Member of Partners for Democratic Change International

CEECN

Strategic Planning Report

Kunbbony - Hungary
March 5-6, 2008.

Partners Hungary Foundation

Jnos Wagner
 PARTNERS HUNGARY FOUNDATION

Preliminary Agenda of the Strategic Planning

Time Activity Method

9:00 9:20 Introduction expectations
Strategic thinking Group discussion
9:20 9:35
Why do we need strategic planning?
Vision of the organization Creative small
9:35 10:15 group work
How does CEECN look like in the future?
10:15 10:30 Break
Values Group discussion.
List and priorities.
10:30 . 11:30 What are the main values of the members of
the network? Common values
Half SWOT Small group work,
Strengths of the organization, possibilities presentation
11:30 12:00
What does work
What do we have
Weaknesses Small group work,
12:00 12:30 presentation

12:30 14:00 Lunch

Strategic directions Group work
14:00 15:00 What will be the main professional areas
CEECN wants to focus its activities.
Activities Small group work,
presentation
Looking at the main strategic areas, what
will be the main activities of CEECN
15:00 15:30 Existing activities:
Conference
Education program (annual training)
Week of Citizen Participation
15:30 15:45 Break
15:45 17:00 Activities continuing Group discussion

17:00 17:15 Break

Motivation, responsibilities Individual creative
work, discussion
17:15 18:15 What motivates you for being member of the
network?
18:30 Dinner

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2. day
Time Activity Method
9:00 9:20 Wrap up, start of the day
Partnership with other networks Group discussion
9:20 10:15 CEBSD, Baltic Sea NGO Network, Trans-
Atlantic
Possible inclusion of European Community Group discussion
10:15 10:45 Organizing Network (ECON)
10:45 11:00 Break
Structure Small group work,
discussion
11:00 12:00 What is the best structure for the planned strategic
areas and activities
Questions regarding the structure and the mana- Group discussion
gement of the network
12:00 12:30
Membership, growth of the network, sub
regional structure
12:30 14:00 Lunch
14:00 14:30 Exercise
Further management questions Group discussion

14:30 16:00 Communication, web page, IT

Decision making
Fundraising
16:00 16:15 Break
16:15 17:00 Continuation, next steps
17:00 17:30 Closing
18:30 Dinner

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Strategic Planning of CEECN - Report

1.) Strategic thinking Why do we need strategic planning? Group discussion

We had a discussion about the combination of three aspects of an organization:

Strategy
Structure
Organizational culture human strategy
We discussed the importance of the three elements in the life of the Network and in
future planning and activities.

2.) Vision of the organization Creative small

How does CEECN look like in the future? group work

Participants in two groups created a picture, a vision of the network. How will CEECN
look in five years time from now on? (see pictures)

3.) Values What are the main values of the members of Group discussion.
the network? Common values List and priorities.

Participants prepared the list of their most important values connected to the
network. Than in pairs they selected the 7 most important common values of their list.
We collected them on the flip-chart. Everyone had three votes to give it to the
preferred values on the list. Maximum of two votes could be given to one value. See
the results below.
Value Votes
Every citizens has the right to participate 2
Interdisciplinarity
Geocultural position 2
Learn from each other good sharing 3
Sustainability
Inclusion of marginalized and unempowered 2
Openness, flexibility 5
Focus on real citizens issues 3
Cooperation, acting together 4
Common faith and experience
Mutual trust 1
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Half SWOT - Strengths and weaknesses of the Small group work,

organization, opportunities presentation
4.) What does work
What do we have
What needs to be changed

Group 1
Strengths Weaknesses
Geographical coverage/area Communication culture
Existing different expertise but as Lack of standards (implementation of the
perspective /not structured, organized networks activities, membership policy
EU non EU members, different etc.)
perspectives for discussion Geographical coverage/area
Connection with COE and other Networks members dedication to follow
networks up agreed activities
Relatively stable funding of the network Lack of entrepreneurship within the
and developed network structure members
Wide area of expertise and possibilities Not sufficient funds available to the
Positive attitude about facing problems members
(issues) Only one donor, not diverse donors base
Language

Group 2
Strengths Weaknesses
Strong base (low) Level of active engagement in
Broad membership communication and some activities of the
Good reputation network
Citizen Participation week not able to utilize, take advantage of
Creativity of members members talents, skills, experience
Important and clear issue and very large diverse geographic area that is
terminology growing more apart
Core funding support MOTT size and diversity of member
Mature/well established member organization
organizations and individuals expensive
Partnership, friends, contacts conference (expectation, agenda,
Openness and inclusiveness funding)
Experienced as members and also as follow up to activities
network limited and week management
Participatory status at Council of Europe country borders create big complications
week links between member
organizations
change of key people
week links within members
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Opportunities Group 1 Opportunities Group 2

increase the networks role in policy increased access and influence with
dialogue in the region / CEE council of Europe
to increase knowledge management Focus and leadership on I.T. issues in
within the network addition E-participation/E-democracy
beginning east-west Europe Re-organize membership including
attracting more donor attention sub-regions, fees, etc.
to increase networks program portfolio Funding on several level
Cooperation, fusion with other networks
and organizations (including Igor K. to
US)
EU non-EU cooperation
More dynamic engagement
Citizen Participation week growth / LD
week cooperation
Larger impact (E.G. by program in
Byelorussia)
Clear and focused strategy
Broader core funding for activities
More joint activities

Strategic directions Group work

5.) What will be the main professional areas CEECN
wants to focus its activities?

The main goal of the network by definition is Citizen Participation.

During the process of a long discussion we defined some objectives and five
different strategic areas for CEECN.
Objectives defined (It is not a full list and it was not a task to define objectives but it came
up during the discussion. We collected them in order to find easier strategic areas to serve
these objectives):
Concrete results (of the citizen participation)
Citizens raise the issues
Direct democratic culture
Building capacity of civil society

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Strategic areas
1. E-participation
2. Raising attention about citizen participation of
Civil society NGOs and citizens
Media
Government
3. Education, delivering knowledge influencing the main actors (education,
adult education, state, helper-developer professions etc.)
4. (Impacting, influencing decision making processes on different level)
It was changed the next day to:
Creating favorable conditions for Citizen Participation in impacting decision
making on different level. THIS IS THE FINAL VERSION!!!
5. Capacity building
(In the discussion one strong opinion was that No.4: influencing decision making
processes is the definition of citizen participation. It might not be a different strategic
area; it is the main goal, the mission.)

Activities Looking at the main strategic areas, what will Small group work,
6.) be the main activities of CEECN presentation

In small group work and later on in long group discussion the participants finalized
nine main activities of CEECN and also ranked them by their importance. Each
participant made a ranking order of the activities and it was collected, cumulated and
it gave the final order.
Activity Score Positio
s n
1.) Citizen Participation Week: 25 1
Expand
Find solution about cooperation with COE LDW
More money and activity
National and regional activity
2.) Work with media including internet, E-campaigning, E- 35 4
participation
National and local level
3.) Best practice continue, tie it to media activities 37 5
4.) Analyses of state of Citizen Participation in region curricula 34 2
research, mapping the spaces of CP
5.) Conference 53 9
6.) Utilizing IT, game development 34 2
7.) Participatory budgeting program 49 8
8.) Annual training 47 7
9.) Project in Byelorussia 46 6
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10.) Council of Europe influencing European policy

It came the next morning. IT IS NOT RANKED!!!

The activity No.7 Participatory budget program was further developed as a project
plan:
1. Establishing task group Creating draft plan
2. Introducing the plan and discuss it with interested NGOs
3. Creating training frame
4. Training delivery + support member NGOs in developing their projects
5. Establish ongoing consultancy support
6. Periodical visits to member countries, NGOs + meetings
7. Evaluation of implemented action and develop next plan

7.) Partnership with other networks, inclusion of ECON Group discussion

Possible inclusion of European Community Organizing Network (ECON):

We collected the pros and cons of their inclusion:
ECON Pros + ECON Cons -
Taking the founders whish into Controlling growth is a big issue
consideration We will have bigger responsibility
We help for a community organization Increasing risk
The change, the growth will have positive Additional administrative responsibility
effect on our organization
We are known in Europe
We can involve them into our work
They can add resources

Decision: They remain our strategic partner. Representative of ECON comes to the
April meeting in Prague to introduce the network. After that the CEECN will decide
about the inclusion. (The decision will be made without the participation of the ECON
representative!!!)
Baltic Sea NGO Network: Chuck replies to them underlining the differences in the
missions
CEBSD: we have the European Dialogue Project with them. We participate on the
event on May together with them. They remain our strategic partner.
Trans-Atlantic: We have the fellowship project with them. They remain our strategic
partner.

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8.) Objectives of the five strategic areas Group discussion

Objectives of the different priorities:

E-participation
Project to increase capacity (through training/consultation, equipment and
software) of member organizations use of it. Also include inventory of current
situation.
Participation in PEP-NET Project
Development of specialized areas like community web sites or media news
service pilot projects (better communication)

Raising attention about citizen participation

Measuring and informing about citizen participation in CEE (criteria system)
Make a positive connection between CPW and LDW
Ensure more media coverage by creating a media strategy for the Network
(that should help to develop the common CPW activities)

Education, delivering knowledge influencing the main actors (education,

adult education, state, helper-developer professions etc.)
Citizen Participation is a right! - creating and distributing simple messages
To increase number of informed individuals and groups about diverse
possibilities of citizen participation through promoting Networks base of good
practices
Knowledge basis inform people about Network and citizen participation
through it

Creating favorable conditions for Citizen Participation in impacting decision

making on different level
Establish and implement citizen involvement in budgeting project
Council of Europe code for citizen participation and e-democracy
Mapped spaces for citizen participation
Conduct analysis of citizen participation by 2009

Capacity building
Building on infrastructure and strengthening skills and knowledge of citizens
Network has analytical, educational, informational and political means for
influencing EU policies

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Networks structure is able to answer challenges effectively and efficiently

Members have full access to EU institutions and practices
Members are able to use different approaches and strategies
There are establishes centers for civic education and training
There exist toolkit/program for empowering citizens and positive changes are
elaborated

Following an hour discussion about the ranked activities and the list of objectives five
main activities, priorities were named as to be the suggestion for the April meeting of
the representative team. (These are very similar to the result of ranking the different
activities) This is a list and it is not ranked:
Project based operation focusing on the network
Council of Europe
Citizen participation week
Research, analysis best practices
Utilizing IT
The agreement was that the representative team will see all the activities collected
on this meeting in the ranked order.
Some participants stated that the see now better the future activities and the
possibilities of the network. They have a clearer picture about what needs to be done
in order to reach the main goal.

9.) Structure of the organization Small group disc.

Participants in two groups created a structure of the organization. What is the best
structure to serve the main goals and to provide the main activities in the operation of
the organization? (see pictures)

What do I get from CEECN, what can I give? personal Group discussion
10.)
motivation

In the final round we discussed these questions from personal points of views. What
does it bring to the participants to be member of CEECN and what can they give to
the network.
As a result of the two day planning procedure the future picture of CEECN became
clearer for the participants. The next steps are bringing the results to the
representative meeting in April in Prague and make a decision about the directions
and main activities.

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