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Social Platform annual conference on Civil Dialogue

The Social Platform – the largest platform of social NGOs in Europe -will hold a European conference on “Civil Dialogue: how can we shape the Europe we want?” on 9-10 December. This year’s annual conference will address through a series of four participatory workshops the main aspects of civil dialogue: processes, funding, governance of NGOs, and the access to decision-making for civil society organisations across Europe. The main goal of the Conference will be to assess current structures and processes of civil dialogue at European level, and to reach some concrete recommendations on how to improve civil dialogue at EU level. As it is an open conference, SOLIDAR members are invited to come to Brussels to participate.

SOLIDAR will co-organise, together with Mental Health Europe, workshop 3, “Let’s speak about Europe: What role for European NGO networks in bridging the gap between the European and national level?” chaired by SOLIDAR’s President Josef Weidenholzer. The workshop will discuss the role of European networks as a capacity-builder, mediator and facilitator of information flow between the national level and the European arena. Participants will have ample time to exchange experiences and jointly develop recommendations on capacities and structures that are needed. The workshop will also address the interlinked issue of civil dialogue at national level with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe.

After SOLIDAR’s active involvement in the two Citizens’ Agoras organised by the European Parliament in November 2007 and June 2008, and the European Civic Forum in La Rochelle, the annual conference is the next important occasion to show SOLIDAR’s commitment to better involving NGOs in policy-making at national and European level, and making civil dialogue an important instrument towards a social and just Europe.

Read the agenda | Read more about Workshop 3