As part of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) biannual international conference in Antwerp (16-19 July, 2024), Maecenata Institute, IFMA and ISTR are hosting a World Café to develop an ISTR Europe & Neighbours Network (E&NN). The aim of this world cafe is to collectively plan for the building of a European network of researchers on civil society organisations (CSOs) geared towards addressing the research needs of CSOs and thereby strengthening their contribution to European societies and democracies.

The World Café will be the opportunity for participating researchers to build on existing ideas and conversations to define key objectives and activities, reflect upon complementarity with existing networks, identify funding sources, and strategise its contribution to civil society organisations.

The brainstorming and planning will be open to all interested researchers participating in the Antwerp conference.

In 2022, the French Institute for Civil Society Organisations, in partnership with the Maecenata Foundation, the Institute for Social Research, and the Mouvement Associatif, launched a working group on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Europe. This working group brought together 40 researchers and practitioners with diverse expertise from 16 European countries. Their aim was to illuminate the role of CSOs in Europe, their contributions to society and democracy, and their needs.

The working group was tasked with identifying the knowledge needs of European CSOs, compiling a state-of-the-art report, and issuing recommendations for a European research agenda on CSOs. This working group culminated in the organization of a European webinar on CSOs and Democracy in Europe, the publication of a white paper “For a better knowledge of civil society organisations in Europe”, and the compling of a collaborative digital library.

As a follow-up, IFMA and Maeceata Institute joined forces with ISTR to establish the ISTR Europe and Neighbours Network. While ISTR has active networks in Latin America and the Caribbeans, in Asia-Pacific, in Africa and in the Middle-East and North Africa, there was so far no dedicated grouping to facilitate exchanges and collaborations at the European level. A series of two webinars were hosted in autumn 2023 to share the results of the first phase of work and discuss possible objectives, activities and ways of working of the network. These webinars confirmed the need for such a network as well as the relevance of the knowledge needs identified during the working group’s activities.

The world cafe meeting in Antwerp will be the opportunity to take up and broaden the conversation, as well as strategise the E&NN development.

This Europe & Neighbours network aims at bringing together researchers from all disciplines whose teaching, research and practice is connected to the various manifestations of the third sector and democracy, including civil society organizations, volunteering, social movements, social economy, and social innovation in and connected to European countries and its neighbours.  

Our primary aim is to offer a space where members can share scientific information and materials, publications, funding opportunities, calls for proposals, and can offer and benefit from mutual aid and advice from the community. Just as importantly, this network will strive to develop activities and approaches to conducting and sharing research in ways that engage with European civil society organisations and contribute to supporting a striving civil society in Europe.