Programmes

We bring together the expertise of specialists from various sectors of democracy support (parliaments, parties, elections, human rights, media, executive leadership, ICT etc.) on joint programmes in which we apply our in-house methods for creating political dialogue and behavioural changes. EPD and its members’ programmes focus on Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. EPD is currently implementing the following projects, get in touch with us for more information.

The Charter Project Africa is a pan-African initiative that aims to strengthen systems of democratic governance in African Union member states, supported by the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and enshrined in the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG). At the core of this project is a focus on providing multi-level support to civic initiatives that advance digital means for enhanced collaboration between citizens and AU policymakers, empowering civil society and facilitating the monitoring and implementation of the ACDEG. Activities will include creating a digital resource hub, launching Democratic Governance Initiatives (DGIs), and conducting context analysis and policy research on the AU governance infrastructures and continental, regional, and national drivers of cooperation. For more information, visit the project website.

Building on the Virtual Insanity project focused on online political advertisement transparency, this new civitates-funded project will support the implementation of the European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP). With its list of commitments on online political advertising, disinformation, platform governance, online hate speech, and the Conference on the Future of Europe, the EDAP provides a number of opportunities for democracy-centric progress on digital policy. We will advance this through capacity building for non-specialised civil society, participatory policy analysis with CSOs in EU Member States, policy research and targeted advocacy on these policy issues. We will do so in close cooperation with our member Democracy Reporting International. For more information, visit the project website.

The African Union Civic Tech Fund aims to foster and support initiatives that seek to strengthen citizen engagement through innovative tools and digital technologies in African Union Member States. Its mission is to demonstrate effective models in citizen participation, support scale-up of initiatives, and influence policy in support of replicable and/or scalable civic tech initiatives and citizen-led transformative action across the African continent. The Fund will focus on the provision of small grants to non-governmental organisations providing services in civic space and initiatives led by small and medium businesses with a deep civic participation objective.

This project is funded by Robert Bosch Stiftung and implemented together with Carnegie Europe as part of the European Democracy Hub. The project explores emerging innovations in democratic participation around the world, in countries outside the West. In recent years much attention has been given to the spread of innovative forms of deliberative and participatory democracy in Western countries, however, this has left insufficient room to explore interesting and promising new experiences in participatory and deliberative democracy outside the West. The European Democracy Hub will correct this imbalance with an initiative aimed at assessing democratic innovations in countries outside the West. Drawing on 12 case studies of democratic innovations from around the world, we will put forward a series of publications, participatory workshops and policy recommendations for reinvigorating Western democracies. For more information, visit the the Hub website page.

M.O.R.D.O.R. is an Erasmus+ project, co-funded by the European Union, focusing on improving general education on authoritarianism and preparing recommendations for EU foreign policy stakeholders regarding democracy support. This project has two main goals. First, it aims to improve and strengthen the study and education of dictatorships worldwide by creating an encyclopedia and other didactic materials. Second, it plans to make recommendations for EU foreign policy, concerning its democracy support strategies, capabilities and vision. We also develop smaller reports, infographics and analysis on EU democracy promotion activities. It is this second part that EPD is most involved in, given our long-standing experience with democracy support policy and programmes. For more information, visit the project website.

EU4Accountability 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.

This project aims at supporting the progressive implementation of the Social Protection System (SPS) through the exercise of rights, democratic participation and citizen demand for the reduction of inequalities and the improvement of social cohesion in Paraguay. It will focus on citizen participation and community empowerment for the implementation and monitoring of associated public policies to the SPS with an emphasis on children, adolescents, youth and women, at the national and local levels in Paraguay. Public authorities from 12 districts and  6 departments are involved in the activities, together with citizens, youth and women organisations, media and the private sector at different levels to strengthen the policy and improve its sustainability.

The Youth Participation in Public Affairs programme of the EU’s Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE) aims to improve the enfranchisement, empowerment, and inclusion of youth in all levels of democratic participation at the national, regional and global scales. WYDE Youth’s three-pronged approach is informed by the need for youth engagement and inclusion not only at national level, but beyond and above it. With half of the world’s population being under 30, the continued survival of democracy is highly dependent on buy-in and support among its youth. For more information, visit the project webpage.