About the DCSF
The Danube Civil Society Forum
The DCSF was founded on 1 July 2011 at the first general conference with more than 100 participants from 14 Danube countries, national, regional, and international NGOs, representatives from churches, minorities, academia, as and as well as representatives from the EU Parliament, the EU Commission, the EU Presidency (Hungary) and other EU institutions.
While the DCSF acted in close cooperation and in consensus with the responsible EU institutions, the Danube Civil Society Forum is a self-organized and independent NGO structure.
The Danube Civil Society Forum is the platform for civil society dialogue and networking in the Danube basin under the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). It functions as the interface for structured consultations between civil society and public and private authorities on the regional, national and EU level as well as to international and intergovernmental organisations active in the region.
The Danube Civil Society Forum is dedicated to support civil society organisations in the Danube basin. It aims to promote and enhance civil society participation and networking in the framework of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region.
The Forum is registered under the Austrian law. It has 38 members; 36 regular members and 2 observers as of 1st August 2022.
Bank account: FOSTER EUROPE, Projektkonto DCSF
IBAN: AT073300000001118702
BIC: RLBBAT2E
Our members
The Executive Committee
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Stefan A. Lütgenau
President
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Ana Zlibut
Vice president
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Igor Studennikov
Treasurer
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Carmen Stadelhofer
Executive Committee Member
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George Petrov
Executive Committee Member
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Vanesa Lux
Office
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Laura Szitar
Office
Background:
The EU has called on civil society in the Danube Basin to start a process of higher self-organisation and to build up a platform for trans-national, trans-regional and interdisciplinary cooperation, consultation and networking. The Danube Civil Society Forum is the forum for civil society cooperation within the Danube Strategy.
The General Assembly brought together NGO representatives from 14 countries in the Danube Basin working in fields covered by the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. These issues include environment, education, culture, democracy civic and human rights, tourism, youth, third age, transportation, disaster protection, energy, labor market, charitable issues, gender, minorities, vulnerable groups and many others.e
EU Commission and Council have welcomed the Danube Civil Society Forum which is foreseen as an action in the EU action plan (see: Commision welcomes Council’s green light for the EU Strategy for the Danube Region).
The DCSF is an open, non-profit, non-partisan based NGO forum. The Forum is hosted by Foster Europe, Foundation for strong European Regions. The DCSF and Foster Europe do not receive any public funding.
While the DCSF is open to exchange and cooperate with the business sector it will limit its own outreach to the non-profit sector.
Main outcomes
The main outcomes of the establishment of the DCSF are:
Increased inter-regional and international cooperation and networking among Civil Society in the Danube Region
Increased influence of CS in democratic decision-making processes on the issues related to the Danube Region
Strengthened capacity of CS to further their agenda and communication
Increased capacity of CO to opinion building and promoting the EU Danube Strategy and its aims in the Region
Improved capacity of CS in service delivery
Strengthened cooperation between CS and public and private authorities in the Danube Region and the EU
Raised public awareness of the role of CS and fostering active citizenship and participation in the Region
The bottom-up approach
Due to the nature of NGO work and civil society and their constituency, the DCSF implements a bottom-up approach with strongest links to the grass roots in the Danube region.
The establishment and work of the Danube Civil Society Forum offers leverage to the concepts of active citizenship, participation, transparency and good governance in the DS. Furthermore the support for the DCSF by private and public authorities in the Danube region on the regional but mainly the national and EU level will be seen as the litmus test for nation states and the EU to be able to include a structured civil society in the Danube Strategy.