On 13 December 2019, EU TACSO 3 project organised in Podgorica the consultation and validation meeting for Montenegro, on the Needs Assessment Report of civil society.

Stakeholders expressed during the meeting, that the new Law on voluntarism has not been adopted yet which is limiting the process. The lack of law on social entrepreneurship is preventive for the CSOs, as well as the lack of data on CSOs. They raised as a concern the difference between “big” and “small” CSOs in terms of their capacity needs; Identified the need for stronger state support to capacity development of CSOs in terms of provision of resources; as has been the need for CSOs basic trainings, particularly at community level and PONGOs.

The following recommendations were addressed to EU TACSO 3:

• Focus on the local level;
• The state should provide resources for capacity building;
• There is a need to define grassroots;
• Improve public funding procedures;
• Include Catalyst and SIGN data on philanthropy in the research;
• Capacity development should cover technical skills, lobbying, evidence-based advocacy, monitoring, strategic planning, communication and social media;
• Improve visibility of civil society at the regional level through media;
• Facilitate regional and EU networking;
• Develop a register of CSOs.