Effectiveness Matters! Zagranica Group’s Conference “See People Behind Politics”

Over 60 people from all around Europe and global South met in Warsaw, to discuss solutions for improving aid effectiveness. There are two months left to the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4). The Joint Position of the European Union for Busan is developed under the Polish Presidency. The conference “Why effectiveness matters? Perspectives from the global South” on 10th October 2011 was supposed to show that political decisions and declarations that will be made, affect millions of people in countries of the global South. In the conference representatives of development Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), academics and representatives of Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs took part.

The first part of the conference was dedicated to the Human Rights Based Approach. Roberto Pinauin from IBON Foundation (Philippines) and Zsofia Farkas from the Minority Rights Group (Hungary) discussed how the HRBA can improve aid effectiveness, based on practices from partner countries and in terms of the upcoming HLF4 decision. During the second part of the conference, panelists discussed if solutions concerning ownership and accountability can bring concrete changes in the current aid system. The discussion was supported by Vitalice Meja from the Reality of Aid Network and Franklin Oduro from the Ghana Center for Democratic Ownership.

The biggest success of the conference was a Role Play Game, in which participants simulated Busan negotiations. Delegations had to prepare own positions about including HRBA and democratic ownership principle in a Busan Outcome Document. The simulation showed in an innovative way how difficult and fervent the decision-making process is – especially if the issue is so significant.

Zagranica Group expects that the European position for Busan (which has not been finalised yet) will be an expression of solidarity and real co-responsibility and a re-establish progressive framework for poverty eradication focus instead of being led purely by economic interest.

More information on the conference and the Zagranica Group Presidency project. http://zagranica.org.pl/en/Presidency-2011/ and Watch the Presidency spot at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5odvq8aPc

Information provided by Magdalena Trojanek, Zagranica Group