In October 2024, the Council of Europe’s Democratic Institutions and Civil Society Division launched a grant to support civil society organisations with a clear purpose - fostering a democratic culture, increasing public engagement in decision making, and strengthening the links between civil society and the Council of Europe - the grant also sought to raise awareness of the Council’s standards on strengthening democracy, especially the Reykjavik Principles for Democracy, and highlight the value of collaboration and identify new opportunities in this area.
The other two projects receiving grants were:
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Three projects, one goal: strengthening democracy
Running from March to October 2025, the three winning projects placed a strong emphasis on communication and outreach, ensuring that their impact extended well beyond direct participants.
Volonteurope: Building resilience and inclusion for participatory democracy (BRIDGE)
Volonteurope’s “BRIDGE” project, implemented with partners from eight countries, began with strengthening partner organisations’ capacities, followed by national roundtables in Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Georgia, Serbia, the UK, and Guadeloupe. These brought together 172 participants to exchange views and experiences on trust, participation and inclusion, and to contribute to the Council of Europe public consultation on the draft parameters for the implementation of the Reykjavik Principles for democracy. In addition, they raised awareness of the Council of Europe BePart platform, a resource showcasing civil participation initiatives. Building on the national roundtables, seven regional roundtables in Southern Europe, Benelux, Western Europe, Eastern Partnership, Northern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and French overseas territories attracted another 139 participants online, identifying shared democratic challenges, local innovations and possibilities for stronger cooperation across borders.
The project culminated with a summit in Strasbourg, hosting 90 participants in person and online to reflect on the learnings of the dialogues and to explore how these lessons could inform the Council of Europe’s ongoing work and partnership with civil society on the Reykjavík Principles for Democracy. A highlight of the event was the interactive Future Lab, where participants ...
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