Black Sea Region
The project is an effort at supporting reformist thinking and reformist activities across the region of the Black Sea through identifying and encouraging reform-oriented, influential young policy-makers, civil servants and civil society activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine into an effective and viable network. This network will gradually come into position to influence policies and propel institutional and societal changes towards more European-style democracy, accountability and transparency in the area.
The project was initiated by the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) in Sofia and the Centre for Applied Policy Research (C.A.P) of the University of Munich in partnership with the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Robert Bosch Stiftung. This is its pilot year, and, overall, it is planned to span over at least five years.
The activities for the pilot year are as follows. The initial group of Young Reformers will be formed via selection based on recommendations from respected partners of IRIS and C.A.P in the Black Sea Region and Western Europe. Once selected, the future Fellows will take part in April 2010 in a conference in Varna, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast, where they will identify current problems and discuss their solutions within the general thematic area of ‛Security, Development and Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area.‛ Then they will go back home and engage in preparing short papers and in monthly discussions over the internet about the identified problems and their tackling. In October 2010, the Fellows will gather for a second conference in Berlin or Brussels, where they will have the opportunity to meet European Union decision-makers and officials and present to them their ideas about how the EU can better contribute to reform and democratisation in the Black Sea region. Thus a direct link will be established between the Black Sea Young Reformers and their EU counterparts. The Fellows will then be awarded certificates and will become officially part of the Black Sea Young Reformers Fellowship.
The following cycles of the project will see the next groups of Young Reformers selected and organised into discussions and conferences. A link with the Fellows who previously graduated will be maintained by the formal inclusion of all into an Alumni Network of Black Sea Fellows and through regular communication and exchange of ideas. The EU representatives will also regularly contribute to the development of strategies for democratisation and reform which the Black Sea Fellows formulate. Thus a growing and viable network among young open-minded people across the continent will emerge, capable of offering policy solutions and influencing decision-making.
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April 19, 2010 IRIS organises the pilot Black Sea Young Reformers conference in Varna |
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On April 15-18, 2010, the Institute for Regional and International Studies, Sofia, and the Centre for Applied Policy Research, Munich, organised the first conference that was part of the pilot issue of the project Black Sea Young Reformers Fellowship (BSYRF) - ‛Security, Development and Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area‛. The event took place in the Black Sea resort of Golden Sands near Varna, Bulgaria, and was realised in partnership with the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States) and Germany’s Robert Bosch Stiftung. |
Between March 31 - April 3 the international conference "Agents of Reform in the Black Sea Region: National Agendas and International Assistance" was held in the Georgian city of Batumi, organized by the Institute for Regional and Inernational Studies as part of the Black Sea Young Reformers Fellowship 2011. This Fellowship is a project of IRIS in partnership with the CAP of the Munich University, sponsored by the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (a program of the German Marshall Fund of the US) and the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The project aims at bringing young professionals, policy executives and experts into a group of debating and advocating for the most pressing policy issues of the Black Sea region in terms of security, development and regional cooperation. The debates of Batumi started with four framework presentations, made by prominent policy analysts of the region - Prof. Ghia Nodia of Georgia, Dr. Franz Lothar Altmann from Germany, Olexandr Sushko from Ukraine and Dr. Serdar Sayan from Turkey. The debates continued on the basis of the position paper, deposited by the organizers of IRIS.
"Agents of Reform in the Black Sea Region: National Agendas and International Assistance" - IRIS Position Paper for the Conference of the Black Sea Young Reformers Fellowship, Batumi 2011. You can download it in pdf here.
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