Essential Skills for European Citizens' Initiative Organisers

A few hours

Novice

Course details

The Online Course on Essential Skills for European Citizens’ Initiative Organisers provides users with an opportunity to learn about the process and practice of developing successful European citizens’ initiatives in an interactive online environment, under the guidance of established experts in the respective practical field serving as course tutors. The online course focuses on practical aspects of the European Citizens’ Initiative such as understanding the areas of Commission competences and managing the registration process, successful online and offline campaigning, signature collection, data protection requirements, building pan-European support networks, fundraising, advocacy and follow up.

Target audience

This course will be most useful for current and potential European Citizens’ Initiative organisers, and the citizens actively engaged in supporting and promoting ongoing European citizens’ initiatives. The course will also be valuable for people with a wider interest in the democratic processes in the EU – researchers, students, citizen activists etc. who might not be directly involved with any specific initiative, but are interested to learn more about it as a tool for participatory democracy on the EU level, about EU law and the competences of the European Commission and would like to broaden their understanding of how the EU works and what role active citizens may play in influencing its policy agenda.

Learning objectives

1. Develop an in-depth understanding of the areas of Commission competences in order to be able to formulate European citizens' initiatives that fall within them; and acquire the skills needed to manage the registration process;

2. Learn the skills needed to carry out successful online and offline campaigning;

3. Understand and manage the data protection requirements related to the signature collection and other personal data management related to the European Citizens' Initiative;

4. Acquire the essential skills organisers need to successfully campaign for a European citizens' initiative: building pan-European support networks, fundraising, advocacy and follow-up actions.

Offered by

This content is offered by the European Commission. The European Commission is the European Union's politically independent executive arm. It is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and it implements the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.