An international seminar regarding policy coherence on development (PCD) with the participation of Finnish, Swedish and Estonian delegations took place 14-15 February 2008 in Finland. It was organized by the FEST project (find more information at: http://www.fest-project.org/) that aims at strengthening in the three above-mentioned countries the development NGOs awareness raising, advocacy work and international networking in the context of EU development policy. The goal of this concrete seminar was to raise the participants’ awareness of policy coherence for development and to share with each other PCD related experience.
The seminar gave a good overview about the essence of PCD and why it is an issue of utmost importance. Detailed presentations were made on the PCD situation at the EU level, as well as in the three countries under consideration.
Most of the work took place in three working groups analyzing PCD in the field of arms trade, biofuels and migration respectively. Participants noted that in addition to more profound knowledge in policy coherence, they gained further insights regarding disastrous side effects of biofuels, need to completely ban cluster munitions and how sending and receiving countries could benefit from migration. The group work resulted in formulating a short campaign plan on how these policy objectives could be achieved through campaigning and lobby actions.
At the end of the seminar, the Estonian participants took a decision to form the Estonian Task Force for PCD. First, an e-mail list of participants is created where the discussions and debates are expected to take place. All Estonian representatives were asked to analyze how in their everyday work they can use the knowledge of the PCD and what could be the activities to carry out in the Estonian context. Second, in the upcoming weeks, a meeting will be organized where already more concretely Estonian PCD strategy will be discussed.
Information provided by Veronika Talviste, Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation, AKÜ, veronika@terveilm.net
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