Civil Society Europe is excited to present the training manual “Introduction to Civil Dialogue”, developed within the framework of the ‘EnTrust – Enlightened Trust in Governance’ project. The manual aims to contribute to developing a culture of civil dialogue in EU public officials, by providing trainers with exercises to raise awareness about its importance and effectively implement the principles of civil dialogue and citizens’ accessibility to EU policy-making.

By taking as a reference the Better Regulation Toolbox from the European Commission, the training manual aims to:

• Operationalise key concepts around stakeholders’ involvement in the policymaking process (civil dialogue) and how to better involve citizens in it.
• Reflect on the definition of civil society organisation, and the different needs and requirements for participation that citizens and civil society have, including underrepresented categories and stakeholders.

The publication is aimed at those who seek to prepare a training session on civil dialogue for public officials and policy-makers at the European level. The trainers, therefore, can be members of civil society organisations (CSOs), public officials from outreach units, as well as policy-makers’ assistants and advisors to policy-makers.