PROVIDUS will make use of this unprecedented opportunity to draw attention of the citizens, civil society and policy makers in Latvia and other EU member states on the links between national and EU policies, the role of national and EU institutions in making decisions that affect EU citizens, and opportunities for civic participation at EU level to enhance decision-making in the interests of EU citizens. This will be achieved by:

• Activities increasing citizens’ understanding of EU policy-making process and enabling improved and regular citizen participation on EU level. PROVIDUS will maintain an ongoing newsfeed on democracy and participation with blogs, livestreaming events and other online resources concerning participation at national and EU level (Activity 8), and will participate in developing IT tools to increase citizens’ involvement in the EU Digital Agenda decision-making (Activity 3).

• Activities enabling citizens to debate policy issues with a clear EU angle. PROVIDUS will organise a series of roundtables on evidence-based policy making (Activity 1), and a conference on development policies “EU Role in the World: Working with Civil Society to Find effective Solutions and Improve Governance” (Activity 4), will take part in organising the conference “Open Data for Open Society” (Activity 5), will monitor parliamentary debates and legislative initiatives in order to contribute to European debate on the standards of representative democracy (Activity 6), will contribute to Sustainable Governance Index (Activity 7), and to Migrant Integration Policy Index (Activity 10).

• Activities studying ways to enhance a favourable environment for civic participation at EU level. PROVIDUS will participate in the 5th Networking Meeting with organisations active in the field of memory and remembrance in Tallinn (Activity 2), and will, together with partners (pending funding) address the deficit of well-developed models for swiftly involving citizens and civil society in ‘simplified’ treaty revision procedures at EU level (Activity 9, Democratic Europe Now).

Full list of activities planned by PROVIDUS under the work programme in 2015:

Activity 1 – Public debates on evidence-based policy with relevant stakeholders and decision-makers, leading journalists and active citizens engaging in discussions on problems and potential policy solutions. In addition to offline debates, online live streaming and videos will be provided.

Acitvity 2 – Organisations active in the field of memory and remembrance will discuss the relationship between national, regional and transnational frameworks of European memory and how they influence transnational forms of inclusive democratic citizenship.

Acitvity 3 – An on-line interactive game will be launched internationally, as citizen awareness raising and opinion voicing tool targeting Internet user communities in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Czech Republic. Following the game, country-level workshops will be organized for citizens.

Activity 4 – An international conference on EU role in supporting positive change and good governance in partner countries, with particular focus on the role of civil society and on the Eastern Partnership and Central Asia regions.

Activity 5 – PROVIDUS is a partner in organising this large-scale international conference on open data during Latvia’s EU Presidency, with a panel discussion dedicated to the role open data plays in ensuring openness and transparency in policy making. The panel will generate proposals for open data usage.

Acitvity 6 – Monitoring of parliamentary debates in Latvia, with reports and recommendations developed in Latvian and English in order to contribute to the EU-wide debate on representative democracy. The project aims to promote the standards of inclusive and responsible policy making and to combat xenophobia.

Acitvity 7 – The SGI is a platform built on a cross-national survey of governance that identifies reform needs in 41 EU and OECD countries. PROVIDUS has taken part in the SGI survey in 2014 and is now taking part in the 2015 update. SGI (supported by Bertelsmann Stiftung) supports the exchange of best practices.

Activity 8 – Ongoing news feed with blogs, research publications, events livestreaming and articles on citizenship and democratic participation in the EU on the public policy portal Providus.lv, including the European dimension of the Re:Imagining Democracy blog series on innovative examples of participation.

Activity 9 – Addressing the deficit of well-developed models for swiftly involving citizens and civil society in “simplified” treaty revision procedures and intergovernmental agreements, an alliance of institutions from different Member States will combine policy analysis with citizen engagement.

Acitivity 10 – Research and dissemination of comparative analysis about legislation and policy influencing migrant integration in Europe and beyond. This will be achieved via conferences, work with media and stakeholder’ discussions on recommendations for policy improvement in the EU.

The work programme is financed by Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union