In parallel to the European Meetings of people experiencing poverty, EAPN has been looking at mainstreaming participation of people with direct experience of poverty in policies that affect them (see Open Method of Coordination page).
Over the years, this has helped reflect on the way social policy priorities are established, carried out and monitored, and has lead in some countries to more formal structures committed to the inclusion of people experiencing poverty in policy and decision-making.
Active lobbying from EAPN has increased awareness among policy makers about ensuring meaningful participation of people experiencing poverty and increasing the governance quality.
EAPN remains committed to ensuring that people experiencing poverty and their self-organized groups have an active say both on content and working methods used to tackle poverty and social exclusion. See more about this in the section on Civil Dialogue.