Participation for Change

The Participation for Change project concluded in 2011 following a series of successful eConferences and a website that has proven inspiration for many European networks and national initiatives. Participation for Change was spearheaded by ENNA member NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations).

It brought together additional ENNA members in the partnership including: NENO (Network of Estonian NGOs), OFOP (Polish Federation of NGOs), and CNVOS (Slovenian Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of NGOs), SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations), WCVA (Wales Council for Voluntary Action), NICVA (Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action).

Civil society is where people come together to make a positive difference to their lives and the lives of others:


We strongly believe that civil society reaches across borders beyond the country where we live and work. We are all citizens of Europe: an active and vibrant civil society comes from us being as engaged with what is happening in other countries or in Brussels. It's important to be as aware of what's happening abroad as we are with what's happening on our own doorstep and in our organisations.

The pilot project lasted a year and was funded by the European Commission’s Europe for Citizens Programme. It explored a combination of eMentoring, eConferencing and facilitating connections between members. Our eConferencing activities proved to be the success story of the project. This aspect of the project is now to be developed further on the Participation for Change website, as well as the new ENNA digital hub, supported by a specific presence on Facebook to facilitate connection and communication between our members.