Eventhough large parts of the proposal have been implemented by the Anna Lindh Foundation, such as the  holding of the first Anna Lindh Forum, which was held in Barcelona in March 2010, other parts of the proposal still deserve some attention. This is due to the fact that the Anna Lindh Forum in its current shape and form is far from perfect, in particular, in the area of NGO members participation in the steering of the Forum. Most importantly, there needs to be a way in which member organizations take more active part in preparation of the Forum, and which enhances their ability to act collectively through a democratically elected body.

These aspects and more are all covered in the poposal below. We would appreciate your constructive comments and suggestions.

Please allow me first to thank the Anna Lindh 1001 Actions for Dialogue team for their marvellous work and creative efforts. I have enjoyed being part of this action, and I had even more pleasure in personally meeting this uniquely creative and dedicated crew at the Athens meeting.

To begin with, after returning home from the Athens meeting, I had time to reflect on the seminar titled “civil society and intercultural dialogue” organized by the Greek branch of the Anna Lindh Network –whom I thank so much for giving the opportunity to be in Athens, and felt that I did not explain in details the motto which I adopted during that conference, which is „use the word network as a verb”.

In the following pages I make a modest attempt to elaborate on that central theme, by presenting an organizational chart which would, if set up, better facilitate true intercultural dialogue actions in the Euro Med region, and would better involve the members of the national networks in joint creative actions.

How best can one coordinate 1600 organizations, scattered in 39 states with different backgrounds, cultures and languages? More importantly, how can all of these organizations be coordinated into working together on joint projects. This is the central question this work is intended to explore, taking into account efficiency considerations as well.

The intention is to foster enhanced interaction, more exchange of ideas and projects, as well as to foster the dissamenation of information between civil organizations active in the field of cultural dialogue across the region.

The proposal includes suggestions regarding specific cooperation schemes and projects, and also contains a quasi constitutional set up of the framework of the proposed cooperation schemes. The reader will also come across novel institutions, new roles and offices, and in order to facilitate better understanding of the exact bulid up, all organizational schemes have been made visually available by the charts attached to this study.

To begin with, the proposal divides the Euro Med region into 4, and on a scond level, to further 8 subregions. This would allow for deeper cooperation schemes between organizations in the same region, while Interegional cooperation would be enhanceded by the work of the 4 heads of the regions.

By the same token, dividing 1600 organizations into 6 categories could serve better transperancy for all others in the grand network, not to mention the fact that this would also mean easier managment effort, and enhanced coordination abilities by the Anna Lindh team.

 Establishment of 6 working groups on the proposed 6 major topics of intercultural dialogue could contribute to enhanced flow of information and exhange of ideas between organizations dealing with the same topic or area of activity, and eventually, could lead to the organization of common projects in those fields, meanig more effectivness and efficiency, as well as impelementation of intercultural dialogue on the ground.

The media effect of one action is small in one state. The media effect of 1001 individual actions taking place in 39 states is bigger. However, the media effect of 8 major interregional projects, 4 major regional projcets, and 1001 projects in the 39 states would definitly have a profound media impact. Each action on each level reinforces the other, since the media marketing effort is made on 3 levels, which means that international media, regional media and local media outlets will all be better interested to deal with the issues presented, especially if the whole media effort is coordinated centrally, regionally, and locally.

The division of the Anna Lindh 1001 Actions for Dialogue team into 6 specific areas of activity would attain the goals mentioned above, as each Anna Lindh coordinator could be assigned to deal with the working groups established by the civilians. This would serve better flow of information betwen the center and the bottom, and it would also allow the Anna Lindh Foundation to initiate projects and to implement them with the help of the networks.

A central role of coordination ought to be delegated to an appointed officer of the Anna Lindh Foundation. He / she would lead the work of the 6 Anna Lindh coordinators, and would also intensively interact with the Board of the Heads of Networks, the Heads of the Regional Networks, the President of the Euro Med Civil Forum, and of course, with the President and the Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation. Among the responsibilities attached to this office is the coordination of the central media campaign.

It is important also to take note of the democratic values of governance, and integrate them into the scheme as well, making the whole working of the network more transparent and more democratic. This would entail the creation of the Euro Med Civil Forum, a cover institution which would gather all the organizations member of the Anna Lindh netwok once every four years. This meeting could be provided with decision making rights, such as delegation of organizations to the specific working groups (called Task forces in this model), the delegation of organizations for the regional working groups, and finally, the election of the Chairman of the Civil Forum, i.e., the President of the Anna Lindh Network, as well as the members of the Oversight Committee.

A special section explores the financial implications of the proposal, and provides a suggestion on possible sources of funding for the whole set up.

This proposal, hereby submitted to the Anna Lindh Foundation, could be circulated to all Heads of the Anna Lindh National Networks, and to interseted members of those networks and debate should ensue ont he contents of this proposal.

I would be more than honoured to collect the feedback of all concerned, and integrate those comments into a second draft of this proposal. A third draft and final draft containing the Foundation’s comments could then be submitted to all concerned for adoption.

It is hoped that this modest contribution will add to the efforts and to the work of the Anna Lindh Foundation and its networks, for attaining mutual understanding and respect between the different peoples and their various cultures, among others, in the Euro Med region.