Event in Brussels to Mark the 10th Anniversary of the 2004 EU Enlargement

The 10 year anniversary of the EU enlargement of 2004 provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on the contributions the EU13 countries and especially their development NGOs have made to European development cooperation and to CONCORD – the confederation of development NGOs in Europe. Panel discussions on the topics “Transformative Multi-stakeholder approaches in development cooperation with a focus on good governance and gender” were co-organised by CONCORD, TRIALOG, and the Latvian Permanent Representation to the EU during the CONCORD general assembly on 4 June 2014.

Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs who couldn’t be at the event sent his video message, highlighting the contribution EU13 countries have brought to international development and the cooperation with CONCORD.

In the panel addressing the question “Transformative approaches to good governance: can we do better?” several insights came out concerning the added value of EU13 actors in development cooperation, such as the empathy and solidarity EU13 actors often feel with the issues that are facing their partners because they have been through similar experiences. Also, some key dilemmas were discussed such as how to engage in situations where there is no freedom of association, freedom of information or freedom of expression.

In the panel “Transformative approaches to gender: we can do better” various actors shared examples of projects and methodologies with the potential to have transformative impact on gender equality. Several issues were stresses, such as the importance of alliance building among women’s organisations and inclusion of men, boys as well as women in the work in order to achieve transformative change. The need for more gender champions, but not celebrities or high profile spokespeople – rather normal people who champion gender equality in their everyday world was also stressed by one of the panellists.


Read more about the panel discussions from TRIALOG website.

In the frame of the event CONCORD and TRIALOG published "10 Interesting Facts about EU13 Development Sector", download the factsheet here.


Photo TRIALOG: Participants of the panel event.

Information provided by Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG