Looking back…
On 16 December 2011 was held crossborder factory’s kick-off event in the premises of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance with guests, partners and friends. You can find pictures of the event on crossborder factory’s website and on crossborder factory’s YouTube channel. There you can also find short and funny movies of the event.
We again thank all our friends, colleagues and partners and of course our guests for their great support to our public launch!
EU and Western Balkans Mini-Survey
For the New Year, we are happy to present you with the results of a mini-survey among citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. We asked them: “What do you wish concretely from European politics towards the Western Balkans in 2012?” You can find the interesting answers on our website and by clicking here.
Even if this is of course not a representative survey, it was important to us to ask different committed citizens about their opinions and to publish these voices as a starting point for discussion and debate – for which crossborder factory will continue to create opportunities in different manners in the future.
Developing a public think-and-do tank for Europe
The development of a public think-and-do tank is an exciting experiment that relies on the active participation of citizens in Europe. We offer, from January on, to European citizens concrete cooperation opportunities to get involved with crossborder factory. We want you to work on our existing projects and to help us develop new projects.
In four free moderated online workshops, we invite you to participate actively in our European think-and-do tank:
Online Workshop 1 “europe inside”
Here we will ask ourselves the following questions: Which Europe do we want? What can we do to diminish the gap between the European project and European citizens? How can we develop a stronger European civil society?
Online Workshop 2 “europe global”
We would like to reflect upon how European citizens imagine a foreign policy of the European Union as an answer to the Arab Spring? How can we contribute as actors of civil society to support democratic forces in North Africa? What consequences for Europe has the rise of the Asian continent in the world and in what sense is it of interest for European civil society?
Online Workshop 3 “balkan goes europe”
We would like to discuss the different ways of strengthening the role of civil society in the European integration process of the Western Balkans. How do we raise within the European Union and its member states the interest in the Western Balkans? How do we strengthen the regional cooperation there?
Online Workshop 4 “intercultural lab”
Finally, we want to discuss what are the best ways of creating and establishing an intercultural network and a coalition to promote and develop the quality of intercultural dialogue in politics, civil society and the economy.
The aim of these decentralised and moderated online workshops is to discuss different leading questions and to develop first suggestions for concrete projects in these fields. These workshops are part of preparations for the first crossborder factory Summer Academy, which will take place for 23 – 27 June 2012 in Slovenia. There, the workshop results, suggestions and ideas will be presented and put into a concrete action plan.
If you are interested, please register for the online workshops by sending an e-mail to: info@crossborder-factory.eu with your contact details and a short motivation statement. Participation is free of charge.
Deadline for registration is January 20th.
We are of course open for your questions, comments and suggestions.
Social Entrepreneurship
crossborder factory will also focus its 2012 activities on the support and development of the concept of “social entrepreneurship”.
Please read the project description of the German-French Open Space Conference on Social Entrepreneurship here.
Are you interested in the German-French dialogue on social entrepreneurship? Are you are an expert on the subject or maybe just curious?
Connect and prepare with us our conference on social entrepreneurship! Send an e-mail to info@crossborder-factory.eu for more details.
