As one of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) permanent partners, we organised and attended the 2024 edition of ECI Day, which took place during the EESC’s Civil Society Week.
On 5 March, as part of ECI Day, ECAS organised a workshop on “How to… navigate the support infrastructures of the ECI”. This workshop, designed with an interactive approach, aimed to explain and showcase the support infrastructures of the ECI, specifically the ECI Forum, the Organiser Account and the ECI official website (portal). The interactive puzzle game tested the participants’ knowledge and understanding of the ECI Forum and the Organiser Account. Participants were split into small groups, encouraging teamwork to find the correct puzzle pieces for the ECI Forum and Organiser Account puzzles. The puzzle results then led to in-depth presentations of the different support infrastructures of the ECI.
This workshop was moderated by Vasiliki Mustakis, who monitors and manages the ECI Forum. There were two speakers at this workshop.
@EU2024 – source: EESC
The first speaker, Vasiliki Mustakis, gave an in-depth synopsis of the various support tools available on the ECI Forum, including the Seek Advice tool, Guidance Notes, Success Stories, Webinars, etc. She also explained the difference between the ECI Forum and ECI official website, explaining that while the ECI Forum is an online collaborative platform that provides guidance materials, training and advice, the ECI official website serves as a comprehensive information hub about the ECI, including details on registered, current, valid and successful initiatives, how to sign an initiative, EC official communication material of the ECI and a step-by-step guide on how the ECI works.
The second speaker, Jérôme Stefanini, Lead of the IT Team on ECI, DIGIT, and European Commission, presented the Organiser Account. This account, located on the ECI official website, is a crucial tool for ECI organisers. Mr. Stefanini walked through all its features, demonstrating how organisers can register an ECI through the account, the different phases of the registration process, how to set up and customize their central online collection system and more.
In the atrium of the venue, we also had an ECAS branded stand where participants of the CSW and ECI Day could find more information about ECAS projects and the ECI Forum.
More information regarding ECI Day 2024: https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/CivSocWeek2024