As part of the mid-term evaluation of the Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People project, coordinated at regional level by the Red Cross of Serbia and supported by European Union, Austrian Development Agency and Austrian Red Cross, on 13 and 14 November 2017 a meeting was organised at the Red Cross of Serbia headquarters in Belgrade.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the project partners from the five countries in the project: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and Angelika Scherzer of the Austrian Red Cross was leading the discussion related to the activities of mid-term evaluation in the project countries. The first part of the evaluation activities, questionnaires and focus groups have been finalised very successfully, showing that the national civil society networks are visible and that there are capacities for their expansion and sustainability.

In addition to the discussion on mid-term evaluation, the meeting was an opportunity for the partners to exchange their experiences but also discuss the challenges they face through project implementation. The topic of providing support to grassroots organisations working on social inclusion of older people at local level is at the same time the greatest challenge so far. These microproject activities well enable creation of pioneering initiatives for development of local community services that will lead to better quality of life of older people, but will also contribute to capacity building of organisations coordinating the project in their countries through having them play the role of donors. Of course, these activities put new administrative challenges before the partners and these were discussed at the meeting.

Another important topic discussed at the meeting were the research activities in each project country that have been finalised or are currently being carried out. The research results will provide basis for creating recommendations for decision makers as well as run public advocacy campaign in every project country aiming to improve the status of older people in the Western Balkans. The discussions on planning peer visits of representatives of national networks to each other with a view of mutual learning and exchange of experience and good practices are at the moment ongoing.