On December 15 and 16, Kosovo 2.0 and the GAP Institute invite you to join a tailor made workshop and enhance your research and writing skills on the process of Kosovo’s integration to European Union. This workshop is part of a series of workshops on various topics, organized within the European Union funded project “Citizens – Engage”.

Why the process of Kosovo’s integration to European Union? 

Ever since its independence, Kosovo has placed its focus on its integration to the EU, as a step that would impact its economic stabilization and would strengthen its state-building efforts. Signing the Stabilization Association Agreement marked one of the most fundamental steps in establishing a concrete relationship between Kosovo and the EU. Nonetheless, in order to be recognized as a candidate country for EU accession, Kosovo still has a long way to go, especially in fulfilling the contractual obligations such as improving access to justice, guaranteeing an independent judiciary and other processes. 

On the other side, for the majority of citizens in Kosovo, EU Integration is mostly seen as the path for visa liberalization, a process that would end the long isolation of Kosovo’s citizens. The public mostly relies on the media to understand the results of numerous meetings in Brussels and elsewhere, unfortunately many substantial issues are often superficially covered by the mainstream media, making it difficult for citizens to truly understand these processes. Understanding these dynamics is especially important when new policies and laws that affect citizens’ lives directly are drafted and introduced.

As such, think tanks and the media play a critical role in informing citizens about the work and performance of the institutions and the direct impact this work has on their lives. This way, citizens are better informed and more able to actively respond and engage in these processes.

About the workshop:

We invite young aspiring journalists, researchers, activists, students and interested individuals to this workshop who are eager to discuss issues connected to Kosovo’s integration with the EU including, but not limited to, accession negotiations, fiscal policies and EU Integration strategic orientation, media coverage and in-depth reporting on such issues.

During the first day of the workshop, you will gain more insight about the theoretical and analytical approach of researching European Integration, how to gather data and how to write a research paper, with the help of our trainers: 

• Krenar Shala — Researcher
• Berat Thaqi — Policy Analyst at GAP Institute.

On the second day of the workshop you will learn how to transform that research paper into a journalistic article and narrativize the research into a story with the help of our trainers: 

• Jack Butcher — Deputy editor-in-chief at K2.0.
• Dafina Halili — Journalist and contributing editor at K2.0

Because of COVID-19 physical distancing measures, this workshop will be organized via Zoom. Translation will be provided through viber group calls, in English and Serbian. 

A total of 25 people will be selected to participate in the workshop. We will notify through email all applicants about their application’s status. The deadline for registration is December 7, 2020.K

Feature image: Arrita Katona / K2.0.

This workshop is part of the project “Citizens – Engage” supported by the European Union Office in Kosovo, and implemented by Kosovo 2.0 in partnership with GAP Institute.