The engagement of civil-society and trade union stakeholders is paramount as
1) they have been increasingly sidelined from decision-making and policy-shaping arenas,
2) the European Semester has been primarily driven by economic governance goals,
3) better national instruments must be developed to monitor the social situation and provide quality input and recommendations to decision makers regarding Europe 2020 and the European Semester.
Objectives of the pilot projects
1) Raise public awareness about Europe 2020, e.g., through a media campaign; new communication tools; organizing a seminar or conference; forum theatre event; creating a partnership with Commission representations; etc.
2) Organize capacity building events for members to engage in Europe 2020, e.g., a training workshop; peer review or member exchange; involving people with direct experience of poverty; etc.
3) Developing instruments to effectively monitor the social situation: a new social situation, poverty watch or shadow report, which highlights developments on poverty and social exclusion in your country, proposing concrete recommendations to national governments and country-specific recommendations backed by evidence and examples.
The 5 national pilots (2015)
EAPN Portugal, in cooperation with EAPN Bulgaria
This project will ensure the contribution of the non-governmental sector and its cooperation with governmental actors in the Europe 2020/European Semester process.
It will be led by a large group / partnership of national organisations called Non Governmental Forum for Social Inclusion (Fórum Não Governamental para a Inclusão Social – FNGIS), including EAPN-member Caritas Portugal.
Main activities of the pilot:
- Communication strategy on Europe 2020 and the European Semester, in particular within the monitoring of CSR specially made by and for civil society organizations and people experiencing poverty.
- 2 training workshops on Europe 2020. In Porto on 29 June, and in Lisbon on 20 October.
- Transnational Seminar monitoring Europe 2020 Strategy.
- Audiovisual product “More participation, better governance” on the importance of the participation of civil society in the Europe 2020 Strategy, reporting the activities of this project and its outputs.
Report of the project from EAPN Portugal, and from EAPN Bulgaria
Project Coordinator:
Sérgio Aires, EAPN Portugal – sergio.aires@eapn.pt
Maria Jeliazkova, EAPN Bulgaria – perspekt@tradel.net
Update October 2015
Some of the actions were delayed for two main reasons:
– Run-up to the general elections (04/10) from June 2015 which made it hard to give visibility to matters such as EU 2020 and ESF programming, even though the network included them in public positions and meetings with political parties.
– The network wanted to promote some of these actions in partnership with the Permanent Representation of the European Commission in Portugal, but further delay was imposed in light of the the revision of the EU 2020 Strategy.
However, the project has resumed and the next steps are, counting with the EC participation:
- Second workshop in Lisbon on 20/10
- Third workshop in Coimbra on 27/10
- Final Conference in Lisbon on 26/11, with the presence of EAPN Bulgaria.
EAPN Portugal is also producing a video, with contributions from the National Meeting of People experiencing Poverty on 13 and 14/10.
The project also includes an Explainer on the Europe 2020 Strategy (EU2020). The network has started to work on it, but it will not be finalised until the revision of the Strategy is known
However, it will wait till Concerning the version of the EU 2020 explainer, we are a little bit facing a problem: we think it would be better to wait and see what the revision of the Strategy will bring. We already started to wrote a general version but is doesn’t seem to be very reasonable to present the Strategy as it was and in January everything will be different. Since it is a kind of manual for participating in the EU 2020 implementation it makes sense it should be as accurate as possible. But we’ll try to deal with this until the end of the year.
EAPN Macedonia, in cooperation with EAPN Serbia
The project aims to increase the visibility of Europe 2020 and the European Semester and Serbia’s government commitments to its targets to the various stakeholders and broader audience, produce and disseminate a shadow report on the implementation and achievements of the Europe 2020 strategy at national level and achievement in reaching targets.
Main activities of the pilot:
- Adopting of new reporting mechanism based on indicators.
- Developing the shadow report of social situation under Inclusive growth pillar from Europe 2020.
Report of the project from EAPN Macedonia, and from EAPN Serbia.
Project coordinators:
Mila Carovska, Member of the Executive board of MAPP |EAPN Macedonia – mila.carovska@hera.org.mk
Jasmina Krunic, Coordinator of EAPN Serbia – jasmina.krunic@gmail.com
EAPN Spain, in cooperation with EAPN Italy
This Pilot Action is twofold, aiming at explaining the impact on women of the EU economic governance, and reflecting reflect women’s situation with regard to the social headline targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Main activities of the pilot:
- Research
- Desk research: a) Analysis of EU and national comparable data, highlighting the lack of statistics relating to the gender dimension of poverty and social exclusion in order to follow the EU2020 headline targets. B) Analysis of Italian and Spanish NRPs and CSRs in relation to the gender dimension of poverty and social exclusion.
- Field research (qualitative): 20 in-depths interviews in Spain and 20 in Italy to women who suffered directly from the crisis and the austerity policies, and are currently in AROPE (women who live in households in relative poverty, under material deprivation or in low-work intensity households). A third of these interviews will be made to immigrant women, in order to capture the special difficulties they might face, linked to a discrimination increase in accessing social services or facilities.
- A Report “The inivisibility of women in poverty in Europe 2020” available in English, (Spanish and Italian translations to come) providing a general framework for both countries and comparing with available EU data. The report will also include an analysis of testimonies of women and a roadmap for future actions.
- Two Seminars on “EU2020 headline targets and the impact of austerity on Mediterranean women”, in Spain and in Italy providing an intermediate assessment of EU2020 Strategy, in relation to gender and presenting the reports’ findings and proposals. They also included a roundtable of representatives of political parties, of women’s organisations, social NGOs, public authorities, practitioners and experts as well as direct testimonies of women in poverty and social exclusion. See here for the seminar in Madrid on 27 November, and here for the seminar in Rome on 14 December.
- Advocacy activities, to start a dialogue with political parties and/or members of the respective Congress around the main Report’s findings and proposals in both countries, with the purpose of getting a commitment of policy change towards current issues in women inequality, and the need to include gender-biased achievements in the EU2020 headline targets.
See the project report here.
Project Coordinators:
Graciela Malgesini, EAPN Spain gmalgesini@hotmail.com
Letizia Cesarini Sforza, EAPN Italy letiziacesarinisforza@gmail.com
Update June 2015
- Desk research: the first draft of the research desk document has been elaborated and is now under revision.
- Field research: A methodology document has been produced, along with an online common questionnaire, available in Italian and Spanish. Great progress has been made with the interviews of women (Italy has already finished, Spain still in progress).
- Although funding has not yet been received from EAPN Europe, the network is following the proposed schedule.
- The project has raised a lot of interest both in Spain and Italy.
Update October 2015
- The field research is finished and the final report is in progress.
- A few more weeks may be needed to finalize and revise the outcome.
- The report or, at least, the advanced results will be presented in Madrid in November, coinciding with EAPN Spain’s General Assembly.
- The report will then be translated into both languages and presented in Italy.
EAPN Hungary, in cooperation with Croatia
The pilot project aims to spread information and raise awareness on the European Semester and Europe 2020 by a media campaign and through different events in view of raising media attention, as well as strengthening the relations between EAPN Hungary and EAPN Croatia through close cooperation and capacity-building activities.
Main activities of the pilot:
- Bilateral interactive practice-sharing training on Europe 2020
- Forum-theatre event relaying key messages on Europe 2020 involving people experiencing poverty, aiming also to raise media attention in both countries.
- Wide public discussion on the meaning of Europe 2020 for Croatia, initiated by NGOs and other partners and including people experiencing poverty, social sector, governmental and business actors, aiming also to raise media attention in both countries.
- Media campaign to raise public awareness, through traditional and social media.
- Evaluation methodology and report of the project from EAPN Hungary and from EAPN Croatia.
Project coordinator:
Johanna László, International coordinator of EAPN Hungary Laszlo.johanna@hapn.hu
Aleksandra Selak Živković, EAPN Croatia and President of the Centre for Social Policy Initiatives cisp@zg.t-com.hr
Update October 2015
- EAPN HU and HR had their preparatory methodology meeting with the participation of the professionals of CAPN (summer), where we clarified
- the main messages we want to strenghten and details around our common training,
- the training methodology and topics,
- details around our press campaigns,
- details of our events (symposia in Croatia, „Day of Games to Raise Social Awareness” in Hungary),
- In September (17-19/09/2015) a Hungarian delegation of 10 persons, 6 of them are activists who experienced poverty travelled to Zagreb for a common training with Croatian people experiencing poverty and allies. One part of the training was given by HAPN, the other by CAPN. The topics of the training: Europe 2020, how to recruit people to spread social messages, how to deal with the media, how to build relationships with decision-makers, why it is important to bring messages of poverty closer to the public. After the training, all participants visited a Croatian homeless shelter to see more of the Croatian reality. With the training and visit, the organisers aimed to encourage activists to exchange knowledge with Croatian peers.
EAPN Ireland
The pilot project aims to increase awareness among politicians, media and civil society of the commitments in Europe 2020 and the Platform against Poverty, at EU and Irish levels, as they relate to poverty in Ireland, the current issues for people in poverty and the measures needed to impact on them.
This will be achieve through raising awareness though briefings on the Poverty Target at EU and Irish levels among politicians and civil society, discussing with political parties, andbriefing Irish anti-poverty NGOs about the National Reform Programmes, Country-Specific Recommendations and Mid-Term review of Europe 2020 and the Semester more generally.
Main activities:
- Briefing on Europe 2020 poverty target and its roll-out in Ireland, disseminated to members of Parliament, key advisors, local councilors and civil society.
- Meetings with all parties about their election manifestos.
- Short-page briefing for EAPN Ireland members and other civil-society groups on understanding and engaging with Europe 2020 and the Semester more broadly.
- Report of the project.
Project coordinator:
Robin Hanan, Director of EAPN Ireland robin@eapn.ie
Update October 2015
- The Briefing on Europe 2020 and the European Semester has been completed and disseminated widely in early September. It updates and adds to the Briefing done by the Better Europe Alliance (Irish Semester Alliance in 2014). The briefing is available here: http://www.eapn.ie/eapn/briefing-on-poverty-targets-european-semester-and-europe-2020
- Work has begun on the second briefing on Poverty with the aim of completing it as early as possible in October. The briefing will be a short document which will highlight the current reality of poverty in Ireland and what needs to be done to address it. It will be actively used to lobby political parties in the up to our upcoming national Elections. It is still possible that the elections will take place in November 2015 so this has increased the urgency to complete the Briefing.
- Although not part of the agreed project EAPN Ireland has continued to coordinate the Better Europe Alliance (i.e. the Irish semester alliance funded in 2014). As part of this the Alliance published its response to the 2015 Country Specific Recommendations for Ireland.
EUROPE 2020 and the European Semester
In 2010, the EU’s Strategy called ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’, broke new ground by establishing five concrete targets for delivering on smart, social and sustainable growth by 2020, which include:
- reducing poverty by at least 20 million
- achieving a 75% employment rate for women and men
- reducing early school leaving to 10%
- a 20% reduction on greenhouse gas emissions and increase in energy efficiency to 20%.
This Strategy is currently the subject of a Mid-Term Review, due to be completed in 2016
The ‘European Semester’ is the annual coordination cycle with Member States and the main instrument to deliver these targets in the context of economic governance.
EAPN – Key actor in Europe 2020 and European Semester
EAPN has been a key actor attempting to engage as a civil-society stakeholder in Europe 2020 and the Semester at national and EU level.
EAPN notably coordinated the EU Alliance for a democratic, social and sustainable European Semester or (‘Semester Alliance’) is a broad coalition bringing together major European civil-society organisations and trade unions, representing thousands of member organisations on the ground at European, national and local levels in the European Union. The ‘Semester Alliance’ aims to support progress towards a more democratic, social and sustainable Europe 2020 Strategy, through strengthening civil dialogue engagement in the European Semester at national and EU levels.
For more information on EAPN’s engagement with Europe 2020 and the Semester see Key Documents here on EAPN’s website.