Conference the Social Platform in Brussels
On December 9, the Director of Association
Vesta participated in the conference "Civil Dialogue: How can we shape the
Europe we want?" organized by the Social Platform in Brussels. The Conference
gathered more that 100 participants, representatives of member organizations of
the Social Platform, a unique form of organized civil society which is devoted
to the advancement of the socioeconomic relations between the citizens of the
European Union, and the better recognition of their human rights. After the keynote
address of the chairman of the Social Platform, Conny Reuter, there were
interesting presentations of the members of the European Parliament and the EC
Office for Enlargement, and directly before the work session, the participants
were also addressed by a representative of CONNEX. During the workshops, the
participants were able to find out more about the examples of positive practice
from the members of the Social Platform in Europe, and the way they were
organized at the national level. Among the discussed topics were social
inclusion, ways of financing non-governmental organizations, the role of
European networks in overcoming the gap between the European and the national
levels of civil society action, and the possibilities of reaching the "hard-to-reach
communities" in Europe. The Conference resulted in important recommendations
for the further action of the members of the Social platform, which could
undoubtedly serve as the guiding ideas for all other organizations active in
this area. More information on: http://www.socialplatform.org/