22 Years of International Development Assistance to Southeast Europe (1991-2013): lessons for Donors and Recipients

Venue: Athens, Greece
Period: Feb. 22-23, 2013

FRIDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2013

12:00 – 12:30 Registration

12:30 – 12:45 Welcoming Remarks
-Professor Panagiotis Liargovas, Department of Economics, University of Peloponnese
-Professor Asteris Huliaras, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Peloponnese

12:45 – 13:30 Keynote Address
-Professor Stefano Bianchini, University of Bologna, Italy

13:30 – 14:45  Lunch

14:45 – 16:00 Panel I: Mission Impossible? International Aid and Sustainable Development
-Gazmend Qorraj, IIE & University of Pristina, Kosovo, “International Development Assistance: stability vs. sustainable development in Southeast Europe”
-Spyridon Repousis and Panagiotis Liargovas, University of Peloponnese, Greece, “International Development Assistance and Economic Development: the case of four Southeast European Countries”
-Zoran Stojkovski, Center for Institutional Development, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, “Reasons for failure in achieving sustainability of the development projects supported by IDA in Western Balkans”

16:00 – 17:45 Panel II: Promoting Reform, Preparing for Accession: The EU and the Western Balkans
-Angelos Kotios, Spyros Roukanas & George Galanos, Department of International and European Studies, University of Piraeus, Greece, “The Territorial Cooperation Policy of EU with the Countries of South East Europe: An Interim Evaluation”
-Davide Denti, School of International Studies, University of Trento, Italy, “Current results and ways forward. An assessment of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) in the Western Balkans”
-Adamantia Kehagia, Ministry of Labour, Greece, “European Conditionality in South East Europe”

17:45 – 18:15: Coffee Break

18:15 – 19:30 Panel III: Long-term Objectives: Supporting Education and Strengthening Democracy
-Hafner Ademi Tanja and Fagan Adam, Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Queen Mary College, University of London, UK, “Donor Strategies and Practices in Support of Civil Society Development in the Balkans: Civil Society Lost in Translation”
-Will Bartlett, European Institute, LSE, UK, “International Assistance Programmes and Education Reform in the Western Balkans: Sources of Policy Success and Policy Failure”
-Katarina Kreceva, Former Contracted Officer at UNDP Country Office in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, “A Conceptual Analysis of Issues Relating to Democratic Development through Educational Aid Programs in Contemporary Macedonia”

20:00 Dinner


23 FEBRUARY 2013

10:00 – 11:15 Panel IV: Transnational Actors, Local Partners: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations
-Tonka Kostadinova, The American College of Sofia, Bulgaria, “The Politics of NGOs assistance to the reconstruction of cultural heritage as a peacebuilding model in Southeast Europe”
-Asteris Huliaras and Nikolaos Tzifakis, University of Peloponnese, Greece, “The Role of Transnational Development NGOs in post-conflict reconstruction in the Western Balkans”
-Piotr Goldstein, University of Manchester, UK, “The Value of (Western) Money: What is it that foreign-funded NGOs can do and the no-budget, lowbudget and locally funded associations cannot? The case of Mostar and Novi Sad”

11:15 – 12:30 Panel V: Bilateral Donors: Difficult Issues, Uneasy Relationships Sotiris Petropoulos, University of Peloponnese, Greece, “Asian Donors in Europe: China and Japan in Southeast Europe”
-Anastasis Valvis, University of Peloponnese, Greece, “International Development Assistance and Transboundary Water Resource Management in Southeast Europe. The involvement of Greece”
-Anna Brusarosco, University of Padova, Italy, “Geography and cooperation: the rural development projects of the Italian cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina”

12:30 – 13:45 Lunch

13:45 – 15:00 Panel VI: Successes and Failures: The Effectiveness of Aid
-Milica Uvalic and Mihail Arandarenko, University of Belgrade and University of Perugia, Serbia and Italy, “International advice and institutional (mis)configuration: The case of Serbia”
-Mimoza Zeneli, Armalda Reci & Odeta Zeneli, UMB, Kamez Tirane, Albania “Coordination of External Assistance in Albania and Perception of Albanian Citizen for Effectiveness of External Assistance”
-Orestis Vathis, University of Peloponnese, Greece, “Effectiveness of peacebuilding and conflict prevention activities: a case study in FYROM”

15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 – 17:30 Round table discussion: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Balkans
-Professor Georgios Petrakos, University of Thessaly, Ambassador
-Alexandros Mallias, Professor Dimitri Sotiropoulos, University of Athens,
-Associate Professor Dimitris Keridis, Panteion University and Dr Ioannis
-Armakolas, ELIAMEP

20:30 Dinner in the centre of Athens

Dr Sotiris Petropoulos

University of Peloponnese
email: seeconference@uop.gr