OPEN Neighborhood — Communicating in Pursuit of a Stronger Partnership: Connecting with Citizens Across the Eastern Neighborhood

Areas of Expertise: European integration, EU, NATO, Democracy, Human Rights, Governance, Media, Policy Making

Client: ECORYS

Funded by: The European Union

Start: January 2016

End: September 2020

Countries: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova

About the Project 

The ‘EU NEIGHBOURS east’ project aims to increase the understanding within Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries about EU support, through improved communication. The overall objective of the project is to improve public perceptions of the EU, as well as to ensure a better comprehension of European policies and their impacts, particularly with respect to the regional and bilateral EU support and cooperation programs in the EaP countries.

Our Role 

The ACT team assists the ‘EU NEIGHBOURS east’ project by gathering opinions and gauging the level of information that citizens of EaP countries have obtained about the EU in general and about EU-funded cooperation and development programs/projects specifically. Since 2016, we have been working in the six EaP countries to trace program intervention outcomes in each country year-on-year.

Project Outcomes

The project has developed information and communication materials, has entailed the carrying out awareness-raising and information campaigns, and has assessed the perceptions of the EU and the support it provides through opinion polling and media monitoring.