Belgrade, Serbia 2022 -
If you can read Serbian, we are excited to share our program agenda with you for a training coming this weekend with our business partners in Belgrade.
Several attendees will be joining us for a multi-part seminar and business partnership weekend; we will be excited to share the results with you here, and encourage you to stay tuned for more updates.
Join Michael, Henry, and Steve as they discuss upcoming initiatives in Belgrade, Dakar, Haiti, and beyond.
Executive Director Henry Deneen and Board Member Steve Jones discuss the upcoming initiatives CGS will be sponsoring in 2021 and 2022 in this short interview.
Belgrade, Serbia -
Last weekend, the Center for Global Strategies traveled to the Balkan peninsula for an exploratory trip intended to both establish first-time relationships and to understand the needs of the Serbian business and social outreach communities; ultimately, the trip was designed for CGS to learn about partnership possibilities in these communities.
As shared in our previous post, CGS Executive Director, Henry Deneen, and Board Member, Steve Jones traveled from the U.S. to Belgrade, where they were joined by another friend of CGS living in Germany. Together, the three made several new contacts and got to know new friends to discuss strategies and future initiatives.
One new friend of CGS, a former Iranian refugee now living in Serbia and who works for UNHCR offering services in the camps, met with staff to discuss felt needs in the trauma counseling arena – one of CGS’s key areas of expertise. The UNHCR operates 14 refugee camps in Serbia, and a positive discussion was held about the potential of performing free trauma counseling to both victims of trauma and the workers they work with either inside or outside of the refugee centers.
In addition, CGS met friends in the business arena – a husband and wife team who also form a partnership and have successfully launched 3 businesses in the Belgrade community. Together they discussed the potential of holding a 1-2 day conference in Belgrade within 3-6 months.
In summary, the trip was a resounding success, and follow-up actions are being discussed to hold an all-day training on Saturday and half-day training on Sunday, with experts and contributors in several key areas including: emotional intelligence in business settings, mergers and acquisitions, business planning and business development, and others.
Are you interested in working with CGS to form international friendships? Do you have an area of expertise on which you could present, to add value to the program? Please let us know, and stay tuned to this space for more information on dates and other details. Contact us to let us know your thoughts here.
CGS in Belgrade, Serbia -
Representing the Center for Global Strategies, our Executive Director, Henry Deneen, and Board Member, Steve Jones, traveled from the United States over the last few days to meet with new friends and contacts across several industries and areas of influence in Serbia.
Some positive meetings were held with key influencers, and doors were opened during this exploratory trip, including meeting with contacts working with the UNHCR, addiction recovery, and wider business communities.
As these relationships unfold and strategies for catalyzing international friendships are fleshed out, more information will be shared here, so stay tuned to the CGS website or please feel free to drop us a note to request additional information here.
In August, the CGS Board decided together at during its 2021 Board meeting on upcoming initiatives for the remainder of the calendar year.
The first trips will include an exploratory trip to Serbia on Oct. 15-19 to investigate potential partnerships, as well as a trip to England in November, working with both refugees and the professionals caring for them on the tropic of trauma care.
Stay tuned to this space for updates and information on how to get involved.
Europe is a beautiful continent, rich in history and full of iconic landmarks. It’s also full of people--741 million according to recent estimates. 741 million people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences. And with diverse needs.
Spend some time sitting next to the Eiffel Tower and you’ll see a breathtaking feat of architecture. You’ll also see young men from central Africa and South East Asia selling trinkets and souvenirs. How did they get there? What did they flee from? What were they hoping for in coming to France?
Or spend an afternoon walking through the Botanical Gardens in Brussels and you’ll see French Baroque buildings and an Italian garden. Walk a few blocks over and you’ll see women of various nationalities selling themselves. How many of them are there against their will? What were they promised to lure them here? Work in a restaurant or as a model? An education?
This is some of what I saw on a recent trip away from my normal stomping grounds. Diverse people, diverse needs. But also, diverse response. One of the things that’s amazed me in working with refugees in Germany is the mixture of people I’ve worked alongside—locals and foreigners, with the government or an NGO, students and retirees. The same was true in these other cities I visited. Groups of people had seen a need and were working together to do something about it. Everything from raising awareness of human trafficking to providing after school activities for refugee children.
It’s amazing and an honor to be a part of.
Lynnae Kruis
Inter-cultural Research Expert
“Koreni” (Roots) was established in Skopje, Macedonia in November 2014 to serve as a catalyst for change through education development. At Koreni, we see 3 types of education opportunities in Macedonia: empowering local teachers, working with local students, and connecting with our community. Our primary focus is working with teachers and administrators, equipping them to improve their part of the education system.
We also seek opportunities to build up students directly, exposing them to modern teaching standards and techniques, with a purpose of bringing local teachers alongside us to see these techniques in action. Lastly, Koreni seeks to connect with the community of Skopje and all of Macedonia by meeting educational needs as we discover them.
In London, we have been working to connect with British organizations to mobilize them to meet the needs of their local and global communities. In particular, we have been working to connect with network leaders across the London area to encourage them to mobilize their networks to serve the refugee community, particularly those living in Greece. We look forward to seeing Europeans being the ones who step forward to impact the people living in Europe. We think that the current refugee crisis is a major way that this can both continue to happen and start to happen afresh.
Lesvos is an intense place. I’m halfway through a 2- week stay. It’s my 3rd visit to the island, and while I understand better how things work, it’s still overwhelming to see.
So far I’ve spent most of my time repairing and recouping tents. EuroRelief has dozens of brand new big 5-man tents, but the camp is so overcrowded that we simply don’t have empty ground big enough for them. So I’m trying to squeeze more life out of older smaller ones. The migrants keep coming, but no one seems to leave.
The most powerful aspect of this, obviously, is hearing people’s stories. And if you’re fortunate enough, to be a part of someone’s story. When I was here in April, I helped a guy from Iraq get settled into one of the plastic huts. I kept checking on him and we became friends. In July he was still here, and I got him to start translating for is, as his English is tremendous. Last week, I didn’t see him, so while I was disappointed, I was glad he wasn’t squeezed into Moria anymore. But I kept hearing about “Yogi”, the refugee guy who is acting caretaker/first responder at our camp on the north shore. Well, Yogi turns out to be my friend, and he is thriving up there in his new job.
