PLATE-FORME DES ONG EUROPEENNES DU SECTEUR SOCIAL AISBL

Their core work

Social Platform is a Brussels-based umbrella body representing European social sector NGOs in EU-level policy processes. Their core work is bringing organized civil society perspectives — on poverty, social protection, gender, care, and migration — into research and policy discussions at the European level. In H2020, they contribute as the civil society voice that connects academic research with the lived realities of vulnerable groups and helps translate findings into policy recommendations that reach the NGO ecosystem. They also serve as a dissemination channel to a broad network of member organizations across Europe that no university or think tank can replicate.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their two projects span a clear thematic shift: early engagement (ReSOMA, 2018) centered on migration and asylum research platforms, where Social Platform played a convening and dissemination role for civil society. By 2020, with EUROSHIP, the focus moved toward broader social citizenship frameworks — encompassing poverty, care, work-life balance, and the European Pillar of Social Rights — reflecting the EU's post-migration-crisis pivot toward domestic social resilience. The trajectory suggests they are actively following and helping shape the EU social policy agenda rather than staying in a fixed niche.

Social Platform is moving deeper into the European Pillar of Social Rights and Agenda 2030 framework, positioning themselves as a civil society anchor for research on welfare gaps, care systems, and intersectional poverty.

How they like to work

Social Platform exclusively participates as a partner — never as coordinator — indicating they contribute specialized civil society access and dissemination reach rather than project leadership or technical research. Their two projects show engagement in both RIA (research) and CSA (coordination and support) schemes, confirming flexibility across the research-to-policy pipeline. With 17 distinct partners across 10 countries from just 2 projects, they consistently operate in mid-to-large consortia where their value is network legitimacy and connection to organized civil society.

Despite only 2 projects, Social Platform has engaged 17 distinct partners across 10 countries — a high partner-per-project ratio that reflects the broad multi-country consortia typical of EU social policy and research programs. Their Brussels base and EU-level mandate make them a natural connector across national civil society landscapes.

What sets them apart

Social Platform is not a research organization — it is the organized institutional voice of the European social sector NGO community, which makes it functionally irreplaceable for projects requiring legitimate civil society buy-in or outreach to vulnerable populations. For any consortium working on social protection, poverty, care, or welfare reform, their membership gives direct access to NGO networks across Europe that academic partners cannot replicate on their own. Their value is political credibility and dissemination reach, not technical expertise.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUROSHIP
  The most thematically rich project in their portfolio, covering social citizenship gaps, care, gender, and the European Pillar of Social Rights — directly aligned with Social Platform's core advocacy mandate and the broadest keyword footprint of the two projects.
• ReSOMA
  Demonstrates capacity to contribute credibly in politically sensitive research areas like migration and asylum, where civil society legitimacy is essential for policy uptake beyond academia.