"What nutrition … [is] to physiological life, education is to social life. This education consists primarily in transmission through communication. Communication is a process of sharing experience till it becomes a common possession." This quote is taken from Democracy and Education by John Dewey.

Water is a substance that is present in our everyday lives; it is something that everyone can relate to. It is the most precious resource on earth, vital for human life and the natural environment. Water is a source of inspiration for many, so the challenges relating to it drive people to take action in their communities and across borders.

Civil society, including philanthropy, is the cornerstone of our democratic and pluralistic societies. It contributes to solving societal issues in many ways. However, old and new barriers prevent the sector from unleashing its full potential. 

In the run-up to the European Parliament elections in June 2024, disinformation, fake narratives and other forms of attack on democracy, such as citizenwashing, are likely to continue in greater numbers and become more sophisticated. It is therefore crucial that EU citizens, civil society organisations (CSOs) and EU policymakers work side by side on pan-European solutions to counter these challenges.

Strengthening CSOs' capacity to bring a European dimension to the national debates and thus provide a meaningful place for the role of the European institutions in public debate.

In the workshop at Civil Society Days 2023 we asked "Can we democratise the European economy through the European Semester?" Now we want to follow it up with "Yes, we can!". Civil society organisations' lack of solid involvement in the European Semester is a well-documented phenomenon...

The objectives of the workshop are to investigate the potential of civil society organisations for the health of democracy and explore possible avenues for the creation of a structured civil dialogue. Two national-level case studies of successful dialogue between CSOs and national institutions, from South Africa and Slovenia, will also be presented to inspire the debate around ways of building civil dialogue at EU level.

As the leader of the Digital Transformation Cluster of the Civil Society Convention on the Future of Europe, a flagship initiative of Civil Society Europe, ECAS has collected input from approximately 1200 CSOs across the EU to set up the civil society agenda on digital transformation and develop digital inclusion guidelines for EU policymakers across key domains: Digital education, Digital democracy, Digital rights, Digital safeguards and Digital economy.

The multiple interconnected global crises that are shaking the world are set to be a particular burden on young people and future generations. Young people are very concerned about the current crises, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, social and economic inequalities, and increasing polarisation, and they point to the inherent flaws of our current growth-based system as the foundational problem driving these crises.

Volunteering is a key source of non-formal and informal learning, serving as a pivotal force in lifelong learning and personal development, European democracy, and the embodiment of shared European values.