ERIO's contribution to the website of the "2008 Year of Intercultural Dialogue"

On March 2nd, 2007, ERIO was invited to participate in a meeting organised by the DG Education and Culture and Media Consulta, a communications company, to discuss the draft concept of the website for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008. The meeting followed a previous consultation, during which the communication strategy had been criticised, in many respects, by civil society organisations, including ERIO.

The purpose of the March meeting was to present a draft website which incorporated the changes proposed by the NGOs concerned. During the meeting, the structure of the website was discussed, particularly focussing on the thematic categories which organise the website’s information search function, and on the partner section. ERIO and other civil society representatives proposed changes which aimed at mainstreaming the concept of intercultural dialogue in the very structure of the website and at better serving the coordination needs of the NGOs. ERIO proposed that consultation with NGOs should be conducted on a regular basis and also recommended that in order to improve funding opportunities, more transparency on the funding procedures and larger outreach is needed. The active participation of NGOs in this process will strengthen their role in policy development.