WE ARE HIRING!

For its Brussels office, Active Citizenship Network-Cittadinanzattiva is recruiting a part time EU project manager. The successful applicant will represent Active Citizenship Network-Cittadinanzattiva as a consortium partner in European projects - funded by the EU Commission - already in place, as well as supporting the team in liaising with the EU Institutions, organizing events, contents and the general management of the job. If interested, please read more and send a CV with a motivation letter via email to personale@cittadinanzattiva.it and brussels@activecitizenship.net.

INTERNSHIP IN EU AFFAIRS IN BRUSSELS AND ROME

Are you interested in an internship in EU policy? Cittadinanzattiva APS is looking for a trainee to contribute to the development of its activities in the European framework. The selected candidate will be part of Active Citizenship Network (ACN) and will work together with the Director of European policies of Cittadinanzattiva and its team, located in Rome and Brussels. The candidate will have the opportunity to develop competencies in the field of European projects, citizen’s involvement, advocacy, and policy making at the European Union level, communication, corporate governance, and citizens’ rights. He or she will also be involved in the management of other European initiatives and projects, particularly dealing with ACN’s Network and having relations with partners, institutions and private and public stakeholders.

The opportunity is available for all students and graduates in European and International Affairs, Communications, Economics and Finance, Business Administration or Political Science; but also young adults passionate about citizens’ rights, civic participation, public policies, EU projects, with a good knowledge of the EU institutions, and a strong interest in current affairs and the European political landscape. An excellent knowledge of the English language and fluency in Italian are required, while the knowledge of a third foreign language is considered an asset.

The internship is in the framework of the educational and training program “Active for Young Professionals”, launched in 2014 by Active Citizenship Network both in Italy and abroad. The program regularly offers internship and volunteering opportunities to undergraduate students and recent graduates from different universities.

Over the years, the interns/volunteers who collaborated with Active Citizenship Network have now become professionals working across the EU, in Berlin, Madrid, Brussels, Rome, London, Paris.

If interested, please send a CV and a motivation letter via email to personale@cittadinanzattiva.it and brussels@activecitizenship.net.

To know more:

- Internship with Active Citizenship Network

ACN Community launched!
Active Citizenship Network’s Community, shortly “ACN Community”, has been launched as a development of the “Active for Young professionals” program, realized back in 2014.
This Community distinguishes itself as a network of individuals rather than associations aiming at fostering the relationship of ACN with the single individuals that ACN has met and gotten to know in the last years through the program. In order to keep in touch with these people, the Community allows all its members the opportunity not only to remain in contact with the network itself but also to interact with each other. Furthermore, reuniting all the interns and volunteers who collaborated with ACN through the years within an informal network to continue to cooperate with them as well as provide them help and support throughout their professional paths makes the initiative mutually beneficial for both ACN and individuals themselves. The Community is addressed to all those young people who, with different roles, have been involved in the program “Active for Young Professionals”, including youths that have been supported in their studies, especially with the drafting of their thesis, youths that have been given the opportunity to work, either as volunteers or as interns, at the ACN’s headquarters, and all those young people and adults, either patients or not, that have volunteered or cooperated with Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network to support and promote its work at the national and international level. If you wish to become a member of ACN’s Community, you can write to brussels@activecitizenship.net.

To know more:

- Who can be part of the ACN Community? Visit the official webpage

- Read about the “Active for Young Professionals” program

- Join ACN’s official Facebook page

Since 2014, Active Citizenship Network has launched both in Italy and abroad the educational and training program “Active for Young Professionals”, which regularly offers internship and volunteering opportunities to undergraduate students and recent graduates from different universities. Below, read directly from who lived this experience. You can check out the testimonials also on our official website here!

Student in political sciences, interested in the changes in the expressions of "traditional" democracy, thanks to the experience at ACN, I was able to begin the study of a nascent European phenomenon to go back in subsequent years to its origins. A speaker and events manager, I nowadays work for the European Parliament at the Maison Jean Monnet in Paris, which is part of the House of European History in Brussels.
My research has focused on "horizontal Europeanization", i.e. the active participation of citizens in transnational political debate; a prerequisite for the formation of a European public sphere.
The period of volunteering at Cittadinanzattiva allowed me to analyze the case-study discussed in my thesis: the action of European civil societies in an area historically the prerogative of nation-states, but at the same time extremely universal, such as health and the protection of patients' rights. It was a real initiation into the universe gravitating around the EU, its concrete functioning, its terminology and its actors.
It was the first work experience related to my studies and allowed me to acquire transversal skills essential for my future professional integration. In a Rome characterized by the hot sun of the summer months, I keep a wonderful memory also for the exceptional human encounters, particularly formative, with the members of the Cittadinanzattiva team.

Debora

During my internship with Active Citizenship Network, I had the chance to see how civic participation can be a decisive factor in EU policymaking. From the start, I received lots of responsibilities and projects, such as the Launch of the second term of the MEPs Interest Group “Cross-Border Healthcare and Patients’ Rights”, which we held at the European Parliament. Thanks to my stay at Active Citizenship Network, I was able to understand how important discussion among different stakeholders takes place in order to further common goals, such as in the field of Health Policy.
My stay at Active Citizenship Network allowed me to have a look at how Civil Society Associations cooperate across Europe, and how synergies are formed to reach common goals aimed at strengthening citizens’ rights and empowerment. I learned how individual grievances, such as infringed rights of patients, can be addressed at the European level, and how making the civic voice heard is essential to the successful functioning of the European Union.

Riccardo

I would have never thought that at the age of 30 I would have such an enriching and formative exchange experience outside of my country. The path I undertook as a volunteer for ACN has first of all formed me as a person, helping me to become aware of my abilities and potentialities, but also of my interests and language skills. Thanks to the experiences I have lived, I have improved in my path as a volunteer, I understood the importance of networking at the European level and not only at the local level, and I understood how necessary it is to build synergies to be more effective towards the achievement of our goals as volunteers. My experience with ACN has led me to study how European policies work, and all those policies that serve activists and volunteers. I also got to know the European model of participatory democracy which, although it still has room for improvement, represents a chance and a fundamental opportunity for us citizens to have our say on so many local issues that can be developed in the European context. In a world in which we are increasingly interconnected and interdependent, these aspects are fundamental for obtaining rights, protection and correct information for the benefit of citizens and patients.

I met many people from all over Europe, and I acquired new skills while improving my English. In addition, I understood my talents and the career paths I wanted to take. As a result, I brought unexpected results to my local association where I was able to "disseminate", to use a European term, the ideas I had developed. ACN offers the possibility to live enriching and formative experiences...in short, to "Think globally, act locally!"

Sara

I started the collaboration with Cittadinanzattiva Onlus - Active Citizenship Network Brussels’ office in October 2016. I collaborated on European policies regarding civil society and the protection of patients’ and consumers’ rights and on project activities. Among all, the participation in the evaluation focus group of the Europe for Citizens Programme, the organisation of the Citizenergy project event at the European Parliament and the organization of a session of the European Sustainable Energy Week 2017.
An added value was to personally assist the ACN Director, Dr. Mariano Votta, in institutional meetings at the European Commission, such as the European Consumer Consultative Group, with Members of the European Parliament and with various stakeholders from both the public and the private sector.
The collaboration with Cittadinanzattiva was a fantastic opportunity that drew me to the world of European institutions, associations and advocacy, developing interests and know-how that are integral parts of my working life.

Giuseppe

During these months I have lived an extremely enriching and formative volunteering experience within the Active Citizenship Network office. The path I have taken in ACN has helped me to broaden my interests and improve my skills in the social field. Thanks to this experience I understood the value of networking, I had the opportunity to get in touch with doctors and researchers from various European countries and I acquired a wealth of new knowledge and skills that I will treasure in my future. Furthermore, thanks to this work, I had the opportunity to test myself by undertaking new work paths that allowed me to face new future possibilities. I am very grateful for this experience and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to deal with this working world. My experience with ACN has pushed me to want to know, in a much more in-depth way, the functioning of European policies related to citizens' rights, especially in the health sector. I had the opportunity to deal with local health policies within some European countries and this allowed me to learn different models from ours and through which it is possible to enrich our skills on the subject. The fundamental element that I made mine as a result of this experience undoubtedly concerns the importance of having access and promoting correct information regarding the sphere of rights and protections of citizens in the field of health and which are of public interest.

Giulia

During my period of work at Active Citizenship Network (ACN) I represented the interests of an organization that pursues common interests for raising awareness among European legislators on various issues. It was an exciting challenge that made me learn a lot about what Advocacy means to European institutions. Furthermore, having assisted the Director Mariano Votta in fundraising activities here in Brussels taught me how NGOs interface with the private sector and raise funds to carry out their activities. A useful experience to understand how and when the private sector uses financial resources to promote advocacy initiatives for everyone's interest. By carrying out these activities, I learned skills that will be useful to me throughout my professional career. I especially thank Mariano, Daniela, Bianca and Giuseppe for making this experience possible.

Federico

Working as project Assistant at Active Citizenship Network (ACN) was a very enriching experience. During my time there, I was mostly in charge of dealing with healthcare and patients’ rights at the European level. More specifically, I worked on different projects on patients’ safety and empowerment, e-health, vaccination, sustainable healthcare, and cross-border healthcare rights. Since the very first moment I was given numerous responsibilities, which allowed me to develop my organizational and management skills. The various tasks I was assigned included helping in the organization of public events, writing articles and content for the website, drafting the minutes of public events, preparing memoranda of understanding and partnership proposals, among others. Moreover, I was able to assist my colleagues in the organization of the 13th edition of the European Patients' Rights Day as well as to attend public debates at the European Commission. Above all, I was mainly responsible for carrying out the second edition of the bi-annual research-project at the European level “EU Civic Prize on Chronic Pain - Collection of good practices”, which seeks to highlight existing good practices addressing the struggle against pain in several European countries.
While working, I had the chance to cooperate with a multitude of different stakeholders, including EU institutions, NGOs, professional associations, pharmaceutical corporations and universities. This also allowed me to take advantage of my language skills to get in contact with people from all over Europe and consequently expand my network. I believe that this working experience has been fundamental for my personal and professional growth. Indeed, it allowed me not only to improve my research and analytical skills, but also to be actively involved in the international arena, cooperating with a multitude of international stakeholders and understanding how social and political interactions take place at both the national and international level.
This internship helped me understand what I wanted to study in my master’s degree and in what field I would like to work in the future. Taking into account my whole experience at ACN, I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in this field. I really enjoyed working with Mariano and Daniela and I am confident that every experience at ACN will be as positive as mine.

Manuela

The European network of Cittadinanzattiva, has brought me closer to the socio-political sphere of Europe and to patients' rights in a very complicated period of the pandemic, in which the working environment has been forced to change completely. Through the projects in which I immersed myself during my internship experience, such as the European Civic Prize on Chronic Pain, I was able to help patients and organizations to have a voice in a period in which so many people felt abandoned. It has undoubtedly brought me closer in knowledge and affection for the collaboration of civic organizations and with institutions such as the European Union and has also shown me how much a citizen can make a difference in such important aspects, through civic activism, collaboration between European citizens, and by providing a voice to so many individuals.
The internship helped me learn a great deal of the ambitions and projects that European institutions deal with, especially in regard to the rights and opportunities for patients and fragile subjects which became even more important during the Covid-19 pandemic. The internship also opened up a new level of knowledge for me in the background of European affairs and institutional levels, and also helped me understand the lively and transparent relationship that the EU governing entities wish to have with the citizens, including providing them opportunities for employment and greater civic activism and defending the rights of European citizens.

Gianluca

I started my experience at Cittadinanzattiva - Active Citizenship Network in March 2020, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This situation did not allow me to attend the working environment as I wished, but, despite this, I immediately felt involved in all activities, which included drafting new articles, participating in meetings and webinars, helping in the organization of public events, and establishing new partnerships and collaborations. All the people I interacted with supported and respected me throughout the whole experience and made me feel in a serene environment that was open to discussion and innovation. Despite the difficulties due to Covid-19, ACN has offered me many different experiences in tune with my interests that have allowed me to measure myself with a new and fascinating reality.
Concerning the working environment, at the end of this experience at ACN, I can say with great confidence that I have gained awareness of my abilities and feel more advantaged than many of my peers. Concerning, instead, the world of the EU, the initiatives and projects I worked on made me feel part not only of ACN as an organization, but of a European and international network actively working for the protection of citizens' and patients’ rights. Working at ACN has been a more than positive experience and, in this period of global difficulty and emergency, the best I could ask for. I highly recommend it.

Maira

The “Active for Young Professionals” program has consolidated during the years and has strengthened its functioning by establishing two educational partnerships.

A first official agreement was stipulated on September 8, 2014, with John Cabot University to provide internship opportunities to the university’s students. John Cabot is the main American private university in the heart of Rome for both Italian and international students coming from more than 60 different countries. John Cabot University and Cittadinanzattiva /Active Citizenship Network both share the common goal to facilitate the intern’s professional choices by providing direct knowledge of the work environment and providing a complete training with appropriate study and work experiences. If you wish to know more about the collaboration between ACN and John Cabot University, please click here and here.

The second agreement with the IES Abroad Italy Foundation was formalized with the aim to host young American students for a “Study Abroad with Part-Time Internship” experience in the field of EU Affairs.

The two mutually beneficial agreements give the opportunity to: offer students and graduates a work experience to develop their knowledge on European policies and related topics; promote new competences in the tertiary sector, such as advocacy, networking, and EU affairs; spread a culture of “rights’ protection and civic participation” in a professional way and at an international level; offer young citizens the opportunity to contribute, interact and participate in the construction of a “closer” Europe that should be more democratic, open, richer and united in spite of its cultural differences, in order to develop a “European Union citizenship”; develop among young people a sense of a European identity based on common values, history and culture; spread among young people the activities that Cittadinanzattiva and Active Citizenship Network carry out in Italy and abroad; strengthen the collaboration with professors to teach and inform students on topics related to Active Citizenship Network’s activities.

To know more:

- Read about our official partnerships here.

- Visit the page entirely dedicated to the partnerships.

How much do you know about the management of EU projects? Young professionals, in most cases, are directly involved by Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network in the development of EU projects. Through these experiences, young professionals have the opportunity to: contribute to the creation of EU projects and learn more about financial reporting, cooperation in a consortium, the respect of deadlines, the management of budgets and resources, and the leading of work packages and tasks.
This section hosts a series of projects, funded with public funds, in which Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network is currently involved.

AHEAD: Action for Health and Equity Addressing medical Deserts

In line with its commitment on internal areas at the national level, Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network is taking part in the European project AHEAD, which started in April 2021 and will last until May 2023. This project addresses the challenge of medical deserts and medical desertification in Europe in an effort to help reduce health inequalities.
The Project will be carried out in Romania, Serbia, Moldova, Italy and the Netherlands and will benefit health policymakers, patients’ organizations, health professionals’ organisations, affected communities and more. The countries were carefully selected to highlight different manifestations of medical deserts and to address interconnectedness as a result of health worker mobility.
The main objective of this project is to provide knowledge and tools to a group of relevant policymakers in selected Member States and other eligible countries to define, design and implement evidence-based reforms in the health workforce field that specifically aim to counteract and/or prevent medical deserts.
If you wish to stay updated on the project, click here to sign up to the Medical Deserts Network and the AHEAD newsletter.

To know more:

- The commitment of Cittadinanzattiva at the national level in the field of inner areas

NUDGE: NUDging consumers towards enerGy Efficiency through behavioral science

In line with its commitment to energy policies at the national and European level, and in an effort to improve energy efficiency through consumers’ energy friendly behaviors, Cittadinanzattiva, through its EU branch Active Citizenship Network, is actively participating to the NUDGE Project, whose objective is to systematically assess and fully unleash the potential of behavioral interventions towards achieving higher energy efficiency, paving the way to the generalized use of such interventions as a worthy addition to the policy-making toolbox.
The NUDGE project is funded by the EU’s funding programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020. The project, which has a planned duration of 36 months, is carried out by a multidisciplinary team of 10 partners and trials take place in 5 different EU countries. Taking into consideration the Italian situation with regard to matters concerning renewable energies and also given the EU’s position on the importance of energy efficiency, Cittadinanzattiva decided to join the NUDGE consortium as the only Italian participant. With this project, the Italian consumer association Cittadinanzattiva confirms not only its long-term commitment to energy-related issues, but also its interest in activities designed to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. Through NUDGE, Cittadinanzattiva aims to contribute to achieve the adoption of behaviorally tested policy interventions at the local, regional, national, and EU levels.

To know more:

- NUDging consumers towards enerGy Efficiency through behavioral science (NUDGE)

NIGHTINGALE: Novel InteGrated toolkit for enhanced pre-Hospital life support and Triage In ChallenGing And Large Emergencies

Cittadinanzattiva is proud to be part of a new large European partnership to give life to the project NIGHTINGALE Novel InteGrated toolkit for enhanced pre-Hospital life support and Triage In ChallenGing And Large Emergencies, funded by H2020 HorizonEU Research & Innovation Programme. NIGHTINGALE will develop and validate an innovative set of integrated tools for the response to large Medical Emergencies: a multi-technological toolkit that networks the different actors involved in the emergency management, and that serves emergency physicians and non-medical civil protection agencies (firefighters, police, but also volunteers and citizens). The goal is to ensure a substantial improvement to pre-hospital life support and triage. The tools developed will allow a shared response between emergency medical services, non-medical civil protection personnel, volunteers and citizens by increasing their "field of vision", information sharing and communication between teams and with victims.
Cittadinanzattiva, in particular with Active Citizenship Network, will be an active part of the project bringing a civic perspective, ensuring that the solutions developed meet the needs of citizens and enhance their skills. We will participate in the dissemination and communication of the project results thanks to the wide network of "civic" (but not only) contacts in Italy and Europe. If you or your organization are interested in the field, join us with your civic experience and knowledge! Write ASAP to Daniela Quaggia d.quaggia@activecitizenship.net.

To know more:

- Visit the official website (EN – IT)

- Follow the NIGHTINGALE project on Twitter

Promoting societal resilience thanks the ENGAGE project

The ENGAGE project, funded from EU H2020 Research and Innovation Programme, aims to link the informal resilience naturally inherent in citizens with the formal work done by authorities to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.
As part of the research activities of the ENGAGE project, Cittadinanzattiva played a key role in interviewing citizens of the city of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo (Italy) who experienced the 2009 earthquake. In the article we intend to deepen some aspects, which could limit the ability of citizens and communities to implement coping actions. Particular attention is paid to the measures and methods implemented by the authorities, with the aim of bringing further elements to the discussion on the best approaches to foster and increase the resilience of communities.
Recently, Cittadinanzattiva created a safety Smart box with helpful material to promote student resilience in school contexts. With these materials, students can, for example, become more familiar with municipal #civilprotection emergency plans.
To know more, read suitable articles on the ENGAGE project website:

- "Resilience of local communities: what approaches to foster its full expression? Some reflections from the experience of L'Aquila earthquake of 2009”

- Promoting societal resilience at School: raise students’ awareness of risk prevention

Community PRO (Participation Resilience Organizing) begins its journey!

Among the contemporary challenges, the ability of cities and territories to transform themselves into inclusive, participatory and resilient contexts, able not only to adapt to changes, but also to cope with them through good planning in the use of resources and directly involving citizens, is becoming increasingly important. There is a directly proportional relationship between living conditions in human settlements and citizen participation in the construction of public policies. But the civic involvement and the leading role of the community in the processes of knowledge and change of reality that have as their purpose the protection of rights and the care of common goods require as a necessary condition the strengthening of civic activism and the development of the ability of citizens to organize themselves to carry out activities of general interest.
The Community P.R.O. (Participation Resilience Organizing) project, to be realized by Cittadinanzattiva between May 2021 and October 2022 and funded by the Italian Minister of Labor and Social Policies, aims to create more inclusive and resilient communities, and make them aware of the power of organized cooperation between active citizens. The activities will take place throughout the entire country. Cittadinanzattiva intends to experiment the training of the figures called “Civic Activators”. They will play a key role in the change processes of local contexts, supporting local communities in being more “active” in their rights and in their defense of common goods, facilitating participatory processes and enhancing social bonds.
The last 11th and 12th December, Cittadinanzattiva held in Rome the first two team-building meetings, addresses to 100 Civic Activators coming from all over Italy. Next January a specific training will start, followed by an on-the-field job in which Civic Activators will experience, supported by Cittadinanzattiva, the leading of participatory processes involving communities and will facilitate them to work together to find solutions and common paths to cope with criticalities.

To know more:

- Visit the official webpage (IT - EN language)

The first team-building meeting held in Rome on 11th December 2021 and addressed to 100 Civic Activators coming from all over Italy.

DICA EUROPA!

DICA EUROPA! is a project funded under the National Operational Program PON "Sistemi di Politiche Attive per l'Occupazione" (SPAO) and developed by Studio Saperessere and Prodos Consulting, in partnership with Cittadinanzattiva, Arci and Legambiente Scuola e Formazione.
Through the organization of 40 training courses throughout the country, the provision of 20 hours of online training, 10 webinars and the realization of more than 10 networking events, the project aims to provide participants (volunteers, associates and activists working in the Third Sector) with practical and methodological tools to identify the most appropriate forms of access to financial resources of the European Union and develop project proposals in line with the standards of the European Commission. In particular, the course aims to train professionals belonging to third sector organizations, with specific theoretical knowledge and operational skills in project management for social planning.
The initiative also encourages the exchange of experiences, promotes networking, and fosters the creation of collaborative networks between organizations from different sectors, involving all the actors of social innovation.
In order to elaborate a didactic program able to respond adequately to the needs of the recipients, an initial activity of preliminary analysis of the training needs of third sector operators is foreseen, also in relation to the territory of belonging.

For further information, you can write to info@dicaeuropa.it.

To know more:

- Visit the official website and watch the video presentation of the DICA EUROPA project (IT language)

FACILITATE: FrAmework for ClInicaL trIal participants daTA reutilization for a fully Transparent and Ethical ecosystem

FACILITATE is a IMI2 Project built on a patient-centered, data-driven, technological platform where an innovative data sharing and re-use process allows the returning of clinical trial data to study participants within a GDPR compliant and approved ethical framework. FACILITATE starts-off by providing clear rules in a trusted ethical, legal and regulatory ecosystem before engaging patients as data generators. This avoids the current situation where clinical data are siloed in separate repositories without any possibility to be used beyond their original single-sided purpose. Within the consortium, Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network will support the stakholder engagement. To know more, click here.

BLISS: Boosting health LIteracy for School Students

The Erasmus project BLISS wants to respond, with an integrated intervention from both the educational and social point of view, to the "need for health" and the related need to have the digital tools necessary to find, analyze, and understand the news about health. Active Citizenship Network, thanks to its broad knowledge on health issues, was involved by EGINA to cover a leading role in the EU project, which will begin in February 2022 and will last 24 months.
BLISS aims at responding to the horizontal priority related to the promotion of innovative pedagogical strategies in the context of digital transformation, offering a training course aimed primarily at teachers but which will then benefit students of secondary schools in six European countries. It will try to do this by providing paths and training content on digital health learning that are accessible, understandable and engaging.
The project’s main goal is to strengthen students' ability to move with awareness and confidence in the world of online health information by, on the one hand, encouraging the acquisition and strengthening of key competencies, and, on the other hand, aiming at the improvement and continuous training of teaching staff in the area of health promotion and responsible and informed access to health services. This will enable the citizens of tomorrow to better manage their health, improve prevention, enable more accurate diagnosis and treatment, and facilitate communication with health professionals, ultimately contributing to a greater development of health literacy in Europe through targeted training, documentation, and testing in schools.

January 18th, 2022: "Together for the Oncology of the Future", for a national strategy in the fight against cancer
In line with Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, Cittadinanzattiva, with the support of Novartis and the participation of 60 stakeholders including clinical and health professionals, experts from the world of institutions, universities, researchers, economists and innovation, launched the document "Together for Oncology. With feet on the ground and a look at the future".
The public event for the presentation of the document will be held live on January 18th from 10.00 live on the LinkedIn channel of Cittadinanzattiva.
Precisely with the view of a shared effort between science and the community, the document proposes, thanks to the contribution of professionalism, skills and experiences, to design a proactive strategy against cancer tailored for Italy and aimed at the main political decision-makers. We are at a crucial point in the treatment of tumours, and also, thanks to the resources that will be allocated with the PNRR, it will be possible to seize an unprecedented opportunity. Together we can make a difference.

To know more:

- Click here and read an introductory article: “Insieme per l’Oncologia del Futuro”. Cittadinanzattiva e Novartis per una strategia nazionale nella lotta al cancro (all in IT language)

- The commitment of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network in the oncology field at the National and EU level

January 18th, 2022: "Dialogue, Integration, Skills and Abilities in the Third Sector”
Dica Europa! will be holding its final event next 18 January, 2022, from 10:00 to 13:00, in presence in Rome and online on the official facebook page of DICA Europa. The event will present the final results of the project and will be held entirely in Italian without any translations. For those interested in participating in person, given the limited number of places and the health measures in place, it is necessary to register, free of charge, through the link here. To follow the event online, please click here.

February 3rd, 2022: “Report launch: Hitting new heights: Improving vaccination uptake among patients with chronic conditions across Europe”
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a formidable obstacle to the vaccination campaigns on the diseases unrelated to Covid-19. This is especially true in individuals with underlying health conditions, who are at greater risk of severe illness from vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite the pandemic has acted as a stark reminder about the importance of immunization, routine vaccination uptake among patients with chronic conditions across Europe remains concerningly low. In this regard, the Coalition for Life-course Immunizations (CLCI) and the International Longevity Centre UK’s (ILC) have been producing a report outlining current practices, common barriers, and potential opportunities for vaccinating those with underlying health conditions across Europe. The report will be presented virtually on February 3rd, 2022, with the aim to facilitate dialogue among policymakers, healthcare organizations, and charities at a European level. On this occasion, Mariano Votta, Director of Active Citizenship Network, has been invited to participate as a speaker to the online event in order to discuss recommendations and suggest next steps to improve routine vaccination uptake among European chronic condition patients. To register, please click here.

20-21 April 2022: XVI Edition of the European Patients’ Rights Day
On April 20th and 21st 2022 Active Citizenship Network (ACN) will organize the European celebration of the XVI European Patients’ Rights Day (EPRD) with its traditional format of a big multi-stakeholder conference focused on the role played by key actors in the decision-making process on health priorities.
In particular, just before the end of the Conference on the future of Europe, the expectations and requests of citizens and Patients Advocacy Groups (PAGs) addressed to the institutions will be analysed. What has been discussed? Why did only a small percentage of the initiatives promoted within the CoFoE concern health issues? How to ensure that the priorities defined in the context of CoFoE will be incorporated in the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs)? What is the level of involvement of citizens and patients’ associations in defining the implementation process of the priorities that have been identified in the health sector?
The 2022 conference will have a twofold structure: a first day, dedicated to the presentation to the EU Institutions of the outputs of the themes that emerged from health-related initiatives organized in the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe – as the cycle of initiatives organized by ACN during the second half of 2021 (in June, July, September and December 2021), with the direct involvement of MEPs, high level experts, healthcare providers, private sector, leaders of civic organizations, PAGs and citizens aimed to contribute to providing a multi-stakeholder vision for a Healthier European Union - ; and a second day, focused on analysing the actual level of citizen involvement by the Member States close to the approval by the European Commission of most of the NRRPs and their implementation at the national level.
Given the current situation of uncertainty, the XVI European Patients' Rights Day (EPRD) will be organized in a digital format, with the hope that it can be transformed into a hybrid format event, with onsite & online attendance.

Additional information:

- To know more about the XVI European Patients’ Rights Day, please click here.

- To know more about the European Patients’ Rights Day over the years, please click here, here and here.