Under the umbrella of NEF, and led by the European Cultural Foundation, foundations have jointly launched a cluster of initiatives designed to make a decisive contribution to the European Year for Intercultural Dialogue in 2008. It is hoped that this strong input from foundations will facilitate synergies between the public and private sector in initiatives in the field of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.

In 2006 and 2007, the initiative will involve:
· a study of foundations’ activities to highlight the best projects, good practices and policy recommendations in the fields of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue;
· a European film/TV documentary to illustrate the challenges of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. The film will be made by film academy students from across Europe, under supervision by the European League of the Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), the Universität der Künste Berlin, and film director Ove Nyholm;
· provision of support to the Civil Society Platform for Intercultural Dialogue, which will issue policy recommendations and mount activities in the Dialogue Year.

European citizens’ consultation

The first step in the transnational effort to establish a model for involving European citizens in large-scale dialogues on the future of Europe took place on 7-8 October. The European Citizens’ Consultation project (ECC), which is being led by the King Baudouin Foundation, brought together eight citizens randomly chosen from each of the 25 EU Member States to identify topics that citizens feel should be debated further in the forthcoming national events. This was followed by a National Partners Group meeting, at which the results were discussed and the agenda for the future of the ECC set.

The Initiative for Learning Democracy in Europe (ILDE), launched by NEF in 2005, is to enter its second phase in 2007-08 (see p13).

Network of European Foundations
Director: Hywel Ceri Jones
T +32 2 235 24 16/17
info@nefic.org