When: Thursday, 28 March 2019, 16.00-18.00

Where: Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU, Rue Caroly 15, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

EaP CSF Brussels Public Event Series marking 10 years anniversary of Eastern Partnership

“The civil society perspective: Taking stocks of achievements and looking beyond 2020 – People-to-People Contacts”

In turbulent times, when the fundamental democratic values are being challenged, it is of a high importance to strengthen people-to-people connections and collectively develop innovative solutions to current problems relevant for both the EU and EaP region. The first event in the series of EaP CSF public events dedicated to 10th anniversary of the EaP policy will focus on assessing the successes of the EaP policy in areas such as Mobility, Research & Education and People-to-People contacts. Highlighting the major trends and main achievements of the EaP CSF, the discussion will be linked to the findings of the EaP Index, produced on an annual basis since 2011.

Special focus of the world café debate will be on education and youth entrepreneurship in the EaP region. A study “Youth Entrepreneurship in EaP Countries: the Way Forward” developed within the EaP CSF WG Re-granting project will serve as the starting point of the debate. Together with stakeholders, experts and civil society representatives we will be discussing, in an interactive format, how to facilitate the innovative business ideas of young people to become a success and how to improve the conditions for entrepreneurial activities across the region? Experts from various areas will be placed in the corners of the room and asked the same questions. Their different expertise and perspectives on the same issues will enrich our world café discussion and enable the audience to step into face-to-face conversation, as well as share their opinion via the interactive Sli.do tool.

Agenda

15:30 – 16:00     Registration and Welcome Coffee

16:00 – 16:15     Welcoming and Introduction

  • Tomáš Lipták, COEST Delegate, Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU
  • Natalia Yerashevich, Director of the Secretariat, EaP CSF

16:15 – 17:00     Kick-off Input

  • Tania Marocchi, EaP Index and Membership Manager, EaP CSF
  • Grigori Yeritsyan, EaP CSF WG4 Member, Armenian Progressive Youth
  • Marta Wytrykowska, Policy Officer, EEAS

Moderator: Juulia Baer-Bader, Communications Manager, EaP CSF 

17:00 – 17:45  World Café Style Discussion

Stakeholder Corner:

  • Peter Baur, Senior Expert, DG EAC
  • Jeroen Willems, Deputy Head of Unit, DG NEAR

Experts Corner:

  • Elin McCallum, Director and Co-founder, Bantani Education and Research
  • Adam Gajek, President, European Students’ Union

Civil Society Corner:

  • Daniela Mussnig, EaP CSF WG4 Member, Interkulturelles Zentrum
  • Mikalai Kvantaliani, EaP CSF WG4 Member, Association “New Group”

17:45 – 18:00    EaP CSF Concluding Remarks