In January,
two major events took place for FoRS in the
field of policy.
On January 16th, FoRS was invited to present its views on development cooperation at a sub-committee of the Czech Parliament. FoRS representatives mentioned namely the current Official Development Assistance (ODA) statistics and the role of civil society organizations in development. The parliamentarians then raised a debate on development effectiveness and the visibility of the Czech Republic as a donor in recipient countries. Both sides also agreed that there is a need to improve awareness raising on development cooperation both in the media and in the general public.
On January 18th, FoRS organized a meeting where its member and observers could share experience from external evaluations of Czech development projects. They also proposed their recommendations for the system of evaluations, which were later presented to the working group on evaluations of the inter-institutional Council on ODA. The working group welcomed them and is intending to include them in the evaluation plan for 2013.
FoRS is also planning the following events:
o
Seminar “Climate change as a development problem” (February 21, Prague)
The event, organized by FoRS, Climate Coalition and Glopolis, is addressed to workers in development and environmental NGOs with the aim of explaining and showing on concrete examples that the climate change is also a development problem. International experts with experience in development projects, campaigning and academia will share their views and experiences. The participants will also have space for discussing possibilities for cooperation between environmental and development NGOs.
o
“Spring school” for FoRS members (April 25/26 - the date and place tbc)
The so called “Spring School” is an event for FoRS members, their partners from NGOs, academia and private sector. Space for discussions, experience sharing and presentation of the work of FoRS working groups will be provided. The main challenges for Czech NGDOs in the various aspects of development cooperation such as funding, effectiveness, communication with the public or involvement in policy and advocacy work will also be discussed.
o
Workshop on development effectiveness
Through its focus on implementation of the theory of change and basic effectiveness principles in development project planning and management, the workshop should contribute to an improvement of the effectiveness of development and global education projects of FoRS members. Experience and information from concrete projects of the participants will be shared. This workshop will be organized as an independent event in April or as part of the above mentioned Spring School.
o
Humanitarian Congress (October 10 – 11, Olomouc, Prague)
FoRS, Caritas Czech Republic, Médecins Sans Frontières, Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague, Caritas College of Social Works, Diakonia of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethern, ADRA, Czech Red Cross and Palacky University Olomouc will organize a 1-day congress linked to a 1-day expert seminar for humanitarian NGOs. The agenda is now being developed and will be specified in the upcoming weeks.
Contact person: Marie Zázvorková,
marie.zazvorkova@fors.cz
Information provided by Marie Zázvorková, FoRS
Katarina Sramkova holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Masaryk university in Brno, Czech Republic and European master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, Venice and Université Libre de Bruxelles. Further she holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and European Studies from the Masaryk university. From 2009 to 2012 Katarina worked as project coordinator within the Corporate Responsibility Programme in the Czech development NGO “NaZemi” (until 2012 known as “Society for fair trade”). From 2007 to 2012 she worked as contributor and lecturer at the Global Development Education Centre of NaZemi/Society for fair trade. She has also volunteeredfor the Czech NGO “SOZE - Society of Citizens Assisting Emigrants” and the Slovak NGO “Land of Harmony Foundation” promoting the inclusion of persons with disability.
On January 16th, FoRS was invited to present its views on development cooperation at a sub-committee of the Czech Parliament. FoRS representatives mentioned namely the current Official Development Assistance (ODA) statistics and the role of civil society organizations in development. The parliamentarians then raised a debate on development effectiveness and the visibility of the Czech Republic as a donor in recipient countries. Both sides also agreed that there is a need to improve awareness raising on development cooperation both in the media and in the general public. 
As every year, in January and February Grupa Zagranica (Polish NGDO Platform) monitors grant competitions run by public administration that allocate public funds in the area of development cooperation. The aim is to look and assess the transparency and compliance with the procedures of the selection of applications’ process. Observers of grant committee sessions are chosen among representatives of member organizations and Zagranica Group’s Office. This activity ends with compiling and publishing the report, that contains an analysis of the course of the competition, together with the conclusions and recommendations for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA). The report is then discussed with MFA representatives.
After the legislative elections which took place in Romania on 9th of December 2012, a new Government was formed. Titus Corlatean became for the second time the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the national coordinator of the Romanian development cooperation policy. Mr. Corlatean has been involved in activities of the Romanian development NGO platform FOND since 2010, when he opened the first edition of the Romanian-Republic of Moldova Forum, as the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Romanian Senate.
The aim of the conference was to map the V4 capacities and opportunities for joint activities and programming in international development projects. The significance of this event laid in the fact that besides NGO experts and academics, members of parliaments and ministries´ representatives were present from all V4 countries. Around 70 participants took part in the event. The panelists and other participants had opportunity to exchange ideas on how to promote the topic of international development cooperation on the agenda in national parliaments and on the broader political agenda in the V4 countries. Representatives from the Czech, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian Parliaments and Ministries discussed how the four countries can join their efforts in fighting poverty in developing countries. All participating MPs have been to a study trip in a developing country, therefore they have an insight into the everyday lives of people living in poverty. Representatives of the ODA Departments of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of V4 countries shared their experience from V4 cooperation that has been in place for some years and it is not a new topic on the development agenda. They also touched upon the IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) that the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia agreed to implement by 2015. In the two last panels, the representatives of academia and NGOs mentioned also the importance of the implementation of the policy coherence for the development, cooperation with private sector as well as opportunities to build more synergies among V4 NGOs working in the field (e.g. network CEDRON).
Financed through the European Refugee Fund (ERF), the US Government and the UNHCR, KOPIN’s team of project managers, programme officers, cultural mediators and legal & psychological experts offer activities to all refugee women residing in Malta.
Activities are being provided throughout the week in all open migrants’ centres having female residents, related to education (literacy, numeracy, language, health, sexuality, nutrition, etc.), vocational training, skills training, recreation and socialisation, including outings to various places in Malta and Gozo.
KOPIN also involves experts from various fields, such as the Migrants’ Health Unit and the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) , to provide input to focus groups on issues such as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and female genital mutilation (FGM).
KOPIN also engages numerous Maltese and international volunteers and interns to support the implementing team, who have the chance to actively engage in this social field and learn more about the situation of refugees in Malta. 
Various migrant groups residing in Malta were invited to support the event by contributing in different ways such as setting up a stand, or displaying traditional dresses, music, food, or simply by attending the event.
Thanks also to the financial support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, different migrant groups were able to participate in the event through various activities such as displaying henna art, cooking food from different cultures as well as sharing traditional music and dance.
Member organizations of Grupa Zagranica (Polish NGDO platform) have set up a new working group, that gathers (for now)15 Polish development organizations working in West and East Africa. The main objective of the Africa Working Group is to increase Polish involvement in development cooperation in Africa. 
