Goodbye Christine Bedoya

With deep sorrow we have to announce that our dear colleague Christine Bedoya lost the fight against cancer and passed away on 24th of November 2013.

Christine was working with TRIALOG since 2003 and coordinated the project successfully over many years. As a platform member expressed: “Those who were lucky to know her and worked with her will never forget her passion for civil society and development!”

We will miss Christine’s cheerful way, her strong spirit, and her engagement for a better world. We are grateful for the moments we shared with her.

The TRIALOG team and HORIZONT3000

Read the obituary on our website.

2015 and Beyond: What is the Future of Development and Development Education in Malta?

The roundtable brought together foreign experts, Government representatives and policy-makers, educational institutions, civil society organizations, local councils and other stakeholders with the aim to advocate for a National Strategy on Development Education and Awareness Raising, in the build up for the “Beyond 2015” process, 2015 as the EU Year for Development and the 2017 Presidency of the Council of the EU held by Malta.

Malta should separate money spent on maintaining detention centres from genuine aid. This is one of the main points that emerged from SKOP’s multistakeholder roundtable on development and development education that was held in Malta on the 17th of October. A point that was reiterated by members of civil society, speakers Stefano Moncada (University of Malta)
and Darrin Zammit Lupi (Photo Journalist), and Minister for Sustainable Development Leo Brincat. Minister Brincat also pointed out the clear link between climate change and development. He made clear that on this is pivotal issue, that is likely to be on top of the next EU meeting for environment ministers, there is still a gap between funds pledged and those actually delivered.
Representing CONCORD’s working group on Development Education and Awareness Raising (DARE Forum), Mr. Coertjens shared the ideas and questions the Forum has on the issue of Development Education. In a rapidly changing world, he insisted on the importance of maintaining key principles when dealing with development education, principles such as the fact that values are being promoted, the idea of active and global citizenship, and the human rights-based approach.
The roundtable also gave space for Mr. Underwood, from the Beyond 2015 EU Steering Group, who outlined the work of the Steering Group so far and the way forward. After a period where the group was gathering views and opinions from multiple levels of society, it is now time to take the process to a political, interstate level, especially at EU and UN institutions.


In the photo: Panel with the Minister for Sustainable Development Leo Brincat


Information provided by Paola Prinzis, SKOP

News from the Latvian CSO Platform LAPAS

Post-2015 Discussions in Latvia

In June, the Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation organised a debate on the post-2015 – discussions, priorities, involvement by NGOs and othe rrelated issues. Participants of the debate reflected different aspects of the important issues.
The material including viedeos of the presentations are avialable online:
-European development commissioner Andris Piebalgs – about current status and content, HLP report and role of NGOs – video
- René Mauricio Valdés (UNDP) – about global consultations, main discussions, role of NGOs and challenges – presentation and video
- Rilli Lappalainen (The Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU Kehys) – EU involvement, role of EU civil society, Experience of Finland – video and presentation
- Ana Kalin (Slovenian NGDO platform Sloga) – global perspective and view of Slovenian NGOs, why local should be linked to global – presentation and video
- Petr Patočka (Prague Global Policy Institute – Glopolis) – global context, EU context, Chezh context, new development and NGO context, EU-12 context– presentation and video
- Hanna Hansson (CONCORD Sweden) – involvement of Sweden in global process, dialogue between state and NGOs, Beyound2015 campaign, involvement of Swedish NGOs – video
- Inese Vaivare (LAPAS) – is economic growth development, solutions for development, challenges of new framework – presentation and video.

All materials of the conference are available for your further use on the LAPAS website.

Photo: Panel during the Post-2015 Debate


Capacity building in LAPAS

The year 2013 marks an important point for the capacity development of the Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation - LAPAS in a way to prepare a small platform for an important role with the Presidency of the EU Council in 2015 approaching. With the support of the European Social Fund and TRIALOG, a wide range of activities are being implemented such as:

- Training for members on e-tools, communication and project management
- Face-to-face meetings with each member on their engagement strategy and mapping of results for a better cooperation within the platform;
- Development of a members’ data base including basic information on organisation, projects and experts, available in 3 languages – English, Russian, Latvian; - Strategy trainings on international developments (in partnership with Glopolis), national development paradigm and financing of development;
- Regular meetings by members on development education, Presidency project, food security, humanitarian aid; - External communication of success stories in regular events calles “Stories from LAPAS”.
- In January 2014 a conference on development will be organised.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assessing the growing capacity of LAPAS, has provided a direct grant for the implementation of several additional acitivities such as research on projects in Central-Asia, a web page on post-2015 and other.


Information provided by Inese Vaivare, LAPAS
 

News from the Slovak NGDO Platform

The 15th annual European Global Education Week took place from the 16th to the 24th November 2013, at the initiative of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. This year´s topic was Go for a Sustainable Life Style.

In Slovakia, the Global Education Week was coordinated by the Slovak NGDO Platform. Together with its members it organized several discussions at schools and universities around Slovakia. Discussions took place in Bratislava, Trnava and Košice. Development volunteers and workers shared their experience from developing countries. Global Education Week promotes school activities in EU member states with a specific focus on how to overcome poverty and social exclusion. A discussion for broader public with development volunteers was part of the 14th film festival One World organized in Slovakia by People in Peril association. Information Centre of Global Education (Libraria) run by the Slovak Centre for Communication and Development was present at the books fair Bibilioteka.

On 18th November the Slovak NGDO Platform organized a seminar Development Cooperation after 2013. The seminar focused on the presentation of the national and European AidWatch report 2013 and the presentation of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020. Participants of the workshop discussed the opportunities and the challenges for the next period regarding the level of development assistance and the tendencies across the EU to cut the development budget. They were introduced to the modifications coming with the new MFF, they were presented new instruments and opportunities for the future financing.
The seminar was organized as part of the CONCORD subcontracting scheme.


Information provided by Andrea Girmanova, Slovak NGDO Platform MVRO

CYINDEP sets off with a new Strategy for 2013 – 2015

The Cyprus island-wide NGO platform CYINDEP has prepared a dynamic and solid ‘Strategic plan’ for the Platform for the period 2013 – 2015, which is already under implementation. CYINDEP has managed to lay down its overall goals which aim to ensure a long-term sustainability for the Platform.

The Strategic Plan’s goals are: Sustainability; Contextualisation of Global Issues; Shape Policies and Decisions; and Promote Cyprus as a Regional Hub for MENA Region. The process for developing the Strategic Plan, which has been supported by TRIALOG, had already started in June with a survey, which was conducted among CYINDEP members, assessing their capacities, needs, interests and vision for the Platform.

Following the survey, through a series of internal workshops the Board of the Platform along with interested members, worked with the aim of developing a new vision, mission and strategy for the Platform.
Under Sustainability, CYINDEP’s priority areas are Partnership Alliances and Networks, Capacity Building Activities (part of which will be implemented through the TRIALOG Capacity Building) and Membership.
The second goal which is Contextualisation of global issues prioritises to bring the European debate to local level, identify topics and people to revive passion and reflect on the development debate and think of a new paradigm.
The third goal is to Shape Policies and Decisions by holding policy and decision-makers accountable, while building relations with them.
Further, CYINDEP will be working towards influencing the ODA strategy of CyprusAid, as well as the Post-2015 position.
The final strategic goal aims to Promote Cyprus as a regional hub for MENA Region by increasing its partnerships and alliances outside Cyprus, promoting the ‘hub’ idea to government and other stakeholders and promoting Cyprus as a learning lab for civil society working in a ‘frozen conflict’.


CYINDEP is very optimistic and confident that this new start will help the sustainability of the Platform and strengthen its capacity and impact at the local and EU level.

For more information please contact Sophia Arnaouti, Policy Officer Sophia.arnaouti@cyindep.org


Information provided by Sophia Arnaouti, CYINDEP
 

CYINDEP member reports from the UK about “Bringing Innovation back to Development”

Bond, the UK membership body for organisations working in international development, organised the extremely successful conference “The Shock of the New: Bringing Innovation back to Development” on Tuesday 5th November 2013 with attendance from over 300 organisations, including CYINDEP.

The programme centred on the theme of innovation included sessions on humanitarian aid in crisis, engaging Diaspora communities, the public heart and mind on international development and what we want post 2015.

The initial keynote address was given by Theo Sawa, Chief Executive of African Women’s Development Fund. She spoke of innovation as the ability to tackle problems struggled with for generations by seeing a different way of acting, cooperating and finding solutions and emphasised that “the most exciting innovation Bond members can do is their partnerships”. In addition, innovation brings young people into the conversation and enables wider discussion and participation. ‘Crowd Funding’ was mentioned as an exciting innovation and the roles of women were underlined, not as a new innovation, but as one which needs to be supported. Theo Sawa also engaged in discussion with Jeff Raikes, CEO of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Larry Elliot, Economics Editor from The Guardian.

There was praise that the UK became the first G8 country to meet the 0.7% aid target. However, it was acknowledged that aid must be accompanied by better policies in order to remain effective. This message also resonated during the discussion on Millennium Development Goals Post 2015. Challenges of integrating sustainability and development agendas were explored with particular focus on inequality.
The final keynote address was given by Kevin Watkins, Executive Director of ODI. He spoke of the need to form a strategy and have an implementable framework with systems underpinning it, in order to deliver a more cohesive agenda for global change. Public engagement and global cooperation is needed for post 2015 to be effective, an agenda of “no one left behind” and a common vision and set of values.

For more information please contact Umran Avni at umranavni@yahoo.co.uk

Information provided by Umran Avni

Estonians Shop for a Fairer World

Victoria Tampoka Nyaabila is a widow with 5 children. She lives in Kongo village, northern Ghana on the edge of the Sahara desert. There are hundreds of widows like Victoria tolling a few acres of land and making ends meet. Victoria, however, is an exception. She is the best basket weaver in the village who has been able to secure independent livelihood with her basket weaving skills, and pay for the education of her five children.

The world famous Bolga baskets are a hot commodity thousands of miles from Kongo. These are sold in Tallinn, Estonia in a PopUP shop set up by an Estonian NGO Mondo. A temporary shop is open til the end of the year, and offers clients handicraft and fair trade products made by women and disabled people of the communities it works in Africa and Afghanistan. Besides baskets, the shop offers unrefined shea-butter from the same Ghanaian community, handicrafts by Kenyan and Afghan women and youth with special needs from Uganda.

On weekends, the NGO Mondo invites people to attend chocolate making workshops or drink a cup of Fairtrade coffee while listening to special guests. Each product has a story to tell, each euro made will be reinvested back into the communities Mondo works with. NGO Mondo is a leading development cooperation organization in Estonia. It aims to strengthen independent economic livelihood of rural women of Ghana, Kenya, Afghanistan, and people with disabilities in Uganda.

The PopUp shop helps to increase funds for Mondo support program to provide skills training for women and setting up ethical supply chain based on fair trade principles for local markets and for Estonia. So when in Tallinn in December, stop by at Mondo PopUp shop in Telliskivi Loomelinnak, a biggest center of creative industries in Estonia. NGO Mondo welcomes you – teretulemast! - to shop for a fairer world!

For more information on NGO Mondo please visit www.mondo.org.ee  

Photo: Entrance to the shop by NGO Mondo.


Information provided by Katrin Pärgmäe, Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation
 

Global Campus – Students for Global Justice

In the framework of its Development Education and Awareness Raising project Global Campus – co-financed by the EU – KOPIN held two Film Festivals at the University of Malta in  October 2013 and introduced a University course on development cooperation.

During the events, documentaries and short movies from all over the world have been projected, dealing with topics such as migration, child rights, climate change and sustainable use of natural resources and gender issues, among others. Following the two events, on the 23rd of October KOPIN successfully started the implementation of the course Global Campus – Introduction to International Development Cooperation at the University of Malta. The aim of the introductory course, targeting university students from all faculties, is to give them the instruments to better understand the main topics related to global development and citizenship, helping them to actively engage and get involved in local projects and/or initiatives which will actively contribute to eradicate poverty and promote justice, human rights and sustainable ways of living.

The project aims at raising awareness among University students on Global issues, in order to develop a deeper understanding of the concept of Global Citizenship and become more involved in the development of a Global Society.

More inforamtion on the KOPIN website.

Information provided by Federica Di Giulio,  KOPIN     

Global Citizens Movement for Change

In November 2013 DEEEP organized two mayor civil society events to start building a global citizens movement for change.

Global Conference
During 2 days, 200 active citizens from all over the globe gathered in Johannesburg to start "Building a Global Citizens Movement for change". In a participative and inclusive process, the conference was a space for questioning instead of giving answers. In this overwhelming atmosphere of engagement and radical change, the initial intention of the Declaration has been replaced by the "Johannesburg Compass: questions and orientations". This text aims to express the questions of this diverse and complex movement and it will evolve in parallel. The conference is a continuous work in progress and we want active citizens to be on board for at least the next 2 years through several activities (other global conferences, seminars etc.).

Therefore, DEEEP created an online platform which will be the digital touch point for the participants but also for a broader audience. We invite you to visit movement.deeep.org for further information or to contact Tobias Troll at tobias.troll@concordeurope.org  if you want to be engaged in this process.


Research Conference
For the first time, researchers, academics and global educators had the opportunity to meet and discuss the "hot topics" in global justice in the framework of the conference "Global Justice through Global Citizenship". This conference co-organised by DEEEP/CONCORD, PULSE, HIVA CIDIN, EADI and NCDO which took place last week in Brussels, was a frank success. Gathering 200 participants, the 25 workshops were the occasion to discuss various topics and challenge current global issues such as the engagement with the private sector, the challenge of evaluation, the online education or the youth volunteer programs.

For more information and outcomes, please visit the DEEEP platform or feel free to contact Amy Skinner at amy.skinner@concordeurope.org.




Photo above: Graphic from the Global Conference
Photo below: Graphic from the Research Conference.

Information provided by Helene Debaisieux , DEEEP

EU announces future commitments for development with Central Asia

Around €1 billion will be available for Central Asia in the new EU budget, it was announced on 20 November 2013. This amount includes the bilateral allocations for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and regional allocations and multi-country funds, to support the region’s efforts on sustainable management of natural resources, socio-economic development, including education, and regional security.

The announcement was made at a ministerial meeting between EU and Central Asia countries, and speaking about the funds, Andris Piebalgs said: “Governance and inclusive and sustainable growth for human development will be the two key pillars for the next seven years of development cooperation with Central Asia, with a particular focus on the poorest and the most fragile countries."

Read the EC Press Release here.


Source: CONCORD EU Monitoring Newsletter, 21.11.2013

Development Actors Gathering in Slovenia

Two interesting events are coming up in Ljubljana, Slovenia in early December 2013: The International Conference on Migrants as Development Actors – A New Way Forward and the Regional Conference on Global Education with a Partnership Fair.

The Regional Conference on Global Education TIA – There is an Alternative ( 4 and 5 December) organised by the Slovenian CSO platform SLOGA in cooperation with the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Slovenia will focus on concepts of global education, global citizenship and national identity throughout the region of South Eastern Europe.

Programme available here. 

For more information, please contact SLOGA at conference@sloga-platform.org  


The speakers at the conference Developing developers: Migrants as development actors – A new way forward on 5 and 6 December 2013 will be experts from governmental and non-governmental sector in the field of migration policy and development co-operation. They come from Austria, Belgium, Ghana, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. The panel discussions will be questioning various concepts of development cooperation in relation to migration issues and open the way for further discussion with the present audience. At the event, the Central European Manifesto on Migration and Development, a strategic document that contains recommendations for improving the understanding of the concepts of development cooperation and migration as a key element in this concept, will be presented as well.

Programme available here.  

The event is an activity of the international project CoMiDe - Consistency of Migration and Development Policy, carried out by Vienna Institute for Development and Cooperation, Austria; Südwind Agentur, Austria; Society Development Institute, Slovakia; Co -operation for the Development of Emerging Countries, Italy and the Peace Institute, Slovenia. The project is partly funded by European Commission, DG Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid.

More about the project: http://www.comide.net/  

On 5 December the programe will finish with a Partnership Fair: Bridging the gap with participants of both events. For easier organisation we are kindly asking you to confirm your presence at the CoMiDe conference and / or partnership fair to Maja Ladić: maja.ladic@mirovni-institut.si 

Information provided by Maja Ladić Peace Institute www.mirovni-institut.si  

The DEAR Call is Open

The EC published its 2013 Call for Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development: Raising public awareness of development issues and promoting development education in the European Union (DEAR) with the reference EuropeAid/134863/C/ACT/Multi.

You can find all relevant documents on the EC website.

Deadline for submission of Concept Notes is 30th of January 2014.

We wish you all the best for preparing your projects. Maybe you are still searching for partners, then a look at the Partner Requests of European NGOs published on our website could be helpful: http://www.trialog.or.at/partner-search-for-joint-projects.


Information provided by TRIALOG

Study on Global Dimension in Formal Education: Practitioners’ View

In November 2013 the Study about Development Education Aspects in Social Sciences giving an insight in the situation of the development education in 13 different countries in Europe was accomplished.

The report about the main conclusions and results summarized in the Study was published and promoted in an international conference „Global dimension in education and future possibilities” on November 14, 2013 in Riga, Latvia. The Study and the conference is part of the project “Global dimension in Social Sciences subjects in Formal Education”. The project is implemented by the Education Development Center (Latvia) in cooperation with Leeds DEC (United Kingdom), Mondo (Estonia) and The British Council Latvia with the financial support from the European Union.

Report on the presence of global dimension in the social sciences subjects contains the outcomes of the in-depth study of situation in Latvia, Estonia and the United Kingdom; the role of global education in formal education was assessed in these countries, regulatory documents, which define the mandatory curriculum, learning materials were evaluated and the opinions of education policy experts and teachers were identified. Alongside the in-depth research, the report also includes descriptions of the situation in development/ global education in other states of the European Union: Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia, the best practice examples are also included. The added value of this Study is that it is done by non-governmental organisations, actively involved in the field of development/global education, and experts of the non-governmental sector, having both academic and practical experience.

The full report can be downloaded here.

More about the project “Global Dimension in Social Sciences Subjects”: www.globalaizglitiba.lv  


Description of the picture: Report's dissemination event in Latvia: conference "Global dimension in education and future possibilities", November 14, 2013 Riga, Latvia

Information provided by Linda Ugaine, Project “Global dimension in Social Sciences subjects in Formal Education”

2013 ATI: More is Not Enough When it Comes to Aid Info

Information about aid spending is steadily becoming more available, but it also needs to become more useful, concludes a report released by Publish What You Fund. The results show there is a leading group of organisations that publish large amounts of useful information on their current aid activities. For the first time, a U.S. agency – the Millennium Challenge Corporation – ranks top, scoring 89%, more than double the average score.

The Aid Transparency Index (ATI) report is the industry standard for assessing foreign assistance transparency among the world’s major donors. For the first time, it not only assesses what information is published, but also the usefulness of that information. David Hall-Matthews, Director of Publish What You Fund, said: “Open data and transparency are becoming fashionable watch words, but we’re checking if donors are really delivering, looking beyond high-level commitments and long-held reputations. The ATI ranking shows that no matter how many international promises are made, no matter how many speeches there are around openness, a startling amount of organisations are still not delivering on their aid transparency goals. We will continue to encourage organisations to release more data – but more is not enough. We also want to make sure that the information is useful.”

More information: http://ati.publishwhatyoufund.org/

Source: CONCORD EU Monitoring newsletter 24/10/2013

Partner Requests for Joint DEAR Projects

The EC published the NSA LA Call: Raising public awareness of development issues and promoting development education in the European Union with the reference EuropeAid/134863/C/ACT/Multi on 19th of November. You find all relevant documents for the "DEAR Call" on the EC website.

Deadline for submission of Concept Notes is 30th of January 2014.

On the TRIALOG website you find Partner Requests of various organisations, here are the latest ones:

• Global Initiative on Psychiatry – Sofia (GIP-Sofia) is looking for partners, preferably from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, to develop a project in the frame of the DEAR Call. Although the mental health is the main focus of work of GIP-Sofia, there is a lot of experience in global education and global development through EU funded projects.

• dance4life is an international initiative comprising of the dance4life foundation in Amsterdam, and local partner organisations across five continents. dance4life is willing to apply as a lead applicant for the DEAR EU call and is looking for partners from other eligible European countries who work in the field of education, advocacy and awareness raising in the field of health and education, preferably in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

• People in Need (Czech Republic) with its Visegrad partners from Poland (PAH), Hungary (Demnet) and Slovakia (PDCS) are looking for partners from Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia or Latvia to take part in a project to be submitted under the 2013 DEAR Call. The key theme of the project is business and development.

• The Italian Network against AIDS is interested in participating, as partner, in projects to be submitted to the 2013 NSA LA DEAR Call, on the following key themes: fight against HIV/AIDS and the other pandemics, global health.

• Global Nature Fund (Germany) is looking for partner organisations from different EU Member States to submit a DEAR project under the title "The true cost of European consumption and production”, focusing on reducing the negative impacts of European consumption on developing countries.

• Eight NGOs from France (Le Partenariat), Germany (VNB), Italy (EducAid), Czech Republic (Partners Czech), Romania (Patrir), Poland (IGO), UK (Leeds DEC), Slovakia (People in Peril) are looking for an organisation that could be the leadpartner for the next EuropeAid DEAR call, on a project focused on raising awareness among students from highschool as well as teachers on globalisation and decent work.


Information provided by TRIALOG

Beyond 2015 is Recruiting an International Officer

Beyond 2015 is recruiting an International Officer to support the work of the Beyond 2015 campaign, specifically in terms of communication, translation, website and the “Supportive States’ initiative”.

The International Officer will be responsible for the translation of all relevant documents into French and Spanish, the development and maintenance of the Beyond 2015 website in three languages, the coordination of the ‘Supportive states’ initiative and the ‘Lead with the Leaders’ webinar series. S/he will also support the International Coordinator in communication with the whole campaign, and may be required to represent Beyond 2015 internationally.

For further details, please see the Terms of Reference here.  

The role may be based in Brussels, but remote working is also an option. To apply, please send a cover letter and CV to beyond2015recruitment@gmail.com by COB 6 December 2013. Please put “Beyond 2015 International Officer” in the subject line. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.