Deadline: 11-May-25
The Balkan Civil Society Development Network is thrilled to invite civil society organizations (CSOs) and academic institutions from across the Western Balkans to assemble their best team and join their first-ever Civic Space Hackathon: Innovate for Impact!
Together, you will co-create powerful solutions to some of the most urgent threats facing civil society today: disinformation, smear campaigns, and shrinking access to essential resources. This is your chance to bring together your brightest minds — activists, tech experts, legal thinkers, communicators, designers — and design the future of civic resilience.
The hackathon will create a space where ideas are meant to be questioned, strengthened, or even reimagined based on collective input and shared experience. Together, you will move from brainstorming to prototyping, with guidance from experienced mentors every step of the way. You don’t need a fully developed concept — just an initial idea, an open mind, and a willingness to think creatively.
Goals
- Through the Western Balkans Civil Society Hub, this hackathon is all about sparking fresh ideas, building real solutions, and fueling action. Their mission is to strengthen civic space and support the sustainability of CSOs across the region by:
- Co-creating actionable responses to financial and legitimacy challenges
- Inspiring innovation through digital tools and new approaches
- Backing promising solutions with mentorship, visibility, and seed funding.
Prize Information
- First Prize: €3,500
- Second Prize: €2,000
Benefits
- Post-Hackathon Support: Seed funding and possibility of follow-up contracts for further development (up to €50,000 available)
- Expert Mentorship: Get hands-on support from experienced mentors in tech, communications, advocacy, and digital innovation.
- Connections: Meet regional innovators, civic tech experts, and potential supporters.
- Visibility: Your solution will be showcased across the region and beyond through BCSDN’s network and partners.
- Plus travel, accommodation, and local expenses are fully covered for selected teams.
Program Specifications
- At the hackathon, you’ll work on possible solutions that could:
- Detect, expose, and counter smear campaigns
- Build strategic communication and narrative resilience
- Foster cross-border solidarity and real-time response networks
- Create open tools for transparent public funding tracking
- Promote public trust and strengthen grassroots philanthropy
- Reimagine sustainable resource models for civil society.
Eligibility Criteria
- They are inviting NGOs and academic institutions based in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) to form interdisciplinary teams of 4–6 people.
- The lead applicant must be a registered NGO or academic institution from the region.
- Individual applications are not accepted.
- Teams must bring together diverse skills – from activism to tech, design, legal, communications, or research.
- Participants must be committed, collaborative, and ready to work intensively before and during the event.
Selection Criteria
- Your application will be evaluated based on:
- Relevance/Impact: The idea clearly addresses a specific civic space challenge and will inspire or help many.
- Team Diversity: Your team combines different skills, backgrounds and perspectives.
- Feasibility: Your idea is practical, usable, and can be developed into a prototype during the hackathon.
For more information, visit Balkan Civil Society Development Network.