CO-CREATING INCLUSIVE INTERSECTIONAL DEMOCRATIC SPACES ACROSS EUROPE

Project Information

CCINDLE

Grant agreement ID: 101061256

DOI

10.3030/101061256

EC signature date 9 June 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 September 2026

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 746 211,25

EU contribution

€ 2 746 211,25

Coordinated by

STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CCINDLE (CO-CREATING INCLUSIVE INTERSECTIONAL DEMOCRATIC SPACES ACROSS EUROPE)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Gender equality is a fundamental value of European democracies, and with all their flaws, gender equality laws and policies have been part of European politics for decades. Yet, while resistance against it is nothing new, an oppositional and threatening climate is growing. Formal and informal political actors actively opposing gender equality, LGBTQI+ and racialised groups’ rights have grown in power across Europe. Their dangerous attacks send a strong message of the supposed inferiority or even inhumanity of non-hegemonic people, thus positioning them outside of the demos, limiting their participation rights, and the quality of democracy.
CCINDLE is set up to better understand anti-gender campaigns and how these are relate to de-democratisation in Europe, and aims to strengthen feminist movement and feminist institutional responses to these. CCINDLE does empirical research across 7 European countries (Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and at EU level, keeps track of the nature of and shifts in anti-gender campaigns, and – crucially - of the nature and impact of feminist movement and feminist institutional responses.
CCINDLE co-creates knowledge with key actors that are already responding to anti-gender, racist and LGBTQI+-phobic campaigns. Through initiatives such as Feminist Democracy Labs, CCINDLE teams up with pro-democracy epistemic communities, with feminist donors, media and associations, to make democracy across Europe more resilient and inclusive, using co-created knowledge.
Envisioning and imagining feminist futures, CCINDLE's research is building on theories and practices of intersectional justice and inclusion. We aim to understand and improve how contemporary feminist and democracy theories deal with these challenges. Our impact actions will identify specific tools and practical approaches to strengthening democracy, gender equality and intersectional justice. We do our work with a goal of sound ethical behaviour, collaborative teamwork and ample outreach, using good management tools.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In year 1, CCINDLE had set solid foundations for its work, and prepared for the planned empirical research, by producing a theoretical report engaging with the complex trajectories of European democracies from critical, feminist, queer and Black perspectives, retelling the story of democracy in Europe, D1.1. For the core of the project, the feminist responses, preparations for empirical analysis were made. For our impact work, we produced a first document on co-creation, and piloted Feminist Democracy Labs sooner than planned. Three consortium meetings allowed for social interaction and discussion. We started engaging with the sister projects to address common issues. An independent Ethics advisor provided useful positive input on ethical issues.
By the end of 2024, CCINDLE made significant progress with data collection and analysis and launched several impact action activities. Our communication and dissemination work led to continued outreach activities and online and offline CCINDLE presence. We updated dissemination and communication plans, improved management tools and continued with regular meetings.
Our work on the theoretical positioning of the project lead to high visibility at the 2024 ECPG. We also worked on revisiting theory and manifestos regarding feminist futures. We prepared two updates critically reviewing existing research on current escalating dynamics of anti-gender, homophobic and racist/xenophobic mobilizations posed to European democracies (D2.2 and D2.3). Using the results of a multimethod analysis carried out in 6 countries, we made a metanalysis on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender mobilisations (D2.4) as well as on their interventions in knowledge production (D2.5).
The core work of the project started: the analysis of feminist responses to anti-gender forces and the anti-democratic project. Our social media analysis of feminist activist responses resulted in an Atlas of feminist organising (D3.1) and an overview of feminist intersectional networks across Europe (D3.2). The work continued offline with country teams conducting interviews with feminist activists to be analysed later. Data on institutional feminist responses was analysed, resulting in an extensive report (D4.1). A shorter executive summary was used to share policy relevant evidence within European Parliaments with feminist institutional actors.
We made progress in planning and implementing impact actions. Following our early kick-off, we organised Feminist Democracy Labs in Hamburg and Madrid. We also generated impact through other events such as a round table on anti-gender mobilisations in Stockholm – gathering academic and non-academic feminist actors. Moreover, we kicked off two Gender Cafes co-organised with the Society of Gender Professionals. Finally, planning and initial preparatory work has started on the later co-creation tasks in WP5.
The team continues its communication and dissemination activities and is within reach of most of its general KPIs. Team members took part in 44 external events, wrote 13 blog posts, 5 publications, and published 3 podcast episodes. Good conditions for cooperation and management were assured by updating a Project Handbook and use our MS Teams channels for online meetings, sharing documents, and archiving project progress. We held regular meetings including 2 consortium meetings to monitor progress and discuss project work.
Our independent ethics advisor, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, performed an interim ethical review, concluding that CCINDLE is putting considerable effort into addressing ethical issues and particularly pays close attention to the relationship with its research participants.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Our collective theoretical report shows how CCINDLE does not take a Western legacy of feminism as a main point of reference and incorporates a more intersectional approach of current struggles on feminism and democracy. These theoretical foundations enriched our empirical research. Our analysis of existing studies on anti-gender, homophobic and racist/xenophobic mobilizations in Europe (D2.3) found empirical and conceptual gaps in existing scholarship, showing that CCINDLE’s focus on the links between knowledge production, violence, and democratic decline is indeed a novel one.
Our analysis of feminist networks (D3.2) developed advanced and innovative techniques for assessing the inclusiveness of feminist networks as well as the place that intersectionality and democracy occupy in feminist agendas.