Citizens First Conferences
The Citizens First Conferences are a series of regional and national events focusing on citizens and civil society as partners and contributors in the design and monitoring of public administration reforms (PAR) in the Western Balkans, within the context of the region’s EU integration path. The conferences aim to strengthen and broaden dialogue on the development and implementation of inclusive and transparent PAR policies that genuinely respond to citizens’ needs. We believe that motivating governments to change requires strengthening bottom-up demand for better administration in the region—complementing the top-down requirements of the EU accession process and contributing to the sustainability of reforms for the benefit of citizens.
Fourth WeBER Regional Conference “Citizens First: A Decade of Advancing Citizen-Centred PAR” Opens
Wednesday, 10 June 2026 – The Fourth WeBER Regional Conference, “Citizens First: A Decade of Advancing Citizen-Centred PAR,” opened today in Belgrade. The conference is taking place on 10 and 11 June 2026, organised by the European Policy Centre (CEP) and the Think for Europe Network (TEN), with the [...]
Third WeBER Regional “Citizens First” Conference
Belgrade, 8-9 November 2022 – “As WeBER, we have matured as of 2015 in the sense that we realised that as CSOs, we cannot speak without the voice of citizens. We drew a precious lesson from citizens’ consultations. We could be much more persuasive, and a bottom-up pressure could be [...]
Citizens First: Second Regional WeBER Conference
25th – 26th of February 2021 – Second Regional Conference Citizens First was held on the 25th and 26th of February. The conference was held in a hybrid format, with speakers from Serbia attending live, while speakers from the region and Europe joined online. The conference was physically attended [...]
National Citizens First Conferences
National Conference “Citizens First” Held in Skopje
Skopje, 17 December 2025 The National Conference “Citizens First”, organised by the European Policy Institute (EPI), brought together representatives of institutions, local self-government, civil society and donors to discuss how to make public services more efficient, transparent and truly citizen-oriented. The conference was organised within the WeBER 3.0 project, funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Agency. It showcased concrete results of projects supported through the WeBER small grants scheme, highlighting innovative solutions in [...]
National Conference “Citizens First” Held in Pristina
Pristina, 3 December 2025 The National Conference “Towards Citizen-Oriented Public Services in Kosovo”, organised by the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), brought together representatives of public institutions, experts and civil society organisations to discuss progress, challenges and future steps in improving public service delivery in Kosovo. The conference was organised within the framework of the WeBER 3.0 project, and focused on strengthening transparency, efficiency and citizen engagement in public administration reform, with a particular emphasis on [...]
National “Citizens First” conference: Towards citizen-oriented public services in Serbia
The European Policy Centre (CEP) organized the National “Citizens First” Conference – Toward Citizen-Oriented Public Services in Serbia, within the project Western Balkans Civil Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration (WeBER 3.0). The conference addressed key topics related to improving public administration and service delivery to citizens, including placing citizens at the center of public administration reforms, national and regional experiences in user-oriented public service design, citizens’ views on public service delivery in Serbia, and participatory solutions to local problems in [...]
