WELCOME to website
of 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference
Dear Participants of the 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference!
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
It is spring 2007. We are meeting once again at the Conference of Central and Eastern European Citizens Network (CEE CN). This is the fourth time, the fourth conference. Of course today we can talk about working tradition as by many other activities and in our common network, for example in context of Citizen Participation Week (CPW). Our life and steps have been essential, successful and full of vitality.
The general theme of this year and our work during these days is "Citizens Action, Power and Politics". During three days additionally to four plenary sessions six thematic workshops, six cross-sector workshops and three Trans-Atlantic workshops and five study visits and cooperation conferences-roundtables shall take place in order to divide us into smaller groups, enable more discussions and dialogue.
The 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference is really the best place to exchange information, knowledge and experiences between participants. At the Conference a number of keynote speeches, case studies, best practices and comments shall be presented. All this and results of conference can provide a new synergy for development of Civil Society in all countries of East and West, and in Europe at All. We also see very good perspectives for Trans-Atlantic Cooperation. The Conference must give and I believe and am sure that it gives many new ideas and plans for development of our CEE Citizens Network and our mutual and cooperation. It is a big challenge and chance for us to go more deep and fine new real practice for network activities. Networks, platforms and networking are the new phenomena of 21st Century everywhere all over the World, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Networks as working structures and networking as method of governance for civil society development are ever-expanding from the beginning of our 21st Century. CEE CN is a good example of network and network activities - networking.
Our Tallinn Conference has brought together lot of representatives from civic initiatives, NGOs, other civil society organisations, local authorities, public authorities and officials from Central and Eastern Europe, Europe, USA and other regions as well as representatives of European structures.
Today one of the main tasks in the Central and Eastern Europe is to develop the Civil Society and NGOs. We - the 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference and its delegates - can and must encourage NGOs, Council of Europe, European Parliament, European Commission, each state and government to fix the development of civil society as a key priority.
Dear friends, colleagues and partners!
On behalf of all organisers - the Estonian Organising Committee of the 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference, Estonian NGO Roundtable Foundation and Central and Eastern European Citizens Network - we welcome you all in Estonia, in Tallinn and in regions of Republic of Estonia at the 4th CEE Citizens Network Conference at our common and very essential event in CEE Citizens Network and in the Central and Eastern European! Many thanks to all of you for coming, participating and contributing for success of our 4th Conference! We wish you all useful, fruitful and enjoyable days! WELCOME!
Helmut Hallemaa
Chairman of the Estonian Organising Committee of 4th CEE CN Conference
Estonian NGO Roundtable Foundation & CEE Citizens Network
Welcome
Welcome to the Fourth CEE Citizens Network conference, hosted by our talented Estonian partners, the Estonian NGO Roundtable Foundation. Our conferences have served as the cornerstone events of the Network and have provided considerable opportunity for sharing of experience and a chance to build and deepen relationships. We are confident that this year's conference will help us to carry on this important tradition.
We are quite proud of the work of the Network which has experienced considerable growth from our rather humble beginning when citizen activists from six countries came together in Slovakia for our first event. We currently have nearly thirty members from seventeen countries from around the entire region.
But more importantly, we have conducted training events each year since we launched the Network. We have continued to develop a more effective web site and have plans to make even greater improvements in the coming year. In the last couple of years, we have made considerable progress in achieving our agreed upon goal to become pro-active in promoting increased citizen participation throughout the region. We have accomplished this by the preparation and publishing of our best practices in the form of case studies. Later in the conference we will award two outstanding practices. Even more impressive has been the impact of instituting Citizen Participation Week which continues to grow and we expect even more from this event in the coming years.
This years conference has also provide the opportunity to expand our relationships outside the Network. For the third consecutive time, we are hosting an American delegation and will allocate part of the second day to Trans-Atlantic issues. Our relationships within Europe continue to develop as well. We are particularly pleased that Kirsten Paaby will join us representing the Combined European Bureau for Social Development with whom we are interested in exploring ways to further collaborate in the coming years.
We chose the theme of "Citizen's Action, Power and Politics" to reflect the experience of citizens increasingly requiring that officials include our opinions and voices when decisions are made related to things that matter in our lives, our families lives and our communities as well. While we have managed to come a long way, there is much more to be done. The journey has just begun.
We are hopeful that you will find this event of value in the important work you are involved in where you live. Please contribute as much as you can. Use the opportunity to build our skills and capacity to ensure that we have quality places to raise our family and to be able to live in healthy communities. Let us continue to act and find new and more effective ways to express our power and engage more meaningfully in politics.
Chuck Hirt
Director, CEE Citizens Network