On June 26th, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) organized a knowledge exchange event. As part of the program, professor Tine De Moor (Erasmus University Rotterdam) gave a lecture titled: ‘Citizen collectives in action: stronger together with municipalities‘.

Increasingly, residents are taking the initiative themselves to tackle societal issues – from healthcare and energy to neighborhood livability. But how can municipalities effectively align with this? And how do you ensure a collaboration where responsibility is truly shared? In this lecture, Professor Tine de Moor explained how municipalities can support and strengthen citizen collectives without taking over. When do you give space, and when do you intervene? What does this require of policy, organization, and attitude?