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2. Local Stakeholders Training Meeting Event in Athens, Greece

• FREE TRAINING
• SUPPORT WITH BUROCRACY/NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION
- “Enriching the process of cooperation through SEPAL”, Athena Frangouli, President of the
Society of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health, Greece. Mrs Frangouli rounded up the
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contents of the three day event and contextualized them in the wider social frame. A
summary of her talk follows:
On the one hand the politics, politicians and bureaucracy, and on the other hand the
citizens, such as NEETs, exist and inter-influence Civil society. The interchange between
these is bottom up as well as top down.

Organizations such as CEFEC that operate in counties such as Romania, Lithuania, Spain,
Poland and Greece, and taking into account the political, legislative and social parameters
of the countries, aim to achieve better conditions and raise awareness around the inclusion
of vulnerable populations within society.

The SEPAL platform represents such an effort. The SEPAL project is significant in the
model and research it attempts to promote as it deals with a part of the population that is
difficult to engage and who none the less could contribute meaningfully to all levels of
society. The root of such interventions is based on European tradition and culture that put
forward human rights and values and advocates for more equal and democratic social
structures.
The 4Cs are pivotal to these ideals and remain the basic principles to bear in mind while
carrying out such work. These are: community, connectedness, co-operation and co-
working. The key aspects to these are bonding and bridging. Coming together in such a
way makes much of human experience meaningful and it has the power to influence
change and progress on all levels of society: culturally, politically, legislatively.
This drive to improve the social conditions and the vision for a better world has a qualitative
component to it that can be described by the word MERAKI. MERAKI is a Greek word that
means doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of
yourself” into what you're doing, whatever it may be. MERAKI is therefore a significant
element that can make all the difference in the work we are doing. It is only when we put
something of ourselves into our work that we give it the passion and energy it needs to
succumb the practical obstacles that we will inevitably encounter.
I would therefore like to wish you all good work in the SEPAL project, in the spirit of
community, connectedness, co-operation and co-working, in one word, MERAKI!
LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS TRAINING MEETING EVENT
in ATHENS, GREECE

2-4 October 2019

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