By Sean Kelly from NICVA
Published on 18 Sep 2007
As a result of President Barroso’s visit to the NI Assembly earlier this year, the European Commission has established a special taskforce on Northern Ireland. One of its first jobs will be to carry out a stock take of how Northern Ireland is making the most of its membership of the European Union.
Following a meeting with EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner in June, Finance Minister, Rt Hon Peter Robinson, MP, MLA, said:
"President Barroso’s personal commitment for a European Commission Taskforce for Northern Ireland is a very exciting opportunity for the Province. Northern Ireland has benefited significantly from Europe over the years, and we want that relationship to develop and continue in the long term.
"We also want to ensure that Northern Ireland both contributes to, and benefits from, the wide range of European programmes and initiatives.
"The key role of the President’s Taskforce will be to facilitate that; if you like, to give us an introduction or ‘foot in the door’."
NICVA is concerned that, given its limited timeframe and focus on economic goals this stock take will over look the work of voluntary and community organisations.
NICVA would like to broaden this research by conducting our own European stock-taking exercise within the voluntary and community sector and we’d like to hear about your European activities and experiences.
To identify barriers and support
It is our intention to present to the EU taskforce an analysis of the local community and voluntary sectors participation in EU activities. As well as identifying the scope and nature of the sector’s involvement in European work, the survey will also help pinpoint both the barriers to participation and the type of additional support that is required for the community and voluntary sector to participate more fully in European opportunities.
We want to hear your experiences
Take our survey
Take our short online survey to let us know about your experiences
We therefore would like to learn about your experiences of working with organisations in other regions of Europe. If your organisation has been active in European work such as trans-national funding programmes, study visits, exchanges or if your organisation is a member of a European network, we would like to hear from you.
Please take a few minutes to complete our on-line European Activity Survey and return your response to us by 28th September 2007. If you require any further information about the survey please do not hesitate to contact Sean Kelly on 9087 7777 or email: sean.kelly@nicva.org.
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