This publication is the outcome of the Grassroots Europe for Local Wellbeing project of the Education Support Program. This initiative seeks to involve European community-based educational grassroots organizations in EU policy debates. The initiative gives European citizens active in the field of education and social inclusion the opportunity to interact with each other, with policy-makers as well as civil society organization at the local, national and EU level. At the local level it pursues a community-based, participatory approach and seeks to involve a diverse array of educational grassroots organisations that work towards promoting "soft" factors for local development and fostering local wellbeing through formal and informal education. By convening ordinary citizens of diverse social and professional backgrounds, paying particular attention to the perspectives of disenfranchised categories, the project aims to enable those local voices not typically heard to become a part of the Europe 2020 policy discussions around educational issues, ensuring valuable interaction between EU decision makers and those directly affected by EU policies. The publication is divided into three parts, each addressing a different set of concerns: firstly, rethinking a unified approach to the role of grassroots organizations in enhancing local well-being; secondly, reconceptualizing practice from the standpoint of the grassroots organizations, and thirdly, addressing the challenges which lie ahead in policy prioritizing at both the national and the EU level. You can download the publication here.

[Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundations]