TRIALOG Training for Multipliers 2011

In 2011 the Training of Multipliers will be organized in 2 modules, one in April (4 days) and one in October (3 days). The topic of the Training of Multipliers will be Managing Standard EC Contracts for development cooperation (including development education) projects. The first module would focus on content acquisition and knowledge deepening while the second module will involve to a higher degree exchange, debates and knowledge refinement. In between the two modules, the participants are requested to conduct a brief seminar/training in their own country on the topics covered in the first module. The first module will be held in Vienna from 11th to the 14th of April. Here you find a description of the Training of Multipliers (including requirements for participants). For further information contact TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer Andra Tanase (a.tanase@trialog.or.at). If you would like to apply for participation, contact your national platform before the 15th of March!

Central Training 2011: Transition Experiences

This years TRIALOG's annual exchange, the Central Training, will take place in Budapest between May 25th and 27th, 2011 and will be coordinated this year together with HAND, the Hungarian NGDO Platform, and DemNet. TRIALOG takes advantage of the ongoing Hungarian Presidency and a very relevant event organized by DemNet on the transition experiences and the role of the NMS in development cooperation to organize our annual exchange, the Central Training, around the same dates.

The training will start on Wednesday, 25th of May with a full day dedicated to the exchange between NMS NGDO platforms, in order to gain a full picture of their plans, challenges and successes. The following two days, 26th and 27th of May, the participants will participate in the DemNet conference, which looks at the role of the NMS in development cooperation (including the transition experience, influencing the Neighbourhood policy, good governance etc). For more information contact our office: office@trialog.or.at

Conference Documentation Global Crossroads

The documentation of the conference "Global Crossroads: The Role and Perspectives of CSOs in Development Cooperation" is now online. It contains the outcome document, a summary report, presentations, video comments and evaluation. Most of the documents are available in both English and Spanish. Please visit the TRIALOG website to see the documentation!

European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs in Slovakia

Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner for Development visited Slovakia on 8th February 2011. He met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mikuláš Dzurinda, as well as the Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová and the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for European Affairs Ivan Štefanec. The Commissioner expressed the need to keep our pledges concerning the ODA contribution and arrive to the target 0.33% GNI in 2015. During the meeting with the State Secretary, responsible for development aid, Milan Ježovica, they agreed on deepening and greater efficiency of cooperation that would more considerably engage Slovak organisations in implementation of specific EU development activities, namely in the target countries of the Slovak development aid such as Kenya and Sudan. ´

The Chairwoman of the Slovak NGDO Platform, Nora Beňáková, participated in a working lunch with the Commissioner. They had a talk on “positive discrimination” of the EU New Member States concerning applications for the EU call for proposals (for the projects in Africa and Asia) and on the possibilities of creating a new financial instrument for the provision of transition experience of NMS to the countries of West Balkan, Eastern neighbourhood and Central Asia. The Commissioner expressed his support for the New Member States. In the afternoon there was an informal meeting with the NGDOs members.

Information provided by Lenka Nemcová, Platforma MVRO

Building Bridges Between Humanitarian NGOs in Central Europe

As part of a DG ECHO project implemented by Foundation TOGETHER in partnership with Slovenian NGDO Platform SLOGA and People in Peril from Slovakia, an international meeting of humanitarian organizations from Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary was organized in Bratislava between 2nd and 4th February 2011.

Over 25 representatives from 13 Central European humanitarian NGOs discussed the common challenges faced by organizations from the region in the field of international humanitarian aid provision and options for establishing a network of humanitarian NGOs from the region.
On the first day, a presentation of non-governmental organizations in the form of an »open market« method was organized. The aim of this opening event was to acquire knowledge about activities implemented by participating organizations in order to identify possibilities and interests for future cooperation.

On the following day, a workshop facilitated by an expert trainer in the field of NGO networking, Mr Andrew Humphreys, addressed the topic of building a foundation for the establishment of an informal network of similar organizations from Central Europe, which could in the future further develop as a more formal structure. Working methods, a proposal of membership and a working plan for 2011 were also formulated during the meetings.

On the last day, the participants worked together on a preparation of an ECHO project proposal. The main purpose of the workshop was capacity building in the field of humanitarian projects preparation and sharing field experiences between different organizations. The simulation was also a practical example of a possible cooperation between organizations in the future, as within the network, organizations will have the opportunity to apply and implement joint activities in the field.

Representatives of Foundation TOGETHER, Platform SLOGA, People in Peril and the Slovak NGDO Platform also took part in a meeting with the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affair at its Development Assistance and Humanitarian Aid Department. The Ministry representatives expressed their support for the DG ECHO action »Strengthening the Capacities of the NGOs in ECHO underrepresented countries«, a one-year project aimed at improving relief work of NGOs from the region.

Information provided by Nina Perović, Sloga

Quality in Alternative Care: International Conference 4-6 April 2011, Prague

Various care systems exist for children living in alternative care which aim to ensure and improve their chances of development. However, inadequate care can hinder this development and result in children’s fundamental rights being violated. Against this background, SOS Children’s Villages, with the support of various partners, is organising the international conference "Quality in Alternative Care".

The conference aims to identify ways to empower children and young adults, to promote the implementation of quality care standards, to provide a platform and networking opportunities and to identify changes needed to policy and practice to align them with international frameworks. The conference will take place from 4-6 April 2011 in Prague. Information on the conference you find here.

Black Sea NGO Fellowship Program 2011: Policy and Advocacy, Application until March 14, 2011

The Civil Society Development Foundation (CSDF Romania) is pleased to launch the second phase of the Black Sea NGO Fellowship Program. The program runs under the aegis of the Black Sea NGO Forum with the financial support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. The initiative aims to increase the level of mutual knowledge, dialogue and cooperation among NGOs in the Black Sea region.

The second stage of the program (May 2011) is directed towards NGO professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine. 4 fellows from these countries will have the possibility to undergo an exchange and study program of up to 4 weeks in Romania, hosted by Romanian NGOs with excellent experience in policy and advocacy work.

The program includes:

• 1 week study-visit program to introduce the participants to the Romanian political, economic and social realities, as well as to the governmental and NGOs structures, from the perspective of the European integration. During this period the fellows will participate to meetings with experts and representatives from the Romanian Presidency, Government, Parliament, journalists and civil society leaders.
• 1 to 3 weeks of learning-by-doing and sharing experience of advocacy and policy work in well established Romanian NGOs (including watchdog or think-tank organizations) working in the following fields: democracy and citizen participation, good governance and transparency, human rights, environment, social services and child protection, youth, education and culture. During this period the fellows will be placed in a host NGO in Romania relevant for their field of work (in Bucharest or throughout the country).

The program is opened to candidates aged 25 – 35, employed fulltime in a NGO on a management position. Background in policy, advocacy and research represents an advantage.

Applications should be sent to the following address: valentin.burada@fdsc.ro. The deadline for the submission of the applications is 14 March 2011, 12.00 GMT.

The application forms and more details can be found here: http://www.fdsc.ro/pagini/black-sea-ngo-fellowship-2011-policy-an.php

Information provided by Valentin Burada

Advocacy towards European governments and EU institutions

At the end of February, the AidWatch working group of CONCORD federation organised an advocacy training in Vienna, Austria. The training was the 2nd part of a capacity building project realised jointly by CONCORD, TRIALOG and Coordination Sud, the French platform of Development NGOs in 2010 and 2011.

The event focused on advocacy and lobbying directed at national governments and EU institutions with their new institutional architecture: the AidWatch Advocacy Group invited several experienced speakers, among them Per Ola Mattsson from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke about the Swedish aid transparency initiative, or Liz Steele from the organisation Publish What You Fund who introduced the International Aid Transparency Initiative. During all sessions the preparation towards the High Level Aid Transparency Forum in Busan was present as a cross cutting issue.

For two days over 30 participants from most of the EU member states took part in discussions and interactive exercises designing advocacy campaigns, discussing the situation at their country levels and more. TRIALOG provided logistic support in Vienna and methodology input for the training.

A day before, AidWatch provided a training on the aid quantity analysis of OECD data for those members which will participate in the AidWatch report writing this year.

For more information, please visit CONCORD website: www.concordeurope.org
Or contact AidWatch working group: franz.berger@concordeurope.org

Information provided by Monika Matus, TRIALOG

Financial Management Toolkit for recipients of EU funds for external actions

EuropeAid recently published this toolkit that aims to help recipients of EU funds for external actions to comply with the conditions for financial management set out in contracts for EU-financed external actions.

The objectives are to:

• provide basic, practical guidance in an easy-to-use format;
• raise awareness of existing EC Contractual Conditions;
• identify important risk areas, indicate what can go wrong and explain how these risks can be avoided;
• provide best practices, tools and templates.

On 118 pages the toolkit explains all relevant issues of internal monitoring, documentation, filing and record keeping, procurement, asset management, payroll and time management, cash and bank management, accounting and financial reporting. The pdf-document as well as the relevant excel sheets are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/financial-management-toolkit_en.htm

The toolkit is not a set of rules in addition to the existing legal, contractual and regulatory framework and it is not a substitute for reading the EC Contractual Conditions and existing guides and instructions.

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

Harnessing the transition experience of the New EU member states in EU’s external relations: From policy to implementation

The European Consensus for Development sets in Article 33 that “the EU will capitalise on new Member States’ experience (such as transition management) and help strengthen the role of these countries as new donors” which since then was reiterated in different ocasions. Since 2008, the EC has been collecting the transition experiences and developed the European Transition Compendium which should provide tools for using the transition experience for supporting political and economic reforms in partner countries, especially in the European Neighbourhood and the Pre-Accession Countries. Main areas for implementation should be democratic institution building, support for democratic processes, protection of human rights, strengthening civil society, cooperation with local governments, independence of media etc.

The incorporation of transition experiences in EU policy and new instruments for the systematic use of transition experiences in the framework of EU financial instruments 2014-2020 is now requested by NMS such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The issue will also be raised from the Member States in the Structured Dialogue to be taken into consideration for the future architecture of development cooperation. The so-called Non-Paper on the Transition Experience is available here (návrh diskusního dokumentu).

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

Trainings Needs of Relief Workers from Eastern Europe: Red Cross

The Austrian Red Cross has been conducting various capacity building activities for humanitarian actors in the newly acceded EU countries and in South-Eastern Europe. To be able to respond with the upcoming activities better to the needs of relief NGOs and Red Cross Societies in this region, they are currently assessing their trainings preferences in an online survey. It is a short online survey that addresses humanitarian workers from relief organizations in new EU countries and in South-East Europe. It aims at assessing their training needs. The results will directly influence the focus of upcoming training courses that the Austrian Red Cross intends to organize. The survey can be accessed here.

The Financial Crisis and the Greek Development NGOs

The consequences of the global economic and financial crisis are felt by many development NGOs as they are facing severe budget cuts. Eugenia Vathakou from the Greek Development and Education Center European Perspective analyses the consequences of the financial crisis on development NGOs in Greece. She presents the actual situation of the NGDOs in Greece before the crisis hit, looks then into the consequences of the crisis over the last months and finally makes a few recommendations as to how Greek development NGOs could deal with the financial crisis. To read the 4-page paper follow the link.

EUCLID study visit from Moldova and Ukraine

The UK-based EUCLID network organised a study visit to Brussels and London for over 30 participants from Civil Society Organisations in Moldova and Ukraine. The Euclid Network is a community of civil society professionals who want to connect across borders for a stronger, more innovative and sustainable European civil society. The Network organises many capacity building and networking events.

The Study visit participants included youth organisations, community workers, regional development organisations from both countries. For 2 days in Brussels they could get familiar with the work of EU institutions as well as CSOs.

The TRIALOG Policy Office based in Brussels organised a networking meeting. There the EPAN (Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood) working group was presented and its work concerning the region. Other organisations active in Ukraine and Moldova and at the policy level in Brussels were present as well. The meeting was successful, as several participants explained that the topic of advocacy at EU level was very interesting.

The study visit was sponsored by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). To learn more about EUCLID visit: www.euclidnetwork.eu

Information provided by Monika Matus, TRIALOG

Second Training for Local Councils and NGOs on issues related to

The Maltese development NGO KOPIN, in collaboration with its partners the Local Council of Valletta (Malta’s capital city), SKOP (the National Platform of Maltese NGDOs) and TRIALOG, has offered a second capacity building training for NGOs and local councils on issues related to global poverty and migration. The three sessions, which were held in St Julian’s, Malta, between 15 and 17 February 2011, were attended by 27 representatives of 21 different Maltese civil society organisations and local authorities.

The training was opened by Dr Alexiei Dingli, Mayor of Valletta and patron of the MeDevNet project in Malta, and by William Grech, Coordinator of KOPIN. The experts Maria Pisani and Bianca Zammit held presentations on the subjects women & migration and theoretical aspects of conflict resolution, respectively, whilst Mario Gerada presented the national NGDO platform SKOP. Dominik Kalweit, whilst also presenting KOPIN, introduced the project, its aims and activities to the participants.

The training sessions on 16 and 17 February were delivered by Andra Tanase, Capacity Building Officer of TRIALOG, and focused on project cycle management (PCM). The participants were provided with an overview of the different phases of the project cycle and the elements that are needed for a sound management of this cycle (context, internal and external processes, cultural elements), with a specific focus on development cooperation. Moreover, Ms Tanase introduced the NGO and Local Council representatives to some concrete tools that are part and parcel of good project cycle management, such as management styles, cultural styles, strategic planning, context mapping and project writing. Methodologically, the sessions included a combination of frontal sessions and interactive group work with presentations from the participants. In fact, the participants were also encouraged to be ready to contribute with their project experiences and to work on concrete cases. The participants appreciated these sessions positively, noting in particular the hands-on approach, the choice of topics relevant to their context and the sense of enjoyment in learning.

The training was part of a cycle of trainings and other activities organised within the framework of the international project “Mediterranean Development Network”, MeDevNet, which is being implemented by NGOs and local authorities in Malta, Cyprus and Greece. In Malta, the project is co-financed by EuropeAid and through the Co-Financing Fund for Local Councils administered by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Public Dialogue and Information.

For more information about the training and other MeDevNet activities, visit http://www.medevnet.org/. For more details on KOPIN, visit http://www.kopin.org/ or join KOPIN Malta’s Facebook profile.

Information provided by Dominik Kalweit, KOPIN

“Kapuscinski Lecture” with Prof. David Hulme on 16th March 2011 in Bratislava

On 16th March 2011, the Slovak NGDO Platform will in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme and the European Commission organize an event under the lecture series “Kapuscinski Lectures” with the title “How to reduce poverty- interventions/ aid that works”. The event will take place in the University Library in Bratislava at 11, Ventúrska Street. The lecture will be held by Professor David Hulme from the University of Manchester.
After the lecture there will be a moderated discussion with Prof. Hulme, national experts and decisions makers. There will be some accompanying events such as a movie presentation, a photo exhibition of SlovakAid projects and a presentation of volunteer projects.

The series “Kapuscinski Lectures” named in honour of Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish reporter and writer, who died in 2007. Kapuscinski, whose books were translated into many languages, was often named the “Third World Chronicler” or the “Voice of the Poor” for his famous reportages and books describing developing countries on all continents. The first round of “Kapuscinski Lectures” was organised in 2009 and 2010. More information on the Kapuscinski Lectures and schedule of the events.

Information provided by Lenka Nemcová, Platforma MVRO

Development Cooperation Experience on the Ground

Following the Conference Global Crossroads, TRIALOG invited 26 representatives from the new European member states for field trips to see development cooperation projects of HORIZONT3000 and the URACCAN University on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

Starting in Managua the group was welcomed in the HORIZONT3000 office by director Doris Kroll who gave an overview of the organisation’s work in Nicaragua. Next stops were the office of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the EU delegation for Central America, as well as the visit of the coordination office of KEPA, the umbrella organisation for Finnish civil society development organisations.

The next 5 days the participants travelled - divided into four thematic groups - to the Atlantic region, where they got to know many local organizations working with indigenous communities in the field of health and food security as well as education, cultural and agricultural projects, and visited the URACCAN campuses. Each visit included presentations and discussions with the local partner organisation, which opened a space of exchange and allowed to build up personal relations with the Nicaraguan counterparts. One of the participants, Ondrej Kopecny (Glopolis, Czech Republic) commented that the fieldtrips were “a unique opportunity to see development work in practice, especially the style of work of local organizations which was very much going in line with a human rights based approach.” Daniel Pluta (One World Association, Poland) shares following impression: “I understood what real ownership means and what does it mean that the project is run by the community.” Mirela Oprea from World Vision Romania reflected on the experience of her country and similarities with Latin America:”I discovered Romania and Nicaragua, or perhaps Eastern Europe and Latin America, have much more in common than one may expect. I am convinced that had there been more opportunities for exchange, both regions would gain more than we can even envisage.”

For many participants it was the first time in a country of the Global South, outside of Europe, many committed to apply the gained experiences at least in their development education work and contribute to the further “trialogue” between East, West and South.

For more pictures visit the TRIALOG photogallery.

See also other articles on the conference: CSOs demand holistic view of development: TRIALOG Conference in Nicaragua and Conference Documentation Global Crossroads

Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG

Towards a European Forum for Food Sovereignty

Recognising the harmful effects of corporate-driven globalisation of agri-food systems, Food Sovereignty Movement was initiated in order to defend local, small-scale food systems by strong alliances of social movements active in the food and agricultural domain.
The first European Food Sovereignty Forum will be held from August 16th to 21st 2011 in Krems, Austria. This Forum is the next step in the process to bring actors working for Food Sovereignty together. At the first Food Sovereignty Forum, the Nyeleni Forum in 2007, 500 Delegates from all over the World met in Selingué, Mali to build a worldwide movement for Food Sovereignty (Nyeleni was a famous Malian peasant woman who provided food for her community).

In this summer, at the Nyeleni Europe Forum the key goals are to strengthen, broaden and build a movement for Food Sovereignty in Europe by reinforcing the common understanding of what Food Sovereignty means and constructing common strategies to make Food Sovereignty a reality in Europe.

In order to unite the forces of the international Food Sovereignty movements this Forum struggles for reclaiming the autonomy and control of local communities, individuals and countries over agricultural and food systems, which are threatened by corporate-driven globalisation of the agricultural and food sector.

The Forum is developed by participating organisations in an inclusive bottom up process. This process prioritizes the involvement of new groups and organisations from the European continent, particularly in Eastern Europe, because actors of food production in Eastern Europe – decades long isolated from the West – are not aware of possibilities hidden in Food Sovereignty.
With the aim of supporting regional processes the organisers of the Forum are planning a Central-Eastern European section at the Forum in Krems. The main goal of this section is to bring together the actors from this region and to define the main challenges, opportunities and obstacles in order to build food sovereignty at a regional level (in terms of political, economic and social challenges as well). In this section the goal is to get in contact with actors who are working for Food Sovereignty in this region, to inspire and motivate people and organizations from the New Member States to work together on European Food Sovereignty.

More information on the European Food Sovereignty Forum: http://nyeleni2011.net/
Contacts: Nyeleni Europe Secretariat: info@nyelenieurope.net ; Nyeleni Europe – Central-Eastern European Section: Anna Korzenszky: korzanna@gmail.com

Information provided by Anna Korzenszky

It is never too late and never too early!

“It is never too late and never too early to engage in development education,” concludes one of the participants of the project “Schools – satellites for development education” in Latvia. This 2 years project is the first most serious and systematic attempt to introduce development education in Latvia. 9 schools from different regions of Latvia are trained to be the “satellites” sending out global education signals and messages in local universe. In each school team there are 9 participants representing different stakeholders of an education process – 4 teachers, 1 school administration representative, 2 students and 2 local community members (municipality representative, entrepreneur, active parent or an active local citizen).

With the help of EC funding and co-funding of Soros Foundation – Latvia as well as the US Embassy and expertise of different local and foreign experts the project team has motivated project schools to integrate the global dimension in both formal and informal education. They thus create public awareness and understanding of different development issues here in Latvia.

Evidences of the great success are results of the 1st project year - more than 130 development education lessons and trainings have been delivered involving about 2700 schoolchildren and covering such topics as migration, ecological footprint and environment, sustainable development and responsible attitude towards resources, globalization and others. Project members have also implemented around 20 development education actions in their schools or communities trying out a wide range of different formats – activities in the city festivals, creative workshops, development education days or project weeks at the school, contests, regional conferences, researches and surveys.

Another project success is the impact on the political level. In the end of year 2010 the State Centre of Content of Education of the Ministry of Education and Science has approved the program for the professional development of teachers “The Development and Administration of the Development Education Projects” that was created by project’s applicant “Education development center”. During the program other 350 Latvian teachers will be instructed about the topics of development education (amounting to 24 academic hours of training) in the period of 2010 – 2013, ensuring a long term sustainability of development education in the education system of Latvia.

The project “Schools – satellites for development education” (DCI-NSA ED/2009/202-219) is implemented by the Education Development Center (Latvia) in partnership with GLEN Latvia (Latvia) and Leeds Development Education Center (UK). Project’s web page is http://www.skolaskasateliti.lv/

Information provided by Ilze Saleniece, Education Development Center

DRC Summer School on Regional Co-operation

The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) would like to refer to the following Call for Application for participation in 8th DRC (Danube Rectors’ Conference) Summer School on Regional Co-operation “EU Strategy for the Danube Region – Perspectives for the Future”. The summer school will take place from 03 to 10 of July 2011 in Vienna, Austria. Starting this year, there is a possibility to register as an „Early bird‟. If you submit your paper and application form before March 20, 2011, you pay only half (50%) of the registration fee. For more information and a detailled call for application follow the link.

What do they play with? - Exhibition in Slovakia

On 1st February 2011 the exhibition of non-traditional toys from Kenya and Afghanistan called “What do they play with?” in connection with a photo exhibition “Slovakia helps” of the projects in developing countries from Afghanistan, Haiti, Kenya, Sudan, Indonesia, Moldova and Mongolia opened in the Public Library of Jan Bocatio in Košice. After showing it in Banská Bystrica, Košice is a second town where the exhibition is displayed. The exhibition is organised by the Slovak NGDO Platform in cooperation with the NGO Dvojfarebný svet and the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation, SlovakAid. The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by sharing the experience of the volunteers who spent some months working in projects in developing countries. After Košice the exhibition will move to another east Slovakian town, Prešov (1st of March), and further to Zilina and Prievidza.

Information provided by Lenka Nemcová, Platforma MVRO

SLEplus Short Term Training in Development Cooperation

The centre for Advanced Training in Rural Development (SLE) offers a number of scholarships for the short-term training programme SLEplus Berlin Training for International Development Cooperation at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

The SLE wants not only reach colleagues from larger development agencies, but also colleagues and partners from smaller NGOs and foundations and therefore encourages applications within the mentioned groups.

SLEplus addresses persons from developing as well as industrialized countries. It is designed to meet the needs of professionals working in the area of development cooperation in government and non-government organizations. It is financed by DAAD with funds from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation, the German Federal Foreign Office and the Berlin Senate.

SLEplus is offering the following short-term training courses in 2011:

• Disaster Risk Reduction in Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance, 8.8.-19.8.2011
• Conflict Management and Conflict Transformation, 22.8.-2.9.2011
• Management of Development Projects, 5.9.-16.9.2011
• Outcome and Impact Oriented Monitoring, 19.9.-23.9.2011

Scholarships will be available to persons from conflict areas as well as to qualified foreign alumni of German institutions of higher education and to alumni of universities who received a German sur-place-scholarship in their home country or a third country. Course language is English.

Persons who are not eligible for a scholarship may participate on a self-payment arrangement. Fee per course is €500.

Online application is open from 14th of March until 15th of May 2011.

For any further details on course programme and subjects, application procedure and scholarship conditions please check the website at: www.sle-berlin.de/sleplus.

Conference of the Black Sea Region on the CBC Black Sea programme

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is organising on 5-6 April 2011 in Batumi, Georgia, a Conference of the Black Sea Region which will focus on the CBC Black Sea programme.

The objectives of the conference are to

• Raise awareness about current political discussions on the Black Sea
• Inform about possibilities of interregional cooperation in the framework of EU programmes
• Develop first joint projects of interregional cooperation in the Black Sea area

Expected Outcomes are:

• Intelligence gathering: Latest information on European policies in the Black Sea area
• Networking and finding new partners
• Concrete project proposals which can be submitted to the EU - CBC Black Sea programme

Time has been planned for a partnership fair, allowing you to fully benefit from this 1,5-day event to meet your counterparts in partner countries and ask our expert for an individual meeting. Representatives from the Joint Managing Authority and the national contact points have been invited, as well as many stakeholders involved in the Black Sea, such as regional authorities from Black Sea Regions, delegates from the Black Sea NGO Forum, members of BSEC or PABSEC.

The registration form, practical information and programme are available on the AER conference website

The deadline for registrations is 18 March.

If you wish to present your own project during the event, which you intend to apply for under the Black Sea CBC programme, please send the filled in project proposal form from the website. The most interesting and advanced project will be selected for presentation during the Conference, whilst the other projects will be published online, and made available on the spot.

Transformation in Poland and in the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing Experiences

Trialog came across a very interesting publication by Katrzyna Zukrowska, Polish professor of economic sciences form the Warsaw School of Economics, specialising in the economy transformation in Poland after 1989, development and economic growth. Following many interesting positions in her portfolio, Mrs Żukrowska’s new publication is an interesting source for those interested in lessons learnt and good practices concerning the economic transformation, especially for pre-accession countries or new members of the EU.

The book contains 11 chapters: 6 deal with the Polish transformation, 5 with the transformation in Southern Mediterranean Region. The Authors are scientists from Algeria, Greece, Poland, Turkey and the USA. The experiences of Poland and Mediterranean economies are compared and summed up in the last part which shows the common elements as well as differences in applied strategies of change". The essays on transformation in Poland concentrate on main areas which mattered in the process of changes in this country, ie.: economy, politics, international environment of changes, education, accountancy, sector of small and medium sector companies, problem of catching up resulted by the transformation. The experience concerning Southern Mediterranean covers some common areas for the region (like migration, increasing role of the NGO’s in political life, and pattern of regional cooperation), as well as some case studies like comparisons between transformation in Turkey and the Central East economies, political implications of liberalization of the economy illustrated by the Egyptian case and economic results of transformation in Jordan.

For more details and a table of contents please check the website

K. Żukrowska (ed.), Transformation in Poland and in the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing Experiences, Poltext, Warsaw 2011.

Information provided by Monika Matus and Ulrike Bey, TRIALOG

KOPIN's second RADC newsletter published

The second Raising Awareness for Development Cooperation (RADC) newsletter of the Maltese Development NGO KOPIN was published in early February. It covers general issues of development cooperation as well as information relevant to the Maltese Development NGOs. You can read the newsletter if you follow the link http://issuu.com/kopin/docs/radc_newsletter_2

See also the earlier TIS-article KOPIN launches Newsletter.

Two Vacancies Peacebuilding, Kosovo and Serbia: forumZFD

The German peacebuilding NGO Forum Civil Peace Service (forumZFD) has currently two vacancies for its programme in Western Balkans. The two forumZFD placements in Prishtina, Kosovo, and Novi Pazar, Serbia, are in the framework of the "Civil Peace Service in development cooperation" programme, funded by the German government. Deadline for applications is 21 of March 2011. Please note that working level of German language is a requirement, next to regional expertise and experience in with peacebuilding and conflict resolution issues. For further information see http://www.forumzfd.de/jobs or follow the links for the positions in Serbia or Kosovo.