It seems obvious that CSOs (as an integral part of every modern civil society) should serve as centres of citizenship education – in particular for groups at risk of marginalisation. But, as shown by recent research funded by the CEE Trust, CSOs in Central and Eastern Europe, due to a lack of social embeddedness, do not fulfil an advocacy function and rarely engage in civic education activities. Most of them focus on service functions without contributing to the development of strong social capital. The main questions of this Networking Panel will be: How can CSOs in Central and Eastern Europe become more deeply engaged in educational activities and thereby become more effective in their efforts to close the empowerment gap? Are CSOs in Western Europe doing better in this field? What can we learn from each other?
Krisztina Arató, ELTE University (Hungary)
Matej Cepin, Social Academy (Slovenia)
Petia Kabakchieva, Bulgarian Academy of Science (Bulgaria)
Grzegorz Makowski, Institute for Public Affairs (Poland)
Moderation: Agata Tomaszewska, Polish Donors Forum (Poland)