29/01/10

By Howard Lent

A joint bid by partners of the European Network of National Associations for Civil Society (ENNA) has secured over £275,000 funding from the European Commission.

This three year funding will build knowledge, skills and expertise between ENNA members and strengthen the co-operation within civil society organisations across Europe.

The new funds will also enable ENNA to push forward the creation of a European Charter.

This will act like the UK Compact to ensure that the EU works effectively with the voluntary sector, strengthening transparency, accountability and good practice.

The network will also focus on joint campaigns so that voluntary organisations are heard in the EU, following the recent changes in the Lisbon Treaty to give people more choice in EU decisions.

Stuart Etherington, CEO of NCVO said: "We are delighted to have won funding for ENNA. It will secure the work of the network for the next three years. We look forward to working with our partners to make a lasting change for citizens and communities across the European community."

This follows on from the successful joint bid two weeks ago by NCVO, OFOP (Poland), BBE (Germany), NENO (Estonia) and CNVOS (Slovenia) which secured £168k funding for ENNA's 'Participation for Change' project.

NCVO has also recently been training civil society organisations in advocacy in the Ukraine in partnership with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

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