News

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize given to three women from developing countries has once again stressed the important role of women in the development of prosper, equal and sustainable societies. In this context the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung is organizing a conference on: 'Society and politics in transition: Political participation, rights and opportunities of women in India'. India's future development prospects, and the persistent disparity of opportunities between men and women are within the focus.

Among the participants in the conference are: Edit Bauer, MEP; Rensje Teerink, EEAS; Dr Sarita Singh, Commissioner, Women Empowerment and Child Development, Christian Forstner, Resident Representative of the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung in Brussels.

The conference will take place on October 20, 2011 at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU, Rue Montoyer 47, Brussels.

For further information, please refer to the attachment.

While in mature democracies the discussion centres around quota for women on executive level, and the need to create conducive environments concerning child-care facilities or paternal leave, addressing the issue of women’s rights in developing countries largely boils down to a fight for rights of a marginalised group which accounts for almost 50% of the world population.

On the occasion of the fourth International Day of Democracy ENoP would like to remind of the tremendous challenges for those who advocate for gender rights and equal opportunities on global level but specifically in the Arab world.

Please find enclosed ENoP communication on occasion of the 4th International Day of Democracy. 

A group of four representatives from the program “Model Caucasus Parliament” (MCP) met ENoP on 8 September during its study visit in Brussels. The study visit was supported by two ENoP member organisations – Dr. Karl Renner Institut (Austria/ S&D) and Olof Palme International Centre (Sweden/ S&D).

The ENoP member, Green Economics Institute, invites you to its forthcoming workshop/ symposium on Innovation, Philosophy, Scientific Realismand Methodology in Green Economics: Reworking the meaning of data, facts truth and reality. The event will take place at St. Annes College, Oxford, UK, on 18th -19th November 2011.

The recent events in the Arab world and the current discussions around a European Endowment for Democracy were the initial sparks to organise the first ENoP Orientation Seminar in 2011. The event was hosted by Friedrich Naumann Foundation and co-financed by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

The ENoP coordinators Arjen Berkvens and Andrea Ostheimer contributed to a Study Visit to the European Parliament for representatives of Egyptian political parties and campaigns. On invitation of the Office for Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy OPPD they gave introductions into the role of political parties in European Democracies and international Party Development work.
The diversity of  structures, financing models, coalitions and ideological outlines of national parties in Europe were in the focus of the first session. The training programmes for developing democracies implemented by political foundations from Europe was the topic of the second session.

For the second time ENoP presented information at a stand during the summer event of the German Political Foundations in Brussels

On June 21^st the six German member organisations of ENoP - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung - have organised a joint activity. This traditional Brussels summer event features a speech on a current topic and a garden reception. The special guest of the 2011 edition was Dr. Friedhelm Hengsbach, Jesuit and expert on economic ethics. He spoke about the topic „European solidarity – not for free”.

The ENoP member, Green Economics Institute, invites you to its forthcoming 6th Annual Green Economics Conference, which will be held in Mansfield College, University of Oxford, UK, on 28th -30th June, 2011.

This Conference will follow the tradition of the Green Economics Conferences which are the world's leading Conference series in Green Economics. Internationally renowned composite, multidisciplinary, scientists, economists, campaigners, Policy makers and Directors, Professors, Social scientists and Researchers from all over the globe will present their frontier research findings and to keep up to date with latest achievements and developments in this very fast moving, leading and topical field.

21 participants from 17 ENoP member organizations, affiliated to 5 different party families attended the last ENoP training, which took place on 8-10 June 2011 in a nice and quiet location, Borovets (BG), surrounded by the forests of the Rila Mountain.

ENoP will contribute to the final conference of the Structured Dialogue "For an efficient partnership in development".

Several representatives of ENoP will go to Budapest, to attend the closing session which will take place at the Corinthia Hotel, on 17-19 May.

For more information see: