II.

Be familiar with natural, informal support and helping networks within culturally diverse communities ( for example neighborhood, civic and advocacy associations, ethnic, social and religious organizations, and where appropriate, spiritual healers) NEIGHBORHOOD, CIVIC AND ADVOCACY ASSOCIATIONS: European Neighbourhood Policy The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a foreign relations instrument of the European Union (EU) which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the EU into the EU. These countries, primarily developing countries, include many who seek one day to become either member states of the European Union itself, or generally more closely integrated with the economy of the European Union. The EU offers financial assistance to countries within the European Neighbourhood, so long as they meet the strict conditions of government reform, economic reform and other issues surrounding positive transformation. This process is normally underpinned by an Action Plan, as agreed by both Brussels and the target country. The ENP does not cover countries which are in the current EU enlargement agenda, the European Free Trade Association or the western European microstates. The EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in a country. In exchange, the country may be offered tariff-free access to some or all EU markets (industrial goods, agricultural products, etc.), and financial or technical assistance. European Civic Forum (ECF) The European Civic Forum (ECF) is a transnational network that brings together over 100 associations and NGOs across 27 countries in Europe and is actively working to promote civic and popular ownership of Europe. Facing this growing civic disaffection across Europe, it is more critical than ever to foster citizens engagement for a collective project and the emergence of a European public space where the role and influence of civil society are fully recognized though the setting up of a genuine European civil dialogue. European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) It empower citizens and civil society with the European Union. An association about action as much as about information, creating balance between public interest and corporate lobbying. ECAS was created in 1991 as an international non-profit organisation, independent of political parties, commercial interests and the EU Institutions. Our mission is to enable NGOs and individuals to make their voice heard within the EU by providing advice on how to lobby, fundraise, and defend European citizenship rights. It is a large cross-sectoral European association bringing together members from different areas of activity: civil liberties, culture, development, health and social welfare, as well as general civil society development agencies.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS: Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) The Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) is the alliance of representative European federations and networks of non-governmental organisations active in the social sector. The Social Platform and its members are committed to the advancement of the principles of equality, solidarity, non discrimination and the promotion and respect of fundamental rights for all within Europe and in particular the European Union. The Social Platform promotes social justice and participatory democracy by voicing the concerns of its member organisations. Through its policy and campaigning work, the Social Platform enables its member organisations to pool ideas and expertise, building their common experience into a positive force for social change in the EU. The Platform acts a vehicle for its member organisations to express their shared values and shape these into a strong voice for the social NGO sector. The Social Platform's policy work is led primarily by its thematic Working Groups, where members meet to exchange views and ideas, and agree common strategies and positions for the Social Platform. We currently have three main Working Groups, one on Social Policy, one on Fundamental Rights & Non-Discrimination and the other on Social Services of General Interest. One more informal Working Party also meeting regularly: on Employment. Policy and campaigning work on civil dialogue and governance issues is led by the Steering Group, and the Management Committee has an overview of all the Groups. The Social Platform Secretariat coordinates the Groups. European Social Charter A treaty is a solemn international agreement that states promise to honour when they ratify it. The Council of Europe is a political organisation, founded in 1949, to defend the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Membership is open to all European states which undertake to abide by the Organisations principles. At present the Council of Europe has 47 member states. Human rights are inalienable rights which guarantee the fundamental dignity of the human being. The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees civil and political human rights. The European Social Charter, its natural complement, guarantees social and economic human rights. It was adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996. RELIGOUS ORGANIZATIONS: European Inter-Religious Youth Network (EIYN) The RfP - European Inter-Religious Youth Network (EIYN) is a part of the Religions for Peace Global Youth Network and serves as a platform aimed at bringing together youth organizations and young individuals from all religions present in Europe. Established in 2006, EIYN is composed of 20 European youth faith-based organizations (and in some cases: religious communities) and non-religious organizations who facilitate the inter-faith dialogue. It facilitates multi-religious cooperation and helps develop partnerships for multi-religious projects and pilot programs to confront some of our most urgent challenges in conjunction with other RfP

youth networks in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. Milli Gr Islamic Community Milli Gr is one of the biggest Turkish associations in Europe. It was founded in Germany in 1971 as Trkische Union Deutschland (Turkish Union Germany), renamed in 1976 Milli Gr and eventually in 1994 Islamische Gemeinschaft Milli Gr. The association has 26,500 members and owns 300 mosques in Germany. It claims a membership of 300,000 all over Europe and has branches in France, the Netherlands and Austria. Smaller branches also exist in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. Because of its links with Turkish Islamist parties, Milli Gr is often portrayed as a screen organization controlled by fundamentalist Muslims, but it seems to have evolved recently in a less radical manner. CENTRAL-EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM INSTITUTE Central-European Religious Freedom Institute is a non-profit organization registered in Budapest, Hungary, and it is opened to people of all religions as well as to atheists and agnostics. The purposes and goals of the Institute are to encourage inter-religious cooperation and dialogue, to promote, preserve and protect religious freedom and human rights as given in International Declaration on Human Rights, to cooperate and exchange experiences with organizations and like minded individuals and groups. Institute will also serve as platform for religious communities to present themselves and their activity to Internet users around the world with purpose of increasing understanding and tolerance and will publish news from different religious communities as well as news relating to religious freedom and Human Rights. Institute will serve as an independent body for monitoring laws on religions and will alert its members and allied organizations about any attempts to restrict this basic right. SPIRITUAL HEALERS: Shamanism Shamanism is a wide umbrella term for spiritual or ecstatic practices in pre-modern societies in the absence of organized religion. In prehistoric Europe, reconstruction of religious practices affords some evidence shamanism in this sense. In the organized religions of paganism in antiquity and by extension in pagan remnants in the folk beliefs in Christian Europe during the 2nd millennium, there are also some elements which are associated with "shamanism" by some authors The first historian to posit the existence of such shamanic ideas existing within popular beliefs of otherwise Christian Europeans was Carlo Ginzburg, who examined theBenandanti, an agrarian cult found in Friuli, Italy, whose members underwent shamanic trances in which they believed they battled witches in order to save their crops. Historians following Ginzburg identified what they saw as shamanic elements in the accusations of the Witch trials of the Early Modern period. These included Eva Pocs[3] andEmma Wilby.[4]

[5]

This group of authors proposes what is known as the "Witch-cult hypothesis", arguing that there was a religious cult with continuity reaching into the pre-Christian period behind what became identified as "witchcraft" in the Early Modern period. Barbara Ann Brennan Barbara Ann Brennan (born 19 February 1939) is an American author, spiritual healer, businesswoman and teacher working in the field of energy healing. In 2011, she was listed by the Watkins Review as the 94th most spiritually influential person in the world. Barbara Brennan School of Healing In 1982, she closed her private practice in New York City and established the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, designed to train professional healers. The school is now located in Florida, and is licensed by the State of Florida Commission for Independent Education.[9] In 2003, Brennan opened the "Barbara Brennan School of Healing Europe", originally in Mondsee, Austria which then moved to Bad Neuenahr near Bonn, Germany in 2006 and moved back to Austria to the small town of Bad Ischl in 2008. In 2007, a new branch opened in Tokyo, Japan. The Barbara Brennan School of Healing is a nonaccredited school. European culture European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage". [69] Due to the great number of perspectives which can be taken on the subject, it is impossible to form a single, all-embracing conception of European culture.[70] Nonetheless, there are core elements which are generally agreed upon as forming the cultural foundation of modern Europe. [71] One list of these elements given by K. Bochmann includes:[72] A common cultural and spiritual heritage derived from Greco-Roman antiquity, Christianity, the Renaissance and its Humanism, the political thinking of the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, and the developments of Modernity, including all types of socialism;[73] A rich and dynamic material culture that has been extended to the other continents as the result of industrialization and colonialism during the "Great Divergence";[73] A specific conception of the individual expressed by the existence of, and respect for, a legality that guarantees human rights and the liberty of the individual;[73] A plurality of states with different political orders, which are condemned to live together in one way or another;[73] Respect for peoples, states and nations outside Europe.[73] Berting says that these points fit with "Europe's most positive realisations".[74] The concept of European culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic and philosophical principles which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. [75] The term has come to apply to countries whose history has been strongly marked by European immigration or settlement during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Europe. Religion Further information: Islam in Europe, Hinduism in Europe, and Buddhism in Europe Since the High Middle Ages, most of Europe used to be dominated by Christianity. There are three major denominations,Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, with

Protestantism restricted mostly to Northern Europe, and Orthodoxy to Slavic regions, Romania, Greece and Georgia. Catholicism, while centered in the Latin parts, has a significant following also in Germanic and Slavic regions, Hungary, and Ireland (with some in Great Britain). Islam has some tradition in the Balkans (the European dominions of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th to 19th centuries), inAlbania, Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkish East Thrace. European Russia has the largest Muslim community, including the Tatars of the Middle Volga and multiple groups in the Caucasus, including Chechens, Avars, Ingush and others. With 20th-century migrations, Muslims in Western Europe have become a noticeable minority. Judaism has a long history in Europe, but is a small minority religion, with France (1%) the only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%. (With millions of Jews killed during WW2, the Holocaust has contributed to the small population percentages.) The Jewish population of Europe is composed primarily of two groups, the Ashkenazi and theSephardi. Ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews likely migrated to the middle of Europe at least as early as the 8th century, while Sephardi Jews established themselves in Spain and Portugal at least one thousand years before that. Jews originated in the Levant thousands of years ago and spread around the Mediterranean and into Europe. Jewish European history was notably affected by the Holocaust and emigration (including Aliyah, as well as emigration to America) in the 20th century. In modern times, significant secularization has taken place, notably in laicist France in the 19th century and in the 20th century such as Estonia and German Democratic Republic. Currently, distribution of theism in Europe is very heterogeneous, with more than 95% in Poland, and less than 20% in the Czech Republic and Estonia. The 2005Eurobarometer poll[76] found that 52% of EU citizens believe in God.