The 1st Greek-German Civil Society Organizations Meeting aimed to create bridges between Greek and German Civil Society Actors, Local Authorities and other social actors to touch off a dialogue and to reach conclusions on how to proceed together towards viable local development supported by international and interregional collaboration.
Greek and German civil society actors met in Thessaloniki in October 2012 to launch the Greek-German Civil Society Initiative. The aim of this initiative is the collaboration of both countries on the level of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Civil Society Initiatives and Civil Society formations. YET was one of the Thessaloniki – Greece SCOs to participate.
In the meetings among representatives from both countries, a number of social issues have been tracked, for which merely account the economic and social crisis in Europe and worldwide. These issues have greatly expanded their impact in our societies lately.
Youth unemployment is a rising problem in Europe. It is very difficult for young people to enter the work market for the first time because of the slow market and the preferences to hire an “experienced” employee instead of a bachelor with no work experience.
The perpetual recession of the European Social Model, which has been for decades the vehicle to support the fragile social groups in Europe, the difficulties that the relationship between the state and the civil society formations faces, the environmental downgrading, immigration and education are some of the issues that this open initiative for communication wishes to address to.
Our proposal concerns the activation and contribution of the citizenry, the undertaking of initiatives and the reinforcement of the civil society formations. Furthermore, it shall engage activities and interventions that will use efficiently tools, such as informal education, lifelong learning, volunteering and social interventions planning in collaboration with the state.
We are looking for more interested associations from Greece and Germany which want to collaborate in future to support transfer of know-how and good practices between our countries. We are in the process of preparing an internet platform which will soon allow CSOs to find partner organizations to transfer experiences and to promote activities, aims and future plans.
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