Agenda

DAY 0

18.11 (Tuesday)

19:00 - 22:00 | Meet & Greet

DAY 1

19.11 (Wednesday)

8:45-9:15 | Registration & Welcome Coffee

9:15-9:45 | Opening and Welcome

9:45-10:00 | Opening talk

10:00-12:00

Ways to Work with Youth in a Non-cringe Way

Slobodan Blagovčanin
Youth Resource Center Tuzla

Had enough of theoretical sessions taught by people far from day-to-day practice? Come for first-hand success stories and examples of good practice in youth and community work. Want a session where young people are partners, not a “target audience”? Join a two-hour, highly interactive workshop with field-tested examples. Learn why one-size-fits-all fails, how horizontal structures build trust and results, and which tailored approaches actually work. We’ll show how memes spark critical thinking and action, which event formats truly attract citizens, and how to launch a pub-quiz scene or a festival and keep it visible. Slobodan Blagovčanin, only for MEGAPHONE attendees, will share hard-won lessons and examples of good practice.

Building Wide and Diverse Coalitions for Good Causes

Žaklina Živković
Organization for Political Ecology Polekol

Lejla Kusturica
Foundation Atelier for Community Transformation – ACT

Join us for the workshop “Building Wide and Diverse Coalitions for Good Causes”, led by Žaklina Živković from Organization for Political Ecology - Polekol (Serbia) and Lejla Kustrurica from Foundation Atelier for Community Transformation – ACT. Drawing on years of collaboration within the regional network “Let’s Defend the Rivers of the Balkans,” the session will explore how trust is built and sustained in heterogeneous movements. Through stories from practice, participants will learn lessons on being useful to communities, while respecting the different tempos of learning and action. The workshop will include interactive mapping of common divisions within the movement and group work on resolving real-life crises that emerged in organizing. Together, we’ll reflect on how to transform diversity into strength and shape resilient, trust-based coalitions for good causes.

From Myths to Money: Effective Fundraising for Democracy-Focused CSOs

Andrzej Pietrucha
Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation

In times of unpredictable crises and non-transparent practices in financing civic activities with public money, non-grant fundraising becomes crucial for the independence and sustainable development of CSOs. In this interactive session, we will explore a step-by-step approach to introducing successful fundraising programs targeting both individual and corporate donors. During the workshop, you will: - identify the most common myths about private fundraising and learn tactics to overcome them - discover the 7 key elements of every effective fundraising campaign - get inspired by successful campaigns that raised significant funds for watchdog, human rights, pro-minority, and other democracy-building CSOs

12:00-12:30 | Coffee Break

12:30-14:00

Between Connection and Conflict: Activism in Polarized Society

Lukáš Zorád
Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia

The challenge here is to consider different options for how we can approach or frame our topic of interest. Is there another way to frame the dialogue? What happens when we invite people to talk about an issue? How does our framing influence the outcomes? In this session, we will examine the group dynamics of dialogues on polarizing topics — what happens in people’s minds when the same topic is framed differently, what works, what doesn’t, and how we can challenge our own approaches to advance our cause.

Practical Tools to Build Strong Coalitions

Mareike Britten
Mareike Britten Consulting

The only way to cultivate power is by collaborating with others. Join this session on building strong and effective coalitions and learn practical tools so that your collaborations can drive meaningful change. The workshop offers hands on experiences to help you create alliances through:

Co-creating a shared vision that inspires and unites
Practicing collective decision-making that avoids settling on the lowest common denominator using Consent Decision Making.

Led by trainer Mareike Britten, with nearly 20 years of experience, this experiential learning session will equip you with practical skills to enhance your approach to coalition strategy and take your collaborative efforts to the next level!

Gamification Methods Work for Everyone

Arminas Muse

It’s not just about video games! It’s about boosting engagement, motivation, and learning (including shifting attitudes and behaviors) by using game-design techniques—or even creating your own games. It’s fun, and it works! Research shows that people of all generations and genders play games. As different as they may be, successful games share common elements—and we can apply those same elements to our causes. In this session, you’ll gain insights, see practical examples, and take part in guided hands-on activities that will help you kick-start your first gamified solution. No previous experience required.

14:00-15:00 | Lunch

15:00-15:30

Fun Interactive Session

Mareike Britten
Mareike Britten Consulting

Session description will appear here soon!

15:30-17:00

Creative forms of non-violent protest

Karolína Miková
Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia

In democratic society we, as civil society organizations, rely on partnership and negotiation with public authorities. Lately we face change in governance style from partnership toward government hostility towards CSOs in a growing number of countries. In this new situation we as civil society actors need to find new approaches on how to present our issues, causes, and values to the public and also to the officials. We are more frequently using campaigns with public protest and also direct action. What is our experience with non-violent public protests? How creative are we in finding new ways of attracting public attention and winning public support? In this session we will discuss these and more questions.

Hope-based Comms in Seemingly Hopeless Times

Kerem Çiftçioğlu
Truth Justice Memory Center

In today’s “polycrisis” of climate breakdown, wars, authoritarian tech, rising autocracy, activists oftentimes feel powerless and burnt-out. Problems collide into an “everything all at once” mess, too complex to fix linearly. How can we respond meaningfully? Drawing on his work as a communications practitioner at a Turkish CSO documenting gross human rights violations, Kerem will share and help reflect on how hope-based communication can help reframe despair into resilience, solidarity, and the possibility of change.

Hands-On Roadmap to Making Policy Change

Adnana Mahmutćehajić Čamdžić
Mozaik Foundation

Is there a recipe for successful public policy advocacy? We’ll prove there is, and we will share it with you at this workshop. The Mozaik Foundation used it to change the Law on VAT in one of the region’s most complex governance systems, full of veto points. The recipe is simple and practical: shape a one-sentence purpose people identify with, build trust and partnerships, and move on three fronts at once: public pressure, inside relationships, and the legal path. Advocacy is innovative and complex, with much happening behind the scenes, and it becomes feasible when highly motivated people share the purpose and work together for the public interest.

17:00-19:00 | Free time

19:00 | Dinner

DAY 2

20.11 (Thursday)

9:00-9:30 | Morning Coffee

9:30-10:00

Beyond Code: Civil Society’s Role in Shaping AI

Ayşegül Güzel
AI of Your Choice

AI is advancing fast, pulling us into dilemmas with no simple answers. The real anchor isn’t in code, it’s in our deepest human values. While tech and business scramble to build frameworks without a soul, the social sector already knows how to lead with values in messy, human complexity. My call to action: it’s time for civil society to reclaim its place at the center of AI’s future. Ensuring technology serves not just efficiency, but life itself!

10:00 - 10:30

Cybersecurity and Boogeyman in Our Phones

Anastasiia Apetyk
MINZMIN

Session description will appear here soon.

10:30-12:00

AI in Service of CSOs: 1.01

Maria Makowska
TechSoup

In this beginner-friendly session we’ll explore how artificial intelligence can enhance the daily operations of nonprofit organizations. Discover practical AI applications for daily tasks—such as email management, meetings, texts work, stakeholder management, and grant writing. Learn how to use AI as an assistant, peer, and expert to boost efficiency, creativity, and impact.

Data for Action in Grassroots CSOs

Kuba Piwowar
SWPS University / Digital Center Foundation

Data isn’t just numbers—it’s stories, connections, and power. In this workshop we’ll explore how small CSOs can uncover insights from unusual places, even when data feels incomplete. Together we’ll reconnect with communities, build solidarity across movements, and rewire our daily work for deeper impact. Through real cases, creative methods (including genAI), and hands-on experiments, we’ll practice turning messy data into tools for activism and change.

Navigating AI Dilemmas: From Tension to Policy

Ayşegül Güzel
AI of Your Choice

Do you ever feel a tension in how you use AI? Maybe you find it super helpful, yet also worry about its environmental impact. Or perhaps you see disagreements within your team about AI that sometimes create conflict. This kind of tension is completely normal and even beautiful. In this session, we’ll surface the dilemmas we all experience, dive into Responsible AI frameworks and case studies, and discover how value-based processes are already familiar to you. Then we’ll start small by drafting AI policies, so you’ll leave ready to build a real one with your team using the template provided.

12:00-12:30 | Coffee Break

12:30-14:00

AI in Service of CSOs: Agentive AI

Maria Makowska
TechSoup

This session dives into advanced applications enabled by paid AI tools, comparing customized assistants with more advanced agents. Learn how to assess whether agentive AI fits your needs, what tasks can be delegated, and how to build your own tailored assistant, which can be of use to you or your organization. We’ll showcase real CSO use cases and dilemmas to help you unlock AI’s strategic potential in your organization.

AI Prompting & Automation in Fundraising: Launch Your First Pilot

Miloš Janković
Catalyst Balkans

Most content about the AI is either fluff or fear - leaving NPOs unsure what to do. This beginner-friendly workshop makes AI usable for fundraising with strategic frameworks and practical tools you can apply to your next campaign. Learn clear prompting frameworks, how to shape CustomGPTs with solid instructions, and where AI automation actually helps. No tech background required. No jargon. Just clear, actionable strategies designed for activists and hands-on staff. You’ll leave with prompts and simple templates that handle boring tasks automatically - replying, updating contacts, nudging follow-ups - so you can focus on your mission.

Open Session for MEGAPHONE Participants

At this time slot participants can pitch their ideas for a session.

14:00-15:00 | Lunch

15:00-15:30

Digital Hygiene and Its Role in Building Resilience

Justyna Hofmokl
Institute for Digital Citizenship

This interactive session, led by a technology enthusiast and CSO activist, looks at digital hygiene as a key part of caring for our mental, physical, and social wellbeing. Participants will take a short self-assessment, reflect on their own digital habits, and explore practical ways to restore balance in a screen-heavy world. The workshop is designed to be both reflective and motivating, rooted in a spirit of active hope.

15:30-16:00

Demo: Safe YOU

Lilit Shakhulyan
Safe YOU

Safe YOU is an award-winning mobile app and AI-based platform tackling violence against women and girls, including cyberviolence. It connects users with verified support services, emergency help, and trusted networks, while raising awareness and building digital resilience. The demo will highlight how Safe YOU combines innovation and social impact, showing how technology can protect survivors while empowering civil society and institutions with tools that strengthen their work, support prevention, and enable new solutions to social challenges.

Demo: Open Archive

Trevor Snapp
Gisa Group / Open Archive

Demo description will appear here soon.

Demo: Data Commons

Marnie Webb
TechSoup

Data Commons (https://datacommons.org) is an innovative tool for storing, viewing, and combining a vast number of datasets. Built on an open source Google product, TechSoup has been building out civil society data in their own instance of Data Commons (https://datacommons.techsoup.org).

In this session, you will:

Learn what Data Commons is and the way it can be a tool for telling data driven stories.
Experiment directly with data commons by asking questions and finding where it does (and does not!) provide answers.
See the AI future of Data Commons.

16:00-17.30

Reflections on what we leave behind, how we cope today, and imagine, together, what’s next

Maja Nenadovic
Reflectory

As MEGAPHONE 2025 comes to a close, this open conversation invites us to critically reflect on the past, and consider what we’re ready to leave behind. Together we’ll explore how we cope and care, for ourselves and each other in the sector, in the present - what sustains us when the work feels heavy and what gives us energy. We’ll brainstorm and imagine what’s next and how we continue in the face of what’s ahead.

17:30-17:45 | Closing Session

17:45-19:00 | Free Time

19:00 | Farewell Dinner

MEGAPHONE 2025

TRAINERS