EAPN EU Inclusion Strategies Group 13 EAPN: Fighting for a Social Europe Free of Poverty ‘Give a voice to citizens !’   How to build stakeholder engagement for effective decision-making  Guidelines for Decision-Makers at EU and national level Elke Vandermeerschen EAPN EU Inclusion Strategies Group 17 May 2014 Prague EUROPEAN ANTI-POVERTY NETWORK RÉSEAU EUROPÉEN DES ASSOCIATIONS DE LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETÉ ET L’EXCLUSION SOCIALE 1

Guidelines: 'Give a Voice to Citizens !' How to build stakeholder engagement for effective decision-making Introduction: Strong message What ?: Clarifying concepts Core principles 2

WHAT ? - Clarifying concepts - Core principles: Participative Inclusive Respectful Continuous and two way Open Transparent Accountable Coherent Effective 3

WHY ? The Added Value Bringing in essential expertise & knowledge Empowering people & communities Promoting mutual learning & understanding Building consensus, accountability & legitimacy Raising visibility & public awareness Enhancing coordination 4

WHY ? EU Policy Framework Governance principles in the Lisbon Treaty Open Method of Coördination Europe 2020 Social Investment Package Current Challenges Lack of Meaningful Participation Scepticism about the EU & Europe 2020 Need for coherence between different policy fields 5

WH0 ? Policy Actors Other Stakeholders Decision-makers Technicians / Advisers Representatives of public institutions Civil dialogue officers Other Stakeholders People with direct experience of poverty NGO’s Social Partners Researchers Informal citizen groups and initiatives … 6

HOW ? Define the scope and terms of the dialogue and engagement – what you want to achieve and how, with a timeframe. Engage the right stakeholders Establish clear coordination and contact point for stakeholders : a person responsible for continuous quality in the engagement. Invest in the engagement – allocate the resources 7

HOW ? Invite the stakeholders – organise a first meeting Invest in effective methodology - before - during - after Invest in capacity building of administration, decision-makers and stakeholders- to learn more about each other, but also to develop their skills for participating better in this kind of processes 8

Strengthen (or establish) a legal framework for civil dialogue HOW ? Strengthen (or establish) a legal framework for civil dialogue Promote mutual learning and exchange on methodologies and results with other administrations and at EU level. Evaluate, adjust & mainstream 9

- Creating the right framework at EU level: Development of guidelines ACT ! - Creating the right framework at EU level: Development of guidelines Redesign format of the Annual Convention Make structural Funds accessible Support the PEP meeting Develop the Knowledge Bank Organise mutual learning exchanges 10

- Creating the right framework at EU level: ACT ! - Creating the right framework at EU level: Invest in the work of organisations Develop a set of standards for the involvement of stakeholders Give clear guidance to Member States Use the Mid-Term Review as an excellent opportunity to follow these recommendations 11

ACTION NOTE & CAPACITY BUILDING How to use our Task Force Guidelines on Stakeholder engagement 1. INTERNAL CAPACITY BUILDING   Organize an EAPN meeting to present and discuss the document Use the guidelines to improve and encourage participation in your own network, ‘be a model’ ! (see also MASS Membership Assessment and Support System document http://www.eapn.eu/en/members-room/development/capacity-building) Use the document to assess the state of play of ‘stakeholder engagement’ in your country Plan actions together how to improve the situation of stakeholder engagement in your country Think about translating the document 12

ACTION NOTE & CAPACITY BUILDING   2. BUILDING ALLIANCES Use the document to find/define/convince allies: Possible actions: Send it to your members Send it to possible external allies: who else is involved in the process (your SPC member, administrations, other NGO’s, trade unions, ... see the toolkit for more ideas) 13

ACTION NOTE & CAPACITY BUILDING   3. COMMUNICATION Use them to get some attention for the (need for) stakeholder engagement in the European Semester, and for the Poverty goal of Europe 2020 in general: Possible actions: Send it to the press. If you have worked on the NRP or CSR’s, you can send your position paper(s) with it, and ask for an interview Publish it on your website, use social media to promote stakeholder engagement and post the guidelines 14

ACTION NOTE & CAPACITY BUILDING 4. ADVOCACY Use the guidelines to convince your government to involve you (more) in the European Semester process:   convince your government that stakeholder participation is necessary + possible + useful show your governments how to organize stakeholder participation You can also send it to other political actors (SPC members, your (regional/national) MEP’s...), together with your position paper and ask for a meeting to discuss both 15

Questions & Comments ? ‘Give a voice to citizens !’   How to build stakeholder engagement for effective decision-making  Guidelines for Decision-Makers at EU and national level Questions & Comments ? EUROPEAN ANTI-POVERTY NETWORK RÉSEAU EUROPÉEN DES ASSOCIATIONS DE LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETÉ ET L’EXCLUSION SOCIALE 16