Human Rights - Hand in Hand with Development Cooperation

"Persist – Persist- Persist”, is the message of Marluce Melo from the Brazilian land rights organisation CPT (Comissão Pastoral da Terra), which still resonates in the ears of participants of the conference “Promoting Human Rights – Empowering Civil Society”, as it perfectly reflects the challenges faced in day to day work by many organisations.

More than 100 representatives of human rights civil society organisations (CSOs) gathered in Vienna for three days in June to discuss principles, strategies and methods to strengthen their working structures and exchange good practices and project experiences.

The event was organised by the Austrian development organisation HORIZONT3000, in collaboration with TRIALOG. Project partners from Africa, Latin America and Oceania, as well as NGO-representatives from the EU12 (counties which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007), the Western Balkans and local Austrian organisations were able to benefit from this unique opportunity to debate in-depth human rights, advocacy and lobbying and the sustainable strengthening of civil society.

Many ideas were shared and contacts built across continents. Evija Goluba from Transparency International (Latvia) says: “The most important thing my organisation and I gained from the conference is the fact that many CSOs from the Global South are very experienced. It would be good if they came to different European countries to share their experience.” Kari Käsper from the Estonian Human Rights Centre points out: “The most important benefit was the ability to discuss and see different approaches to the protection of human rights, employed in diverse contexts.” and Marija Dimitrijevic Miskovic from Civic Initiatives (Serbia) reports: “Many new project ideas emerged as a result of this conference, as well as numerous contacts for further cooperation both from the North and the South.”

Participants jointly raised their voice for an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) in Austria, which at 0.27% of the GNI is lagging far behind the international agreement of 0.7% and signed a petition addressed to the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

TRIALOG is looking forward to seeing the inspirational spirit and knowledge of the conference transferred to the members of EU12 development NGO platforms.

For more information see the HORIZONT3000 website or contact Elisa Romero at information@trialog.or.at

In the photo above (right): Participants of the conference.
In the picture above (left): Invitation card, various photos from HORIZONT3000 projects.

Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG

Envisioning a Just and Sustainable World – CYINDEP kicked off the Cyprus EU Presidency

On 1 July 2012, Cyprus assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Just days after the official inaugurations, CYINDEP – the Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform – kicked off their EU-funded Presidency Project, entitled ‘Solidarity in Change – Development in a Time of Transition’.

Under the slogan ‘Envisioning a Just and Sustainable World’, CYINDEP has already launched its first three position papers on the post-2015 process, on the Multi Financial Framework of the EU (MFF) and on the role of citizens in development. Currently the platform is in the process of launching further papers as well as planning local and international events.

Implemented in a time of financial, social and economic turmoil, the Presidency project offers an excellent opportunity for Cypriot civil society to become more involved in discussions and debates around development issues, to empower citizens across the island to take action and to contribute to shaping the post-2015 development framework.

Apart from capacity building for the local CSOs and an awareness campaign on the role of citizens in development, CYINDEP has entered a partnership with UNDP Action for Cooperation and Trust to join the ‘Power of One’ Conference and Euro-Mediterranean Souk, focusing on the role of citizens and civil society in stimulating social change during periods of transition.
The event will take place in Nicosia, Cyprus from 9-12 October 2012.
If you are interested to participate in the event and to submit a case study of good practice, please contact Deniz at deniz.usman@cyindep.org  or download the documents from our website.

In November 2012, CYINDEP will host the Global Civil Society Symposium, focusing on the Post-2015 Framework. The 2-day event will aspire to bring together civil society from around the world to explore in depth how food security can best be incorporated in a new development framework. The symposium will offer thematic sessions, civil society panels, thematic working groups and a high-level panel on the second day of the Symposium. The symposium aims to build on previous seminars and consultations, and will conclude with a list of specific recommendations from civil society towards decision-makers. In addition to the symposium, CYINDEP will also hold Roundtable discussions in four cities outside of Nicosia in order to engage a wider part of the Cypriot public and stakeholders into the post-2015 debate.
The Call for Participants and Registration Forms will be published on our website shortly, so please check it regularly, or follow us on facebook (www.facebok.com/cyindep) to stay updated with regards to the Cyprus EU Presidency and the CYINDEP Presidency Project.

Contact details: Kerstin Wittig, Project Director, kerstin.wittig@cyindep.org

Information provided by Kerstin Wittig, CYINDEP

AidWatch Seminar in Slovakia

On 9th July 2012 Slovak NGDO Platform organized a seminar called “AIDWATCH 2012 and recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the Slovak ODA”. The seminar was supported by CONCORD and SlovakAid.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, UNDP and non-governmental development organizations participated. The program comprised two parts. In the first block, CONCORD´s AidWatch coordinator Zuzana Sladkova presented the 2012 AidWatch Report. Thereafter, Nora Benakova from the Slovak NGDO Platform introduced the Slovak National AidWatch report. MVRO, the Slovak NGDO Platform presented recommendations to improve the ODA effectiveness. Both presentations enhanced vivid discussions among participants.

In the second block, Zuzana Fialova, the Platform´s chairwoman, focused on the improvements that need to be done in order to increase Slovak aid effectiveness, especially a need to build capacities in the field of development cooperation and gather experts from various fields. Secondly, there is a need to incorporate cross-cutting issues in a more structured way in the ODA programming documents.

The seminar provided space to discuss the results of ODA provision in the last year on the European and national level and addressed issues that need to be worked on in the future in order to increase aid effectiveness.

Picture: Cover of the Slovak National AidWatch Report 2012. Photo: Archive of SAVIO o.z., 2011, South Sudan- Western Equatoria, Primary education support for pupils in Manguo-Maridi

Information provided by Andrea Girmanová, Platforma MVRO - Slovak NGDO Platform

Romanian Development Cooperation: 2015 and Beyond - The Roadmap for Effectiveness

During 11-13th of July 2012, the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND), in partnership with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized the fifth edition of the Romanian Development Camp, an unique space for dialogue and debate which gathered the main important stakeholders of the development cooperation community, both from national and European level: governmental actors, civil society, international donors, partner countries, academia, local authorities, mass media.

Among the guest invited were representatives from the European Commission, CONCORD (the AidWatch coordinator) and other civil society representatives from Poland and Czech Republic.

This edition has brought a new different approach on the Romanian involvement as donor and focused on revising the national strategy on development cooperation policy. The sessions were designed to provide the possibilities for reflection and a better interaction with the participants, in order to maximize the revising process. The participants were divided into thematic working groups (focused on OECD-DAC reporting, NGDOs’ involvement in EU policy, research on ODA and how to optimize the local authorities potential contribution in the field) and cross-sectorial groups (Government, civil society, academia), which provided input and offered perspectives on how Romanian strategy should look like.

At the end of the three days, the participants were encouraged to advance a joint action plan and policy recommendations for 2012-2013, which will be monitored by the platform. Also, FOND assumed the responsibility to propose a framework and timeline for the process of consultation on the revision of the national strategy, which has been initiated at this event. FOND and its Working Group on Policy and Advocacy will continue to build a fruitful cooperation with all the relevant actors in order to ensure that the Romania’s efforts in this field will improve the lives of people from developing countries.

Find more information on the website www.fondromania.org/eng.

In the photo: participants of the Romanian Development Camp 2012.

Information provided by Adriana Zaharia, Romanian NGDO Platform – FOND, adriana.zaharia@fondromania.org

Sustainable Development is more than the Environment

SLOGA, the Slovenian NGDO platform, has organized on May 23rd 2012, in cooperation with partners and in the light of the upcoming Conference of the United Nations (UN) on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the conference »Sustainable development is more than the environment: Rio+20 and its implications for developing countries«. The event has been designed to increase the visibility of the process of preparations for Rio+20 and its importance for developing countries (DCs).

Slovenian and international preparations for Rio+20, reflecting the government and the NGO perspective, were presented by the following guests: Janos Tisovszky (Director of UN Information Service in Vienna), Ksenija Škrilec (Head of Sector for global challenges), Hélène Debbari (Representative from Eurostep), Živa Gobbo (President of Focus Association for Sustainable Development) and Eyachew Tefera (Director of Institute for African Studies).

After an introduction to the basic purpose and key expectations of the UN from Rio+20, as well as on the Slovenian preparations and official position for Rio+20, NGO representatives commented on the preparations for Rio+20 from their perspective as European development and environmental NGOs.

Mr. Tisovszky of the UN defined as the most important strategic goal, a combination of environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development and added to this equality and the fight against poverty. In addition, he stressed the importance of young people and of ensuring the resistance of the population to various global crises. Mrs. Škrilec also considered that is important to include gender and to find long term solutions. Mrs. Debbari continued that equality and development represent goals of sustainable development, but the current situation in the world is far away from the concept of sustainability. Mrs. Gobbo believes that the Rio+20 process on climate is not sufficiently binding, because some developed countries (including Slovenia) do not recognize their responsibilities in this area. The problem is the lack of concrete steps towards a green economy or sustainable development, therefore the solution is seen in a broader understanding of sustainability. Mr. Tefera, who had focused on the issues of sustainable development in developing countries, pointed out the lack of pragmatism and the need for critical evaluation of the MDGs process.

After the conference SLOGA formed with other interested NGOs, a common line for a position on the Rio+20 and forwarded it to the Slovene MFA (Ministry for Foreign Affairs).

In the photo: participants of the conference on Sustainable Development.

Information provided by Mojca Krisper Figueroa, SLOGA

European Consultations on CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness

In the CSO meeting in Busan in December 2011, the Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness and the BetterAid decided to merge both global processes in CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE). This decision was confirmed by the consensus in Cebu in February 2012. The objectives, strategies and structures for cooperation within CPDE were proposed by a drafting group and submitted for regional and sectoral consultations.

The European consultations took place in Belgrade on 3 and 4 July 2012. The day before, the Working group on CSO Development Effectiveness of CONCORD met to prepare the European meeting and to discuss the priorities for the Working group action plan.

There were 34 participants from 23 European countries (EU and non-EU) and from regional and global organizations. After detailed discussions, the participants agreed on key issues and proposed number of improvements in the CPDE paper. The general comment is that the document should be shorter and less bureaucratic to make it clearer for large constituencies; some issues could be left for regional, sub-regional and national bodies.

The key European requirements include:
• There must be a better balance between the advocacy work of CPDE and the emphasis on own development effectiveness.
• The members of CPDE must agree both with the Istanbul Principles* and Key Asks paper**.
• The structure and the representation in the Global Council must be clarified; the same organization cannot have 2 seats, organization hosting the secretariat cannot have a co-chair, etc. – the structure must stay transparent and avoid conflict of interest.
• The members of the Independent Accountability Body must be selected with random process from the nominees.

At the end of consultations, the group selected Justin Kilcullen as CPDE representative of the European region. The representatives of sub-regions will be selected in sub-regional consultations.
The European group proposes to have 3 sub-regions.


* Istanbul Principles:
1. Respect and promote human rights and social justice
2. Embody gender equality and equity while promoting women and girls´ rights
3. Focus on people´s empowerment, democratic ownership and participation
4. Promote environmental sustainability
5. Practice transparency and accountability
6. Pursue equitable partnerships and solidarity
7. Create and share knowledge and commit to mutual learning
8. Commit to realizing positive sustainable changes

** Key Asks (Key CSO messages and proposals actors; agreed by the Open Forum and BetterAid in Harnosand in March 2011):
A) Fully evaluate and deepen the Paris and Accra commitments
B) Strengthen development effectiveness through practices based on human rights standards
C) Support CSOs a independent development actors in their own right, and commit to an enabling environment for their work in all countries
D) Promote equitable and just development architecture

More information: Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness and BetterAid
Or contact Daniel.Nuijten@concordeurope.org

Information provided by Daniel Svoboda, Civic Association Development Worldwide and member of the Global Facilitation Group of the Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness

News from the Change Lab - Sustainable Development and Local Society

After 14 years, the development education summer school closes its doors. It is not a farewell, rather a goodbye!

A last successful summer school, gathered for 7 days some 100 participants, from 40 different countries, in Zvánovice, Czech Republic. The success is not only due to the participants, who made the discussions and the exchange actually possible, but also to the great organization managed by FoRS with the support of DEEEP, and all the people who got involved in this summer school (volunteers, rapporteurs, facilitators, experts, photograph, newsletter team…)

From 24 to 30 June 2012, the participants exchanged on how to engage local societies in sustainable development. Before the action there must be understanding, which is why participants could enjoy several presentations and talks by experts on various topics concerning sustainable development.

Susan George, provided the ground for reflection by giving the keynote speech, stressing the importance of local solutions to global problems in times of multiple crises. Jan Pokorný drew everybody’s attention to ways in which we can influence climate by beneficial water and land management. Petr Lebeda of Glopolis and Tobias Troll from DEEEP presented their views on the Rio+20 Summit that finished just before DESS 2012 and which they both attended.

This year the summer school organisers decided to introduce a series of new elements. Aside from the more traditional presentations and working groups asset, field visits to Czech NGOs and open space session allowed the participants to think out of the box, to sit together and discuss on specific issues. Participants created themselves a big centre of expertise and came up with topics such as „What is Southern Perspective?“, “Self-transforming – Changing the person in the Mirror” or more practical “Investing in Renewable Energy” or “How to make DE financially sustainable”. Two graphic harvesters translated in drawing the main discussions of the week, and presented the final drawing during the closing session.

Participants left the summer school with some food for thoughts, new friends, new potential partners to develop joint projects and reflections around sustainable development. Though they all live in different parts of the world, far from each other, the online platform prepared for them, as well as the facebook group created shall ease the communication and exchange between them.

DEEEP is now finalizing the evaluation of the summer school, and will prepare a set of recommendations to be considered when planning further capacity building events.
It may have been the last summer school under this format, but the future holds new projects, new trainings and further peer learning. It is not the end, just the beginning of a new era!

Reports of the working group, final evaluation and further documents will be available on the DEEEP website soon.

Maurice, one participant of the summer school, prepared an interesting podcast, on sustainable development. Listen the podcast here.

In the photo: participants of the DESS 2012

Information provided by Chiara Tripepi (c.tripepi@deeep.org), DEEEP and Tereza Rejšková, FoRS – Czech Forum for Development Cooperation

Show Me Inclusion – Persons with Disabilities have Potential!

In Africa and other parts of the world, having a disability often means being poorer than other people in the community. The "End Exclusion" project believes in the potential of persons with disabilities and sets out to ensure that their human rights are respected. In the fight to end poverty as well as in society as a whole, we must include persons with disabilities!

“Show Me Inclusion” is a competition that invites people to get creative around the inclusion of persons with disabilities and submit videos, photos, story books or sketch books by the 16th of September 2012.

Persons with disabilities have the right to be equal members of society. This is often not the case – in Europe and around the world. In developing countries a young person with disability will often not have access to school, jobs or social life. Let’s show the world that it doesn’t have to be that way!

Submissions are accepted in English, German, Dutch, Slovak and Czech. The best submission will be selected by the international jury of experts from film, sport, politics and the disability movement. The winning entry will be professionally produced and used worldwide as an awareness raising tool.

Find out how to get engaged on the website of “END EXCLUSION- Let’s Enable the Millennium Development Goals”.
See the teaser here

Information provided by Jess Blijkers, "End Exclusion – Let’s Enable the MDGs"

Seminar on the Code of Conduct

On July 10th, DEEEP organized a European seminar on the use of the Code of Conduct on Messages and Images. 27 communication officers joined the seminar, with the overall aim o learn more on how to implement the Code of Conduct, and ensure and ethical communication!

Danute Dura and Timo Kiesel guided the participants throughout the day, providing them with input for their reflection. As the topic is quite relevant for NGOs, a follow up seminar in the coming months is not to be excluded.
At the end of the day, participants agreed on the need among others, to establish a peer monitoring system. A need for further trainings was also underlined.

Recommendations will be sent to the Board of CONCORD, to make sure NGOs needs are taken into consideration. The final report of the seminar will be uploaded on the DEEEP website soon. An online platform to ease exchanges on the implementation of the Code is also being created!

For more information, contact Chiara Tripepi at c.tripepi@deeep.org

Information provided by Chiara Tripepi, DEEEP

AidWatch Report 2012

The 2012 AidWatch reports focuses on the efforts being made to meet aid targets as the deadline for meeting the MDGs draws near. Unfortunately, it does not make for very inspiring reading. Although the EU can still be considered the world's aid champion, it delivered significantly less in 2011 than it did in 2010 and it lowered the amount of aid that was spent on development activities.

In 2011 aid from EU member states fell for first time in 4 years: Among individual member states, 11 cut aid budgets from the previous year, and five of those cut it by more than 10% including one EU-12 country, Cyprus. Only six EU countries are on track to meet their 2015 targets (including Malta) but predictions based on current levels suggest that EU member states’ ODA will only reach 0.44% in 2015, which is far from the aid levels that were promised.

There seems to have been a continuation of the trend to focus ODA programmes on own security and economic interest, and countries are still spending aid that should be invested in developing countries, in their own countries, on refugee and student costs or debt relief.

The report puts forward some examples that demonstrate how some EU member states are showing that the economic crisis need not be an excuse for broken aid promises, including highlighting Malta, Lithuania, Romania and Estonia as the EU-12 countries that increased their aid significantly in 2011. Sadly they remain some way from meeting their targets, and other EU-12 countries performed considerably worse.

There are also examples of tied aid in the EU-12. The ODA funds of only Romania and Lithuania seem to be open to foreign entities. In other countries including Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary funding is only available to nationals and the situation is unclear regarding small grants programmes run by the Bulgarian, Polish, Estonian, Slovakian and Latvian embassies in developing countries.

The AidWatch report can be downloaded from the website: http://aidwatch.concordeurope.org/

Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG

EC Public Consultation “Towards a post-2015 development framework”

The European Commission has launched a Public Consultation to capture civil society’s thinking on the post-2015 framework (see here).
In order to work together to use this opportunity to influence the EC’s thinking, the European Steering Group of Beyond 2015 encourages all European participating organisations in Beyond 2015 to take part in this consultation and to help promote the key messages of the campaign.

While a joint submission will be made on behalf of the campaign, participating organisations in Beyond 2015 are encouraged to make their own individual submissions by using the same document or its key messages.

The Steering group has already drafted a joint Beyond 2015 Submission, which is now open for comments and inputs until 24th of July.

The deadline of the EU for submissions is the 15th of September 2012.

Please get in touch with Gerard Vives at Gerard.Vives@concordeurope.org if your organisation is interested in contributing to the process.





Source: Beyond2015 European Task Force

Written Declaration n.7: Adopted!

Before getting into details, we would like to acknowledge that this paramount success would never have been possible without the support and involvement of DARE member forum and the EP campaign team, involved in loco, both in Brussels and Strasbourg! Thank you for all the efforts you put to make all this possible!

  After an intense 4 months campaign, the European Parliament adopts the written declaration on development education and global active citizenship. On July 5th, the European Parliament has officially adopted the written declaration on development education and active global citizenship, co-tabled by MEP Filip Kaczmarek, Catherine Grèze , Fiona Hall, Maria Badia I Cutchet and Michael Gahler.

The declaration, which promotes the strengthening of development education policies, both at national and European level represents a paramount political milestone for the development education sector. The very positive response of the European Parliament comes after a strong campaign lead by CONCORD and DEEEP, and sets the frame for new debates on the role of European citizens within development.

• Although several member states have already adopted a national strategy on development education, a high number of countries is still missing one, or has not fully implemented it yet .
• While Europeans largely support development, personal active engagement for global justice remains low: 89% of Europeans attach a high value to development cooperation, but only 4% actively engage through volunteering.
• The EU is one of the most significant funders of DEAR in Europe with €30million coming through EuropeAid, and yet, there is still no explicit strategy on development education.

MEP Kaczmarek declared that "development education plays a key role in the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development. It strengthens the support to the active engagement of citizens in local and global level to promote justice, human rights, and sustainable development."

CONCORD and DEEEP will continue working side to side with the European Institutions, and namely the European Parliament, to promote development education. The adoption of this written declaration is one more relevant step towards strengthening the awareness of European citizens with regards to development. Such process foresees among others, setting up the basis for the elaboration of a European Parliament's report on development education.

Read here the full declaration with the names of the signatories. 

For more information, contact Tobias Troll at t.troll@deeep.org

Information provided by Chiara Tripepi, DEEEP

North-South Centre holds a Global Education E-learning Course

This introductory online training course on global education (GE), with a particular focus on human rights (HR), targets practitioners in the field of education and development, teachers, social and youth workers, as well as policy-makers, civil servants and local and regional authorities.

The four-week long online learning course involves 10 hours of learning per week, which includes reading, discussion and response to interactive exercises. The course has been designed to complement the Global Education Guidelines, a pedagogical tool for educators and policy makers to understand and implement Global Education, and share with a wider audience concepts and approaches promoted by the North-South Centre’s Global Education programme.

This course provides an introduction to human rights education as part of the Global Education context, and deals with its concepts, approaches, strategies and action, by considering its interconnections between the global and local.

The next course takes place from 6 to 31 August, 2012.
The deadline for submitting the complete application is 25 July, 2012.

The North South Centre will provide scholarships corresponding to the course value. The scholarships will be granted to selected applications on the basis of quality of the application.

Go directly to the online application.
More information on the website of the North-South Centre.

Source: The North-South Centre

Civil Society Transformations on the Way to the European Union

How did the accession process influence the relationship of state and non-state actors? What kind of new relationships did the accession process foster (stronger CSOs vs. weaker public administration or vice versa)? How did candidate countries utilize civil society achievements in negotiations with the EU? How did CSOs utilize the accession process to influence public policies?
These are the questions that this regional conference aims to identify, in addition to the key challenges faced by CSOs in the framework of the EU enlargement process and to present the changes that CSOs and other actors in the field went through during that process. The main objective is to articulate the lessons learned in the course of the accession process, especially during the four-year presence of TACSO in the region, and to assist CSOs in the Western Balkans and Turkey to cope with the challenges that are ahead.

CSO representatives, activists, academics, practitioners and artists involved with civil society issues in the Western Balkans and Turkey are invited to submit a summary of their proposed contributions. The official language of the conference is English.

The conference will take place 17 – 19 April, 2013 in Zagreb, Croatia. TACSO will cover the costs of participation (travel and visa expenses, food and accommodation) and offer modest honorarium for the selected contributors.

The participants should submit a summary of their proposed contributions on the following sub-themes:
• Role and capacity of CSOs on the way to the EU
• Networks/Partnerships
• State vs. Civil Society

The deadline is 17 September 2012.

More information on the conference and the agenda.
Contact euconference2013@tacso.org

Source: mladiinfo

Open Knowledge Festival

The OKFestival, a so-called open knowledge festival, is taking place from 17 to 23 September 2012 in Helsinki, Finland.

During one week of participatory sessions, keynote lectures, workshops, hackathons and satellite events, there will also be one stream on development. In this stream the organisers of the festival would like to include an event for NGO representatives in the region working in aid (both advocacy organisations and aid providers).

Topics of the development stream will be:
a) Open Development and Aid Flow (incl. IATI and tracking financial flows to developing countries)
b) Open = accessible? What are the practical issues for citizens in developing countries accessing open information?
c) Technologies for open development: What role do ICTs and open technologies such as FLOSS or open hardware play in open development?

Tickets: Tickets to the event cost 40 EUR per day, if you buy them before the end of this month, and 50 EUR per day afterwards. There are also week-long tickets available.

If you would like to get even more involved than simply being an active participant, feel free to consult your colleagues and contact Claudia Schwegmann (claudia.schwegmann@openaid.de).
There is a volunteer scheme for those who want to be part of the organizing team – and volunteers get free tickets.

Information provided by Claudia Schwegmann, Openaid

Development Policies of Central and Eastern European States: From Aid Recipients to Aid Donors

The brand new book, edited by Ondřej Horký, Simon Lightfoot, provides a series of case studies on development policies in the states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007.

The interest comes from the fact that never before had so many recipients of EU aid joined the Union and taken on the commitment to become aid donors. The journey from recipients of aid to aid donors is interesting because, not only does it tell us about development policy in CEE states, this policy area gives us an insight into governmental structures in CEE states, foreign policy priorities, public opinion, the role of NGOs/civil society and how well CEE states have taken on board the EU acquis (the EU’s rule book).

The book also explores whether the development cooperation programmes of the majority of CEESs reflect the so-called "transition experience" of moving from authoritarianism and socialism to democracy and modern liberalism? It also explores to what extent these donors are aligned with the approaches of the DAC donors?

Finally, by extending the scrutiny to the bottom-up development activities of non-state actors and public opinion, the book will scrutinize the dynamics of the solidarity of the former "East" with the global "South".

Contents:
1. From Aid Recipients to Aid Donors? Development Policies of Central and Eastern European States, by Ondřej Horký and Simon Lightfoot
2. The Transfer of the Central and Eastern European ‘Transition Experience’ to the South: Myth or Reality? By Ondřej Horký
3. Visegrad Countries’ Development Aid to Africa: Beyond the Rhetoric, by Dominik Kopiński
4. Hungarian International Development Cooperation: Context, Stakeholders and Performance, by Balázs Szent-Iványi
5. Development Discourse in Romania: From Socialism to EU Membership, by Mirela Oprea
6. Involving Civil Society in the International Development Cooperation of ‘New’ EU Member States: The Case of Slovenia, by Maja Bucar
7. Assessing the Aid Effectiveness of the Czech Republic: Commitment to Development Index and Beyond, by Petra Krylová, Miroslav Syrovátka and Zdenĕk Opršal
8. Development Cooperation of the Baltic States: A Comparison of the Trajectories of Three New Donor Countries, by Evelin Andrespok and Andres Ilmar Kasekamp

The articles are available for online purchase here (www.tandfonline.com) 
The book will be available in December 2013 here (www.routledge.com)

Source: Routledge and Simon Lightfoot