• Our work

    Eurodiaconia links diaconal actors to examine social needs, develop ideas and influence policies impacting Poverty and Social Exclusion, Social and Health Care Services and the Future of Social Europe.

    Eurodiaconia also provides a platform for transnational networking and best practice sharing.  

     

  • Our vision

    As the leading network for diaconal work in Europe, we look to develop dialogue and partnership between members and influence and engage with the wider society.  We do this to enable inclusion, care and empowerment of the most vulnerable and excluded and ensure dignity for all.

     

  • Our goals

    We aim to see a positive social change in Europe through:

    Praxis, enabling membership engagement and partnerships

    Advocacy, creating a network of competence to impact policies at European and national level

    Identity and values, supporting the development of approaches and thinking on Diaconia in Europe today

     

Calendar Monday, May 21, 2012
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Other social policies

The EU budget, including the European Social Fund

Eurodiaconia works with partners to ensure a strong social agenda and therefore a strong budget for social issues. In this work Eurodiaconia is specifically working to facilitate access of not-for-profit social service providers to the European Social Fund and to broaden the Fund's scope to address social exclusion and poverty, by proposing changes to the programme.

Measuring growth and well-being
Eurodiaconia has produced a briefing on the discussions about how to move "beyond GDP" indicators to measure societal progress. Eurodiaconia is in contact with ecumenical partners to examine how to promote indicators that take into account more than just economic output.

Measuring Social Value
Eurodiaconia has published a briefing for members on tools to measure the added social value and economic impact of an organisation’s activities. Knowing the social value an organisation creates through its services can help justify funding as well as support advocacy for investing in social services.

Community Engagement and Development
Eurodiaconia co-organised a project, managed by interdiac, on examining methods and theories of community development, engagement and orgainising in diaconia. More information about the on-going work can be found in the articles below.

Social Economy
Eurodiaconia wrote a briefing looking at how the social economy is defined by different actors, and looks at different types of social economy activities. It includes a section on Work Integrating Social Enterprises. Eurodiaconia held a workshop at its 2011 AGM and conducted research among its members to understand how the social economy is seen in diaconia and how it can be supported as the European Commission discusses promoting the social economy, particularly in the light of the Social Business Initiative. This led to a discussion document for members which invited feedback and will link to Eurodiaconia's meeting on the Social Economy in June 2012.

Social Innovation
Innovation is currently one of the EU's buzz words. Within this the European Commission is promoting social innovation, in terms of supporting and facilitating the mainstreaming of innovative ways of meeting social needs. Eurodiaconia is taking part in the discussions at EU level with partner organanisations to ensure that actions publicised are carefully evaluated and really are examples of social innovation, as well as that tools for evaluation and scaling up of innovations are promoted. See below for articles on events on this topic.

NEWS
NGOs launch campaign to ensure EU money for social inclusion

15 May 2012

The poverty Reduction Target needs to be backed by EU Funds: NGOs urge Member States to respect their commitments to fight poverty. This is the message given by a joint campaign in which Eurodiaconia has been active as a member of the European Anti-Poverty Network. It is essential to keep the Commission's proposal for 20% of the European Social Fund's budget to go to actions fighting poverty and social exclusion, and for 25% of the Cohesion Policy budget to go to the ESF. For the text of the press release in English please see here, in French here.
 
New briefing – measuring social value – supporting social services

1 March 2012

Eurodiaconia has published a new briefing for members on tools to measure the added social value and economic impact of an organisation’s activities. Four methods are outlined, including the Social Return on Investment approach.

The briefing examines the following questions:

Why is measuring social impact relevant for diaconal organisations?  What are the different approaches to measuring social value? What are the challenges and drawbacks to measuring social impact? How to decide which approach might best for an organisation to take?

Knowing the social value an organisation creates through its services can help justify funding as well as support advocacy for investing in social services.

Eurodiaconia encourages members who have measured their positive social impact to provide the secretariat with information in order to share their experience with other members and provide figures to use as examples in advocacy work. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with input or any questions.

The briefing can be found here.

 

 

 
 
New Eurodiaconia briefing - European Economic Governance

21 February 2012

Eurodiaconia has recently finalised a briefing on the decisions made by EU states on the framework for economic governance of eurozone and non-eurozone countries. The briefing examines the different elements of the measures agreed on and the potential social impact. It examines the reasoning behind austerity measures and gives an overview of key economic terms used in the discussions. The briefing can be found here .
 
Denmark has 6 months to lead Europe… so what will they do?
4th January 2012
 
On 1st January 2012, Denmark took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The newly launched website http://eu2012.dk/en designated to the Danish Presidency explains what the Presidency is and how it works, outlines their priorities and also lists all the events and meetings they will hold between now and the end of June. In the attached document we have highlighted some parts of the official Danish Presidency programme most relevant for Eurodiaconia members, but firstly, we can share with you the highlights of our recent meeting with the Danish Minister for Social Affairs. Click here to read more 
 
European Commission launches initiative to support social enterprises, social innovation
03 November 2011

EU_single_market_logoThe European Commission “Social Business Initiative” proposes actions to be launched before the end of 2012 to tackle barriers faced by social enterprises. The Commission sees the terms social businesses/social enterprises as synonyms but does not intend to define them, rather uses key principles. The paper states “A social enterprise is an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders”

Relevant components of the key actions for Eurodiaconia members:

Funding

1. Propose a European regulatory framework for social investment funds before the end of 2011. 2. Continue to develop microcredit 3. Set up a 90-million euro European instrument for the start-up, development and expansion of social enterprises. 4. Prioritise investment in social enterprises in ERDF/ESF regulations 2014-2020.

Visibility

5. Mapping best practices and replicable models. 6. Promote mutual learning and capacity building of government administrations in putting in place supportive strategies.

Capacity building

8. A multilingual electronic data and exchange platform; promote and increase accessibility of Community programmes supporting social entrepreneurs.

Legal environment

9. Propose a regulation for a European foundation statute. 10. “Further enhance the element of quality in awarding contracts” in the revised public procurement rules, “especially in the case of social and health services, and to study ways in which the working conditions of persons involved…could be taken into account”. 11. Simplify the implementation of State aid rules in relation to social and local services (already announced).

The Commission is considering other initiatives, including sharing best practice on supportive tax regimes (see chapter 4). The documents can be found here. Members are encouraged to send comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it who will participate in the EU conference (open invitation) on the 18th November addressing these issues.

 
 
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