The CO-ACTE project is a European initiative that looks at how citizens work alongside professionals to take co-responsibility for the health and wellbeing of the whole community and address issues of inclusion, cohesion and sustainability of the wider society.

This project is a continuation of the work initially launched by the Council of Europe, now under the direction of the international TOGETHER network. TOGETHER developed a collaborative tool and methodology for citizen consultation and participation called SPIRAL. SPIRAL is an inclusive process that brings citizens together with people from the public and private sector. It then looks at issues of health and wellbeing, finds out what is important and then asks what needs to be done and what can be done to ensure the well-being of all more information.

The CO-ACTE project takes it a step further and asks what public policy measures and changes need to be implemented to support this work from a community point of view and help citizens take co-responsibility for their own health and well-being as well as that of others in the wider society.

So far, citizens in over 20 European and African countries have taken part in SPIRAL and/or the CO-ACTE project and have added their voice to the findings. The method allows for a very free and open discussion, without preconceptions and equal speaking rights for all involved. This has resulted in a very different set of views and opinions to other similar discussions, touching on all major social issues. They highlight the fundamental elements of what could be a co-responsible and supportive society (these include views on intergenerational support, the economy, democracy, peace/non-violence, social cohesion, respect for the environment and the equitable sharing of resources). Most importantly the findings include concrete proposals and objectives. Click here to see the syntesis of these propositions and the follow-up to be given

The next stage of the CO-ACTE project is to build on these results and add in further experiences from civil society. Community and socially minded organisations are invited to take the proposals and objectives and discuss how they can be achieved. They are asked to bring their expertise to the discussions and look at what is needed to create the correct environment that can move us towards the shared vision of a co-responsible and supportive society. In particular they will look at what challenges and hinders the objectives and what public policy changes can be made to address this.

These discussions will happen through a series of thematic meetings across Europe and will involve a diverse range of community minded organisations and individuals. The starting point will always be directly from the results of the citizens but then each meeting will build on the findings of the previous meeting.

After the first three thematic meetings, we will focus on the establishment of a democratic governance of common goods for the well-being of all today and tomorrow. This 4th thematic meeting aims at defining the necessary means to co-construct a collaborative democracy and a coresponsible governance of common goods for the well-being of all today and tomorrow. Conclusions from the first three meetings will be the base for the development of this governance. We will go deeper on the issue of the access to resources, allowing each citizen to participate in the well-being of all according to his abilities and aspirations, and adapt his life project according to these factors. A more flexible approach to accessing resources will lead to address the issue of common goods in a new light. Public goods as well as private and community property will be involved, and it will be necessary to rely on the diversity of experiences in the world on this theme. Through the analysis of ex-antes impact, collective management of common goods tends to improve various components of well-being. Exchanges and decision-making processes involved in this management, based on a democratic model and compromise research, allowing individuals to feel like they are actors and citizens on their territory, and at the same time encouraging the creation of a social bond to strengthen neighbourly relations. This management also reveals a will to help people in difficult situations and, therefore, fight against social inequalities and propose an alternative to the current system, through the search for economic equality and not a search motivated by profit. Life conditions are better now, and so is the feeling of well-being of participants who find autonomy and responsibilities and at the same time share common values (free of charge, sharing, solidarity, democracy...). One of the objectives of the SPIRAL approach is to give back a power of action to actors of the territory, it's not a question of consulting anymore, but to co-construct with citizens. The return to democratic principles therefore requires the development of a collaborative system of democracy where everyone has the opportunity to act on territories. Coresponsibility, because it generates social cohesion and pushes actors to be aware of their role in society and to future generations, is a fundamental principle of this form of democracy. It seems to require a flexible and collective management of common resources and goods. We will focus on this issue during this meeting. The main challenge will be the co-construction of a more democratic model of governance, both at a local and global level, based on experiments performed in several European territories. We will establish an overall strategy based on coresponsibility and taking into account the expectations, motivations and abilities of each.