Joint Advocacy Seminar for V4 Platforms and Slovenia

On 11-12th September 2012, the Czech NGDO platform FoRS organized a workshop aimed to improve the advocacy skills of representatives of national platforms of the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) and Slovenia both on the national and on the EU level (focused on the use of the CONCORD Aidwatch report).

The workshop was supported by CONCORD. The first day was lectured by Ondřej Kopečný from the Prague Global Institute – Glopolis. The key approaches to designing a successful advocacy strategy were analyzed, including the inter-linkage between the EU development policy and the national level of policy-making related to development. At one of the sessions, a representative of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Milan Konrád was present to comment on the advocacy activities of NGDOs and provide some insight from the side of the Ministry.
On the second day, Ester Asin from Care International presented the current advocacy cases led by CONCORD on the level of the EU and facilitated a discussion about the joint advocacy actions within CONCORD and the available tools, especially the CONCORD Aidwatch report. The participants then took the floor to discuss examples of good practices and the challenges and conditions for advocacy in their respective countries.

The workshop was seen as a convenient forum for the national NGDO platforms to share their views and experience, improve their practical advocacy skills and find space for possible joint actions in the future.

In the picture: Ondřej Kopečný from the Prague Global Institute – Glopolis

Information provided by Zuzana Dudová FoRS - Czech Forum for Development Cooperation