Oli Henman's blog

Guest Post by Anjelica Finnegan.

Anjelica joined Sir Stuart Etherington at the Economic & Social Committee in Brussels for a Public Hearing on the European Year of the Volunteer 2011 (EYV11), 8-9 November 2011.

What are Structural Funds?

The EU Structural Funds (ESF and ERDF) are available across all EU member states to invest in their people, their infrastructure and to promote cross-border initiatives with the aim of promoting economic growth and social cohesion.   They are important because they provide resources to address important social and regeneration priorities and can provide opportunities for innovation. 

Since I got back to NCVO, I’ve been struck by the growth in awareness of how we can share and learn from other European countries. This was brought home to me during the EU Presidency event, the ‘European Civil Meeting’ in Hungary.

Over the past years, it’s started to get serious… we’ve got to make this relationship work! So I popped the questions: will you… connect me to the EU?

** Guest post from Louise Brown, ICT Development Officer working on the ENNA project - Participation for Change **

On the 9th June I ran NCVO’s first e-conference, as part of Participation for Change.

Just got back from Japan where the new government is pushing for major reform for civil society and the non-profit sector. This is a huge opportunity as they have just seen a shift in governing party for the first time in 50 years!

Outside the snow was falling and the temperature had dropped to -5°C, while we brought together a spectrum of organisations from across Ukraine, the country of the Cossacks, from local campaigners to national level think tanks

Following the announcement late last week that the Office of the Third Sector is cancelling the £750,000 funding for a Campaigning Research Programme, we are now hearing about many examples of organisations that will be faced with wider difficulties.

20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, what has changed in Eastern Europe?

In the last month I have been in Berlin for a meeting with our National Association partners and it really drove home the difference that European partnership is making to the East.

A week is a long time in politics and the Conservative Party Conference aimed to pack in a vast amount into a few short days. This was the last conference before an election so expectations were high!