When: Monday, March 23, 2026 | 19:00
Where: ACG Plaka Building, 2nd Floor, Ipitou 17, Plaka, Athens

About the event:

The opening event of B.R.I.D.G.E. – Building Responsible Institutional Dialogue for Governance and Empowerment will take place on Monday, 23 March 2026, at 19:00, at the ACG Plaka Building.

The B.R.I.D.G.E. project is implemented by the Department of Sociology and IREA at the Frances Rich School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences of Deree – The American College of Greece, and aims to strengthen the meaningful participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in public policymaking.

The project is funded under the aegis of PLATO (“Protecting democracy, human rights and the rule of law through an open civic space”), a framework coordinated by the Bodossaki Foundation with the NGO Support Centre and co-funded by the European Union’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme.

Through a dynamic digital Open Educational Resource (OER) platform, six thematic roundtables, and a dedicated podcast series, the project fosters dialogue between civil society, institutional stakeholders, and academia.

The thematic roundtables will focus on:

• migration
• gender-based violence
• sexual identity and equality
• child protection
• homelessness
• public space and civic participation

The initiative will also produce policy recommendations and a Good Practices Toolkit, aiming to strengthen collaboration between civil society and institutional stakeholders while promoting democratic engagement.

During the opening event, participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the project’s goals, meet the partners, and engage in a discussion on the importance of responsible institutional dialogue and active civic participation.

The event will be held in Greek and is free and open to the public.

RSVP: Please register by Friday, March 20

For more information, contact [email protected]

Speakers

• Kostas Axarloglou, Professor and Dean, Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece
• Helen Maragou, Professor and Dean, The Frances Rich School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Deree – The American College of Greece
• Representative of the Bodossaki Foundation (TBA)
• Aristotelis Alexopoulos, Director, Applied Research and Innovation, Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece
• Dr. Lilika Trikalinou, Principal Investigator, Deree – The American College of Greece
• Dr. Margarita Markoviti, Instructor in Political Science, Deree – The American College of Greece