Preparing for the struggles ahead

“Preparing civil society organisations for the struggles ahead” and the Coalition

Policy Lab is launching the project “Preparing CSOs for the Struggles Ahead”, part of the call “Catalysts of Change: Monitoring, Advocacy and Coalition Building for Environmental Justice”.

A coalition of civil society organisations?

There is a need for a stronger, more cohesive and coordinated civil society that can effectively address issues at the local, national and European levels and influence private and political decision makers through strategic advocacy. In a 16-month project (February 2025 – June 2026), with the support of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, we will create the conditions for building a coalition of civil society organisations to address issues of a just green transition from a perspective of degrowth and environmental justice.

Preparing for future struggles?

In the context of preparing civil society organisations for future struggles, we focus on the issue of land, which is subject to speculation, privatisation and over-exploitation, leading to poorer living conditions and deepening inequalities – in a broader sense: in urban and rural areas.

In urban areas, land grabs contribute to a lack of affordable housing, the disappearance of public spaces and gentrification, which increases social inequality. In rural areas, the concentration of land in the hands of a few large-scale stakeholders, supported by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, undermines food security, weakens local economies and damages environmental sustainability.

Cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary cooperation?

The core of the coalition, which will be able to grow organically and on an ongoing basis, will be made up of representatives of civil society (organisations) working together on joint analyses, strategies and advocacy actions based on these (interventions in space, public discourse, etc.).

The process of building, establishing and expanding the coalition will provide for strategic reflection on how to organise and strengthen the capacities of the coalition participants through networking, various trainings, study visits and strategic meetings.

To this end, we aim to bring together researchers, activists, journalists, policy makers, trade unions, farmers, cultural workers, etc. in the struggle against rural land concentration and urban land grabs. In short, anyone working on land, the environment, urbanism, inequality and social change, and building alliances and coalitions.

#EUfunded #NHC #CatalystofChange #EUValues

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“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or The Netherlands Helsinki Comittee. Neither the European Union nor the NHC can be held responsible for them.”