Approach: INSPIRED

INSPIRED Moldova

Written by EPD Communications on 16/09/2024.

This project empowers Moldovan civil society to actively influence national policies and drive the country’s EU integration by engaging civil society organisations (CSOs) in policy processes across national, local, and digital spheres. Through technical and financial support for 70 Moldovan CSOs, the project will provide the essential tools and resources needed to amplify their voices and achieve lasting impact. It will also foster dialogue and collaboration with public authorities, ensuring civil society becomes a key player in advancing democracy in Moldova.

The project will achieve this by:

Broadening participatory opportunities for Moldovan CSOs with Citizens’ Assemblies and Civic Engagement Conferences to contribute to improving and reforming civil society participation frameworks and address specific EU accession policy reforms.
Building public authorities’ capacity to collaborate with CSOs and support multi-stakeholder platforms, while enhancing consultation and cooperation between CSOs and public authorities for more effective policy implementation.
Improving CSOs’ digital skills for effective policy dialogue, citizen engagement in advocacy, and a strong online presence.
Enhancing youth civic engagement through community-based media and democracy literacy activities.
Building CSO capacities through help desks; training programmes on advocacy, policy analysis, and digital tool; and knowledge exchanges on EU policies. The importance of an enabling environment for civil society will be promoted through civic education campaigns.

Information and Integrity (Morocco)

Written by EPD Communications on 01/01/2024.

This project aimed at strengthening the role of civil society in promoting transparency in Morocco. By providing digital tools and creating spaces for dialogue, this project supported civil society organisations in advocating, monitoring and evaluating transparency and anti-corruption policies in cooperation with public authorities and independent institutions. In addition, it sought to raise awareness among citizens of the benefits they can gain from more effective implementation of transparency policies. The main activities included monitoring and evaluating public policy, creating civic tech solutions, facilitating dialogue and cooperation, and awareness-raising. For more information, visit the project website.

EQUAL | EU 4 Women Empowerment in Armenia

Written by Adriana DAuria on 23/08/2023.

Elevating and empowering women in Armenia to bring about societal change across the country.

The project aims to elevate and empower women in Armenia to bring about societal change across the country. To do so EQUAL provides women duly support to exercise their political, economic and socio-cultural rights, targeting specifically those from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Thanks to the project, state and non-state actors will take meaningful actions to address and prevent all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination and contribute to gender equality in Armenia for women, men, girls, and boys in all their diversity.

EU4Accountability

Written by EPD Communications on 22/08/2023.

Empowered Civil Society for Increased Social Accountability in Moldova – Supporting Moldovan CSOs as actors of governance to improve social accountability

This project empowers Moldovan civil society organisations’ (CSOs) to better perform their role as actors of governance to improve social accountability of the local and central government of Moldova. It does so by strengthening the capacity of more than grassroot organisations from 10 districts to participate in, monitor and advocate for greater public accountability and to take part in policy dialogue with the Local Public Authorities (LPAs) and the central government. A learning-by-doing approach will allow the capacitated CSOs to establish meaningful local partnerships and alliances with LPAs that will result in change-making coalitions to close the accountability gap and respond to the needs of communities. For more information, visit the project webpage.

Law on Access to Information

Moldova’s new Law on Access to Information, effective January 2024, is part of its EU accession process. However, its success relies on stakeholder resources and active monitoring. To support its implementation, EPD and the Center for Policies and Reforms (CPR) engaged with civil society and the Committee for Open Government, resulting in a Roadmap with key measures. This includes a participatory monitoring mechanism, updates to the action plan, and a first-year impact report. An ad-hoc consultative group has been formed to enhance transparency on local authority websites, with a focus on technical support, training, and public awareness campaigns.

Proposed Roadmap on the new Law on Access to Information (RO)

Tooltkit

- A Guide on best practices for participatory budgeting developed by Caroma Nord, to support local CSOs and LPAs in setting up frameworks for participatory budgeting at the local level. It is available here in Romanian language.

- A Guide on access to information of public interest developed by CPR Moldova to support citizens and CSOs’ requesting information to public authorities, following the procedures of the Law no. 148 regarding access to information of public interest. It is available here in Romanian language.

- Primării Transparente – a Civic tech tool to easily access LPAs documents and data developed by Implicare Plus. It is available here.

Djuntu pa igualdadi! A participatory response to gender-based violence

Djuntu pa igualdadi! (Cape Verde)

Written by EPD Communications on 23/07/2023.

A participatory response to gender-based violence

This project aimed to contribute to the fostering of a favourable legal, institutional and social environment in Cape Verde for the promotion of women’s rights, more specifically of those of GBV victims. The project sought to promote a climate in which public authorities paid respect to their obligations and women’s socio economic inclusion and participation in public life was increased. It was implemented by a consortium of four organisations: EPD, the Associação Caboverdiana de Luta Contra Violência Baseada no Género (ACLCVBG), the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and Club de Madrid (CdM) and was funded by the European Union. For more information click here.

Promoción de la participación ciudadana a nivel nacional y local en el ciclo de las Políticas Públicas de Protección Social para la cohesión en Paraguay

Written by EPD Communications on 23/07/2023.

This project aims to support the progressive implementation of the Social Protection System (SPS). This will be achieved through the exercise of citizen’s rights, their democratic participation and the demands of citizens for the reduction of inequalities in the objective of improving social cohesion. The focus of the project is placed on citizen participation and community empowerment in the implementation and monitoring of policies associated with the SPS. A further emphasis is put on children, youth and women both at national and local levels. Public authorities from 12 Paraguayan districts and 6 departments have become involved in the activities, collaborating with citizens, youth and women’s organisations. Media and the private sector have also become involved at various levels to strengthen the policy and further improve its sustainability.

Nuestros derechos en la Agenda 2030 (Paraguay)

Written by EPD Communications on 23/07/2023.

This project sought to facilitate dialogue in policy making regarding the social rights of children, putting emphasis on gender inclusion and sustainable development. It was jointly pursued by the European Partnership for Democracy and the Coordinadora por los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia. For more information click here.

Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality

Written by EPD Communications on 22/07/2023.

This project sought to strengthen the ability of CSOs acting on a regional level to participate in sustainable development, build regional cohesion and resilience as well as influence policy making in the Southern Neighborhood and the Euro-Mediterranean Space. This aimed to address the absence of civil society as an for regional change in the southern Neighborhood. This was to take place in a new regional perspective with enhanced south-south and south-north exchanges. The project also aimed to address the shrinking civil society spaces in the region, strengthening civil society and young activists by enhancing their ability to strategize, cooperate and advocate for rights, social cohesion and sustainable development. For more information click here.

Media Dialogue (Kyrgyzstan)

Written by EPD Communications on 19/07/2023.

This project aimed to solidify the national media environment and to engage media representatives, public decision makers and civil society in a dialogue about the challenges affecting the media sector. This dialogue was to be led in the hope of jointly developing a roadmap to amend the existing media policy and legal framework. To achieve this three pathways were privileged: multi-stakeholder dialogue, enhanced media professionalisation and reinforcement of the media’s economic independence. To this effect workshops, dialogue meetings and technical assistance were set up and studies, reports, monitoring of media were conducted. Furthermore sub-grants and legal reforms were put on the table.

INSPIRED Myanmar

Written by Adriana DAuria on 01/05/2023.

This project sought to offer a sustainable and constructive solution for enhancing the role of civil society in public and policy affairs in cooperation with local authorities. Following the parliamentary elections in 2010, civil society had gained increased operating space as well as an opportunity to participate in political developments in Myanmar. However these CSOs lacked the strategic focus and capacity to formulate and execute their visions, in part as a consequence of pre-set donor narratives for country based funding. INSPIRED Myanmar sought to help provide an alternative.