How to Boost Community Engagement in the EU

The HECSOs project (Higher Education and Civil Society Organizations together for Community Engagement), coordinated by the University of Turin, has been a pioneering initiative aimed at enhancing the capacity of European universities to engage systematically and continuously with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on community engagement. This engagement was pursued as an innovative and impactful approach to fostering social innovation and socio-economic inclusion across the European Union. Over the past three years, the project was implemented by a consortium of 8 partners, led by the University of Turin and comprising 4 universities and 4 CSOs from Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Spain. Additionally, the project was supported by a European CSOs network, 2 universities, and 2 CSOs as associated partners. Together, these organizations established a trans-disciplinary and collaborative research group that successfully developed international and research-based learning approaches to community engagement. The consortium focused on identifying and disseminating evidence-based models…