The Szeged Centre for Security Policy, a research non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the south-eastern part of Hungary, organises training courses, conferences and research activities for municipalities, universities and NGOs in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.
The voluntary and civil society sector is poorly developed in these countries, and there is a need for training initiatives to strengthen the competencies of local actors. Moreover, the Centre plays an important role in spreading reliable and objective research findings and information in order to encourage public debate about foreign and security policy issues.
From Europe to Europe
Through the Centre's "From Europe to Europe" project, financed by the Norway Grants, 17 week-long training courses have been held for more than 400 participants from across the region. The core focus areas of the courses are municipal development, EU regionalism and institutional reforms and the role of NGOs in the promotion of democratisation and regional security.
These courses and conferences do not only provide for training and capacity-building of local and regional stakeholders, but also provide an opportunity for sharing experiences and forming informal networks across ethnic and political boundaries. This is well in line with the centre's outspoken aim of being a contact point between regional and local actors from the Balkans and Central Europe as well as Western Europe.
The Szeged Centre for Security Policy is set up by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the University of Szeged and the Municipality of Szeged.