EU Neighbourhood Info Centre

PRESS PACKS

Civil Society & Local Authorities

04-07-2011

CiSocH

Structured Dialogue

Financial support

On-line course

EuropeAid stories

Find out more

ENPI Info Centre resources

(Text from DG EuropeAid and Development Cooperation website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/index_en.htm)

Civil society and the broader set of non-state actors (NSAs) and Local Authorities (LA) are privileged partners of the EU. Support from the EU for these actors encourages them to work towards better governance and more participatory development, increasingly involving citizens through their specific, often complementary, approaches. To facilitate its relationship with civil society and local authorities, the EC has established a space for dialogue and tools tailored to their specific requirements.

The launch of CiSocH

The EC has launched an online tool to facilitate access to existing information on and for civil society in development cooperation: CiSocH (Civil Society Helpdesk). With a powerful search tool, CISOCH offers a one-stop-shop for all your questions on cooperation between EuropeAid and civil society - making procedures, vocabulary, methods of work, etc. easier to understand.

The Structured Dialogue

The Structured Dialogue is an initiative launched in March 2010 by the European Commission (EC) to address the participation of civil society organisations and local authorities in the EC development cooperation. It aims to improve the effectiveness of all stakeholders involved in European cooperation, based on current global and European debates. The seminars schedule and the content and reference documents are available on CiSocH.

Financial Support

The Commission provides NSA-LA with financial support, of which the objectives are defined in geographic instruments, thematic programmes and instruments.

For the period 2007-2013, the EU’s support to NSAs and local authorities is financed through two types of instruments:

geographic programmes that are articulated around development priorities defined for a specific country or region. They form the core of EU cooperation. These encompass the European Development Fund (in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries), the Development Co-operation Instrument (in Latin America, Asia and South Africa), and the European Neighbourhoud & Partnership Instrument (in the neighbouring regions).
thematic programmes that are cross-cutting and address a particular issue (eg, human rights and democracy, environment, civil society, asylum and migration, food security). Unlike geographic programsme, they do not require the consent of governments and other authorities of the partner country. A specific Non State Actors and Local Authorities thematic programme is devoted to the support of NSAs and Local Authorities. NSAs are also supported by other thematic instruments and programmes, in particular the EIDHR.

Civil society and local authorities are the prime beneficiaries of these tools and programmes, to which they are asked to participate by means of calls for proposals. Throughout the year, more than 300 calls for proposals are published by both the headquarters and the delegations of the EU based on geographic and thematic programmes available for each country. We recommend you regularly visit the publication site to identify calls that would meet your context: New calls for proposals.

Civil society e-learning – an online course helping you find out more about the EU and Civil society

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/etraining/civil-society/en/index.html

EuropeAid story from the field

Promotion of Gaza schools' inclusion

The project aims at supporting governmental teachers from Gaza in promoting school inclusion of the most disadvantaged children and at building the capacities of the Remedial Education Centre in its actions towards promoting inclusive education. Read the full story

More EuropeAid stories on civil society cooperation: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/index_en.htm

Find out more…

about DG EuropeAid and Development, and relations with Civil society on the ground, in the partner countries from: Civil society, a vital development partner

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/who/partners/civil-society/index_en.htm_

ENPI Info Centre resources

Civil Society and Local Authorities thematic portal

http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=14

Regional programme funded projects

http://www.enpi-info.eu/list_projects.php?subject=10

Feature stories

http://www.enpi-info.eu/list_type.php?id_type=6&subject=14

Some stories…

In search of Medieval Petra

South - 29-03-2011

From skiers to cyclists: BikeLand is transforming the Ukrainian Carpathians
East - 18-02-2011