04-06.10.2011, Ohrid/Macedonia/ - The first meeting of the newly-formed expert council on developing strategies for the partner organization in the West Balkans project is going to be held in Ohrid. The event will be attended by participants out of 6 Balkan countries- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The workshop will be led by a German expert. The accent of the workshop will be placed on the issues of better interest representation and the development of wider range of services for the member organizations.

The newly launched Partnership project between Koblenz Chamber of Crafts and the West Balkans is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It aims to support the partner organization in developing their better image, supporting them in strengthening their positions through improving their current services offered and developing new services. In order to achieve this objective it is essential that the partner organizations have a clear organizational structure and have a clear and sustainable strategy for development. The workshop consists of 2 sessions, the first session will be led by the German expert, Rolf Weidmann, who will familiarize the participants with major issues in strategy development. The second session will run as practical training. The representatives of those organizations which already have an existing strategy for development will be given the chance to present it and will elaborate it on afterwards. All the participants will be given the task to work individually and draft an example structure of their organizations.

The workshop is the first step in the establishment of an expert council that will support the organizations from the West Balkan region and their members through experts advice and consultations on site in the long term.