Eastern Partnership Towards Civil Society Forum

Recommendations from Civil Society in Ukraine

A first ENPI seminar, organised by the Transcarpathian Advocacy and Development Centre “ADVANCE” from 25-28 March 2009 in Janoshi, Ukraine, formed the beginning of a series of ENPI seminars within the APRODEV network in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine. All seminars have the objective to develop policy recommendations in the context of the Mid-Term Review of the ENPI CSPs and NIPs 2011-2013. The participants welcomed the invitation of the European Commission to contribute an opinion on the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and used the occasion to develop a joint response.

Among the participants were the member organisations of “ACCORD” (Association of Civil Organisations for Development in Western Ukraine) and their partners representing together about 50 NGOs from different Ukrainian regions (cf. participants list in annex). The members of ACCORD are organisations dealing with legal, educational, social and civil sphere development issues in Lviv, Ivano-Frankhivsk, Ternopol and Transcarpathia. The partner organisations of ACCORD, having experience in the field of legal, social, educational and civil sphere issues, came from Ukrainian regions such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Chernyivtsi, Vinnyitsa and Khust.

Their response on the EC EaP Civil Society Forum questionnaire:

1. How can the goals of the Eastern Partnership be advanced by a Civil Society Forum?

• Receive, analyse and disseminate information on the activity of «Eastern Partnership» (EaP);
• Propose recommendations for the management authorities of «Eastern Partnership» partner countries, European Commission and other stakeholders;
• Conduct ongoing monitoring of the EaP tasks implementation and introduction of individual programs;
• Secure public coverage of EaP activities.

1. How should participation in the work of this Forum be determined?

• Free access for any interested public organisations, associations or initiative groups via a «Civil Society Forum» web-portal that should be created;
• Participation should be defined by: o national quotas; o sectoral, regional, organizational and legal status
• Applicants for participation in the Forum should be supported by other community organisations in the country.

1. What should be the structures of the Forum? How would it interface with the other EaP structures (platforms, panels etc.)?

• Executive body formation - Forum secretariat;
• Formation and election of Forum Council on a quota basis (with obligatory annual rotation);
• Forum should have an Internet portal as a mean of a free access to information;
• Forum Council - official representative of the Forum should link up and communicate with other EaP structures;
• Decision-making within the EaP frameworks should be preceded by discussion of recommendations and Forum positions;
• Structure of the Forum should include thematic sections as foreseen by EaP.

1. What role should the European Commission play in the launch and in the work of the Forum?

• Information, expertise and financial.

For any questions or more detailed discussion please contact:

Janos Gerevich Director ADVANCE, Transcarpathian Advocacy and Development Centre Beregovo 90202 B. Hlmenickij u. 29/1 Tel: (03141)4-32-85 Fax: (03141)2-40-3

advance@advance.org.ua gervich@advance.org.ua