The report entitled "First European Quality of Life Survey: Participation in civil society", provides an analysis of why some people are engaged in civil society and why others are not.
According to the report a total of 95% of Europeans participate in either voluntary or informal organisations.
In addition it suggests that there is a relationship between participation and people’s social integration and life satisfaction.
Factors influencing the participation in civil society through informal relations with friends and neighbours included: satisfaction with public services, living in a safe neighbourhood, believing that politics is important.
A more transparent government, as well as education encourages the participation of voluntary organisations. The report also suggests that whilst older and more educated people are more likely to participate politically, younger people are more likely to have a knowledge of English and use the internet.
Four types of civil society organisations
The role of civil society is explored through four main types of civil society organisations:
informal social networks,
voluntary organisations,
conventional political activities and
transnational European public space.
The extent to which individuals in each European country participate was analysed within each of the four civil society categories.
Recommendations to facilitate greater participation
As a result, they suggest the goal of governments should be to increase this level of participation rather than to transform it.
Eurofund provides broad suggestions of how governments can facilitate greater participation:
increasing transparency and reducing corruption in government;
promoting more education;
increasing the country’s GDP;
promoting internet usage among older people;
eliminating destitution among those in extreme poverty
developing policies to encourage less educated manual workers to participate;
making all neighbourhoods safe
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