On June 19, 2024, the 11th Danube Participation Day (DPD) titled ‘’Creating change for successful EU enlargement – How can we work together for a sustainable, resilient, and stable transition in Ukraine and beyond?’’ took place in Vienna (Austria), organised by Foster Europe Foundation for strong European Regions (ALDA member). The Local Democracy Agency (LDA) Mostar had the exceptional honour of being an important link with the Interreg Programme of the Danube Region, whose chairmanship Bosnia and Herzegovina will take over in 2025. The act of passing the bell to the director of LDA Mostar, Dženana Dedić, as a symbol of the jurisdiction transfer, officially announced the forthcoming Bosnia and Herzegovina presiding over this important programme of the European Union.

By the act of handing over the bell, a symbol of jurisdiction, LDA Mostar announced the BiH chairmanship over the DANUBE programme

The participants of this highly important event addressed the role of Civil Society in the transition laboratories of Ukraine and Moldova on their path into the European Union.

The event built on the results of the 10th Danube Participation Day in Ljubljana (Slovenia) which took place in 2023, following three main topics of innovation and transformation for Ukraine and Moldova social transformation, democratic transformation, and sustainable green transformation. Nevertheless, the three topics are intertwined and interdependent. Without a secure and developed democratic system and society no social or green transition can be imagined, while democratic or green transition can’t be imagined without a social transformation.

To strengthen networks and cooperation, the DPD gave space and time for direct contacts and debate among participants in two interactive sessions: an Agora where all participants had the opportunity to present (running or future) projects, NGOs/CSOs or special services as well as three Transition Laboratories debating the three issues of funding, capacity building, and a culture of participative governance.

As a third element, national and international institutions, active in funding in the Danube region had the opportunity to present their funding schemes with relation to civil society.

This event was followed by the two-day 13th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), which provides a platform for all stakeholders in the region and beyond to discuss upcoming challenges, work on common solutions and create a vision for a prosperous future, which gathered a large the number of high-ranking officials as well as the representatives of the non-governmental sector from the region. Bosnia and Herzegovina was presented at this event by the Mayor of Sarajevo, Mrs. Benjamina Karić. On this occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Elmedin Konaković, attended the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the Danube region countries, held on June 20, where they expressed their commitment to the Strategy of the Danube Region, by officially adopting the joint Vienna Danube Declaration.