TRIALOG Future Factory: mandate for the next three years

TRIALOG is working for a stronger European system of international development cooperation through supporting the integration and active participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) from new EU member states (NMS) and accession/candidate countries (AC/CC) in European and global development structures and processes. The activities comprise coordination, information, networking, policy, advocacy and capacity building.

On September 8 and 9, 2009, TRIALOG organised with it’s key-stakeholders (NMS development NGO platform directors/coordinators, board representatives, Advisory Group) the “Future Factory” to present the framework of the recently approved next 3-year project phase. Especially the new elements of TRIALOG IV (Sept. 2009 – Sept. 2012) were introduced to the participants and each of the main fields of activity discussed with them related to the needs and wishes of the different target countries.

Within the new elements of TRIALOG IV, there are study visits on development policy, a step-by-step guide to Policy & Advocacy, a development conference in the South on the role of CSOs combined with field visits to development projects, the creation of a Pool of Multipliers and support in organisational development for NGDOs and their national platforms.

One part of the Future Factory was also dedicated to present other current regional or bilateral projects and programmes and see how to link them with TRIALOG in order to reach best synergies. At the same time, these projects could serve as an example for further cooperation projects between national NGDO platforms in order to fill the gaps left by the end of projects like the Presidency Fund and the Regional Partnership Programme and to respond to the “cold climate” for CSOs in times of crisis.

To stay informed about TRIALOG activities, please visit our website at http://www.trialog.or.at/.

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

EPAN working group meets in Malta

The CONCORD working group on enlargement, pre-accession and neighbourhood issues (EPAN) will meet 1-2 October in Valletta, Malta for one of their twice-yearly meetings. The group, convened by TRIALOG, will split the two days into discussions and planning around work on each of the group’s focus points.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, which EPAN applied to join, will be having its first meeting in Brussels in November so this is the time to prepare for that. Members will continue to discuss a position paper based on the EU’s relationship with Israel and the damaging role this is playing in the faltering Union for the Mediterranean.

The group will plan concrete steps to tie in with work being carried out by the Balkan Civil Society Development Network, for example on the Instrument for Pre-Accession’s Civil Society Facility and agree on ways to promote pre-accession priorities through CONCORD’s planned interaction with the new European Parliament.

The consultant charged by the European Commission with drafting the European Transition Compendium will also visit the group and provide updates on the visits to new member state capitals he has undertaken so far.

Minutes will be available on the CONCORD and TRIALOG websites following the meeting.

EPAN on CONCORD website:
http://www.concordeurope.org/Public/Page.php?ID=66&language=eng
EPAN on TRIALOG website:
http://www.trialog.or.at/start.asp?ID=107

Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG

November Expert Seminar on the Future of Civil Society Development Organisations

For quite some time, a debate has gone on in the CONCORD family of organisations about various relevant aspects regarding the future work of non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) or civil society development organisations (CSOs). Several events have challenged current development approaches and the role of CSOs in development, to name just two of these conferences: "Are we on the right track? Paradigm Review by CSOs as Development Actors" in Prague in May 2008, and "CSO Development Effectiveness - Searching New Ways" in Prague in June 2009.

A further conference on the role of CSOs which is planned for November 2010 in Managua/Nicaragua will focus on practical orientations for the CSO community in South, East and North. To make sure that the Managua Conference will have an optimum impact, a prior Expert Seminar will be organised by the TRIALOG Advisory Group incl. CONCORD and partners in November 2009 in Vienna.

The Expert Seminar is supposed to eleborate the first draft of a document on CSO participation in development which will then be shared with organisations accross the globe for comments and afterwards be taken to the Managua conference for a final discussion and adoption. The aim is to achieve a widely shared code of conduct for CSOs. In order to respond to the different global crises and political developments it’s necessary to sharpen the profile of CSOs and actively engage in the definition of the role as development actors.

The Expert Seminar will take place in Vienna on November 10 and 11, 2009. More information and the registration form will soon become available on the TRIALOG website at http://www.trialog.or.at/

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

DEEEP is back on track!

Discover “Developing Europeans' Engagement for Eradication of global Poverty”, the third phase of DEEEP!

The Development Education Exchange in Europe Project (DEEEP) has finished its 3 years activities on September 14, 2009 and leaves now the floor to the new project “Developing Europeans’ Engagement for Eradication of global Poverty”, also known as DEEEP 3! Its overall aim is to “empower citizens, politicians, media, businesses, social players to actively assume their responsibility towards global development and the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) agenda”.

DEEEP 3 will be run by a consortium of 5 European NGOs, namely PLAN Finland (lead NGO), UCODEP, ITECO, DEA (the 3 NGOs have been involved in both DEEEP 1 and DEEEP 2) and as a new partner the Hungarian NGDO platform HAND. DEEEP 3 activities will officially start on the 1st of October 2009, and last until September 30, 2012. The project was jointly drafted by all the members of CONCORD Development Education Forum.

To learn more on DEEEP 3 activities, you can contact the new co-ordinator Cinthia Alaerts (c.alaerts@deeep.org), the Advocacy Officer Tobias Troll (t.troll@deeep.org), and the Information Officer Chiara Tripepi (c.tripepi@deeep.org). You can also visit http://www.deeep.org/

More on DEEEP 3 in the upcoming DE Times, and in the next TIS issue.

Information provided by Chiara Tripepi, DEEEP

TRIALOG moved to a new office

Please note that with the beginning of the TRIALOG IV project phase on September 23rd, 2009 TRIALOG's head office in Vienna moved to a new location! Our phone numbers and email addresses remain the same. The new office address is: Wilhelminenstraße 91/II f , 1160 Vienna, Austria.

For more information about the new project phase, please refer to the following article in this TIS: "TRIALOG Future Factory: mandate for next three years" or read the article "TRIALOG IV approved" in the July TIS.

Visit us, as before, in the internet at http://www.trialog.or.at/

Information provided by Anita Bister, TRIALOG

SLOGA roundtable "East meets South" at the European development days

Within the scope of European Development Days (EDD), an EU-wide event gathering more than 4000 development actors and taking place in Stockholm from 22nd to 24th October 2009 (see Events section of TIS), The Slovenian NGDO platform SLOGA organises a roundtable "East meets South".

The round table, that will be held on Friday, October 23, is bringing together policy-makers, civil society representatives and academics from developing countries and the new EU Member States to explore issues and share experiences in the fields of democracy building and economic transition. Selected speakers, Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, Jože Mencinger, Vice President of first Slovenian government as well as many others will highlight experiences of recently joined new EU member states and exchange best practices about their transition experiences with Southern counterparts. They will discuss the possibilities of transferring and adapting Eastern European experiences to developing countries' local situation and ways to achieve Millennium Development Goals.

For more information please visit: http://www.eudevdays.eu/agenda/events/east_south_en.htm

Information provided by Eva Pliberšek, SLOGA

New Czech platform coordinator

Jana Krczmarova (Milerova), the Czech platform coordinator, is going for maternity leave after 2 years of succesful work for FoRS, the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation. We would like to thank her for the fruitful cooperation and wish her all the best in her new phase of life!

Following Jana´s leave, Inka Pibilova has been appointed as the new FoRS platform coordinator. Inka is coming with organisational development background. Following her work at Mars, Inc, she capitalised on her knowledge in India, where she worked as an Organisational Development Consultant for educational and community development non-profit organisations. Before joining FoRS, Inka conducted monitoring and evaluation studies in rural India. We welcome her in the team!

Contact Inka at: inka.pibilova@fors.cz, visit the FoRS website: http://www.fors.cz/

Information provided by Inka Pibilova, FoRS

Women's life: Call for data gathering tours to the Caucasus and the Balkans

Karat Coalition, the regional network of women's NGOs from Central Asia and Eastern Europe, carries out the project co-financed by the European Commission „Through their eyes, through ours. Raising public awareness about development problems faced by women from developing countries in the EU Eastern Neighbourhood, Balkans and Central Asia."

In the first part of the project, KARAT had announced a photo competition for women from Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The subject of the photos was the socio-economic situation from their perspective. The collected photos now form the photo exhibition “Through their eyes” which has been presented so far in Poland, Slovakia, Germany and will soon be shown in Belgium.

In the second part of the project, Karat is asking citizens of new EU member states (NMS) to express their opinion about women’s lives in the Balkans and the Caucasus. They can chose between producing different awareness raising tools (like photos, movies on YouTube, articles). In order to help applicants to collect data for their material, Karat announced a call for data gathering tours for women from NMS (except for Cyprus and Malta). Successful applicants will travel to countries in the Balkans and the Caucasus.

There are still a lot of stereotypes existing about these regions and there is a lack of reliable and solid information. The awareness raising material which will be produced as a result of the trips should be innovative, attractive and easy to disseminate in Europe. It will be used to draw attention to these countries which still suffer from the consequences of political and economical transformation and need support from developed countries. The aim of the project is to share the knowledge about the socio-economic situation of women in the Balkans and the Caucasus within EU countries and to explain how important it is for the development of the whole region to respect women’s rights, especially those related to the participation in economy. "We hope that in the long term more development projects with a gender focus will target the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe", says Ewa Pintera from Karat Coalition.

Applications for data gathering tours are possible by October 15, 2009. The call is available at: http://www.karat.org/karat,6,13,en.html. For more information please contact: ewa.pintera@karat.org.pl

Information provided by Ewa Pintera, Karat Coalition

New European Parliament

The newly elected European Parliament started its work in the middle of July 2009, with a new President and committee members. But not everyone was happy with the new division of power within the parliament’s structure.

Despite starting its term with a Polish president, the first time someone from a new member state has held such a position, there has been dissatisfaction surrounding the committee members. Just one committee chair is from a new member state, Danuta Huebner, a former commissioner who is also Polish.

The EPP-ED (Group of the European People's Party), in the centre right, did well in the elections while the socialists did not do as well as expected. The greens made progress, but so did the far right, and women are still not equally represented despite efforts to secure gender equality.

The European NGO confederation for relief and development CONCORD is organising a mass lobby of MEPs during its General Assembly in November 2009. Participants in the General Assembly are encouraged to make contact with their MEPs in advance of the event. Please contact TRIALOG policy officer Rebecca Steel-Jasińska (trialog@concordeurope.org) for more information and CONCORD’s template letter.

Links:

The European Parliament website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm
Eastern Europe big loser in Parliament horse-trading: http://www.euractiv.com/en/eu-elections/eastern-europe-big-loser-parliament-horsetrading/article-184312
2009-2014: A centre-right parliament: http://www.euractiv.com/en/eu-elections/2009-2014-centre-right-european-parliament/article-183383

Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG

Helpdesk platform: Working with EuropeAid in New EU Member States

The project “Helpdesk platform and support to New EU Member States (NMS) Non State Actors/Local Authorities in the Development sector” started on January 1st 2009 and shall run for two years. It is implemented by punto.sud (Italy) as leading organisation; People in Peril Association (Slovakia), Hungarian Baptist Aid (Hungary), APEL Service (Romania), FoRS - Czech Forum for Development Co-operation (Czech Republic) as implementing partners; Caritas Poland and Support to Life (Turkey) as Associates.

The project's purpose is to improve the access to information, methods and best practices on EC-grants contractual obligations of Non-State Actors and Local Authorities of NMS, and help strengthen and enlarge their international development co-operation capacity. The project leading organisation, punto.sud, developed a website dedicated to the management of EuropeAid-funded projects; and a helpdesk “day-to-day” support to organisations working with EC funds for external assistance is now functional. The helpdesk service consists in the remote support by a team of professionals who answers via e-mail all questions related to the management of EuropeAid-funded projects. This service is free of charge.

punto.sud members will deliver training sessions in NMS (see Events' section in this TIS) to the benefit of EuropeAid current and potential development partners. In correspondence with the trainings, the project staff will provide a hands-on service, which consists in an in-depth analysis and follow-up of a project with the purpose of assessing strengths, weaknesses, and possible improvements of the project logic, but also of the managerial capacity of the implementing organisation.

Finally, the project foresees the e-publication and distribution of a detailed practical guide containing all the main elements of the design, management and completion of a EuropeAid-funded project.

To have further information on project activities or contact the helpdesk please write to helpdesk-europeaid@puntosud.org.
To find information on EuropeAid-funded projects please visit the helpdesk website: www.puntosud.org/helpdesk-europeaid
Download the project's leaflet at: http://www.puntosud.org/helpdesk-europeaid/lib/exe/fetch.php/news/nms_project_leaflet.pdf

Information provided by Sara Baroud, punto.sud

LIDEA conference on development education in schools and youth organisations

On the 24th of September 2009, the Lithuanian development education network LIDEA held a conference about „Development education in schools and youth organisations“. It took place in the Kolping house in Kaunas. Representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs and education, from the education department of Kaunas municipality, youth organisations, directors and teachers of different Lithuanian schools participated in the conference.

"Lithuania - being a member of the EU - is a donor country and has the responsibility to help others. Aiming at Lithuania's support to be more efficient, we need to pay more attention to inform our society members, to give them a better understanding what is education about development cooperation", says Lina Kalibataite, co-founder of LIDEA. "It is very important to help young people to understand the priorities of global development and to raise awareness for cooperation and communication with people from developing countries. After five years being a member of EU, Lithuanian citizens still know very little about what it means to be a donor country."

After some welcome speeches by NGO and governmental representatives, the participants of the conference were introduced to the concept of development cooperation, aims of development education and millenium development goals. They also shared practical development education (DE) experiences in schools and youth organisations and within programmes like GLEN (http://www.glen-europe.org/) or the annual DE summer school, and talked a lot about possibilities of cooperation between schools and youth organisations and NGOs working in DE.

There were interesting discussions about the cooperation between NGOs and schools and between NGOs and ministries linked to the DE field. It was agreed that LIDEA will be sharing information about DE with schools, issue a monthly newsletter about DE and education about development cooperation and provide schools with methodological material for teachers which will help them to integrate the topic into their lessons.

For further information about the conference, please contact Lina Kalibataite at Lina.Kalibataite@kolping.lt

Information provided by Lina Kalibataite, Lithuanian Kolping Society

Development Education as part of formal education: from vision to reality

Development education (DE) has become an important part of development cooperation in new EU member states (NMS). During the last years, DE in formal as well as informal education has been mainly perceived as an area of activity for NGDOs. Now the vision that DE would be an integral part of the formal education system seems to become real in Czech Republic.

The Varianty Educational Programme of the biggest Czech NGDO People in Need started a one-year pilot project "Our Common World". The overall objective of the project is to integrate issues of DE into the formal education system at Czech schools. The project reacts to Czech educational reform which has allowed schools to change their curriculum and opened space for missing issues, such as global poverty, climate change, human rights or the world economic interdependency.

The target group is Czech high school teachers in various regions who would enhance their students’ global citizenship in future. Teachers are trained in interactive educational methods and global issues through so called "blended learning courses". The combination of e-learning and direct contact with teachers (workshops, trainings, meetings) presents a unique and innovative approach of distant learning in Czech reality. Apart from the teachers' trainings, the project implies an intensive cooperation with the Varianty's partner schools’ directorates in order to build up sufficient background to implement new methods and issues and include them in long-term teaching plans.

At the same time, the project assists to promote active global citizenship in practice and helps teachers and students to take an action and participate in various development campaigns, school projects and join social networks to support human rights or humanitarian activities etc.

For more information on the project, please contact Lenka Sobotová at lenka.sobotova@clovekvtisni.cz or visit http://www.varianty.cz/ and http://www.peopleinneed.cz/.

Photo: Petra Skalická

Information provided by Lenka Sobotová, People in Need

Second Romanian Development Camp

The 2nd edition of the Romanian Development Camp took place in the Black Sea Resort Venus in Romania, during 16th -19th of September 2009. The general objective of the yearly event is for national authorities and their partners to develop their capacities to implement the National Strategy for Official Development Assistance – a shared competency of Romania with the European Union. The Romanian Development Camp provides for a platform for national ODA stakeholders to reflect on global development issues, European trends and commitments, to debate on the ODA priorities and challenges at the national, regional and international level and to ensure interaction between national and international counterparts.

This year’s edition had guest participants and speakers from the ODA departments of foreign affairs ministries in the new EU member states (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), donor states with experience in the ODA domain (Sweden and Germany), as well as representatives from the European Commission (DG Dev) and from UNDP country offices and the civil society sector in the Romanian ODA partner countries (Moldova, Georgia, Serbia).

Plenary discussions reflected on topics of innovative and traditional financing mechanisms for development assistance, as well as effects of the financial crisis on the developing world. Workshops centered on the role of media in reporting to the public on ODA matters and consolidating peace and development during transition. The participants engaged in interesting debates on the comparative advantages of New Member States as emerging donors, based on the Romanian and Slovak experiences.

The official site for Romanian assistance for development was launched: http://www.aod.ro/, set up by the MFA and UNDP Romania. Access the site to keep updated with Romanian development initiatives and to read more about the 1st and 2nd edition of the Romanian Development Camp. Organizing the Romanian Development Camp is a component of the programme „Strenghtening the National Institutional and Educational Capacity for Developing Programmes and Development Assistance Projects” financed by the MFA in 2007 and implemented by UNDP Romania during 2008-2009.

Information provided by Denisa Jacobsen, UNDP Romania

Balkan Civil Society Network demands the right to be heard in Brussels

Members of the Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) were in Brussels in early September 2009 to meet representatives of the European Commission, members of the European Parliament, CSO networks and government officials. The aim was to use the workshop to discuss current challenges faced by the Western Balkans and Turkey and how civil society might be instrumental in tackling them.

The main focus of the workshop was on the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility and partnership principle that underpins civil society involvement in IPA programming, implementation and evaluation.

This is one step in a continuous effort to engage civil society actors from the countries concerned in the pre-accession process. The network will be working with the EPAN working group (see related article "EPAN working group meets in Malta" in this TIS) to follow up on issues raised in this workshop.

A full report of the workshop is available on the BCSDN website: http://www.balkancsd.net/?ItemID=93BCA6CF1DDE4B41A4FAB26DAAFEE565 Find also the BCSDN Policy Paper: “The Successes and Failures of the EU-Pre-Accession Policy in the Balkans: Support to Civil Society" at the following link: http://www.balkancsd.net/WBStorage/Files/BCSDN%20policy%20paper_IPA%20Civil%20Society%20Facility_draft_1009090.pdf

Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG

Solidarity Summer School in Gdansk

In July 2009 (19-24) Tertio Millenio Foundation and European Solidarity Center organised for the 5th time the Solidarity Summer School in Poland, Gdansk. The so-called Solidarity Academy is a cyclical project. The first edition took place in Gdansk in 2005. As the organisers point out: "The implementation of the idea of international solidarity is necessary, because being able to face the challenges of modernity requires an international approach. What is the international approach?... We think that it has a special meaning for the countries of the former Eastern block that have a common history and similar experience of communism. The cooperation between these countries can bring us a new quality of international coexistence and, in effect, a new quality of human life."

Since 2005 the school has concentrated on promoting solidarity and democracy. This year, for the first time, a separate working group was created under the topic: "Development education. Solidarity within the international context." The course was designed by the facilitator Monika Matus as a comprehensive, interactive introduction into the topic and all its aspects. Participants were introduced to the theoretical and practical basics of development education. This helped them to find the answer to the question about the reasonableness of international solidarity. Most of the seventy young participants came from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries – as it is one of the principles of the Solidarity Academy from the very beginning.

For more information and next editions, please visit: http://www.akademiasolidarnosci.pl/
For further details, please contact: Monika Matus monika.matus@gmail.com or Tomasz Pilat tomashpilat@gmail.com

Photo/Copyright: Slawomir Czalej

Information provided by Monika Matus, trainer and facilitator

Discussion forum around fair trade in Sofia

On July 2, 2009, Integra Foundation and the Development Research Center (DRC) organised a discussion forum in Sofia on the topic " The developing countries and the fair trade movement in the light of the financial and economic crises". The discussion was attended by representatives of Bulgarian NGDOs and the Trade Union Podkrepa.

Three papers were presented to the discussion forum, about:
- the impact of the crises on the economy of Bulgaria and its development cooperation activities;
- new tendencies in the fair trade movement; and
- the development of fair trade in Bulgaria under the present conditions.

The discussion contributed to the further analysis of these topics, to an exchange of ideas and opinions about the role of development cooperation under the conditions of the crises and the contribution NGOs can make. In addition, the participants of the discussion underlined the need to closer work with such target groups as students and young people in order to obtain further understanding of new tendencies and support in the future implementation of development cooperation in Bulgaria.

For more information on the event please contact Svoboda Tosheva or Sylvia Pavlova (DRC, drc@dir.bg), and Dessislava Chalamova (Integra Foundation, Dessislava.Chalamova@integra-bds.bg)

Information provided by Svoboda Tosheva, DRC

FOND renews its search for Romanian experts working abroad

As reported earlier this year in TIS, the Romanian NDGO Platform FOND is currently implementing the project “Development Cooperation in Romania: Building FOuNDation for Policy Work”, financed by the Presidency Fund. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of Romanian civil society to engage the Romanian public authorities on development cooperation in order to influence the national policies in the field, as well as to participate in policy debates on development at European level. By implementing this project, FOND wants to initiate a national debate on development cooperation in the framework of the newly acquired status of Romania as a donor country and in the context of the ratification of the Cotonou Agreement by the Romanian Parliament.

As part of the activities, FOND has already organised a study visit in December 2008 to the French Platform and 5 of its member NGOs and seminars on the Cotonou Agreement and the EU-Africa Strategic Partnership in Bucharest. One of the results of the project will be the creation of sustainable sources of information on development cooperation available in Romanian language, which will allow for a better visibility for FOND and its members and support their advocacy and lobby activities.

One of the activities of this project includes the creation of a database with Romanian experts working in the field of development cooperation abroad, mostly in international organisations. If you are concerned, please contact FOND coordinator Adela Rusu to join the database or for further information: adela.rusu@fondromania.org. Also if you happen to know or have worked with Romanian experts in this field, FOND would be grateful if you forward this information to them or provide Adela Rusu with their contact details.

Information provided by Adela Rusu, FOND Romania

Beneficiaries of EC grants and contracts

The European Commission has now published lists of all beneficiaries of 2008 EC grants and contracts. The section of the EuropeAid website has been created to find the information covering all the methods used in the implementation of external assistance under the responsibility of EuropeAid Co-operation Office, whether financed under the General Budget of the Communitities or the European Development Fund.

Access the website and use the further links at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/beneficiaries_en.htm
Go to "Beneficiaries of grants and contracts" to use a search engine where you can search according to country, DAC sector, project title etc. and also switch to advanced search. Find also the data from 2007.

Sources: bengo eu-mail-info Nr. 263: 4.8.2009, http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/beneficiaries_en.htm

The Millennium Development Goals report 2009

With only six years until the 2015 deadline, donor countries are falling short in meeting aid commitments made in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and aid is likely to drop even further as a result of the negative economic climate, according to a UN progress report which was launched in Geneva in July 2009.

The full report can be downloaded from the following link: http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2009/MDG_Report_2009_En.pdf
The report is also available in French and Spanish and will soon become available in the other UN official languages. For more information, please visit http://mdgs.un.org/

Sources: oeza aktuell August 2009, http://mdgs.un.org

Call for GLEN Lead Facilitators 2010

The Global Education Network of Young Europeans (GLEN) is looking for 4 Lead Facilitators for the GLEN Multipliers Training Cycle 2010! All the details can be found in English and French at: http://www.glen-europe.org/index.php?lnk=9&bc=432

The deadline for applications is October 11th 2009.

Information provided by Kasia Szeniawska, GLEN

October 18-21, 2009: IVCO conference in Budapest

The International FORUM on Development Service (http://www.forum-ids.org/) and the Hungarian Volunteer Sending Foundation HVSF (http://www.hvsf.hu/) would like to invite you to take part in the IVCO 2009 conference "Volunteers as catalysts for social engagement". This annual meeting of International Volunteer Co-operation Organisations will take place in Budapest, Hungary on October 18-21, 2009.

Topics will include:
- Reviews of researches regarding gender and volunteerism and other issues
- Involving young volunteers in development programmes
- Encouraging local development education
- The road to 2011 - International year of the Volunteer + 10
- Sharing new initiatives
- Involving the 12 new EU members in international volunteering programmes

Find the provisional programme at: http://www.hvsf.hu/userfiles/file/IVCO-2009-programme-10_9_09(1).pdf For more information and the booking form, please go to http://www.hvsf.hu/ivco.html or contact Gabriella Revesz, HVSF coordinator, at hvsf@hvsf.hu
For reports on previous IVCO conferences, please visit: http://www.forum-ids.org/conferences/ivco/

Information provided by Gabriella Revesz, HVSF

October 19-20, 2009: Strengthening the triangle CSOs-National Governments-EC, Zadar

European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and National Foundation for Civil Society Development (NFCSD) are glad to announce the international conference entitled “Strengthening the triangle CSOs-National Governments-European Commission”. This event will take place in Zadar, Croatia on the 19 and 20 October 2009.

The main themes of the conference will concern the impact of financial crisis and the economic downturn on CSOs, institutional answers to financial and structural challenges and EC programmes in the region focusing on CSO development. Also, you will have the opportunity to get to know about the new EC programme “Capacity building of Civil Society in IPA countries” and to hear about opening of Regional CSO representation office. This event will gather representatives of civil society from the EU and neighbouring countries, donors active in the region as well as high officials from the EU institutions and national governments.

For more information about the event, conference programme, registration and latest updates please, visit the ECAS website at: http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,909/task,view/id,250/Itemid,113/

Source: BCSDN Weekly e-mail alerts #190 (24.08. - 04.09.2009)

October 22-24, 2009: European Development Days, Sweden

The European Development Days 2009 (EDD), organised by the European Commission, will take place 22-24 October in Stockholm, Sweden, during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union.

The development days will come at an interesting time for Europe – after the European Parliament elections, around the time the new European Commission will be formed and close to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which started the chain of events that led to the latest rounds of EU enlargement.

Find more information on the website of the European Development Days 2009 at: http://www.eudevdays.eu/index_en.htm.

For information on the roundtable "East meets South" which the Slovenian NGDO platform SLOGA will organise during the EDD on Friday 23, please refer to the related TIS article.

On the same day, the Multi-stakeholder Group on Development Education will hold the event "European citizens as catalysts for change". Find more information in the following document. Download the agenda.

Information provided by European Development Days team, SLOGA and DEEEP

October 29-30, 2009: EU position on Policy Coherence for Development, Warsaw

On 29-30 October, CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research (PL) and Overseas Development Institute (UK) with the participation of the NGDO platforms from the Visegrad countries organise the round table “The position of the EU towards Policy Coherence for Development (PCD)” in Warsaw as a part of the project ‘Fostering Global Responsibility: Building a Development Policy Knowledge Network to Enhance NGO Public Outreach Initiatives in EU New Member States’.

The primary topic of the first day will be Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) in order to strengthen the knowledge of NGOs in this field. Among invited lecturers are Marc Levy, senior advisor of institutional and capacity development in ECDPM, Romain Phillipe, Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) Officer, responsible for the report CONCORD perspective and advocacy work on PCD. Based on the information around PCD and its impact on developing countries, NGOs should outline a regional policy brief that can be further used in their own advocacy work and media engagement.

The topic of the second day will be focusing on lobbying. In five sessions followed by group exercises, participants learn in an interesting way how to use lobbying and advocacy; experiences with PCD advocacy at national level will be shared. Training will be conducted by Huub Sloot from BBO.

The project aims to promote a greater understanding of the development challenges, to facilitate greater public support in New Member States for poverty reduction efforts and to contribute to more strategic and evidence-informed policy dialogue and engagement for international development issues.

To learn more about the project and the round table (registration by 10th October 2009), please consult the following website: http://www.development-network.eu/ This project is co-financed by the International Visegrad Fund.

Information provided by Monika Kusmierczyk, CASE

October 29-31: Black Sea NGO Forum 2009

Time to meet again has come for NGOs in the Black Sea Region, which are invited to attend the second edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum in Bucharest, Romania.

The event was launched in 2008 by the Federation of Romanian Development NGOs (FOND) in co-operation with organisations from the wider Black Sea Region with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year’s edition of the forum is entitled ‘NGOs in Times of Crisis’ and will be held on October 29 – 31, 2009.

The Forum aims at increasing the level of dialogue and coordination among NGOs, as well as strengthening the advocacy capacity for NGOs in order to influence development strategies in the region. It gathers NGOs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, other EU member states and important actors in the wider Black Sea Region.

The first edition of the Forum acknowledged that within this region, which is extremely complex from a political point of view, cooperation among NGOs from the civil society represents a real potential for stability and prosperity in the wider Black Sea area.

NGOs from the Black Sea region are invited to propose themes for the discussions of this year’s Forum. More information on the Forum, a draft agenda, updated list of workshop topics and the last year’s report are available on the website http://www.blackseango.org/.

Download the latest issue of the Black Sea NGO Newsletter (e.g. with information on funding opportunities in the region) from: http://www.blackseango.org/pagini/black-sea-ngo-newsletter.php

Information provided by Iuliana Rada, FOND

Oct-Nov. 2009: Training for NMS on EuropeAid funding and management modalities

In the ambit of the project “Helpdesk platform and support to New Member States (NMS) Non State Actors/Local Authorities in the Development sector” implemented by punto.sud (Italy) with key partners and associates from the New EU Member States and Accession countries (see related article in this TIS), training sessions on EuropeAid funding modalities and project management methods will be carried out in some major Eastern Europe capitals. Trainings aim at enhancing the existing capacity of Non-State Actors and Local Authorities involved of New EU Member States in EC development cooperation.

Trainings address key staff of development actors (i.e. NGOs, civil society organisations, youth organisations, academic institutions, and the like) and local authorities involved in the planning and management of EC-funded development programmes. The number of participants is limited to 25 per training. Applicants must fill in an application form and a questionnaire on EuropeAid’s funding requirements and return them completed to training-europeaid@puntosud.org. Participation to the training is free of charge. Travel and accommodation are at the expense of participants. The training calendar and application package are published on the helpdesk website.

During the application process, candidates have the possibility to request ad hoc support on specific issues pertaining to their organisation’s EuropeAid-funded projects (to be submitted, implemented or concluded by the organisations). This hands-on support is tailored to the particularities of each organisation and is free of charge. Interested organisations must provide for minimum information regarding the project(s) to be screened together with the application form.

In the last quarter of 2009 training sessions will be delivered in the following NMS:

Bucharest, Romania: October 21-22, 2009
Budapest, Hungary: November 19-20, 2009
Bratislava, Slovakia: November 23-24, 2009

The calendar for 2010 will be published soon on the helpdesk website.

For further information please write to helpdesk-europeaid@puntosud.org or visit the training section of the helpdesk website http://www.puntosud.org/helpdesk-europeaid/doku.php/training/start

Information provided by Sara Baroud, punto.sud