SONEC

How participatory decision making can empower neighbours to work together and effectively address local and global needs.

Evolving Cycles were partners in the KA2 Partnership called SoNeC

The SoNeC partnership included nine organisations from seven European countries  (Austria as Lead, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Hungary). Together, we researched, explored and exchanged best practices for developing neighbourhood-based projects in Europe. The Director of Networking of the Neighbourhood Community Network (NCN) and trainer for Indian “Neighbourhood Parliaments’’, Joseph Rathinam, was involved as an advisor to the partnership. During the 26 months of the project, SoNeC partners jointly developed the overall concept for SoNeC and now aim to share their work with hundreds of municipalities and associations across Europe to promote the concept and its potential for social, political and environmental transformation.

The SoNeC partnership was funded by the EU “KA2 Erasmus+ Exchange of good practice” from 2020 to 2022. The aim was to explore the potential of neighbourhood-based social communities, with bottom-up, participatory and inclusive decision-making processes to solve local social and environmental problems considering European values, the European Fundamental Rights, the European Green Deal, as well as the UN SDGs. The SoNeC Partnership aims to raise awareness of the practices of common decision making, shared responsibility, participation and more generally, political action of citizens on a local level.

Project outcomes: Handbook on creating Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles in Europe