The summary of the #CBcamp

It has been over a week since the #CBcamp has come to an end. There is lots of thoughts, pictures and films that we have been left with after the event. Many of them “mean more than a thousand words”. But every gathering of that kind needs a proper written summary which everyone can point to and share around. Here you go then.

#CBcamp gathered more than 150 participants from 5+ Western Balkans countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia among others). The camp, organized as a participant driven event, formed a part of a wider community boost_rprogram which inspires, enables and promotes tech for civil participation in transparency and accountability initiatives in the region. The event’s agenda focused on DATA: how to use data in accountability work, strategies for corruption monitoring, open (government) data and how can ICTs help in advocacy efforts.

 

The #CBcamp program consisted of more than 20 workshop sessions, 2 key-note speeches, speed geeking and several other activities. The camp was opened by a presentation from the host’s organization Zašto ne president, Darko Brkan. Apart from the regional CSOs representatives the list of trainers included international specialists from Sunlight Foundation, Open Knowledge Foundation, the World Bank, Tactical Technology Collective and TechSoup Global representatives. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas Mesa from the US Embassy in Sarajevo spoke at the event’s closing.

 

The camp was very well received by everyone. We heard about “The Sarajevo line-up being tops” and “the (un)conference’ concept being refreshing and what civil society organizations need to do”.

More information, including articles and posts from the #CBcamp fanzine, pictures from the event and next steps are to be found online. A short documentary designed to grasp the spirit of the event will follow shortly.

The #CBcamp was organized by Fundacja TechSoup (TechSoup Europe) and Zašto ne (BiH) in partnership withDokukino (Serbia, BiH), IPKO Foundation (Kosovo) and thanks to support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the United States embassy in Sarajevo.

All the #CBcamp pictures were taken by Vanja Ćerimagić.