The Heinrich Böll Foundation (hbs) is a founding member of the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP), which consists of 51 member foundations and three affiliated entities, coming from 22 countries within the EU. The members are ideologically close to six party families - ALDE, ECR, EPP, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL, and S&D - represented in the European Parliament and belonging to the democratic spectrum.
The Network serves as a platform for political foundations in Europe to exchange with the EU institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) and research institutes about democracy support, development cooperation and political dialogue.
Hbs and most other member foundations are active in the fields of democracy support and development cooperation. Our activities include civic education, public campaigning and awareness building, advocacy directed towards institutions as well as decision-makers in our respective home countries. ENoP members work in over 100 countries across the world, where we implement projects, aimed at enhancing democratic grassroots structures, strengthening civic participation, consolidating political institutions, and bridging existing gaps between civil society and political actors.
Political foundations are increasingly recognised as important partners in democracy support and development cooperation and ENoP, through its multiparty approach, is a key actor in further strengthening their role: In 2016, ENoP signed a Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) with the European Commission, aimed at enhancing the cooperation between the two actors in:
1. Promoting an enabling environment for political foundations, CSOs and political parties;
2. Encouraging participation in policy-making through political foundations, their partner-organisations and political parties;
3. Strengthening the capabilities of political foundations in supporting democracy and developing pluralistic societies.
As ENoP plays a crucial role in representing hbs’ interests at the EU institutions in the field of democracy support and related funding instruments, our EU office in Brussels actively participates in shaping ENoP’s activities. Strengthening democracy, civil society and the protection of minority groups are at the core of hbs’ activities. Hence, we are active in ENoP’s working group Democracy where we follow up on current policies in democracy support and participate, among other things, in the co-organisation of events with partner organisations. Hbs is also involved in the working group EU funding in which we exchange experiences; discuss EU funding opportunities that are of interest for ENoP and its members, as well as the developments related to the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).Finally, we are representing the interests of green political foundations as a member of the ENoP steering committee.
Visit ENoP’s website for more information about the network and its activities.