Between 18 and 19 June, the NECE Prep Lab took place in Tirana, as an official part of the preparations the European Festival of Civic Education to happen from November 14-17, 2024 in Tirana. 

This initiative is organized by THE CIVICS Innovation Hub, and its local partner organization SCiDEV, with the support of the Open Society Foundations | Western Balkans.  

The NECE Prep LAB proved to be a great opportunity to not only promote the NECE Festival, but most importantly learn about the local ecosystem, and engage local stakeholders in civic education. It convened cooperation partners, supporters, partnering institutions, and civil society organizations / civic education actors from Albania and the region.  

NECE Festival is an annual gathering that brings together civic educators with stakeholders from civil society, politics, academia, media, and culture for an interactive and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and actions. 

Vlora Rechica, Program Analyst at OSF-WB, greeted the panelists and participants in the 2-day Prep LAB event in Tirana. She highlighted that the Open Society Foundations in the Western Balkans have been dedicated to promoting the concept of an open society for over 30 years, by fostering the development of an autonomous civil society, independent media, and a range of educational and cultural institutions. “Now, the regional office is taking this commitment further by empowering regional actors to shape the joint future of the entire region,” she concluded. 

This year’s NECE Festival 2024, which will take place in some of the most prominent venues in the vibrant Tirana, explores the many manifestations and meanings of BORDERS and what civic educators make of them. Essentially ambiguous, controversial, both limiting and enabling, borders represent division and connection, future and past, exclusion and inclusion, suppression, but also guarantee of freedom, contact zones and spaces for new possibilities. 

The festival annually hosts up to 200 attendees from various sectors of public engagement. Representatives from civil society, politics, science, media, and culture will come together to discuss four major thematic Cubes: climate change & green literacy, media & digital literacy, geographies of division, diversity & community work, and migration regimes, civic education & governance. 

This event will facilitate networking and the exchange of best practices for civic educators dealing with border-related issues. The innovative format includes highly engaging, interactive, and inclusive discussion panels, connecting participants across multiple venues. It will also feature interdisciplinary discussions and a variety of cultural activities, ensuring a rich and comprehensive festival experience. 

The registration to this year’s edition of European festival of civic education: BORDERS, organized in Tirana from 14 – 17 November 2024, is now open. Check out this link to register.