and not for the first time of course, women's issues and gender equity are not seen as a matter of particular importance but are put aside to be dealt with when other problems are solved.

However, what seems to have gathered together most of the Montenegrin citizens is the common positive attitude towards European integrations. Government has created the necessary institutional prerequisites for the process of introduction of the EU standards, and NGO sector has also intensified its activities in training on European standards in order to be able to respond to the challenges and requirements coming from the adoption and implementation of the Acquits Communitaire. A number of WNGOs have also recognized that EU integrations are certainly a channel and a chance for integrating gender issues in the reform processes. Following the positive response of the European Commission to the Feasibility Study for the EU Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) for Serbia and Montenegro, negotiations for SAP are expected to start by the end of this year.

It should also be mentioned that there a couple of other activities which could contribute to positive changes in terms of improving the status of women in Montenegro. Namely, the first National Plan of Action for Women covering the fields of education, culture and media, violence, etc. is currently being developed with the support of UNDP and UNIFEM. This project is conducted by 10 WNGOs and coordinated by the Governmental Gender Equality Office. It is planned that the NAP will be submitted to the Government by October 2005. Activities have also been undertaken to draft the law on gender equality, which is - just for the sake of information - highlighted in the Feasibility Study for the SAP for Serbia and Montenegro as one of the missing links in Montenegrin legislation.

FOSI ROM Women's Program has been operating in 2004 and 2005 in line with the priority subprogram lines: Gender&Education, VAW and Gender Integration. However, with the Foundation's shift in 2005 - 2007 to a qualitatively new approach to reforms which will include, on one hand, support to activities most necessary for their implementation (i.e. education and training) and, on the other, monitoring of the quality of implementation, advocacy and development of recommendations for improvement, the Women's Program also intends to focus on capacity building and advocacy for and monitoring of the integration of gender issues, primarily in the field of education and EU integration processes. At the same time criteria of sustainability and accountability will remain the guiding principles for every decision about activities and funding.

FOSI ROM Women's Program has been operating in 2004 and 2005 in line with the Foundation's main strategic guidelines. It will continue to follow the priority subprogram lines throughout the year 2005, with an intention to contribute to the sustainability of projects that have been systematically developed in the previous years of the WP operation in Montenegro.

In 2004 and 2005 the Foundation supported projects within all three subprogram lines, i.e. in the fields of gender integration, prevention of violence against women, and gender&education.

Gender Integration program line has been focusing in the last couple of years primarily on providing support and assistance to Roma women in order to facilitate their inclusion into normal social life and several related projects have been supported since June 2004. However, in 2005 this FOSI ROM WP sub-component has also touched upon other areas, such as the impact of media and gender equity in the European integrations process.

In the field of work with Roma women and girls, one of the projects concerned with the provision of psychosocial support was conducted by a Roma NGO in the town of Bar. This project also had a separate component related to raising the awareness of Roma women and girls on the necessity of including Roma children into formal education. Mini school on gender equality (a 5-day course) was organized, in cooperation between the Roma Center from Niksic and NGO Anima (Women's Studies) from Kotor for a number of Roma women and girls/NGO activists from the whole Montenegro. It is also important to note that a comprehensive survey and study into the position of Roma women and girls in Niksic (the second largest city in Montenegro) was conducted by a newly established Center for Roma Initiatives and the publication with the findings and recommendations has already been presented to the public (publication available in PDF at www.osim.cg.yu).

So far only one project has dealt with the broad area of mass media, and it was related with the impact of the mass media on the on the formation of gender identity among high school girls. The field work (including 100 high school students in 4 Montenegrin towns) finished end of May 2005, and analysis of the comprehensive survey is going to be conducted in the next couple of months. The study is expected to be used as additional material for the course in Women's Studies conducted by NGO Anima, as well as a basis for developing training and curriculum for high school boys and girls in order to enable them to adopt a critical approach to the products of the mass media. We hope the study will also be used as a starting point for further activities towards the media, e.g. organization of round tables, seminars for journalists, etc.

In line with the overall approach of the Foundation to work on strengthening the capacities of NGOs to deal with the field of European integrations, the Women's Program has also turned its attention to the necessity of integrating women's issues in the discussion about European integrations. It is for this reason that two large projects have been initiated by the Foundation in 2005. One is a survey conducted by the WNGO Women's Action into the capacities of (W)NGOs and institutional gender equality mechanisms to deal with the issue of European integrations as well as their level of familiarity with the Millennium Goals, CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration. Analysis of the survey findings and recommendations for further work were published and presented to the public at the beginning of July (publication in PDF available at www.osim.cg.yu).

The other project is coordinated by the Governmental Gender Equality Office and consists in a very extensive work on translating into Montenegrin the key EU and Council of Europe documents related to gender equality. Care has been taken that documents already translated into Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian are not translated again but included as such. We believe that the two publications, one with the translations of EU directives and the other with the translations of CoE documents, will be as useful for all the interested (WNGOs, gender machinery, legislative bodies, universities, etc.) as much in Montenegro as in the ex-Yugoslav region as a whole. Both projects were mainly financed from the FOSI ROM European Program.

The Foundation also supports the participation of Montenegro in the SEE EONET project.

Through the WP sub-component Prevention of Violence against Women, we have continued supporting the cooperation between NGOs, public institutions and local community as a prerequisite for successful prevention of family violence. Following the signing of a memorandum on cooperation between NGOs and local institutions in Niksic with support of the Foundation in October 2003, in 2004 Local teams have been formed and memoranda on cooperation have been signed in Podgorica, Berane, Bijelo Polje and Ulcinj. In order to further support and enhance the quality of the work of the Local teams, the Foundation has also provided funds for three 3-day training seminars for Local teams members on the methods of work with victims of violence. Also seminars were organized for all Local teams to develop their capacity in fundraising and project management. These seminars were also funded from the Foundation's Local Government Program. The Local team in Niksic has gone a bit further in promoting its work and raising awareness of the community about numerous issues related to family violence and has organized a seminar for school teachers, presentation for the staff of the local hospital, and two round tables for the citizens.

FOSI ROM has also supported the work of the National VAW Website Monitors and provided funds for their travel to the training seminar in Budapest.

In the Gender and Education sub-component the Foundation has continued its support to the alternative program of women's studies conducted by NGO Anima from Kotor. In March 2005 we started with the third generation of students attending a 12-weekend course of women's studies covering a wide range of topics and engaging gender experts from Montenegro and the whole region (mostly from Zagreb, Belgrade, and Novi Sad). The project of Women's Studies is supported jointly with Kvinna Till Kvinna.

Within the activities related to education, the Foundation also supported through its EAST/EAST Program and the Women's Program organization of a regional conference on overcoming gender stereotypes in elementary education. The conference was held in Montenegro in October 2004, with the participation of representatives from WNGOs and ministries/institutes of education from Serbia, Kosova, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Dr. Iveta Silova, co-author of the book "Open Minds - Opportunities for Gender Equity in Education" came upon invitation from the Foundation to present this publication.

The conference had a concrete follow-up in the development of a regional 2-year project related to analysis of curricula and textbooks in all above mentioned countries. Coordinator of the project, WNGO Women's Action from Montenegro applied for RE:FINE funds of the OSI Education Support Program and we are so happy to say that it has recently been awarded a grant.

As part of the Foundation's long-term commitment to strengthening the Women's Information and Documentation Center, in both 2004 and 2005 WP has provided support to the variety of activities conducted within INDOC, i.e. press-clipping, monthly analysis of daily newspapers, development of the web site, publishing of a magazine and "Pressjek" (containing the analysis of the media), collecting and dissemination of relevant documents, etc.

As planned by the WP Strategy for 2005, the Foundation conducted in the fall of 2004 a needs assessment/feasibility study for INDOC in order to explore into the best ways of developing and strengthening this center and providing for its sustainability. The study has shown that there is a great need and certainly a niche in the Montenegrin WNGO scene for INDOC, but that both more efforts and funds should be provided in order to provide for its capacity and institutional development.

It is suggested by the study that "in order to develop a sustainable strategy for the INDOC program, it would be good to take into considerations suggestions and ideas resulting from interviews carried out with representatives of state institutions and international and local NGOs (during the consultant's stay in Montenegro). It is a common view that it is necessary for the INDOC program to be made more visible through its more vigorous promotion on the women's scene and among general public (including media and state institutions). For the sake of more efficient communication, some suggested the creation of separate women's mailing lists, formation of women's network in Montenegro, additional and continuous thematic discussions within women's NGOs, as well as between women's groups and state institutions in charge of women's problems and their improved position in society, University and women's NGOs."

Besides the recommendations for concrete actions regarding the training of the INDOC team members and additional engagement of new people, the study also recommended that "INDOC coordinators, together with the FOSI ROM WP coordinator, should put in additional effort in planning and holding thematic meetings with women's groups with a view to defining more clearly the priorities and positions that would serve as a basis for the development of strategies for overall womes's action. This would, among other things, ensure enhanced utilization of the existing women's organizations capacities in finding optimum long-range solutions for the sustainability of the INDOC program in Montenegro."

Based on the findings of the needs assessment/feasibility study, WP strategy for 2006 - 2007 will be developed in such a way as to provide support for further strengthening of INDOC to the greatest extent possible.

In line with the overall FOSI ROM strategy for 2006/7, priorities of the Women's Program can be broadly defined as awareness raising/capacity building and gender mainstreaming: advocacy and monitoring of the integration of gender issues in different fields, primarily EU integrations and education. The Foundation will support and monitor implementation of the National Action Plan for Women when and where possible. As has been the case since 2003, the Women's Program will closely cooperate with other Foundation's programs, particularly with the European, Education, and Roma Programs and, by developing and conducting cross-sector projects, try to enhance the impact of activities undertaken within WP.

For all abovementioned reasons, in the period 2006 - 2007 FOSI ROM WP intends to initiate and/or continue support to activities that can be considered to belong to the subprogram areas of Gender & Education and Gender Integration. The Gender & Education subprogram line will continue to support the educational-research and the information - documentation projects, while special focus will be placed on strengthening its monitoring component. The monitoring component in the new WP strategy will include the work of the National STOPVAW Monitors. The Gender Integration subprogram line will remain focused on Roma women issues, but will also include training and advocacy for integration of gender issues in the EU integration processes. We believe that such broadly defined areas of work will enable the WP to take up a flexible approach and deliver support where it is most needed.

However, when it comes to the VAW subprogram, the Foundation plans to reduce its budget used for this sub-component in order to be able to focus more effort and funds to the activities in the two remaining subprograms, i.e. Gender&Education and Gender Integration.

Fully aware that the violence problem is still far from its solution, we believe that with the training and support provided for the local teams FOSI ROM Women's Program can safely round up most of its activities in the field of VAW. Arguments for this approach can be found in the context within which our program will be operating in the future. Firstly, there are several very active and reliable NGOs in the field of VAW and, also, local teams for VAW prevention have been established and trained in several municipalities. Furthermore, first steps have been taken by the state to alliviate the problem of domestic violence by producing a national action plan which, as one of its components, includes cooperation with NGOs and establishment of local teams. Also, the Gender Equality Office will be working on appointing gender equality officers in all Montenegrin municipalities and we hope to be able to connect the work of local teams with the stronger functions of municipal authorities in the field of gender issues and VAW protection. Furthermore, the Foundation's Women Program in the 6 years of its existence (1998 - 2005) have created significant legacy in the field of prevention of violence against women (from the creation and institutional/capacity building of WNGOs, contribution to developing a more gender-sensitive legislation, awareness raising trainings for state institutions staff, to the establishment and training of teams consisting of NGOs and local institutions responsible for further work in this field at local levels). This fact and the increasing presence of other donors and international and bilateral institutions who are ready to support projects in the field of VAW (NOVIB, Mama Cash, Kvinna till Kvinna, the US Consulate, the Italian Consulate, etc.) makes room, we believe, for the foundation to reduce support in VAW and to focus on areas where it can contribute most.

However and as said above, WP intends to continue support to the the work of the National STOPVAW Monitors because monitoring and policy initiatives are now in the focus of the overall FOSI ROM strategy.

Taking into account that the first National Action Plan for Women is currently being prepared in Montenegro by the Gender Equality Office and 10 WNGOs, we believe that INDOC and the National STOPVAW monitors will be playing an even more important role in the future in the monitoring of implementation of NAP.

FOSI Representative Office - Montenegro will continue to cooperate with Kvinna Till Kvinna in supporting the alternative courses of women's studies conducted by the NGO Anima from Kotor which has, in the three last years of cooperation, proved to be a reliable partner capable of delivering diverse and quality programs.

However, we will try to strengthen in 2006 and 2007 the regional component of the program by organizing a regional meeting of women's studies centers in Montenegro and, along with it, launch an open call for an intensive 4/5-day seminar in women's studies.

Based on the results of the research into gender stereotypes in the Montenegrin schoolbooks, and the recently RE:FINE granted project titled "Overcoming Gender Stereotypes in Primary Education," the Foundation will attempt to link this program with the education reform processes currently taking place in Montenegro, particularly in terms of the need for gender sensitivity in textbooks and raising awareness of school teachers about gender issues.

Following the publication of the results of survey into the effects of mass culture on the forming of gender identity among high school girls which are to be used as working materials at the women's studies courses but also a starting point for developing projects for training of high school students, WP will also remain open to consider support to such and other quality educational projects.

Support to the strengthening of the Women's Information - Documentation Center and National STOPVAW Monitors

As said above, FOSI ROM long-term goal is to monitor and influence from the aspect of gender issues the changes taking place in the education, EU integrations and other reforms in Montenegro. It is for this reason that the Women's Information - Documentation Center needs further support, both financial and technical. For the purpose of seeing into the most useful ways of developing and strengthening INDOC, the WP conducted a needs assessment/feasibility study in October 2004. The study has shown that there is an obvious need and certainly a niche in the Montenegrin WNGO scene for INDOC, but that more efforts, funds and coordinated activities should be undertaken in order to provide for its capacity and institutional development.

Based on the recommendations of the study and in line with its strategic goal to monitor the reform processes from gender aspects, FOSI ROM Women's Program intends to invest major efforts throughout 2006 - 2007 in strengthening the capacities of the Information and Documentation Center in order to enable it to undertake, besides its regular information collection and dissemination activities, the functions of monitoring, advocacy and policy advice. The term 'capacities' here includes human and technical resources, fundraising, training in PR, policy analysis and development, etc. We also believe that more efforts should be invested into the promotion of INDOC within Montenegro in order for it to be taken as both as a resource and a link with the region and the world. In this context it would be useful to introduce the networking component in the form of organization of regular annual meetings where all WNGOs would come together to exchange information and experiences and discuss areas for potential cooperation.

Activities of INDOC will be coordinated with the work of the National STOPVAW Monitors which the Foundation also intends to support because it is totally in line with the general strategic approach of the Foundation to greadually shift focus of its operation from support/consultation/coordination functions to monitoring/advocacy/policy advice work. in the period 2005 - 2007.

Altough there is a lot of activity in the field of support to Roma community, particularly in creating environment for their quality education and easier integration in the society, most of these programs do not seem to have a strong gender component. The Foundation therefore intends to continue its support to Roma women and girls, as well as to advocate for the promotion and protection of Roma women's human rights. We believe that the results of the survey into the position of the Roma women in Niksic, second largest city in Montenegro, clearly shows the need and gives a solid basis for the development of many projects aimed at supporting Roma women and girls not only in this town but elsewhere in Montenegro. WP will cooperate with the FOSI ROM Roma Program in supporting the projects related to Roma women.

Women's Program will, in cooperation with the FOSI ROM European Program, support the participation of Montenegro in the SEE EONET project, as well as the activities aimed at public information on SEE EONET and advocacy for implementation of its recommendations. With the survery into the awareness of WNGOs on EU gender legislation and other international gender related documents (MDGs, CEDAW, Beijing Declaration), translation and publishing of EU and CoE gender documents in Montenegrin, and the plan to organize an EU training seminar for WNGOs, the Foundation has created a solid basis for further promotion of gender issues in the process of reforms and EU integrations.

The above mentioned survey into the knowledge of WNGOs on EU gender directives and other gender related documents and conventions has clearly shown that, while there is eagerness on the part of WNGOs to help promote gender equality in EU integration processes, there is also a great need for developing their capacities and knowledge on these issues. In this context, FOSI ROM WP intends to deliver support to both training and advocacy projects of WNGOs in Montenegro.