Webinar, 'Understanding Campaign Structures for Effective European Citizens’ Initiative', 2025

Unlock the secrets to successful European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs)! 

Join Daniela Vancic from Democracy International and the ECI Forum as she hosts a webinar with the organisers of My Voice My Choice (1 million+ signatures!) and Psychedelicare ECI. Learn practical ECI campaign strategies and effective campaign structures to maximise your impact.

This webinar provides insider tips for ECI organisers and campaigners, revealing how My Voice My Choice achieved their milestone and how Psychedelicare is building a decentralised ECI campaign from the ground up. Discover how to build a strong campaign team, manage multilingual communication and engage social media influencers.

Key Highlights:

• ECI Campaign Evolution: Adapting strategies for long-term success 
• Centralised vs Decentralised and Hybrid Campaign Structures: Building European and national teams 
• Grassroots Mobilisation
• Multilingual Communication: Reaching diverse audiences across the EU 
• Influencer Marketing for ECIs: Amplifying your message 
• Adapting to Social Media Algorithms: Maximizing online reach 
• Best Practices for ECI Communication: Effective messaging & tools 
• Online Collaboration Tools: Coordinating large-scale campaigns 
• Building a Citizen Movement: Federating organisations and individuals 
• Expert Communication for ECIs: Crafting impactful narratives 

Webinar Agenda 

1. Introduction by Daniela Vancic – European Programme Manager on campaigning for an ECI and the different campaign structures [Minute 0:25 to 6:25]

• The Centralised Structure, where a single core team drives strategy and execution.
• The Decentralised Structure, which allows multiple groups or regions to operate semi-independently under a shared vision.
• The Coalition-Based Structure, designed to expand resources and reach through partnerships with multiple organisations.

2. Presentation by Kristina Krajnc – Legal Advisor of My Voice, My Choice initiative [Minute 6:25 to13:00] and Veronika Povz  – Head of Communications of My Voice, My Choice initiativeVeronika Povz [Minute 13:00 to 19:47]
3. Presentation by Théo Giubilei, ECI organiser of PsychedeliCare [Minute 20:45 – 30:30] 
4. Q&A [Minute 31:30] 

In this webinar recording, you will find the answers to the following questions: 

• How did you involve the other partners? Were they an integral part of the team, or were they just multipliers? [Minute 31:54]
• How did you secure the necessary funds to support the work of all the individuals involved in the central campaign team? Given the scale of the effort, I assume it was not solely based on voluntary contributions. [Minute 38:05]
• How did you manage to engage social media influencers to support your campaigns? How did you find them and understand that they could contribute to your cause? [Minute 41:19]
• Are you using the opportunities right now to pursue the objectives of these two ECIs before the Commission presents the proposals for the future of the EU budget in June? [Minute 45:55] 
• In your experience, what defines effective communication? Are there any best practices or key success factors that you would recommend? [Minute 49:29]

Language: English 

Watch now to learn how to launch and run a successful European Citizens' Initiative!