SEE Change Net is a think tank that campaigns for better governance, a higher quality of life and a more efficient use of resources in South East Europe. SEE Change Net was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2012. As SEE Change Net deals with sustainable development issues, the ‘SEE’ stands for Social, Economic, and Environmental – which are the three pillars of sustainable development and must be in harmony for long term, people centred development to occur. SEE Change Net works in three policy areas: Good Governance, Quality of Life and Resource Efficiency.

As written in the Foundation’s Statutes, the objectives and activities of SEE Change Net Foundation are:

• Establishment of cooperation between and provision of support to various institutions and organisations dealing with the problems of civil society, science, policy making, state administration and local self-governance; finding long-term solutions for all generations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, rebuilding good relations and striving to increase cooperation between the countries of the region;
• Assistance in creating a more favourable climate in the field of environmental protection with the enlargement of social connections;
• Support and assistance in promoting reports, studies, appraisals, analysis, opinions, examination of documents, plans, programmes, perspectives, strategies, policies, cartographic studies and other similar documents;
• Organisation of conferences, seminars, symposiums, meetings, courses, workshops and similar, toward reaching the Foundation’s objectives;
• Issuance of multimedia materials in the field of the Foundation’s activities and objectives;
• Exchange of knowledge, experiences, expertise and information with foundations with similar or overlapping aims in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad, and with other actors that support and assist in promoting the matters that the Foundation advocates for;
• Exchange of experiences with all relevant institutions and organisations in the country and abroad, toward carrying out the Foundation’s activities.

The SEE region, consisting of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, has experienced the triple transition from conflict to peace, central planning to free-market economies, and socialism to fledgling democracies. On the near future time-horizon lies the tantalizing prospect of EU membership, with Croatia already entering the EU on June 1 2013, and other countries still racing for the position.

The SEE region still lacks sustainability, and is being undermined by negative development trends. There is perhaps no region better placed to leapfrog all the mistakes ‘Old Europe’ has already made and become a model for sustainable development in New Europe, but the challenges are substantial.

Source: SEE Change Net