Civic Participation, Volunteering and Local Involvement Significant Both for the European and African Organizations

Representatives of Civica Mobilitas, PACT from Tunisia and FAMOC from Mali participated at the workshop for exchange of experience organized by the partner organization NIRAS from 14th to 16th May 2025 in Denmark.

The presentations of the three programmes were a good basis for the discussion related to civic participation, local community development, as well as support and cooperation with the authorities. The common thread of the three programmes are the activities for stimulating civic participation, strengthening of volunteering and involvement at local level.

The NIRAS colleagues also organized visits to two CSOs. It was useful to hear the experiences of the Foundation for Social Responsibility, an interesting example where the leading role lies with migrant women who function as a support network to other migrant women that need help. The help can range from simple socialization to supporting access to education, job opportunities or seeking/obtaining services from public institutions. The engagement is on volunteer basis, and in the whole country there are more centres like this. In the second organization, City House (Byens Hus), whose seat is in the Roskilde municipality, they presented the possibilities offered to the citizens such as using the rooms for different activities where there are tools, books, creative corners, etc. The way of sustaining the activities was also explained, on top of the support from the municipality and the contribution that they make for the city and the community.

The NIRAS colleagues also presented part of their activities, such as the NIRAS SDC Client Platform and Leading the EU Civil Society Operational Facility, while the participants could also hear and discuss about the best ways to involve the citizens and examples for public advocacy with the local authorities.

The representatives of the three organizations shared the lessons learnt. The experiences of the others, although from different contexts, can always be an inspiration when planning the next steps.