Acronym: B.RIGHT SPACES
Title: Protect, nurture and enhance Civic Spaces in the EU.
Call: CERV-2023-CHAR-LITI-CIVIC
EU nr: 101142977
Period: 24 months 1/3/2024-28/2/2026
Budget: total budget; 571,016.00 €; VUB budget: 80,366.00 €
Contacts:
imec-SMIT-VUB research group
Prof. dr. Luciano Morganti: luciano.morganti@vub.be
Simon Delaere, Project Lead at imec : simon.delaere@vub.be
At ERIS we got a chance to ask Luciano 2 questions:
What is B.RIGHT SPACES about?
“Luciano: The project B.RIGHT SPACES builds on the assumption that civic spaces can be better promoted and protected by the synergetic action of local public authorities, NGOs, and citizens, according to the principles and practices of subsidiarity and cooperation. The project aims to improve these actors' collective capacity to support, promote/empower, and protect local civic spaces, which are considered among the key factors that can safeguard citizens’ values and rights. The B.RIGHT SPACES project, promoted by local public authorities, reaffirms and strengthens their accountability in supporting and defending (independent) civic spaces.
New forms of local public-private partnerships are sought. In the past, public authorities and private players often operated competitively, each striving to assert their interests. However, there has been a growing recognition of this approach's limitations and the need for a more collaborative and cooperative mindset.
Adopting principles and practices based on subsidiarity and cooperation reflects a shift towards recognizing the unique strengths and capabilities that the public and private sectors bring to the table and the value of leveraging these strengths to achieve common goals. In these respects, the present proposal is relevant to the scope of the Call, specifically to the need to engage public authorities and private players (i.e., CSOs and NGOs) to work together at the local, regional and national levels. The consortium assumes that strategies and operations at the local level need to be backed by responsible and open public authorities that bring governance, regulatory frameworks, and public resources. At the same time, private players contribute with their specialized expertise, innovation, and financial resources.
Specific objectives of the project will be:
Understanding how local public authorities can promote and protect civic spaces by:
1) Assisting in the safeguarding and advancement of civic spaces;
2) Promoting intersectional approaches to recognise and protect citizens' rights within civic spaces;
3) Establishing collaborative partnerships among the actors of civic spaces from the EU.”
Why is B.RIGHT SPACES important for VUB?
“Luciano: The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) will engage its Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology group (SMIT), specifically the NUSE Unit, which has a strong record in research and valorization activities on journalism, democracy, (European) public sphere and participation, news value, use, and trust, as well as disinformation and radicalization. The Research Group SMIT (Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology) at VUB, will be in charge of the project’s methodological soundness, concerning analysis and reviews, as well as of the implementation of participatory processes. SMIT is specialised in social scientific research on media and ICT, combining user, policy, and business analysis with both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. In doing so, it follows three core values:
1. building critical expertise, 2. striving towards cooperation, and 3. making a difference in society.
B.RIGHT SPACES, with its consortium, has the final goal of building sustainable and inclusive societies and therefore fits well with the centres’s values.
Today, SMIT has six research units. The research from these entities is transferred to actionable guidelines, policies, toolsets, and repositories through three Knowledge Centres: the KC Mediawijs (on Media Literacy), the KC Data and Society (on legal, social, economic, and ethical aspects of Data and AI), and the KC Mediapunt (on Media Research).
AIM
The B.RIGHT SPACES proposal builds on the assumption that civic spaces can be better promoted and protected by the synergetic action of local public authorities, NGOs, CSOs, citizens, according to the principles and practices of subsidiarity and cooperation. The project aims at improving the collective capacity of local public authorities, NGOs, CSOs (comprising Social economy organisations) and citizens to support, promote/empower and protect local civic spaces, considered among the key actors that can safeguard citizens’ values and rights.
METHODOLOGY
The proposal will:
1) Observe and analyze the conditions that enhance civic spaces, then develop an original guidance toolkit that can accompany civic spaces to fully deploy their action in promoting and guaranteeing rights and shared values.
2) Develop a process of mutual exchange and mutual learning through the REVES network (The Eeuropean Newtwork of Cities And Regions for the Social Economy), based on the exchanges of experiences and practices carried out by the national project groups in the partner territories.
3) Enhance the capacity of Civic Spaces to involve larger parts of local citizens and inhabitants by focusing on those vulnerable groups that locally encounter multiple obstacles in terms of access to determined rights.
4) Develop policy recommendations to generate conducive and protective local/regional ecosystems for civic spaces. The project addresses Local Authorities, Government Officials, and policymakers to promote a supportive l, CSOs and NGOs, Rights Defenders.
IMPACT
The effort of designing policies on evidence, opening research to real-life needs and instances, and engaging CSOs in collaborative policy design processes, are considered to be effective strategies for creating the conditions to support and defend independent civic spaces. As Civic spaces are serving as strongholds for citizens’ activism in Europe. The approach of B.RIGHT SPACES will allow for growth and progress, supporting democratic participation, the protection and promotion of civil and political rights, and economic and social rights, in a perspective of progressive recognition and expansion.