The first event of the project was a three-day workshop held at the Political Science Department at the Faculty of Law „Justinian I“ as well as the GEM club in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. The workshop consisted of an opening session, four thematic sessions, and a public event. The opening session focused on the presentation by the coordinator of the project who outlined future activities, timeline, budget and obligations of every partner in the project. The four thematic sessions included theoretical debates on concepts of active citizenship and innovative democratic practices. The public event brought together researcher with local activists that have been direct participants in the social movements of the past decade in Macedonia.
With 13 project participants and 17 other contributors, the event also hosted several guest speakers outside of the network who had the opportunity to share their thoughts on democratic challenges in the region. Amongst them were Vedran Džihić and Lina Dokuzović from the Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe at the University of Rijeka, Ioannis Armakolas, the Head of South-East Europe Program at ELIAMEP, Ana Mata from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, Vladimir Vučković from the Center for Civic Education at Podgorica, Montenegro, Ratislav Dinić from the Associated Movement of Free Tenants from Niš, Serbia and Dražana Lepir from Association “Sharp Zero” from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.