How people in Montenegro are making their country cleaner

Daria Dergacheva · Global Voices · Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Text excerpted and formatting simplified; media and third-party quotations excluded. No endorsement implied.

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And helping to make the goals for EU accession plausible

Screenshot from the EkoMapa website of the EkoGard organization in Montenegro. Fair use.

This interview is part of a series of spotlights on the work of some of the grantees of the Digital Spark granting scheme, as part of the Regional Support Mechanism EECA project, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and TechSoup, in partnership with CIVICUS and under the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) that covers the Global South. It is being published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Montenegro is on its way to joining the EU; at the moment, the goal is to do so by 2028. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) review in 2025 states that the country has made significant progress in aligning its environmental legal and regulatory framework, as well as much of its national legislation, with European Union (EU) directives.

However, some problems remain, including waste management and a very low recycling rate — less than 2 percent, far below the EU’s 50 percent target.

Austrian Member of Parliament Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA), chair of the delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, said in an interview with The New Union Post that there have been “massive improvements” in Montenegro, citing as an example the closure of more than 100 illegal landfills in the last year: “It is a great effort for such a small country. But they have another 500, and if we expected them to have them all cleaned up, it would be impossible.”

While politicians and international agencies discuss how Montenegro could get closer to the target and put its waste management under control, ordinary citizens are making practical steps to improve the situation today.

This Digital Spark spotlight story is about one such organization, EkoGard, and the many people who participate in its efforts and, step by step, try to make Montenegro cleaner.

Global Voices interviewed the organization’s founder and general director, Senad Pepić, about the impact of Digital Spark and its community initiative.

Global Voices (GV): Please tell us about your organization and why you chose to get involved with the Digital Spark project.

GV: What issue or challenge in your community prompted you to undertake this project?

GV: What are the key changes or activities that your organization implemented during your participation in the project?

GV: How did your participation in the project impact your organization’s beneficiaries and the community that you serve? Please provide examples.

GV: How has your own knowledge, awareness, and experience with digital democracy and civic space changed, thanks to your participation in the project?

GV: What are the most valuable lessons and experiences you are taking away from this project?

GV: What comes next? How will you apply the learning and digital capacity you have built in your future work and within your community?

Source: Global Voices ↗