GCAP‘s Europe Annual General Assembly took place in Brussels on 25 February 2019 and brought together GCAP’s European National Coalitions including Portugal (Plataforma Portuguesa das ONGD), Greece (Ελληνική Πλατφόρμα για την Ανάπτυξη/Hellenic Platform for Development, Italy (GCAP – Coalizione Italiana contro la Povertà), Czech Republic (Česko proti chudobě), Slovenia (Povod) & Luxembourg.

Many talked about their concerns about the political changes taking place in Europe, especially the rise of right-wing parties and nationalism. These are linked to the problems in many countries around poverty, inequalities and sustainable practices. One huge issue that was highlighted were housing and debt struggles encountered by people all over Europe. We also discussed the upcoming May 2019 European Parliament Elections and the debate (or lack thereof) around the future of Europe.

The Regional Assembly is an opportunity to discuss annual plans and a common communications strategy to implement GCAP’s objectives, especially regarding the Agenda 2030 & the SDGs, most importantly SDG 10, as well as the cooperation with other civil society networks. There were inspiring contributions on how best to use the the Faces of Inequality Campaign and toolkit to target potential donors and publish reports for the 2019 UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) this July and September. Plus, the group loved GCAP’s new website and logo design! A new GCAP Europe Steering Group will be elected by all European National Coalitions in the coming weeks.

For more information, contact GCAP Europe Coordinator Tanja Gohlert – tanja.gohlert@gcap.global.