Getting insights & deeper knowledge CIVIL SOCIETY in the European Union Christiana Weidel The World of NGOs, Austria

Governments, administration, parliament, justice, political parties Profit oriented private economy, companies, from SMEs to multi- national enterprises Associations, NGOs, NPOs, interest groups, self help groups, co- operatives, mutuals, foundations, churches 1st Sector: State 2nd Sector: Market 3rd Sector: Civil Society How is society organised?

Understanding CIVIL SOCIETY Civil= non-military population = concerned with affairs of public interest = civilised (so what about Greenpeace?) Civil Society: The private sphere of interest between state & market Organised Civil Society: Organisations with a legal basis, representing citizen groups Civil Dialogue: Structured communication with CS, following practice of Social Dialogue 3

Policy fields for Civil Society in the EU Environ- ment Human rights Culture Health and consumer policies Education & Science Humani- tarian relief Develop- ment aid Others Economy & Finance Social policy 4

Characteristics of CSOs 1.Organisation with not-for-profit orientation 2.Self governing system, statutes & tools 3.Focusing on common good 4.Independence from State and Market 5.Some elements of volunteering 6.International component 7.Ambitions beyond individual benefit 5

Develop your organisation Mastery of management Management by agreed objectives (P. Drucker) Follow defined strategies Keep financial records Mastery of independence Have a mixed financing for activities Establish resources for own-funding Develop further (in) networks Mastery of communication 6

Develop your network Networking theory Social Science Prof. Renate Mayntz, Germany Networks are made of personal relations = not an anonymous market Independent knots with informal relation = not formally constituted by rules Voluntarily tied, autonomous knots, acting as social unities, capable of acting on their own Laterally tied = without structural hierarchy 7

“Issue networks rule the world today!“ Issue networks Interest driven, not by organisational structures  Not all knots are connected directly Only in solidarity based groups all knots are connected  Don‘t automatically expect solidarity in a network  Not all knots have equal power The strength lies in the difference of resources!  Practice to discuss and agree  Network leaders have to mediate and co-ordinate 8

Success factors for collaboration September 2015 Partnership = collaboration at all stages  Planning, implementation, evaluation, celebration Equality  Respect differences in aims, tasks, roles Benefit  See the strengths of “the others”  Look at the whole picture 9

Evaluation technique Enhance your performance by rating it: 1.What have we done? 2.How did we perform? Chaos  Perfection 3.What will we do better next time? 10

Practical exercises Manifest your identity!  What is your core strength? Master your network!  What resources do you have and whom do you know? Master your communication!  Listen to our next speaker… 11

Final discussion Working on problems… …finding solutions Develop your organisation, be part of networks, build on your dreams! 12