It will promote civil society’s role in local and regional governance, highlight EU and EEA/Norway cooperation in this field and inspire future policy formulation. More info can be found here. A functioning civil society is a key constituent of the resilience of cities and regions by providing citizens input in decision-making, resulting in better decisions and more robust institutions with increased legitimacy.The workshop will therefore emphasize the importance of including an independent civil society in local and regional decision-making and bring attention to the necessity of supporting civil society in the beneficiary states. The workshop will take place on October 11th from 11.00-12.30 at Norway House, Rue Archimède 17, 1000 Brussels. There will be networking possibilities after the event. It will be chaired by County Mayor Annette Solli, County of Akershus, Oslo Region, Norway. The agenda will be as follow: Ambassador Ingrid Schulerud will briefly welcome to Norway House. Followed by the four main speakers:
- Henning Stirø, Director of the Financial Mechanism Office – the secretariat of the EEA and Norway Grants
- Deputy Director-General for Regional and Urban Policy from The European Commission Normunds Popens
- Katarzyna Batko-Toluc, Programme Director, Citizens Network Watchdog, Poland
- Carlotta Besozzi, Coordinator, Civil Society Europe