Registrant : Organisation or self-employed individual
| Name/company name: |
Flora Network of expertise on resilience, gender and interconnected economics |
| Acronym: |
Flora
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| Legal status: |
vzw - asbl
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| Website address: |
http://www.florainfo.be
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Sections
| Section: |
III - Non-governmental organisations |
| and more precisely: |
Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar |
Person with legal responsibility
| Surname, Name: |
Mrs
Anne Snick
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| Position: |
coordinator |
Permanent person in charge of EU relations
| Surname, Name: |
Mrs
Anne Snick
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| Position: |
coordinator |
Contact details:
| Contact details of organisation's head office: |
33 Rue du progres
P.O. box: 4
Brussels 1030
BELGIUM
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| Telephone number: |
(+32) 22040640 |
| Fax number: |
(+32) 22040649 |
| Other contact information: |
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Goals / remit
| Goals / remit of the organisation: |
Flora is a network that develops expertise on and innovative approaches to societal problems. As more and more experts start to emphasize, transition towards a more sustainable socioeconomic model requires in the first place social change.
Social resilience means that all citizens, regardless of their sex, ethnicity or level of schooling, can contribute to the functioning of society. Therefore, the dominant economic model, which stresses competition as the sole key to social development, must be complemented with other models in order to find answers to social exclusion and poverty.
Flora develops these complementary models by co-constructing expertise with groups (men and women) that are excluded in a competitive labour market. Flora co-constructs this expertise, not 'on' the target groups, but 'with' them, by using an appropriate methodology and by networking. Citizens are included, not as 'objects' of inclusion, but as sources of expertise and talents.
Flora always works at multi levels. At the microlevel, men and women who normally are excluded from the construction of knowledge, from the labour market and from society in general, are given a forum (using an appropriate model of partnership and methodology).
At the mesolevel, organisations (economic, educational, cultural, ...) are approached not as 'tools' for the implementation of a top-down policy (on activation, education etc) but as places where the co-construction with the target groups (or citizens in general) can be institutionalised. Flora has developed a methodology called 'From I To We' that helps professionals in organisations to approach the people of their target groups not as 'clients' of their services, but as coproductors.
At the macrolevel, Flora endeavours to create support for this innovative approach both in the academic and political sphere. The co-production approach also requires innovative, resilient models of governance. If the 'top down approach seems to be met by distrust on the part of the citizens (indignados...), the alternative cannot be to simply leave the initiative to the citizens on the street, since they lack representativity and legitimacy. The method of co-construction permits to structure the organisation of society in a way that is neiter top-down, nor simply bottom-up. It implies a process in which different levels (micro/citizens, meso/organisations and macro/academic and political)co-construct innovative social and economic practices.
In terms of systems analysis, Flora is mainly working on increasing the resilience of the socio-economic system, by developing a complementary agenda and methodology (paradigm). Since a paradigm is a social construct, it is important that this development process is done in a transparent and democratic way .Therefore, Flora is not a 'centre' but a 'network' of expertise. Through networking, a maximum number of citizens, organisations and (political and academic) institutions can be included in the coproduction process.
The activities of Flora (as a network) do not aim at developing 'products' that improve the performance of individual citizens or organisations within a competitive context, but primarily aim at redefining (in a participatory way) societal models in order to bring about a more inclusive, just and sustainable society. Therefore, Flora works mainly at the service of public services (fighting poverty and exclusion, understanding the societal impact of technologies etc...).
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The organisation's fields of interests are:
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Number of persons engaged in activities falling under the scope of the Transparency Register
| Number of persons: |
8
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Complementary information:
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The multilevel approach requires that certain members of the team focus on the microlevel, exploring how to empower citizens at risk and how to enable them to contribute to coproduction of social functions. Others persons focus on the mesolevel, exploring with organisations within different contexts how they can develop and implement processes that imply the citizens as coproductors and not just as clients or 'objects' of (public) services. Without organisational (mesolevel) change, the empowerment at the microlevel would remain without issue and thus (paradoxically) only increase the desillusion and powerlessness of the target group.
Thirdly, some team members are responsible for advocacy, both on a theoretical (academic) and a practical (political) level. As long as organisations are only evaluated on the basis of narrow indicators of performance (top-down imposition of standards and criteria), the work on coproduction may remain unnoticed and unappreciated, or may even be 'punished' since it is only considered as a loss of efficiency.
Increasing the resilience of citizens and organisations will only have a lasting (sustainable) impact if it is supported and strengthened at the political level as well. In order to convince national and European governments to invest in resilience (a 'social' Europe) as well as in efficiency (a 'competitive' Europe), Flora conducts research and participates in public hearings, debates, etc...
Since the mechanisms that cause social injustice are largely the same as those that are at the basis of economic and ecological crises, Flora also works together with organisations active in those domains (e.g. The Club of Rome). The core business of Flora, however, remains social sustainability, which we consider as the key to economic and ecological sustainability as well. Social sustainability, or the pursuit of a more just society, requires that less people (or groups) are excluded - or put in the position of 'the Other', the outlier, the outsider. In positive terms, what is needed is a paradigm that is based upon the encounter with the Other without therefore forcing his/her to simply comply to the dominant (competitive, powerfull) model. Competition (efficient market strategies) should therefore be complemented with cooperation (resilient coproduction of social functions for which the market has no answer, or for social problems that are caused by market mechanisms). This paradigm is at the basis of (and further developed by) the actions of Flora-team at all three the levels (micro, meso, macro). It is only by multilevel working (where the citizen interacts with organisations and political structures) that empowerment/coproduction can really take shape and where governance can really become participatory and democratic. In that sense, the whole Flora team is engaged in activities that fall under the scope of the Register.
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Persons accredited for access to European Parliament premises
Activities
Main EU initiatives covered the year before by activities falling under the scope of the Transparency Register:
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- Multilevel action in the frame of 2010 EU Year of combating poverty and exclusion.
- Development of a methodology and training for organisations aiming at strengthening the autonomy of citizens in a vulnerable socio-economic position (ESF)
- Development of models and methodologies for organisations aiming at strengthening coproduction with citizens (at risk) of social services and functions (ESF).
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Fields of interest for e-mail alerts on consultations and roadmaps;
| Fields declared by the organisation: |
- Employment and Social Affairs
- Information Society
- Research and Technology
- Trans-European Networks
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Structure
| Total number of members that are natural persons: |
8 |
| Number of member organisations: |
29 |
| Member organisations (Number of members) : |
- Groep Intro Brussel (50 members)
- Cobeff (79 members)
- Stebo (75 members)
- Collectif des Femmes (60 members)
- Buurtservice (48 members)
- Leren Ondernemen (26 members)
- EVA (10 members)
- Interface3 (48 members)
- Groep Intro Vlaams Brabant (42 members)
- Mo Clean (26 members)
- Creasol (65 members)
- Declic Emploi (78 members)
- le Germoir (71 members)
- SOFFT (36 members)
- Au Plus Net (46 members)
- Forma (58 members)
- La Calestienne (39 members)
- IN-Z (140 members)
- IVCA (26 members)
- Espaces Ciney (43 members)
- La Source (16 members)
- OrCA (3 members)
- Retravailler (54 members)
- Trav'elles (34 members)
- AKSI (55 members)
- Gaffi (13 members)
- Educar (29 members)
- 29 Rue Blanche (21 members)
- Credal (12 members)
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| The organisation has members/is represented in the following country(countries): |
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Complementary information:
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Networking
Information on (i) organisation's membership of any associations/federations/confederations or (ii) relationships to other bodies in formal or informal networks.
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Flora collaborates with other networks such as Smart CSO's, Millenia 2015, AWID, Community of Practice on Gender Mainstreamin in ESF, ...
The coordinator of Flora is a full member of the Club of Rome - EU Chapter.
Most networks in the fields in which Flora is active, aim at increasing the participation of persons (women, people in poverty...) within existing structures or development processes. In terms of systems theory, they endeavour to 'streamline' more people into the dominant (competitive) mould, thus increasing the efficiency of these systems. It is a strategic choice of Flora not to adhere to this kind of confederation, not because we disagree with their work or aim, but mainly because we focus on complementary strategies (that are so far underdeveloped, which explains current social crises).
Flora focuses more on redefining the systems themselves so as to make them more inclusive and sustainable (taking into account the needs and interests of vulnerable groups, including future generations). Most of the networks active in the field of 'sustainability' focus on the natural environment. Flora often works together with these organisations but without formal membership, since the focus of Flora is primarily on social resilience and transition towards a new societal model.
Flora is active in several international forums with an aim to find actors in other countries with similar aims and approaches. However, since Flora is doing spearhead action-research, there are momentarily few comparable 'networks' of expertise. Evidently, it remains an important goal to establish this type of coproduction-infrastructure in as many European countries as possible.
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Financial data
| Financial year: |
01/2011
-
12/2011
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Total budget:
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472,000
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€
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of which public financing:
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472,000
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€
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- from European sources:
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- Procurement:
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€
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- Grants:
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150,000
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€
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- from national sources:
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322,000
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€
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- from local/regional sources:
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€
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from other sources: |
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€
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- donations:
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€
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- contributions from members:
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€
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Estimated costs to the organisation directly related to representing interests to EU institutions in that year:
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350000
€ - 400000
€
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Other (financial) information provided by the organisation:
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