1. PEOPLE SUBPROJECT PEPA

2. PEPA (People Participating) subproject, has been approved in the framework of PEOPLE project sub-objective 6: “Civil Society Empowerment”. PEPA is co-financed by Interreg IVC Programme. PEPA

3. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from most of the European regions are highly depending on the subsidies released by the local or regional administrations. This is outlined in many studies at the European level and it is especially true for the Andalusian region. CSOs are more and more services providers and therefore submitted to the market constraints. The volunteering strength is minored in such conditions. Such dependency of CSOs has been resting will and capacity for amending the local and regional strategies, planning and policies and for launching or supporting new or alternative solutions. This deficit may be reduced by increasing the participation of CSOs to the decision making processes and by stimulating the exchange of experiences and networking these organisations. BACKGROUND PEPA

4.  Improving the local and regional governance by strengthening the role and participation of Civil Society Organisations to the social and cultural local agenda  Addressing, through participation, the decision making processes for the elaboration of local strategic plans and similar policies. Objectives PEPA

5. 1)University Pablo de Olavide (SP) is the Lead Partner 2)Az. Unità Locale Socio Sanitaria 13, Veneto Region (IT) 3)Hampshire Economic Partnership (UK) PEPA Partnership

6. PEPA Synthesis Implementation period: from 01/01/2010 to 30/06/2011 Total budget: 141.495,00 € Contact Person: Javier Escalera Reyes Email: fjescrey@upo.esfjescrey@upo.es