CONCORD Policy Forum meeting in Brussels, 13th October 2010

With the participation of around 40 NGO representatives from most EU countries, CONCORD’s Policy Forum discussed the most burning policy issues of European development cooperation and set the work priorities for 2011.

Maybe the most relevant discussions were hold on the issue of Commissioner Piebalg’s “Green Paper – EU development policy in support of inclusive, smart and sustainable growth” (draft 24th August 2010). Main criticism on this paper was formulated around the fact, that growth is put in the center and as objective of development cooperation. This concept does not consider the actual challenges like climate change, food crisis and limits of growth as well as growth alone does not guarantee sustainable development and eradication of poverty.

Another discussion turned around the Structured Dialogue between the European Commission, the European Parliament, the EU Member States, Local Authorities and Non-State Actors to define their future cooperation in development cooperation. Following, the topic of the financial persectives of the EU budget 2014 to 2020 will require engagement from and coordination between the Policy Forum and the Working Group on Funding for Development and Relief in order to ensure as much as possible the “enabling environment” for CSO engagement.

Special attention also has to be paid to lobby and advocacy for Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). Even if all European Institutions and the member states committed to PCD, in reality it seems that they rather follow the logic of Policy Coherence for Trade and Security rather than for Development.

With the High Level Forum on Development Effectiveness (or Aid Effectiveness as donors call it) in South Korea 2011, the process of the Open Forum for the definition of CSO development effectiveness should be finalised. After defining eight principles of CSO Development Effectiveness in September this year in Istanbul (The Istanbul Principles), further work is needed to define indicators for measuring the effectiveness and to elaborate guidelines for their implementation.

More information on the Policy Forum and relevant documents are available at the website of CONCORD http://www.concordeurope.org/

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG