How to take part in preparation at national level
The success of the European Year 2007 will be determined to a significant extent by action taken at national level; much of the relevance of such a Year lies in activities carried in the Member States.
Making the Year 2007 useful and relevant to LGBT organisations at national level, in many ways, depends on your capacity and willingness to get involved in your country.
Why get involved? In addition to activities that you may be able to do in the context of the European Year, the Year 2007 can:
- p rovide a unique opportunity to network and to build alliances with other NGOs working for equality and human rights
- provide a lobbying “hook” to raise other issues that are on your agenda
- give you an opportunity to develop working relationships with public/government officials, equality bodies, etc. with whom you would not have worked before
- give an opportunity to move our work on multiple discrimination forward (older LGBT people, LGBT people from ethnic minorities, disabled LGBT people, etc.)
In the coming months, ILGA-Europe’s EU Network members will have an opportunity to participate to two processes linked to the national preparation process: 1) NGO roundtables led by the European Network against Racism; and 2) the national preparatory process led by the national implementing bodies.
NGO round tables (led by ENAR)
National members of the European Network against Racism (ENAR) are organising national round table discussions about the European Year 2007 between June and October 2006.
National preparatory process
National implementing bodies should consult one or more representative from LGBT organisations in every country. LGBT organisations should be able to take part in discussions on the identification of the national priorities for the Year, along with organisations working on discrimination on the other grounds.
