ENoP publishes on CatDem newsletter: "The offer of Political Dialogue - the role of Political Foundations in Europe"

Diana holds a banner at the central lobby of the University of Sofia. "Make this gesture!". Intrigued students approach her. What exactly is the ‘gesture’? "Learn my language - the language of gestures" - is Diana’s answer. Quite a number of students will spend the next 2 hours with plugs in the ears - to get an impression about the daily life of people with impaired hearing...

Diana’s action is part of a joint initiative of the “Support for the hearing impaired Foundation” and the Liberal Politicological Institute. LPI is an organization close to the liberal party in Bulgaria. The project, implemented in 2008 in Sophia, aimed to integrate students with disabilities into public life by teaching sign language to their hearing fellow students. A few dozen students attended the trainings which were carried out by volunteers.

Youth and women are in the focus of the Swedish organisation Kristdemokratiskt Internationellt Centre KIC,  – also in their projects in Kenya which is implemented in cooperation with the Youth Assembly Kenya. Young women and men aged 18 – 35 years are trained to build constituencies on a province level and supported to become representatives in local governments. Around 220 participants attended the respective workshops in 2002. On a second step the ongoing project strives to establish a national framework for young leaders in Kenya by organising a annual conference for all youth representatives in local governments.

This two examples of activities might look diverse and incomparable – the similarities appear only at second glance. Although, the budget, the geographical and social context differ as well as the number and kind of people involved, both projects strive for more integration and common understanding in society, one of the main themes in engagement in democratisation.

Civic education in the focus

Political foundations played an active role in the re-establishment of democratic societies in Europe after the Second World War. Civic education was a key topic from the beginning. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, political foundations from old member states performed an important role in spreading European values in the nascent member states of the European Union and countries surrounding the EU.

Not only the well established organisations contributed to this process. Also young and small institutes and organisations on the ground were and are involved into the culture of political participation and competition of ideas in a democratic society.

Core strategy – Political Dialogue

In the development field the role of political foundations is very specific. In their projects they often manage to link the governmental with the civil society level. The concept of supporting the political dialogue allows partnerships to key civil society actors with contacts to political forces and to national, regional and local authorities. This bridge-building and reconciliatory function is crucial in environments where the actors in civil society and governments are opposed.

A network for better coordination

More than 60 political foundations, institutes and think tanks team up for the European Network of Political Foundations ENoP. They are ideologically close to the six major party families represented in the European Parliament. The organisations implement projects with local partners in their home countries as well as in more than a hundred developing and transitional countries throughout the world. The partners can be local NGOs like the “Support for the hearing impaired Foundation” as well as local parliaments,  think tanks, academic institutions, political parties, trade unions and employers associations or small and medium enterprise associations. It can be an African national youth assembly  as well as media and public institutions from the partner countries.

Small organisations – often working with volunteers and without impressing staff numbers are often well linked to the politically active local scene. They often can react quickly to upcoming issues in society by organising an open debate in the newspaper or a discussion forum as the given examples show. The creative powers of ideas, like the example of “wearing earplugs for a better understanding”, proof that political foundations can make a change in society. We are proud of the fact that ENoP is able to support these organisations and their activities.

Arjen Berkvens, ENoP Network Coordinator & Friederike Gaensslen, ENoP Policy Officer