Best practices

The priority of the seminar held in Zagreb, Croatia is to educate the elected officials about the problems and ways and techniques of solving them in county, city and governments councils and governments.

The value of democracy must be taught, explained and practised. The project “Let’s go together” has successfully trained hundreds of young people from all over Ukraine in the spirit of democracy, the Christian Democratic ideology, political leadership and communication, ensuring the future existence of democratic, value based politicians in Ukraine

The workshops let participants take the step from passive to active stakeholders in YA. They have become more knowledgeable actors, especially in the mobilisation process. This has made many feel more included, and as democracy is also about inclusion, the democratic development of YA has been taken to another level.

The Arab Human Development Report (2004) identified gender based discrimination as a major obstacle to development in Arab countries and domestic violence represents one of the most critical constraints of women’s development. Prevalent gender perceptions in Arab countries depict men as the stronger sex, the provider of the family and its representative towards the outside world.

Bi-regional negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement have been going on between the EU and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) since 1999, in which the EU has demanded far-reaching liberalisation commitments. The project shed light on the often-neglected relationship between human rights, the environment and international trade, and aims to strengthen civil society monitoring of the bi-regional relations.

Somali professionals and leaders of civic groups, of diverse political backgrounds and resident both in Somalia and in the Diaspora, had played a major and constructive role during the reconciliation conference in 2002-04. Supported by HBF’s Regional Office for East & Horn of Africa in Nairobi, they formed the “National Civic Forum – Somalia” (NCF) in 2005.

International study visit enabling youth of democratic political powers from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and former Yugoslav countries to examine electoral process in a country which successfully overcame the undemocratic legacy of communism to achieve membership of EU and NATO and also to network with political organizations from other EU countries.

The Hanns-Seidel-Foundation project in Indonesia is focussing on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development and strengthening the legal structures in this country. Through appropriate modules the awareness of teachers and pupils on environmental protection is improved. Furthermore it is enhancing the role of the Indonesian Constitutional Court through exchange of information and expertise.

Mampu is a sustainable agroforestry-farming-project, which is focussing on food security and income generation as well as environmental protection of the soil and the air. To reach sustainability, the organised community is strengthened in managing their production, infrastructure maintenance and democratic decision-making. The innovative agroforestry technique approach functions as a model for neighbouring communities and cities.

The project “An exotic look on Catalanism” works towards one of the many causes that generate harmful effects from massive immigration, which is the absence of knowledge about such phenomenon. Willing to improve the current situation of misinformation, we have planned a series of debates and conferences with the participation of immigrants and locals. The idea is to impel a process of social dialogue between autochthons, earlier generations of immigrants and newcomers. Through these debates we hope to obtain a series of responses on how the many aspects of the immigration process affect integration, and consequently, by these we hope to improve integration between immigrants and the host society.