Rights, equality, active citizenship and democratic values are at the heart of the European CERV – Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, one of the tools of the European Union to support more open, fair and inclusive societies.

The European Projects Hub for the Social Economy dedicated a workshop to this programme on Thursday, July 2, hosted by Vol.TO – Volontariato Torino ETS, with the aim of exploring opportunities, tools and good practices for European project design on these topics.

The meeting, opened by remarks from Vol.TO Director Maida Caria, saw the participation of 16 partner organisations of Torino Social Impact.

After the presentation of the activities of the European Projects Hub, its support pathway and the opportunities dedicated to partner organisations, Alessia Ibba of Torino Social Impact introduced the technical session led by Maria Chiara Pizzorno of Weco Impresa Sociale.

The workshop offered an in-depth overview of the CERV programme, illustrating its objectives, fundable actions and eligible activities, with particular attention to its main purpose: promoting and protecting the rights and values of the European Union, contributing to the development of open, democratic, fair and inclusive societies.

In line with the peer-to-peer approach of the Hub, ample space was dedicated to sharing project experiences developed within the local ecosystem.

Davide Prette of Vol.TO presented EnviRights, a project developed under the CERV-CHAR-LITI-CIVIC call thanks to the support of the European Projects Hub. Approved in March 2025, launched in June 2025 and active until May 2027, the project is dedicated to the promotion and protection of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, with a specific focus on environmental activism.

The goal of EnviRights is to strengthen the awareness, resilience and response capacity of people active in environmental movements, while also promoting more constructive dialogue among activists, public authorities, media and policymakers, including by countering denigrating or criminalising narratives around peaceful climate activism.

This was followed by the contribution of Valeria Vacchiano from the City of Turin, who presented B.RIGHT SPACES – Better rights in better civic space, a recently concluded project in which the City of Turin was a partner. The initiative worked to strengthen the collective capacity of local public authorities and territorial organisations to support, promote and protect local civic spaces, recognised as essential safeguards for democratic values and people’s rights.

Among the project’s results, particular attention was given to the development of a shared definition of civic space, the evolution of the concept of public-community partnership and the use of participation as a tool for the co-production of public policies. The added value of the European partnership also emerged clearly, generating relationships so meaningful that they became, in turn, a true trans-European civic space.

The second part of the workshop focused on the calls currently open and forthcoming:

• CERV-2026-DAPHNE, for actions to combat gender-based violence and violence against other vulnerable groups;
• CERV-2026-REMEMBRANCE, dedicated to European remembrance;
• CERV-2026-CHAR-LITI-CHARTER, for the promotion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
• CERV-2026-CHAR-LITI-CIVIC, for the promotion and strengthening of civic spaces.

In addition to the specific features of each call, Maria Chiara Pizzorno shared a number of cross-cutting recommendations useful for project design: understanding the relevant strategic and regulatory framework, maintaining coherence with the selected topic, promoting intergenerational exchange, involving target groups not only as beneficiaries but also as witnesses, and consciously integrating an intersectional approach and gender mainstreaming.

The final part of the morning was dedicated to a European project design workshop, during which the participating organisations, supported by the staff of the European Projects Hub, worked on building an effective abstract and translating their ideas into initial project proposals.

During this session, Fondazione CRT presented ProjectFinder, a new tool developed through EUknow.it: an interactive map to discover European projects and the organisations implementing them, facilitating the creation of European partnerships.

Organisations interested in continuing the pathway can now activate the support of the Hub, starting a project design support process in view of the next European deadlines.

The European Projects Hub for the Social Economy is co-designed with Weco Impresa Sociale and supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and the Turin Chamber of Commerce.