About

The Africa-Europe CS Platform is an inclusive space open to all interested African, European and Diaspora Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) / Peoples’ Organizations (POs) at all levels, from local to continental. The platform encompasses a broad spectrum of groups, including social movements, NGOs, unions, and faith-based organizations, emphasizing outreach and engagement at local, regional, and continental levels.

All such organizations are welcome to access information that the mechanism provides, to take part in the civil society fora that the mechanism organises periodically, and to participate in exchanges and discussions aimed at defining the positions that the mechanism brings into its interface with the AU-EU and in the activities of monitoring and advocacy that it undertakes.

The platform aims to create an inclusive, collective voice, to facilitate knowledge sharing and dialogue, and is a way to organize an interface between these CSOs with intergovernmental structures and processes surrounding the Africa-Europe partnership. 

The platform:

• supports a unified and bottom-up civil society policy influencing in the AU-EU partnership

• works for the official establishment of a Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM) to include the voices of the people and meaningfully engage them in the AU-EU Partnership in order to yield effective and legitimate decisions.

The platform meets at least three times a year, combining virtual and in-person gatherings, and aligns its activities with major AU-EU events.

Structure and leadership

The governance of the Platform is currently evolving, with an Interim Steering Committee established in October 2024 to guide the platform’s development (12 month mandate), including setting up a permanent Coordinating Committee (CC) and ensuring inclusivity in decision-making.

Project and documents

The original proposal for a Civil Society Engagement Mechanism elaborated by African and European volunteers from Spring 2022 to Autumn 2023. The draft concept was submitted to the Commission of the European Union and the African Union Commission in September 2023. At the time, the group of volunteers was operating under the name CSEM and CSEM Start-up group. Since the launch of the autonomous platform in October 2024, the platform operates under the name Africa-Europe Civil Society Platform (CSEP.

A revised and simplified proposal was prepared in March 2024 and is the current reference document for the Platform.

Bring your voice, join the movement

Confirm your interest and join the platform

Any questions can be addressed to the Interim Steering Committee at: info@africa-europecsplatform.network