Changes in TRIALOG Team

The TRIALOG team is again in a moment of changes. Monika Matus who replaced our Policy Officer Rebecca Steel Jasińska during her maternity leave left us in June earlier than foreseen to join the Polish NGDO platform Grupo Zagranica as Policy Officer for the current Polish EU presidency. Rebecca will come back from maternity leave in September. This means that our Brussels office will be closed till September and the main responsibility for the working group on Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood (EPAN) lies now with the EPAN steering group. We would like to thank Monika for her engagement with TRIALOG. In order to contact the EPAN group, the interim chair is Valery Pandzharov, Email: v.pandzharov@ecip-bg.org.

Our Capacity Building Officer Andra Tanase will have a baby mid September and will go on maternity leave in the middle of July. Her replacement will be Faika El-Nagashi, graduated in Political Science, who for the last 11 years has been coordinating the regional cooperation in Eastern Europe on human rights, migration and access to public health care within the TAMPEP network. In this position she was reponsible for networking, capacity building, EU project development and research. Faika will start working with us at the end of August.

Due to the changes and holiday season, our offices will be closed as follows:
Brussels office closed all July and August
Vienna office closed from August 1st-19th

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

TRIALOG Exchange: Rural Development a Window to Sustainable Development Cooperation

As part of the exchange activity in our project, TRIALOG invited participants from the New Member States to the Conference Rural Development – Natural Resource Management from20th to 22nd June in Vienna, organised by TRIALOG’s lead agency HORIZONT3000. The aim of this conference was to present, share and discuss experiences, good practices and methods in the sector 'Rural Development – Natural Resource Management' with HORIZONT3000 project partners from 8 different countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as key stakeholders from Europe.

Key note speakers presented their experiences and the participants discussed on their inputs in working groups. The knowledge transfer and exchange continued in market places of organizations from the global South and was rounded up by field visits to an organic farm and to the Centre for Development Research at the BOKU University of Vienna.

TRIALOG supported the conference logistically and Capacity Building Officer Andra Tanase moderated the panel sessions. Among the 80 participants were 12 project partners from the Global South, representatives from 30 European organisations (among them three from the New Member States), universities and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The New Member States participants appreciated the opportunity to meet partners and to get an insight to the projects of HORIZONT3000. This knowledge can be used for development education work and awareness raising for ongoing discussions around the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) in the New Member States. The participants from the NMS also discovered parallels in challenges rural development faces in some of their countries and in the Global South.

Linda Jakobsone from LAPAS (Latvia) underlines the importance of exchange: “The examples provided will be useful in our global education work, cooperation work with partners in other parts of the world and lobby work we do in Latvia and on EU level. The contacts made will be used for future cooperation.” Ruta Pels from Eesti People to People (Estonia) commented: “I found out that many problems in Africa, Latin America and Asia are very similar to those we have in Baltic countries.[…] The study visit to BOKU university gave the opportunity to learn about cooperation between HORIZONT3000 and the university, to meet professors and to interact with students”.

TRIALOG saw this conference as an outstanding opportunity to meet with partners from the South and many European organisations to share knowledge and to make new or deepen existing contacts and regretted the fact that only three representatives took advantage of it. But they did enjoy and appreciate the days of the conference highly!

For further documentation please also see http://www.horizont3000.at/

Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG

Quality and Impact in Development Education: DEEEP Summer School 2011 in Finland

The Development Education Summer School (DESS) 2011 was organized in cooperation with DEEEP and KEHYS, the Finnish Development NGO Platform to the EU. The Summer School brought together around 70 development education practitioners from around the globe to spend one week at a lakeside location in Southern Finland with a mission to reply to challenging questions: What do we mean by quality and impact? What do we want to achieve and what is our vision? What can we do better and what kind of ways are there to measure how we are doing?

The DESS 2011 also featured a strong Multi-Stakeholder component. Half a dozen members of the European Multi-Stakeholder group on Development Education visited the DESS 2011 for half a day, participating in one of the working group sessions and a thematic session led by expert Bobby McCormack, focusing on evaluation. KEHYS in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs organized an international conference “Social Change – Impact and Evaluation in Development Education and Awareness-Raising” in Helsinki on the 16th of June. The conference gathered nearly 200 participants ranging from Development Education experts to interested beginners and from ministry officials to researchers, business sector and NGO representatives, including the DESS 2011 participants. The keynote speaker at the conference was Mr. Martin Kirk, Head of Campaigns at Oxfam GB. Mr. Kirk presented his research on why and how to use positive values and frames when communicating and planning the activities of development NGOs (more infomration at http://www.findingframes.org/).

International organizations were also featured at the conference as Mr. Mark Richmond, the Director of the Division of Education for Peace and Education for Sustainable Development at UNESCO spoke in the opening plenary and in the final panel. Between the plenary sessions, conference participants picked a workshop of their choice out of eight different themes such as “Creating a message” or “Social media strategies”, led by experts and followed by group work on the topic. After the conference the Summer School participants explored the Finnish development education scene in Helsinki in small groups which visited different NGOs in the afternoon.

Memorable experiences, from boat-rowing on the lake to debating on the definition and measurement of impact filled the days and nights of the Summer School. The working groups of the Summer School discussed critically and contributed to the creation of a common European quality framework on development education. If you want to know more about the content of the DESS 2011, please contact your national DARE Forum representative and follow the DEEEP website where the reports of the four different working groups and other DESS related material will be uploaded in the course of autumn: http://www.deeep.org/.

Information provided by Riikka Suhonen, KEHYS

Zagranica publishes Memorandum for Polish Presidency

On 1st of July 2011, Poland took over the presidency of the EU Council, which means that it is going to give political direction to the EU, host most EU events, and play key role in all areas of the EU activity, including development cooperation. Zagranica Group, the association of Polish non-governmental development organizations, presents a memorandum with objectives in the area of development cooperation, on which the Polish government should focus in this strategic period. Poland may and should strengthen its activities, especially in the context of involvement in the Eastern Partnership countries, developing countries of the Global South, and in North Africa.

In the memorandum, Zagranica Group calls for the Polish government to advance and implement several objectives during the Presidency of the EU Council. These are to increase the level of development cooperation financing; to initiate international dialogue regarding democratization objectives; to implement the recommendations regarding aid effectiveness; to provide for transparency of actions and financing in Polish aid; to increase the participation of civil society in programming and implementing development cooperation; to strengthen and promote global education and awareness raising on development issues.

Zagranica Group says it is open for cooperation on searching for the best solutions for Polish and European development policy. Polish national media start to be interested in the topic of development cooperation, thanks to information spread by Zagranica Group. The time of the Polish Presidency will show, whether Polish CSOs are invited to debate on global issues, or not. Anyway, Polish NGDOs will watch carefully, how the Polish government acts as a host of the European Union’s events.

Read the full Memorandum to the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union here.

For more information contact: Monika Matus, Policy Officer of Zagranica Group, monika.matus@zagranica.org.pl; Magdalena Trojanek, Communication Officer, magdalena.trojanek@zagranica.org.pl

Information provided by Magdalena Trojanek, Zagranica

FOND Becomes Full Member of CONCORD

During the last CONCORD General Assembly (21st-22nd June, Brussels), the Romanian development NGO Platform – FOND joined as full member the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development. This decision reflected the common interest of FOND in the activities of CONCORD and its Working Groups, shared by the platform members during the last FOND General Assembly (February 2011).

Over the past years, FOND members have already been actively engaged in various CONCORD Working Groups, such as Aid Watch, EPAN, DARE and Cotonou, with support from TRIALOG. FOND will promote Concord’s policy priorities at the national level (the platform is officially recognised as a strategic partner of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and will provide useful input reflecting the perspective of the NGDO community on Romania’s role as a new donor, thus strengthening the position of NMS in influencing development issues at the European level.

Information provided by Adela Rusu, FOND

Romanian Development Camp IV

What is the role of the new donors in the future European development architecture? This was the leading question addressed during the three days of the Romanian Development Camp (fourth edition). The event was organized by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in partnership with the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND) during the 6th-8th of July, in Cluj–Napoca, Romania.

This edition has brought together almost 100 participants from various countries and different backgrounds: foreign ministries, development practitioners, members of Parliament, civil society, private sectors, local authorities, media, academia.

Representatives from CONCORD and other European NGDOs platforms from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic have had an important input in the discussions and presented their experiences in development cooperation, including priorities and challenges, as well as their position on relevant European documents such as the Green Paper, Multi-annual Financial Framework 2013-2020, European Transition Compendium, etc.. This was a great opportunity for Romanian NGOs and Government to open up an interesting on the role of Romania as a new donor and its added value alongside the other 11 “new” member states.

This is the second time when FOND organized this event together with the Romanian MFA. During the last year’s edition, EU Commissioner for Development, Mr. Andris Piebalgs, stressed that development should be at the center of the foreign policy agenda and NGOs represents the driving force for development cooperation. FOND will continue the dialogue with the Government and other relevant national actors (the private sector, academia, media) promoting a coherent and effective development cooperation policy.

Information provided by Adela Rusu, FOND

New DARE Forum position papers

The development education working group o the CONCORD confederation, DARE Forum, published two new position papers. The first one, Development needs Citizens, redefines the role and contribution of development education and awareness raising (DEAR) to the development discourse. The paper, which was endorsed by the DARE Forum members at their last meeting in May, defines “development” as “shared responsibility for planet and humanity”. It argues that DEAR fosters public engagement: This would be important in order to provide legitimacy for political action on global justice, to foster individual engagement and to open a public debate on the root causes of global poverty.

Development Education, based on strong universal values and through the promotion of critical thinking and deep engagement, would be particularly well placed to do so. Furthermore, DEAR would foster the emergence of a Global Civil Society: DEAR as citizens’ empowerment for change, not involved with a “powerful giver-grateful receiver approach” would be particularly well placed to engage citizens all around the world in issues of global justice, which then would form the natural tissue of a global civil society. And lastly, DEAR would be central to new development paradigms such as a Human Rights Based Approach to development, Policy Coherence for Development and Development Effectiveness. The paper contains a number of recommendations to NGOs and other development actors. Download the position paper from the DEEEP website.

DARE Forum Youth and Children working group has published a position paper on Involving Youth and Children in Development Education and Awareness-raising.

For more information contact by DEEEP advocacy officer Tobias Troll

Information provided by DEEEP

Quality criteria for development cooperation: Sloga and TRIALOG training

As a part of its annual training events, the Sloveninan development NGO platform SLOGA organised a TRIALOG training entitled “Quality criteria for development cooperation” in Ljubljana between 29.06. and 30.06. The aim of the training was capacity building on how to implement different quality criteria through the project cycle management of development cooperation and education projects.

The training, delivered by TRIALOG capacity building Officer Andra Tanase, addressed the issues of quality in programming, project writing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development cooperation projects. Participants from, mainly, Slovenian development NGOs with various experience in this field, were first introduced to different tools that help increase the quality of their projects. After that, they had a chance to use the tools in workshops where they prepared »real« projects.

There was also short workshop on “EC Standard Contract management”, delivered by SLOGA participants of the first module of the TRIALOG Training for Multipliers (11. – 14. April 2011). At the end of the training all participants agreed that there is much room for improvement of quality of their projects. Both the participants and SLOGA as organizer were satisfied with the training and at the same time expressed the need for more training in this field.

Information provided by Aleš Rovšnik, SLOGA

Human Security Initiative 2015 established

An international "Human Security Initiative 2015" group (HS - 2015 -) was created on June 17th, 2011. The group aims at deepening the concept of Human Security as a development paradigm in light of the post Millennium Development Goal (MDG) discourse. The group consists of around 20 international development practitioners, government officials and scholars.

The initiative group was born out of the international conference “Human Security – Towards Empowering Development” that took place on June 16, 2011 in Riga. The conference brought together prominent development economists and Baltic States’ and other European development practitioners at the NGO, government and EC levels to exchange information about the use of the concept of human security. The conference was hosted in Latvia, as it will be holding EU Presidency in 2015, at the time when the MDGs are aimed to be reached.

The main conclusion reached at the conference was that Human Security as a development cooperation concept has a lot to offer: it is human rights-based, participatory, takes into account not only objective but also subjective realities, steps over the irrelevant North-South distinction, offers customized solutions and value for money. Furthermore, it can be used as a tool for prioritizing action as well as assessing progress in achieving human security, that is, empowerment or people’s ability to take responsibility for their own and society’s well-being.

Having assessed the potential of Human Security as a post-2015 lead-concept, integrating and moving beyond the MDGs, the initiative group set two main goals: 1) exploring and deepening the concept of Human Security for development cooperation and 2) following and examining other discussions on the post-MDG agenda.

The conference was hosted by the Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation (LAPAS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia in cooperation with the Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation (AKÜ) and the Lithuanian National Platform of Development Non-Governmental Organisations.

For more information contact LAPAS at info@lapas.lv

Information provided by Ieva Snikersproge, LAPAS

Update on Forecast for up-coming Global Calls

The forecast of the up-coming 2011 global calls for proposals has been updated.

The budgets for the NSA-LA programme have changed (compared to the previous forecast):
- Objective 2 (Development Education) has increased from 27 million € to 55 million €
- Objective 1 (In-country calls) has increased from 15 million € to 32 million €
- Local Authorities (Obj 1 & 2) has decreased from 36 million € to 16 million €

Download the document (pdf).

Information provided by Elise Vanormelingen, CONCORD

EU Earmarks €5.5 Billion for Reforms in the Western Balkans, Turkey and Iceland

The European Commission has finalised its plans for financial support for ongoing reforms in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Kosovo for 2011–2013. The plans, called Multi-Annual Indicative Planning Documents (MIPDs), outline a revised strategy for funding under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession assistance (IPA). The funding will focus on areas such as reform of the judiciary and public administration, enhancing regional cooperation in the fight against organised crime and corruption, building up a vibrant civil society, fostering reforms and regional cooperation in education, as well as underpinning sustainable recovery from the economic crisis through investment in strategic infrastructure projects. Around 10% of the available IPA funds will be allocated to strengthen multilateral relations in the Western Balkans and Turkey, in areas identified as crucial for European integration and stability in the region where there is a clear need for regional co-operation: tackling cross-border problems, seeking greater efficiency through closer co-operation, leveraging existing instruments and facilitating networks of experts. Funds available for this will total around €521 million for the period 2011-2013. To find out the Indicative IPA financial allocations for the period 2011-2013 click here.

Source BCSDN No. 233

International Framework by Global Civil Society on its Own Role in International Development finalised

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from across the globe, represented by some 230 delegates from over 70 countries, gathered in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from June 28 to 30, 2011 to finalize the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness at the second and final Global Assembly of the Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness, organized with the support of Cooperation Committee for Cambodia.

The International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness represents a statement from global civil society on principles, guidelines and external conditions from governments and donors for CSO development effectiveness, and is the culmination of two years of work to consolidate the views of civil society around their own effectiveness as development actors and the enabling environment needed to conduct their work. Finalizing the International Framework is a remarkable success for civil society worldwide as it consolidates a collective voice from the sector on CSO Development Effectiveness that civil society can use to guide their own work and advocate with governments and donors, and that applies to national contexts across the globe. In the next months, CSOs will be widely disseminating the final draft International Framework and prepare to take it to multilateral negotiations at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Busan, South Korea, on the 29 November – 1 December 2011.

Find the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness and related press release.

Information provided by Open Forum for CSO Effectiveness

TRIALOG Partnership Fair 19-21 September 2011, Vienna

Due to the significant success of the previous editions of the TRIALOG Partnership Fair held in October 2006 and February 2010 when many of the later EC-funded development education projects under NSA-LA line were conceived, TRIALOG will host the third edition of this event in September 2011. This time, we expect around 80 participants from across the EU to work on possible projects for the NSA-LA Development Education call, Investing in People and EIDHR.

The partnership fair is a learning, networking and project-designing event from development CSOs from across Europe coming from different sectors (development education, human rights, environment, gender etc). The Partnership Fair facilitates partnerships, cooperation, learning and exchange at an international level for joint projects for development. Key development actors (donors, representatives of the EC and NGOs) will contribute either as speakers, facilitators or participants.

As in the previous editions, the organizers expect that the Partnership Fair will represent a valuable moment of finding new partners, learning from experts, dialogue with the Commission representatives and other key actors and more importantly a moment where successful projects in true partnership are agreed upon and drafted. We expect participants to come to the Partnership Fair, with concrete ideas on possible projects, with complete information and knowledge on their organisations and with decision making powers to commit their organisation to projects in partnership.

Deadline for Applications: 15th of August 2011, with applications processed on a rolling basis, preference to those received before July 19th. For the agenda and application form please visit our website.

Back to the Future! Volunteers returned from overseas to engage in DEAR in Germany, Ireland and Poland

With a kick-off workshop in Esslingen (Germany) on end of May 2011 a new project in cooperation between partners from Germany (finep), Ireland (Comhlamh) and Poland (SWM) has been launched. The horizon of DEAR in Europe will soon be enriched by activities aiming at empowering returned volunteers to become development education multipliers. Financed by the European Commission in the framework of NSA LA in Development, (the Development Education Programme of the EuropeAid Office) the 36-month project will target 2250 volunteers by the end of the implementation period, raising high expectations and even higher excitement among the partners.

The initiative is the result of a meeting among partners during TRIALOG’s Partnership Fair in 2010, and a common view on the problem of low involvement of returned volunteers, with a parallel difficulty of low capacity among volunteer sending organisations to adequately support the volunteers. Therefore, the work plan includes direct work with the volunteers (training scheme, publications, supporting small-scale actions), and activities targeting Sending Organisations and Development Education institutional actors (meetings, consulting, capacity building, among others). Advocacy and promotional activities are planned, in order to mainstream the issue tackled, with a conference in Warsaw, Poland planned for autumn 2011, in the framework of the European Year of Volunteering and the Polish Presidency period.
For further information on the project you can contact the partners in respective countries: Germany: Kai Diederich, Ireland: Grainne O'Neill, Poland: Elzbieta Jakubek.

Check also the Facebook fanpage.

Information provided by Elzbieta Jakubek (SWM Poland) in cooperation with Comhlámh, Finep

TACSO Manuals

The Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations (TACSO) in Western Balkans and Turkey is an EU-funded office supporting national NGOs to access EU financial assistance by keeping them aware of funding opportunities and training them to develop, write and submit suitable project proposals.

It can be extremely challenging for individual CSOs which are trying to understand how investment decisions are made within EU institutions and how to successfully apply for EU funding. Indeed, for many CSOs the challenge seems like an insoluble mystery, and for organisations in the Western Balkans region and Turkey, despite being geographically and, in terms of forthcoming accession, close to the EU, the EU’s funding processes can appear mysterious and at times frustrating. To help clarify and explain this process we have produced this Manual. It and the accompanying Toolkit is aimed at assisting CSOs in the Western Balkans and Turkey to understand the process of accession to and subsequent successful management of EU funds. It is intended to show CSOs how they can become both more effcient and more effective in accessing and managing EU funds. Download: Manual on Developing and Managing EU-Funded Projects (pdf). This is particularly for funding under the IPA and is the main reason why this Manual and Toolkit is specifically designed for CSOs in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

TACSO has also published for a new manual on citizens’ participation. The Manual is made up of three main parts. The first part deals with the concepts and general approaches, mechanisms and methodologies for effective citizens' participation; the second one looks at citizens' participation in action, at both the local and national level and the last is a 'Toolbox' which contains checklists and examples of templates and methodologies to be used in support of citizens' participation. Here you can download the Manual on CSOs and Citizens' Participation (pdf).

European Development Days 2011, 15-16 December, Warsaw, Poland

The sixth edition of European Development Days will take place on 15-16 December 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. The EDD is the leading European forum where the questions and issues about international development cooperation are debated. All information, powerpoints and the EU Commission’s meeting report will be available on the website soon: http://eudevdays.eu/index.cfm. You can also contact CONCORD Communications Officer Daniel Puglisi at dpuglisi@concordeurope.org for more information. Be aware that the number of places is limited. Application deadline is 19 August.

OECD Agricultural Outlook

The OECD Agricultural Outlook report provides world market trends for biofuels, cereals, oilseeds, sugar, meats, dairy products and, for the first time, the fisheries sector over the 2011-20 period. This edition also includes an evaluation of recent developments, key issues and uncertainties in those commodity markets. The projections are the result of close co-operation with national experts in OECD and non-OECD countries. A jointly developed modelling system, based on the OECD’s AGLINK and on the FAO’s COSIMO models, facilitates consistency in the projections. In the context of the G20 discussions on agriculture, a section of the report is devoted this year to the policy responses to price volatility. It is the seventeenth edition of the Agricultural Outlook and the seventh co-edition prepared jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Go to the website of the OECD Agricultural Outlook.

Humanity in Action Conference, London 5-7 October

The British Red Cross is running a three day conference (5-7 October 2011) in London on migration and conflict in order to celebrate the conclusion of two educational projects, Positive Images and Justice and Fairness. The conference is designed to encourage teachers and youth workers to discuss and learn new methods of approaching the issues of migration and conflict with young people. Find out more about the conference here.

International Documentary Film Festival HumanDOC, Warsaw, Nov 12-17

The International Documentary Film Festival GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT IN CINEMA is the first festival in Central-Eastern Europe that is solely dedicated to show documentary films and social commercials on various themes and issues concerning development of poor and vulnerable communities from around the world. Through the screenings of selected productions we would like to bring our festival audience closer to current problems of people living in developing nations, and to provide them with deeper insights into the politics of global development and various issues related to international aid for economically depressed countries.

FESTIVAL GLOBAL DEVLOPMENT IN CINEMA OPENED THE CALL FOR FILMS! The organisers are looking for Documentary films, Reportages, Social advertising/campaigns related to development issues. Deadline for sumission is 31st of July.

More Information: http://festival.humandoc.net/en/

European Forum on Food Sovereignty, Krems, 16-21 August

From August 16th to 21st 2011 the Nyeleni Europe Food Sovereignty Forum will take place in Krems, Austria. Nyeleni, the first European Forum for food sovereignty will gather around 600 people from all over Europe that are engaged in promoting the concept of food sovereignty - the right of all peoples, countries and country groups to define their food politics themselves. With the future of European agriculture currently being debated, increasing world hunger, disappearing farms and the collapse of biodiversity, it is vital that new solutions are found urgently. This Forum will be a key cornerstone to developing the idea of food sovereignty, making concrete proposals for decision-makers and developing an action plan for a future joint work between food sovereignty movements from all over Europe. For more infomration visit the website http://nyeleni2011.net/.

See also the related article Torwads a European Forum for Food Sovereignty.