The Institute of Public Affairs has been chosen to participate in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum for the third time.  The forum is to be held in Poznan this year. IPA will organise two side events of the Forum. One side event will be devoted to promote volunteering in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and second will concentrate of Forum’s future development.

 IPA is engaged in Civil Society Forum’s activities since its beginning.  We have prepared recommendations concerning Forum’s future structure and principles of its functioning, when the idea of establishing to forum just started to flourish (Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum- IPA’s recommendation).  Participated twice in Forum’s meetings (2009 in Brussels and 2010 in Berlin) we have been involved in both plenary and working groups activities. What is more, two publications have been written by IPA’s experts and presented during 2010 meeting. These papers include recommendations on how to fight corruption in the region and aspects of financial support in the Eastern Partnership countries (Eastern Promise: Supporting Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership countries). 

This year we have conducted research among Forum’s participants concerning its desirable development.  Research results were later exploited to prepare a publication “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and how to improve it”. This text is now discussed in Steering Committee works aimed at developing Forum’s future structure.
During the Civil Society Forum in Poznań IPA is going to organise events devoted to Forum’s development as well as possibilities to bring EaP’s civil society closer to the EU by involving in volunteering programmes.   

The issue of the EU's Eastern Partnership was also discussed in our comments:

• Towards a stronger role for civil society in the Eastern Partnership
• Eastern Partnership is not only foregin policy (Partnerstwo Wschodnie to nie tylko polityka zagraniczna [PL)
• More money for Eastern Partnership? It's a way (Więcej kasy na Partnerstwo Wschodnie? Jest sposób [PL])
• Help for Belarus - trouble for the Union (Pomoc dla Białorusi - kłopot dla Unii [PL])
• Erasmus in the East (Erasmus na Wschód![PL])
• Eastern Partnership – it will not be easy (Partnerstwo Wschodnie - nie będzie lekko [PL])