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
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