As a Policy Hub, the Aspen Germany will support selected policy research organizations from the Western Balkans in identifying potential local partners in Berlin, facilitate for their scoping or advocacy visits, and assist with the preparations of these visits, including the setup of meetings, and a roundtable event to increase outreach.

This program aims to help policy organizations from the Western Balkans to better understand the policy scene in Berlin, meet Berlin-based organizations and policy makers, and improve their understanding of Germany, German policies, and in particular German Western Balkan policies, and/or enhance the effectiveness of their advocacy.

Eligible Activities

There are two different types of online visits that organizations can apply for:

• Scoping: Scoping visits are intended for organizations that have no or very limited experience in Berlin’s political scene. The idea is to get a better understanding of Berlin’s political landscape and to make first contact with relevant stakeholders and interlocuters.
• Advocacy visits: Advocacy visits are intended for organizations that have already engaged in similar activities in Berlin and are therefore better able to communicate a tailored message to identified interlocuters in Berlin. Organizations conducting an advocacy visit are expected to prepare a short policy brief (max. 5 pages) in advance of their visit, which will be distributed among their interlocutors before their meetings.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must be independent, non-partisan and non-profit organizations in the sense that they neither have an affiliation with political parties nor dependencies in forms of revenue structures with single entities. Further, applying organizations must work towards supporting and strengthening reform processes in any field related to the EU accession process.

• Eligible Organizations:
  • Independent policy research organizations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia that strengthen democratic processes by identifying political, economic, and social problems, and researching them in a non-partisan and policy-relevant way are eligible to participate in this program.
  • The program further supports the interaction of policy research organizations with governments to advance better policy responses, to involve nongovernmental stakeholders in policy debates, and disseminate their research findings widely.
• Eligible Participants:
  • Individuals that make up the delegations from successful applications should be assuming responsibilities in the organization’s leadership or senior research activities.
  • Participants are expected to be experts in their respective fields and should therefore have several years of professional experience in research, leadership, advocacy, or politics.

For more information, visit Aspen Institute Germany.