Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Date of latest update: 2025-10-08

Description

Description (EN):

Multi-level governance processes are widely related to the challenge of combating unequal opportunities for people to take part in society and GEtCoheSive addresses this challenge. Governance in fact cannot be reduced to neutral technical mechanisms (relations among departments and offices), but it is a value loaded process with direct influence on the access and use of public services. It displays a vertical dimension (relations between different levels of government) and horizontal dimension (private-public relations, including citizens-public authorities relations).Project addresses the horizontal dimension and aims at improving participatory governance in 4 cities in Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Germany. We expect to increase the capacity of public authorities to engage citizens with a vulnerable background and to improve the co-planning between Public Authorities and Third Sector Organisations in access to services and environmental issues. This result improves the quality of policies and makes societies more equal and cohesive. Innovation lies in testing participatory and deliberative strategies primarily on vulnerable groups and in relation to crucial policy fields selected: access to care services and environmental policies. Outputs are: 4 pilots for testing participatory practices of governance and 4 related solutions; it also develops 2 transnational strategy and action plan.Beneficiaries are public authorities, gaining more skills and trust from citizens, and citizens who raise awareness on policy making and skills for being protagonists. Implementation approach: map of existing governance systems; exchanges of good practices of participatory approaches; piloting of participatory and deliberative processes; networking activity with public and private relevant actors to reach shared strategies. Transnational cooperation allows a wider vision of common problems and solutions and enriches the design of innovation in testing participatory governance models.

Actual Achievements (EN):

Not Applicable for this 1. RP The GEtCoheSive project partners developed a mapping of the strengths and weaknesses of territorial governance in the access to welfare services and involvement in social policies in the cities of Berlin, Ljubljana, Parma and Vienna. The comparative analysis highlighted territorial specificities, as well as common challenges. Through the identification, evaluation and exchange of good practices of participatory governance in the local contexts involved in the project, a mutual learning between project partners was generated and experiences and lessons from existing good practices of participatory governance were shared in an online transnational event, where PPs had the opportunity to enrich their knowledge thanks to the presentations of external experts and protagonists of the good practices under scrutiny. The outcome of this process consolidated in a conceptual grid/heuristic that will serve as basis for the analysis of the pilots and of the quality of the processes they prompt. At the same time, 5 local roundtables with stakeholders (governmental institutions, NGOs, vulnerable groups) were organized, with the aim to frame the challenges that vulnerable groups encounter in getting involved in the public debate and in participatory governance processes. In addition, to strengthen the tools of the Consortium for an effective engagement of vulnerable groups, all PPs took part in training activities about the methodologies of participatory and deliberative processes and how to deal with vulnerable people. The activities concerning pilot actions started to be developed, a detailed workplan for each pilot was defined and started to be implemented. The cooperation of partners at transnational level was crucial to share common challenges and envisage possible solutions to address them. Project partners exchanged their reflections and experiences through the mapping of their respective territorial contexts, at the Consortium meeting in Vienna in November 2023, during the online transnational event on good practices in February 2024, and during peer-to-peer feedback and training activities. At the start of GEtCoheSive, project partners mapped and compared the strengths and weaknesses of participatory governance and of social vulnerabilities in the cities of Berlin (Germany), Ljubljana and Idrija (Slovenia), Parma (Italy) and Vienna (Austria). Simultaneously, the Consortium identified and discussed a set of good practices and tools for enhancing participatory governance. Drawing upon this work, the GEtCoheSive partnership developed its own methodological framework to foster the engagement of vulnerable groups in participatory governance processes and to analyze the quality of such processes. The project then moved to the more active stage of planning and implementing four transnational pilot actions (with a total of 12 local pilot processes across the 5 cities), targeting a diverse set of vulnerable groups, from migrant and refugee women, to homeless people, to families receiving income support measures. The key achievement of the project so far (particularly for its second year, the most recent reporting period) has been the co-development and piloting of participatory and deliberative processes (top-down and bottom-up) aimed at engaging vulnerable groups and third sector organizations. This output was the result of constant joint effort among the GEtCoheSive partnership: from the co-design of pilot actions to their implementation, partners continued to cooperate transnationally, by sharing advancements and exchanging on strategies to address challenges arisen. Partners also discussed – both among themselves and with external experts, academics, practitioners, public authorities and NGOs – the unfolding and results of the pilots during Consortium meetings and project study visits. Cooperation has been central throughout the entire unfolding of the pilot actions up to their finalizing, including in their monitoring and evaluation. In fact, pilots have made the object of an interim self-evaluation (done by the practice partners in charge of their implementation) and of an external monitoring and evaluation (by academic partners); in addition, the partnership has engaged in a peer evaluation of all the pilot actions, in a collaborative work of mutual learning. In summary, during the most recent reporting period, the four transnational pilot actions were implemented and finalized, but also evaluated and methodologically validated. This corresponds to the finalizing of the first Work Package of the project. In addition, their results have been thoroughly documented, analyzed and discussed. In fact, the activities of the second Work Package of the project have also been started. First, the Consortium has been participating in mutual learning and peer evaluation activities related to the pilots (in the form of study visits and evaluation surveys). Moreover, the partnership has begun the collaborative elaboration of four practice-oriented tools for implementing civic engagement and co-planning between Public Authorities and Third Sector Organizations (TSOs), and enhanced its dialogue with local policy-makers to prepare and facilitate the uptaking of these tools. N/A

Project outputs: Co-Development and piloting of participatory and deliberative processes aimed at engaging vulnerable groups and third sector organizations
(EN)
Cooperation of the partners at transnational level in the designing, evaluation and dissemination of pilot actions(EN)
Practice-oriented tools for strengthening civic engagement of vulnerable groups and a more effective relations between local authorities and Third Sector Organizations (i.e. co-planning)
(EN)
Strategy and action plan for achieving a participatory governance process with vulnerable groups and Third Sector Organisations
(EN)
Website: https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/getcohesive/

Thematic information

Governance, partnership

Priority: (VI-B_CE_4) Improving governance for cooperation in central Europe

Priority specific objective: ISO6.6. Other actions to support better cooperation governance (all strands)

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO6 (ISO1) A better cooperation governance

Type of intervention: 171 Enhancing cooperation with partners both within and outside the Member State

Partners (12)

Lead Partner: Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999897341

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT00816350276 | 80007720271 | fiscal code number (EN)

Department: Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage

Address: Dorsoduro, 30123 Venice, Italy

Department address: Dorsoduro, 30123 Venice, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: http://www.unive.it

Total budget: EUR 424 358.18

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 339 486.54

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 84 871.64

Contractors:

Name: Benvegnù Anna
VAT registration or tax identification number: BNVNNA93B60G224F
Name: Musner Tommaso
VAT registration or tax identification number: 04703880288
Name: Tommaso Musner
VAT registration or tax identification number: 04703880288
Name: Massimiliano Rosignoli
VAT registration or tax identification number: 00655650554
Name: Tino Srl
VAT registration or tax identification number: 04180490262

Initiative für Selbständige Immigrantinnen

Name: Initiative für Selbständige Immigrantinnen

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 951300535

Partner’s ID if not PIC: VR10232 B | 27/668/SO147 (Finance Office) (EN)

Address: Kurfürsten Str. , 10785 Berlin, Germany

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.iSI/ev.de

Total budget: EUR 200 004.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 160 003.20

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 40 000.80

ASP Citta di Bologna Azienda Pubblica di Servizi alla Persona

Name: ASP Citta di Bologna Azienda Pubblica di Servizi alla Persona

Department: Cohesion Area and European Project Unit

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 928945624

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT03337111201

Address: Via Marsala, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Department address: Via Marsala, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.aspbologna.it/

Total budget: EUR 115 008.79

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 92 007.03

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 23 001.76

ActionAid International Italia E.T.S.

Name: ActionAid International Italia E.T.S.

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 947194137

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 09686720153 | Fiscal Code (EN)

Address: Via Carlo Tenca, 20124 Milano, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: https://morethanprojects.actionaid.it/en/

Total budget: EUR 229 560.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 183 648.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 45 912.00

Universität Wien

Name: Universität Wien

Department: Research Platform “The Challenge of Urban Futures”

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999866883

Partner’s ID if not PIC: ATU37586901

Address: Universitätsring, 1010 Vienna, Austria

Department address: Rooseveltplatz, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.univie.ac.at/en/

Total budget: EUR 314 820.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 251 856.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 62 964.00

Caritas der Erzdiözese Wien (Caritasverband) gemeinnützige GesmbH

Name: Caritas der Erzdiözese Wien (Caritasverband) gemeinnützige GesmbH

Department: Stadtteilarbeit / Gemeinwesenarbeit

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 942439585

Partner’s ID if not PIC: ATU64630849

Address: Albrechtskreithgasse, 1160 Vienna, Austria

Department address: Albrechtskreithgasse, 1160 Vienna, Austria

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.caritas-wien.at

Total budget: EUR 180 223.59

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 144 178.87

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 36 044.72

Technische Universität Berlin

Name: Technische Universität Berlin

Department: Fakultät I, Arbeitslehre, Technik und Partizipation

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999986678

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE811231089

Address: Straße des 17. Jun, 10623 Berlin, Germany

Department address: Marchstrasse 23, MAR , D-10587 Berlin, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: http://Tu-berlin.de

Total budget: EUR 366 200.20

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 292 960.16

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 73 240.04

CIAC Centro Immigrazione Asilo e Cooperazione internazionale

Name: CIAC Centro Immigrazione Asilo e Cooperazione internazionale

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 906960186

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT02178930349

Address: Via Cavestro , 43121 Parma, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.ciaconlus.org

Total budget: EUR 140 272.60

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 112 218.08

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 28 054.52

Comune d Parma

Name: Comune d Parma

Department: Social Sector

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 996097754

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT00162210348

Address: Strada Repubblica, 43121 Parma, Italy

Department address: Strada Repubblica, 43121 Parma, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: http://www.comune.parma.it

Total budget: EUR 135 376.92

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 108 301.53

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 27 075.39

Skupnost občin Slovenije

Name: Skupnost občin Slovenije

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 939869570

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SI12655368

Address: Partizanska cesta, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.skupnostobcin.si

Total budget: EUR 115 000.36

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 92 000.28

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 23 000.08

Kulturno društvo Gmajna

Name: Kulturno društvo Gmajna

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 913529802

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SI54850916

Address: Trubarjeva cesta, 1000 LJUBLJANA, Slovenia

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: https://push-forward.org/asylum-rights-information

Total budget: EUR 185 971.20

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 148 776.96

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 37 194.24

Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti

Name: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti

Department: Slovenian Migration Institute

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999867950

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SI38048183

Address: Novi trg, 1000 Ljubjana, Slovenia

Department address: Novi trg, 1000 Ljubjana, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.zrc-sazu.si/en

Total budget: EUR 218 580.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 174 864.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 43 716.00

Contractors:

Name: Zelinka & sinovi d.o.o.
VAT registration or tax identification number: SI37603248

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Initiative for the Self-Employment of Immigrant Women

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

ASP City of Bologna Public Company for Personal care and welfare

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

ActionAid International Italia E.T.S.

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Universität Wien

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Caritas Vienna

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Berlin University of Technology

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Centre for Immigration, Asylum and International Cooperation of Parma

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Municipality of Parma

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

SKUPNOST OBCIN SLOVENIJE

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Gmajna cultural association

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Partners and Projects info

Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Project acronym: GEtCoheSive

Project ID: CE0100196

Project start date: 2023-04-01

Project end date: 2026-03-31

Project status: ongoing

Relevant linked projects:

BIOGOV
Celebrating Biodiversity Governance
Interreg Europe
(EN) | BioGov will finish in May 2022 and is about the improvement of natural and cultural heritage policies. The project wants to reach its goal through participatory governance. GEtCoheSive can take advantage from the experience and challenges tackled by BioGov and thanks to the results and knowledge that this project developed, it can improve the participatory processes while developing pilot actions. (EN), Euarenas
Cities as Arenas of Political Innovation in the Strengthening of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy
H2020
(EN) | Euarenas, started in 2021 and will finish in 2024. The project will investigate how social movements, coupled with local government reform initiatives, create momentum for political change that include more inclusive and participatory forms of democracy. The knowledge gained and lessons learned from the project, particularly on concrete practices to strengthen participative and deliberative democracy in urban settings, could represent useful tools for GEtCoheSive which will test these processes in specific areas of policies.
(EN), ISEED
Inclusive Science and European Democracies
H2020
(EN) | Developing a culture of participation in the context of a ‘knowledge society’ is a challenging issue faced by contemporary democracies. The EU-funded ISEED project uses the experience of citizen science as a model to rethink how participatory and deliberative practices can be successfully implemented in democratic governance. ISEED will finish in 2024 and GEtCoheSive could build important synergies with this project comparing and discussing about its results concerning participatory and deliberative practices among vulnerable groups. (EN), GaYA
Governance and Youth in the Alps
Interreg Alpine Space
(EN) | The GaYA project finished in 2019 and had the objective of strengthening innovative and participatory democracy, involving youth in decision-making processes. In this project youth were considered as a fragile group that are rarely engaged in the policy-making process. GEtCoheSIve, aiming at involving vulnerable groups (particularly refugees, migrants, women, people with a low income) can be inspired by the results and tools developed in GaYA and in particular by the GaYA’s Youth Participation Toolbox, which provide insight and show the path to create youth participation processes (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 2 625 375.84

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 2 100 300.65

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 80.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 2 100 300.65. Co-financing rate, 80.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

In depth analysis of territorial governance mechanisms of selected policy fields in the 4 cities
Comparative analysis of the multi-level governance structures in the involved cities
Inventory of good practices of participatory governance
Outcomes of the exchange of good practices
Heuristic for pilots
Outcomes of interactions on problem definition, users' need and constraints of public authorities
Workplan of the pilot actions
Interim self-evaluation of pilots’ implementation and preliminary results
External monitoring and evaluation of pilots' implementation
Two short videos on activities done during the pilots including interviews with participants.
Implementation steps of the pilots
Interim self-evaluation of pilots’ implementation and preliminary results
External monitoring and evaluation of pilots' implementation
Four short videos on activities done during the pilots including interviews with participants.
Implementation steps of the pilots
Interim self-evaluation of pilots’ implementation and preliminary results
External monitoring and evaluation of pilots' implementation
Two short videos on activities done during the pilots including interviews with participants.
Implementation steps of the pilots
Interim self-evaluation of pilots’ implementation and preliminary results
External monitoring and evaluation of pilots' implementation
Four short videos on activities done during the pilots including interviews with participants.
Implementation steps of the pilots
Evaluation reports on the exchange of pilot actions and the included activity of peer-evaluation
Comparative evaluative report on pilot activities
Practice-oriented toolbox
Video presentations of the tools
Uptaking of the practice oriented tools
Internal analysis and report on the outcomes of the mutual learning activities
Local Strategies for the implementation of participatory governance
Transnational Strategy for the implementation of participatory governance
Local Action Plans (4)
Transnational Action Plan
Report on the network and advocacy activities including, plus open seminars in university

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

EuropeanGreenDeal GEtCoheSive can have a specific impact in the Action “Climate” of the EU Green Deal. The European Green Deal aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050 and to realize it, the involvement of the entire community is necessary. GEtCoheSive provides local and regional authorities the tools and the resources to implement participatory and deliberative methods, necessary to find solutions with and for the community which could contribute to the achievement of the goal.
TerritorialAgenda2030 The general objective of GEtCoheSive concerns improving local governance through the co-designing and implementation of participatory decision-making. This approach can inform the priorities “Balanced Europe”; “Functional Regions”, “Integration beyond borders” and “Healthy environments” of Agenda 2030, since an involvement of the whole community can improve local governance processes and structures for increasing social cohesion, equal opportunities and sustainable future for all places. Moreover, Territorial Agenda 2030 emphasises the quality of government and governance (p.7-8) in mitigating inequalities and it stresses that a continuous capacity building at all levels is particularly important to enhance participatory implementation of integrated place-based strategies: GEt COheSive builds on this argument and it want to contribute to it by the development of concrete tools for enanching governance and the definition of a transnational strategy which engage the territories involved in the project.
EUStrategyDanubeRegion The action 1 of Priority area 10 of EUSDR aims at improving institutional capacities in order to provide high-quality public services, while action 7 at strengthening the involvement of civil society and local actors in the Danube Region.
GEtCoheSive can contribute to the development of these actions sharing the tools that will be elaborated with its deliberative and participatory approach.
EUStrategyAdriaticIonianRegion GEtCoheSive could contribute to the development of the Pillar 3 of EUSAIR, which concerns the Environmental quality.
One of the policy fields tackled by GEtCoheSive concerns the social implications of environmental policies. The deliberative and participatory processes of the project aims to avoid that especially vulnerable communities are left behind.
In this sense GEtCoheSive can suggest solutions to EUSAIR to involve the whole population in finding shared paths and effective commitment for enhancing environmental quality.
EUStrategyBalticSeaRegion One of the areas covered by the Policy Area Education (PA EDU) of EUSBSR is integration of migrants. GEtCoheSive aims at increasing the capacity of public authorities to engage citizens with a vulnerable background, including migrants. In this sense, results could have a substantial impact on the PA EDU of EUSBSR, in order to provide insights and tools to foster the integration of migrants.
EUStrategyAlpineRegion GEtCoheSive’s goal of enabling citizens’ engagement in codesigning public services can provide important insights to the EUSALP’s cross-cutting policy area “Governance, including Institutional Capacity” and to the 3rd Thematic Policy Area: Environment and Energy. Moreover, EUSALP could get inspired from the methodologies developed in GEtCoheSIve related to the enhancement of participatory and deliberative democracy in fields, which rarely have benefited by this approach.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:
RCO 083 - Strategies and action plans jointly developed, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO84) Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects : 4.0
(RCO87) Organisations cooperating across borders: 16.0

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:
RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:
RCR 079 - Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSBSR

EUSBSR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSBSR Degree of compliance:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSALP

EUSALP Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSALP Degree of compliance:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSDR

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSAIR

EUSAIR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSAIR Degree of compliance:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-10-08

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

100 / 100 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 013 / 1 011 (100.2%)

Notes on the data

Languages

Contact Form

Governance Enhancement for Cohesive Societies

Description

Thematic information

Partners (12)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Disclaimer