OSCE Mission to Montenegro donates IT equipment to civil society organizations

As part of an joint initiative to strengthen capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs) in using digital platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro delivered IT equipment to 19 CSOs  from 15 to 26 March.

In addition to the IT equipment, the CSOs, which deal with youth, received life-long Windows licenses and an annual license for a cloud software platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars.

Elvira Hadžibegović-Bubanja, Executive Director of the NGO Forum MNE, expressing gratitude to the Mission, said: “The equipment is a resource that 19 CSOs will use in their daily work with youth and help us overcome the challenges we all face, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Siv-Katrine Leirtroe, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, said: “The Mission has been continuously supporting youth-related activities, which is especially important at a time when our normal functioning is limited and requires additional efforts and resources. We are pleased that the donated equipment will facilitate CSOs work with young people.”

This initiative was launched in autumn 2020. It consisted of two modules of basic and advanced capacity-building training courses, which enhanced participants’ knowledge about available digital platforms and their application in everyday work. Participants learned how to use various platforms for meetings, training courses, conferences and/or research in an online mode.

The training course offers an online tutorial on using digital platforms developed by the trainers. By the end of March, it will be available to all interested CSOs.