After Belgrade and Pristina, our bi-annual Engaged Democracy Convention Vol. 3 moved forward to another capital in the region by hosting 100+ participants from the Western Balkans in Skopje, from May 21 to May 23rd.
Under the overarching theme “Engage, Inspire, Empower!”, this year’s EDI2025 once again brought together a critical mass of activists, journalists, changemakers, and civil society representatives from across the Western Balkans to address the core EDI thematic areas: environment, public space, media, decent work, and civic rights, plus the critical emerging topics of: mental health, digital security, and the rise of anti-gender movements.
The 3 panels and 10 thematic workshops served as a platform to engage, inspire, empower and connect all the local voices for the next round of joint regional action and initiatives.
The key takeaways across all the EDI’s thematic areas were that we are witnessing a widespread disruption - whether through environmental destruction caused by mining, the shrinking of public space driven by global crises such as wars and national issues like corrupt urbanization, corporations exploiting workers' rights across the region, the misuse of private data by big tech, or activists being survelled and subjected to SLAPPs Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). On top of all this the media landscape is grappling with existential challenges to sustainability amid shifting donor practices and priorities.
Despite living in an era marked by the rise of fascism, far-right organizing, the depletion of environmental resources, the repression of marginalized communities, and the exploitation of workers, the discussions from the working groups sparked important reflections and raised key questions:
What is possible? How can we act to dismantle these systems while continuing to build on the legacy across EDI’s core thematic areas and can we rethink and rebuild new approaches?
Fostering stronger alliances across movements and unions, creating interconnectedness between causes and using the disruptions and crisis as opportunities to spotlight the joint issues and mobilize broader support were just some of the answers which were taken as action points for the upcoming period.
Take a closer look at the photos to grasp the energy of EDI Convention vol.3 in Skopje and stay tuned for the video materials and YT footage!
Photo Gallery
