What are the main challenges facing citizenship educators in the Eastern Partnership countries, what should be the priorities of EENCE activities now, what should change in the Network itself?

The leadership of the Eastern European Network for Citizenship Education will hold a working meeting on 5-6 April to plan the activities and organisational development of EENCE.

Recently, the situation with civic education in the region has deteriorated significantly.

In Belarus, civil society is almost completely ‘cleansed’ and it is impossible to openly promote civic education. In Azerbaijan these opportunities are also severely limited. In Georgia, after the adoption of the law on foreign agents, local NGOs were also hit hard. The pro-Russian opposition in Moldova is trying to pass the same law through parliament. In Ukraine, civil society activists have to continue to operate in the face of Russian aggression. Civil society in all countries has already been seriously affected by the liquidation by the new American administration of USAID, which had traditionally supported pro-democracy NGOs and independent media.

What should be the Network’s priorities as the space for democracy shrinks and funding opportunities diminish? How to respond to challenges in individual countries and in the region as a whole? How to build its information policy? All these questions will be in the centre of attention of the members of the EENCE Steering Committee and Audit Committee.

Special attention will also be paid to preparations for the Network’s Annual General Meeting to be held in autumn 2025.