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/