News

On 15 November 2019, experts and practitioners from the area of spatial planning and regional development talked about how to improve spatial planning methods according to actual needs of citizens and to match the reality with ESI Fund programming in the upcoming funding period and beyond. How can we make sure that city planners and programme authorities understand each other? How can we best introduce the concept of functional areas in spatial perspectives in the Western Balkans?

What are the most essential aspects of effective and citizens oriented public management in cities and municipalities? How can local administrations in the Danube Region improve their performance? The coordination team of Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation” invited experts to exchange on inspiring practices and preconditions for good governance and high quality in local administrations that will be integrated in the policy paper “Sound Local Public Management”.

On 27 September 2019, the Regional Implementation Initiative organised in cooperation with the City of Vienna, Act Now, Ceipa and EUSDR Priority Area 10 an international round table on trafficking in human beings in Vienna. Experts and practitioners addressed the influence of ICT on both resilience and vulnerability for potential victims as well as the conditions for more resilience to human trafficking.

The existence of a vivid civil society is an indicator of well-functioning democracies that give space to the full variety of different opinions, concerns and solutions. The Competence Center for Nonprofit Organizations and Social Entrepreneurship at WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business) conducted a study on the state of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe commissioned commissioned by and in collaboration with ERSTE foundation as well as with a group of country experts.

The Young Bled Strategic Forum (Young BSF) is an annual conference bringing together young leaders to engage in lively discussion and develop out-of-the-box solutions to some of the most pressing world issues.

The European Roma Information Office currently conducts a survey on political participation of Roma and asks for input until 30 September 2019. The online survey is available in English, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Dutch.