PROJECT PARTNERS
The civil society organisations behind the initiative Art of Fundamental Rights are built up by different national CSO’s from all parts of Europe, both South, North, East and West. Here citizens have very different lives and approaches to fundamental rights, which is interesting to explore and study. Furthermore, one partner is from a Brussels based umbrella organisation, which ensures the connection to the EU institutions. The idea with the project is to streghen the awareness of the EU charter of Fundamental Rights among citizens in Europe. Our fundamental rights are under attack with we have come together to discuss and understand the background of these attacks. The consortium has different experiences in citizen activities, and all have a different focus on the Charter, which makes this collaboration particularly interesting. A main purpose of this project is to engage and activate citizens. CSOs are grassroot organisations, and they engage directly with citizens and represent the public interest. CSOs reach many citizens on both a national and local level. Given the role and importance of CSO’s in securing fundamental rights in Europe, CSOs are the only consortium partners. However, it is a diversity of CSOs, each with a different, but complementary focus and expertise, in which we can learn from each other and strengthen the project. Below is a description of each organisation.
It is the Danish organisation Nyt Europa who is leading the initative, so if you have any questions please contact nyteuropa@nyteuropa.dk
The initiativ is supported by the European Commission
NYT EUROPA
Nyt Europa (New Europe) is the lead organisation in this project. Nyt Europa is a Danish organization founded in 1998 with the overall objective to promote civic engagement on a Danish and European level. We work for a more sustainable, progressive and democratic Europe and believe that the European institutions play a pivotal role in solving the challenges we face in Europe today.
Nyt Europa creates public activities - debates, talks, workshops, exhibitions, educational programs, conferences etc. - in order to initiate and strengthen public participation and knowledge. The participants are a diverse group of people of different backgrounds and ages who wish to discuss and engage in transnational issues. However, we particularly focus on reaching out to citizens who do not necessarily engage in European political issues. Therefore, we aim for the events as well as the communication to be creative, innovative and inclusive, and we host the events in different cities and on a variety of platforms.
DEMOCRACY INTERNATIONAL
Democracy International (DI) is a global coalition for direct democracy and supports democracy activists in building campaigns and organizations. DI shares knowledge and legal expertise on direct democracy campaigns for greater democracy at the local, state, national and transnational level. Democracy International's goal is to give citizens a more direct say in political decision-making.
DI wants people to have the final political power. In this view, DI aims to strengthen direct democracy and citizens’ participation on the local, national and transnational level across the globe. Democracy International stands for a globalisation of democracy and a democratisation of the transnational decision-making processes. These experiences are crucial for this project, and therefore the cross-border discussion on issues related to the Future of Europe can be stimulated through the experience of local debates.
EUROPEAN CIVIC FORUM
The European Civic Forum gathers more than one hundred NGOs and associations in 27 European countries, daily committed to the general interest in various areas. ECF objectives are to build a genuine European civil dialogue, which is a prerequisite for a civic and popular ownership of European matters and which must be well anchored in institutions’ working methods. As associations and NGOs play a crucial role in civic ownership, ECF is committed to the emergence of a genuine European civil dialogue, which is a prerequisite for a popular ownership of European subjects. ECF acts with three main key goals: 1 Enhance civic participation: Reinforce citizens’ engagement for an egalitarian Europe of solidarity and democracy by ensuring access for all. 2 Develop Civic Space: Help in structuring associative movement in its European perspective and 3 Build civil dialogue: work towards the full recognition of the voice of organised civil society by the institutions.
PORTUGUESE PLATFORM FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS
PpDM is an umbrella organisation of 27 women’s rights NGOs and associations promoting equality between women and men. It was created in 2004 with the objective to foster cooperation for collective reflection and action in the promotion of women’s human rights and gender equality through research, lobbying, dissemination of information, advocacy and training. PpDM contributes to the empowerment and mobilisation of Portuguese Women’s Rights NGOs and to the reinforcement of its networking and cooperation relations with European, Mediterranean, Portuguese Speaking Countries, and International NGOs working in this field. It also aims to contribute to the implementation of gender mainstreaming in society. The uniqueness of PpDM knowledge about women's participation and representation in politics will contribute to the understanding of unequal political participation in Europe.
ECOMON
Ecomon is a volunteer organization who is run by a board of 10 volunteer members. They and the collaborators of the organization are responsible for searching, detecting, and proposing the different projects or cases that need help and/or for obtaining the resources to solve them. The activities promote actions for a fair economy, promote peace, improve the environment, and facilitate integration of newly arrived people. Ecomon inform and create initiative of human rights, democracy, sustainability, and solidarity.
Ecomon promote and support initiatives and projects of personal and social development that allow the recipients a good insertion in society and a better coexistence, under the criterion of considering the person a supreme value, promoting identity, creativity and autonomy of the people or entities involved, trying to comply with the quality indicators appropriate to each case.
EUROREGION BALTIC
Euroregion Baltic (ERB) was established in February 1998 and is a politically solid and well-anchored cooperation in the south-east of the Baltic Sea region, consisting of the eight regions of Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. Since its early days, ERB has been pursuing the goals of improving life conditions for its inhabitants, promoting bonds and contacts among local communities and providing measures for a more sustainable development within the region. ERB constitutes the operational network of substantial and effective links across the borders, facilitating the promotion of political dialogue and reform as well as sustainable, economic, social and environmental development, thus strengthening local democracy and fostering people-to-people contacts between civil societies. The co-operation actively involve both local and regional authorities, private and public sectors and NGOs.
ORGANIZATION EARTH
Organization Earth is a Greek non-profit Civil Society Organization founded in 2010 who strives to serve all the 17 SDGs, by offering programs of non-typical education and by facilitating communitybased activities, with a focus on vulnerable populations living in urban centres. Organization Earth are also focussing on human and fundamental rights and refugees and are carrying out projects for the most marginalized people. Organization Earth’s programs, services and partnerships addresses major social issues like long-term unemployment and migration, while leveraging new business models such as responsible social entrepreneurship, particularly related to the Green Economy. In 2016 Organization Earth was named as the “Best Initiative in the World that Connects People to Nature” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and in 2019 it was recognized as the “NGO of the Year” in the category “Environment”, by receiving the Hellenic Responsible Business Award. Organization Earth is a member of the Steering Committee of SDG Watch Europe, a Brussels based, EU-level, cross-sectoral CSO alliance of NGOs from development, environment, social, human rights, and other sectors.
INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a leading Polish think tank and an independent centre for policy research and analysis, established in 1995. Their mission is to contribute to informed public debate on key Polish, European and global policy issues. The main areas of study include European policy, social policy, civil society, migration, and development policy as well as law and democratic institutions. The IPA has a team of in-house researchers and have 25 years of experience in research and policy advice on raising European awareness, including the preparation of reports for the Polish government and the European parliament on activities in the period before the accession referendum and then during the Polish presidency of the EU. IPA publishes results of projects in research reports, policy papers and books, which are broadly disseminated among members of parliament, government officials and civil servants, academics, journalists, and civil society activists. Every year the IPA hosts dozens of conferences, seminars, round tables, workshops, and other events with the participation of key policy and opinion makers. IPA works with key institutions such as EC and EP and Council of Europe and. We are active as members of many international networks and associations.
The initiativ is co-funded by the European Commission