EU13 initiate lobby on European Union DEAR funding criteria for small organisations

The platforms of the EU13 recently joined forces to draft a letter to development Commissioner Mimica about their concerns related to development education and awareness raising (DEAR) funding from the European Commission (EC). Concerns raised by the group relate to the trend for fewer larger projects being funded and the impact this has on smaller organisations that are unable to access funds for the vital work they are doing. The letter gathered great support from colleagues in the EU15 - 12 of them signed on to the letter, as well as the co-chairs of the two relevant CONCORD working groups: FDR (funding for development and relief) and the DARE Forum (Development Awareness Raising and Education Forum). As well as smaller organisations becoming less able to access the funding, larger organisations are also facing problems under the new funding structure - having to take on additional responsibility and workload for larger projects with a greater number of partners. Gordan Bosanac from Croatian platform CROSOL presented the letter to the Commissioner during a meeting on Friday 13 February 2015 and all who signed are committed to continuing their advocacy work to bring about change in the funding situation.

Read the letter here

Photo courtesy of CROSOL:Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and president of CROSOL Gordan Bosanac.


Information provided by TRIALOG

Alternative fundraising for CSOs – TRIALOG V Training of Multipliers

Between 17 and 19 of February, 13 Liaison Officers from the EU13 TRIALOG project partners gathered together in Vienna for another Training of Multipliers – the last ToM organised as part of the TRIALOG project.

This year the training event was focused on two alternative funding sources available to CSOs: corporate fundraising and online fundraising. Additionally, complementary to the topic of online fundraising, social media and data visualization were addressed towards the end of the three days.

Day one of the ToM was dedicated to exploring best practices in corporate fundraising, applying the business model generation canvas to the work of the platforms, developing a fundraising pitch and simulating a fundraising meeting. The day was very interactive and the participants enjoyed walking in the corporate shoes. Stephan Kropf from the Fundraising Verband Austria was the resource person for the day.

Day two was led by Florian Engel from More Onion, an organisation specialised in consulting and working with nonprofits on online fundraising campaigns and ecampaigning in general. Florian walked the participants through the Donor Journey and presented a number of online fundraising tools and models, concluding the day with some tips and tricks on data visualization.

The last day of the ToM provided the space for exchange among the Liaison Officers, one of the more pressing issues to discuss being the joint advocacy steps aimed at influencing the EC decisions with regards to the criteria for the next DEAR call in 2016. Before closing with the evaluation of the whole three days, a short session on Social Media provided the LOs with some advice on effective ways of using social media, social media goals for nonprofits, how to build an audience and engage with fans on Facebook.

The TRIALOG team would like to thank all the participants for their positive energy and active engagement in the ToM!

In the photo: Liaison Officers and TRIALOG team members


Information provided by Iulia Jolley – Socea, TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer

European Year for Development 2015 opened in Slovakia

On 28th January 2015 the opening of European Year for Development took place in Slovakia. The event was opened by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Miroslav Lajčák, who highlighted the engagement of Slovaks working in development cooperation and stressed the results of the most recent Eurobarometer, in which 79 % of Slovak population agreed that development cooperation is important. Minister Lajčák also appointed the ambassadors of EYD: Adela Banášová, a fan favourite of Slovak TV and radio audiences, Michal Hvorecký, a Slovak writer, and Marián Čaučík, the director of Dobrá novina (Good News campaign).

At the opening event of the EYD, the Head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, Dušan Chrenek, underlined the European achievements within development cooperation, but also expressed a need to limit the consumption lifestyle of our society and to lead a more conscious life thinking of the impacts in other parts of the world. Throughout the year, the ambassadors of the EYD will communicate its main messages calling for a fairer world, justice and global responsibility.

The Slovak NDGO Platform, as the national beneficiary of the EYD project, together with its members and partners, has prepared activities to raise the public awareness on development cooperation and interdependencies in the world. Among prepared activities there are a drawing competition for primary schools, a photo competition for amateurs and professionals, a stand focused on EYD topics at the summer festival Pohoda, the Development Day and the international conference Development and Democracy.

More information on prepared activities can be found online.

The opening of EYD was followed by awarding of “The Volunteer of the Year”. The award in category the Volunteer of the Year SlovakAid was given to Ivana Uličná for her engagement in education projects in Kenya. The award in the category the Best Project was given to Dobrá novina of eRko, a fundraising campaign for the projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. The event was organised by CARDO, the Slovak NDGO Platform and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Photo courtesy of Jana Birošová: Minister of the Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajčák awarding the Volunteer of the Year in the category SlovakAid.

Information provided by Andrea Girmanova, Slovak NDGO Platform

Lauch of the European Year for Development in Croatia with European Commissioner Mimica

On 13th of February 2015, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia Vesna Pusić, opened the European Year for Development 2015 (EYD2015) in the Coratian Parliament. On that occasion two round tables were organised, where civil society representatives together with government representatives shared experiences of Croatian development cooperation and development aid.

Once again, the Platform CROSOL was presented, and board president Gordan Bosanac explained the projects that CROSOL is going to implement as a part of the EYD2015. After the official part, the president of CROSOL had a meeting with Commissioner Mimica, where he explained the challenges that small European platforms are facing with regards to the changing conditions in the next „Development education and awareness raising - DEAR calls“. The European Commission (EC) is giving funds through DEAR calls, but only for big projects and to „big players“ which means small platforms and organisations do not have sufficient capacities to apply or implement this kind of projects.
CROSOL and other EU13 platforms started an advocacy initiative in order to change that, and they are asking the Commission to give also smaller grants. Their request got approval from other, bigger EU platforms, and eventually the letter that had been written for Commissioner Mimica was signed by 25 European development CSO platforms.
Commissioner Mimica agreed that there should be equal opportunities for smaller and biger platforms, he has promised that he will personally take attention on what is going on with the call and its criteria, and that the call has t
o be open towards potential "consortia of small NGOs". He agreed that more administrative burden on the EC should not be barrier for awarding more grants. The letter was also given to Minister Vesna Pusić, to representative of the EC in Croatia and to MEP and member of the Development Committee of the EP Davor Ivo Stier.

Read the lobby letter here.

Photo courtesy by CROSOL: Commissioner Neven Mimica and CROSOL President Gordan Bosanac.

Information provided by Ela Naranđa, CROSOL

EYD Launch here and there: the success story…and the future?

One of the success stories around international development in Hungary is that of the European Year for Development - EYD so far. The Department for International Development at the Hungarian MFA was clever enough to ask for a close cooperation with HAND, the Hungarian Development NGO Platform, in this regard. It happened right from the start, when the MFA submitted its application to the EU for becoming national focal point. HAND shared its expertise and at the same time prepared an outstanding own tender together with eight of its members covering all of the thematic months laid out by the EU, providing event series throughout the year.

HAND pre-financed the project and launched its EYD activities already in January, with an event reported on in the news by several TV channels, main dailies and several news portals. The civil EYD launch was tri-opened by representatives of the EU, the MFA and civil society. The MFA organised its launch event only on the 24th of February. There they announced the winners of the EYD tenders, and HAND is among them!

Read more about the EYD lauch here.

The show must go on then – and it definitively will. The Hungarian EYD year is only a bit shadowed by the gossip on a possible re-division of the Hungarian MFA, yet another total re-organisation in one year time – a phenomena blocking effective work. Now, more and more sources say that the ministry will soon be separated into two, foreign trade and foreign affairs ministries. The bad news is that the Department for International Development would go to the trade ministry, reinforcing the new Orban foreign policy’s, the so called Eastern Opening’s approach which seemingly believes the only role of international development is that of supporting foreign trade.

Further information: Peter Rohonyi.

Photo: EYD lauch event of the Hungarian MFA.

Information provided by Peter Rohonyi, HAND

Bulgarian MFA and Development NGO Platform sign Memorandum of Understanding

On 10 February 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry (MFA) and the Bulgarian Platform for International Development BPID was concluded at an official ceremony at the premises of the MFA.

The MoU will strengthen the collaboration between the MFA and the NGO sector and will provide an excellent opportunity for exchange of information and best practices, as well as better use of the expertise provided by civil society organisations (CSOs) for the implementation of development policy. Bulgaria will be able to benefit from this partnership in all its aspects. The members of BPID are renown non-governmental organisations with extensive experience working on development cooperation projects in the Western Balkans, the Black Sea region, Central Asia and Africa.

The MoU between the MFA and BPID came into effect on 10 February 2015 for a period of two years. The MoU is based on Ordinance No 234 of 01.08.2011, regulating the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria in Development Cooperation. As stipulated by Ordinance No 234, when granting bilateral or/and regional development aid, the Ministry should involve national or/and international non-governmental organisations active in development cooperation.

The MoU stipulates the common understandings about the collaboration between BPID and the MFA. The two parties to the MoU undertake to review the accomplished results periodically, to exchange information about initiatives, programmes and projects related to Bulgaria’s participation in the work of UN, EC, etc. The two parties to the MoU will elaborate a common work plan and activity report. The parties plan to participate in common projects, support voluntary work, raise awareness about development cooperation policy. BPID undertakes to provide expertise and analyses to the MFA for the elaboration of strategic documents in the area of development cooperation policy and to support the MFA in its efforts to raise awareness of civil society.

The upcoming launch of the European Year for Development in Bulgaria is an additional stimulus for further expansion and deepening of the partnership with the civil society organisations represented by BPID. Minister Mitov expressed his satisfaction with the success of Bulgaria’s Programme for the EYD 2015 in Brussels. BPID contributed largely to the elaboration of the Project for EYD 2015 that the MFA presented to the European Commission. The European Commission recognised the project as an initiative rich in events, perfectly corresponding to the Decision on EYD 2015 by the Council of the EC and the EP.

Please take a look at the MFA's website reporting on this event.

Photo courtesy of Bulgarian MFA: Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and Ventsislav Kirkov of the Bulgarian Platform for International Development (BPID).

Information provided by Elitsa Akseva, BPID

Slovenian Development Days: Diversity from Grassroots to European Policy

Between 22 and 26 January 2015, the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the development NGO Platform SLOGA organised the 6th edition of the Slovenian Development Days which were attended also by Mr. Neven Mimica, European Commissioner, responsible for International Cooperation and Development.

The event opened with a premiere of a documentary film about development projects carried out by Slovenian NGOs. The documentary called “We are also part of the same world”, prepared by SLOGA platform, was screened at the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum Café.

The main event on 23 January was held at City Museum of Ljubljana. In his opening speech, Minister of Foreign Affairs Karl Erjavec stressed that “in ten years Slovenia has cooperated with over 80 countries and supported more than 140 development and humanitarian projects carried out by Slovenian NGOs.” The guests were also addressed by the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, and the President of the SLOGA Board, Eyachew Tefera. Commissioner Mimica pointed out that the new development agenda has to build on the Millennium Development Goals but has to be even more ambitious. Tefera highlighted the importance of NGOs participation in strategic documents preparations – on national and global level.

The event continued with a round table entitled “Ten years of Development Cooperation – The Way Forward”, where participants mostly discussed the strategic guidelines and priorities of Slovenia and the European Union in the sphere of international development cooperation after 2015. Participating in the discussion were Commissioner Neven Mimica, Bogdan Benko, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Dr Maja Bučar, President of the Expert Council for International Development Cooperation and representative of the academic sphere, Damjan Bergant, Director of ITF Enhancing Human Security, Ivo Vajgl, Member of the European Parliament, and Imre Jerebic, representative of the civil society and Secretary General of Caritas Slovenia.
During the event, Slovenian NGOs presented their activities in the field of

international development cooperation through printed material and a film about development projects.

The programme continued with a presentation of NGOs at Ljubljana’s main square – Prešeren square. Even rain did not stop participants in joining NGOs representatives and learning about Slovenia’s contribution in developing countries. The day finished with a puppet show “Lifeboat” on migration and climate change organized in main shopping centre (BTC) by Humanitas.

On 26 January, SLOGA Platform organized an informal networking meeting for NGOs from the region working in the field of humanitarian aid. Slovenian Development Days concluded with the Regional Workshop on EU Aid Volunteers Initiative organised by Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The workshop was led by a DG ECHO representative and was attended by representatives of NGOs and Foreign Ministries from Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Latvia as the EU presiding country.

The Slovenian Development Days with a varied programme attracted a high number of participants and represented an introduction to awareness-raising activities in the European Year for Development 2015.

Photo: NGO stand at Ljubljana's main square, SLOGA

Information provided by Adriana Aralica, SLOGA

Advocacy News from the Slovenian Development NGO Platform SLOGA

Slovenian civil society is actively engaged in a policy dialogue on development cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec recently met with the board of the development NGO platform SLOGA to discuss joint awareness raising efforts. SLOGA addressed future challenges regarding Slovenia’s ODA obligations, the Declaration on Foreign Policy, as well as the current European Commission (EC) trend to support bigger projects and endangers the access to project funding of smaller NGOs.

Slovenian Foreign Minister highlighted key role of NGOs in awareness-raising on development cooperation
On February 4, SLOGA Board members met with Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Karl Erjavec. They discussed about joint efforts in awareness-raising activities about international development cooperation, the importance of financing development and humanitarian projects, implemented by NGOs, and common challenges.
Initially the minister stressed the excellent cooperation between the Ministry and SLOGA platform. He thanked SLOGA for co-organising the Slovenian Development Days and highlighted the key role of NGOs in awareness-raising about development cooperation among Slovenian citizens, also through global education. Slovenia will aim at fulfilling its obligations in the providing development assistance.
SLOGA presented key open issues and future challenges. The platform believes NGOs should be greatly involved in the preparation of strategic documents – not only at national, but also at global level. SLOGA called upon Slovenia’s Government to increase bilateral Official Development Assistance. Slovenia should also address the role of the private sector in development and strive for development assistance reform.
The platform also drew attention to the European Commission decision to finance only big projects which has immense negative effects on Slovenian Development NGOs. The Minister welcomed SLOGA’s efforts in coordinating with other European Platforms and will support the initiative of CSOs. Joint efforts of the MFA and SLOGA in the European Year for Development 2015 will result in greater awareness among Slovenian citizens on the importance of global solidarity.

SLOGA’s position on the draft Declaration on the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Slovenia SLOGA prepared a position on the draft Declaration on the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Slovenia which is the key strategic document and is currently debated in Slovenian Parliament. SLOGA Platform participated in public debate on the draft Declaration and sent its position to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the position, SLOGA called upon greater policy coherence for development and stressed the importance of strengthening the position of international development and humanitarian cooperation at strategic level and the role of NGOs in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of country’s foreign policy activities.

Information provided by Adriana Aralica, SLOGA

Enabling Environment for CSOs: Towards a Strategy of Civil Society in the Black Sea Region

The Romanian NGDO Platform – FOND organized between the 8th and 10th of December 2014, in Kyiv, Ukraine, the 7th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum entitled “Enabling Environment for CSOs: Towards a Strategy of Civil Society in the Black Sea Region”, with the financial support of the European Commission, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme Regional Centre for Europe and Central Asia, and CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness – CPDE. This was the first time the Forum was organized in another country from the Black Sea Region, besides Romania.
 Nearly 150 participants attended the event, representing a wide range of national and international stakeholders from the Black Sea region – CSOs, regional and international organisations, regional and international donors, local authorities, academia, media.

This year’s edition launched a regional consultation with the purpose of starting the process of creating a Strategy of Civil Society in the Black Sea Region. In this respect, the Forum gathered valuable input and expertise from participants to identify the common needs and challenges for having an enabling environment in which civil society carries out its activity. Moreover, it explored potential solutions through concrete regional cooperation initiatives in key thematic sectors such as: democracy & human rights, environment, child protection or youth.
The results of the consultation will provide input to a future Strategy of Civil Society in the Black Sea Region, increasing in this way the regional ownership of the strategy and ensuring its responsiveness towards the needs and challenges of CSOs working in the region. Moreover, working together to find solutions to common problems in specific areas of interest will help CSOs develop more concrete regional initiatives and projects that respond to their priorities.

The agenda and concept of the Forum, as well as photos and presentations made during the event are available on the Black Sea NGO Forum’s website www.blackseango.org and Facebook page.

Photo: Participants of the Black Sea NGO Forum.

Information provided by Adriana Zaharia, FOND.

Czech Members of Parliament support an Increase in Czech ODA

FoRS-Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (Czech NGDO platform) initiated the European Year for Development with the seminar “Current challenges and possibilities for support of Czech Official Development Assistance (ODA)”. The event took place on January 14th, 2015 in the Chamber of Deputies under the auspices of the chair of the Sub-committee for development cooperation of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Over 30 stakeholders of Czech development cooperation, including 12 members of the parliament (MPs) from different committees, gathered in order to discuss the views and experiences presented by FoRS, NGOs, academia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Development Agency and a member of the sub-committee for development cooperation. The main purpose of this event -to initiate dialogue and cooperation with members of the renewed subcommittee for development cooperation and to raise their awareness on the results and challenges in this area- was fulfilled.
Most participants expressed their conviction about the significance of Czech ODA and an agreement with an increase of its total volume. There was also an overall understanding among the MPs of the difference between the provision of ODA and economic diplomacy.
FoRS is now planning steps for further work with MPs.

Contact person: Katarina Šrámková.


Information provided by Marie Zázvorková, FoRS Liaison Officer

Czech NGOs enhanced Knowledge in Monitoring & Evaluation and EuropeAid Funding

In the last three months, the Czech NGDO platform FoRS organised two workshops and one seminar in order to address the needs and priorities identified by the platform´s members.

At the end of November 2014, an interactive workshop on participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation took place in cooperation with Czech Evaluation Society, a FoRS´ observer, and with a support of TRIALOG. The participants could learn how to properly set the project logic based on a theory of change considering the requests on evaluation and monitoring from the very beginning of the project cycle including forms of participations of various stakeholders, a needs analysis and a logframe matrix. They also learned how to set proper indicators for the different kinds of goals, assumptions and risks and how to set monitoring. Finally, the different steps of an evaluation were comprehensively explained.

A follow-up workshop on methodological tools in evaluation practice was organized by FoRS and supported from a capacity building project of DEEEP, also in cooperation with the Czech Evaluation Society two months later. This workshop enhanced the capacities of the FoRS Global Education working group members. Especially, they could learn the tools for answering evaluation questions, the tools for data collection, how to plan a survey and prepare a good questionnaire or the structure of the interview.
More information can be found here.

Finally, at the beginning of December, FoRS organised a seminar “EU funded projects: instruments and programmes for NGOs, project management and audits)” supported by TRIALOG. The trainer from a FoRS member organization used a new training module for EC contract management prepared by CONCORD working group Funding for Development and Relief (FDR). The interactive and specifically prepared methodology of the event was very positively evaluated by the participants. An introductory session on the existing EC/EuropeAid-DEVCO funding instruments and programmes relevant for CSOs in the period 2014-2020 (based on recent CONCORD Guide) and a closing session on EC audits were added to the main topic of the seminar.

Contact person: Marie Zázvorková.


Information provided by Marie Zázvorková, FoRS Liaison Officer, and Adéla Stiborová, FoRS Communication Coordinator

First Call for Development Cooperation Projects of the Croatian Ministry for Foreign and European Affaris

At the end of the last year, the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia - MEFA published its first call for funding development cooperation projects for civil society organizations in Croatia. The total amount of money made available was 2 million kunas and each CSO could get 150 – 250 000 kunas (approx. 19 500 – 32 500 EUR) per project.

Several CROSOL(Croatian Platform for International Citizen Solidarity) members applied, a total of eight grants were given to CSO's and CROSOL's members received four grants. Centre for Peace Studies got a grant for a peace building project in Palestina, GONG for democratic development in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Documenta for documenting war crimes in Ukraine and finally B.a.B. for education and empowernment of women in Bosnia and Hercegovina. CROSOL is a partner in all of these projects.


Information provided by Ela Naranđa, CROSOL

Be a Global Citizen! Be a Global Educator!

A.R.T. Fusion Association from Romania created “You are Part of This World, Be Part of Its Future” project in the context of the huge need in the world for a positive change. At the root of this initiative was a genuine and growing concern for how the world is at the moment and the uncertainty of its wellbeing and future. To bring along sustainable changes we need more global citizens and for this to happen competent global educators are needed, especially among young people and youth workers. The ambition that existed at the base of this project was to include on equal term partners from North and South of the world. When we explore global connections, dependencies and responsibilities we need to be as global as possible for a meaningful and powerful discussion, and for a long term impact. The main goal of this project was to increase the capacity of 6 youth organizations from Ghana, Estonia, Nigeria, Romania, Sierra Leone and UK to raise the level of global citizenship competencies in their communities.

The main project results included:

• A network of strong and competent organizations active in global education field in Africa and Europe; 
• A manual representing a tool that could be used by any person interested to work in Global Education area. Available for free download here
• More than 900 participants (fresh global citizens) at the workshops delivered during the project; 
• A resource movie based on the project development and experience (available online); 
• 6120 indirect beneficiaries and still counting; 

 A substantial contribution to a critical mass of global citizens needed in this world!

For any questions, comments or suggestions contact Andreea-Loredana Tudorache (andreea_loredana_psi@yahoo.com) *This 1 year project (2013-2014) was financially supported by European Commission through Youth in Action program (Action 3.2)

Information provided by A.R.T. Fusion

Commission unveils its Position on Global Development after 2015

The European Commission published priorities for a sustainable development agenda on the 5th of February, ahead of negotiations for the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to the Commission, the key components that need to be in place include a conducive policy environment, capacity development, effective use of domestic and international public finance, making the most of trade and technology, and harnessing the positive effects of migration.

You can read the full article here.

Source: Euractiv

International Development Forum in Latvia

The central international event in the field of development cooperation organized during Latvian Presidency in EU Development Forum - will take place from 3rd to 5th of June, 2015, and will emphasize the idea of glocalization as the key to sustainable development in local to global levels.

The three day forum will gather 70 development cooperation NGO activists, local community grassroots representatives and opinion leaders from Latvia and 50 from European Union, Eastern Partnership countries, etc., eager to develop hopeful global and local futures. Participation is free of charge provided that the participant takes part throughout the whole 3 day event.

Reimbursement of travel expanses is available for limited number of participants from partner countries upon request. The number of places is limited. In case of a large number of applications, the participants will be selected based on the assessment of the participant's motivation and ensuring broadest possible territorial and participant's profile diversity.

Find the programme here.
Registration until March 24th, 2015.

Register now on LAPAS website.

Information provided by Inese Vaivare, LAPAS

International Tax Conference: ‘Pay your taxes where you add the value’

In co-operation with the Universities of Groningen and Tilburg and the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands organizes a one-day international tax conference. The conference will provide a forum for academics, companies, government officials and members of civil society to discuss effective ways to support developing countries’ tax policy and revenue collection. The conference aims to feed national policymaking as well as the international debate on domestic resource mobilization in the post 2015 area. The conference is held in the context of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, of which Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, is co-chair.

When: 2nd of July, 2015
Where: The Hague, Netherlands
Registration deadline: 17th of April, 2015

The conference is free of charge for registered participants. More information can be accessed here.

Source: Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

The Romanian International Development Review

The Romanian International Development Review is an online review powered by ARCADIA, the Romanian Association for International Development and Cooperation, that aims to enhance knowledge sharing, open thought-provoking debates on topics relevant to the field of international development and nurture interdisciplinary dialogue.

The review provides insightful contributions and coming trends from and for professionals working in the non-governmental and governmental sector, researchers, scholars and students interested in the field. While each issue of the Review is devoted to specific topics related to the vast field of international development and cooperation, on the eve of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) deadline, the current edition tried to offer a collection of up-to-date articles, interviews and professional opinions related to “the world’s biggest promise to reduce poverty” and furthermore, address the challenges of the new SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

The online review is available here.

The nest issue, The approach of CEE countries on international development. From aid recipients to aid donors, will be addressing the topic of the new EU donors and their strategies within the global community of donors. For all those interested in contributing with articles and opinions to the next issue more information can be found here.

Further inquires about the initiative and possible contributions should be addressed to Alexandra Sabou (Alexandra.sabou@arcadianetwork.org), the executive editor of the ARCADIA review.


Information provided by ARCADIA and FOND.

The Aid Industry – What Journalists Really Think

The International Broadcasting Trust report published at the end of 2014 is still very relevant for aid agencies and organisations working in the aid sector in general. There has been growing media criticism of the aid industry in recent years. Some of this has been ideologically driven and some opportunistic but it also appears that journalists are more insistent on holding aid agencies to account than they have been in the past. This is a good thing but often the aid sector has appeared unduly defensive in the face of criticism.

This report seeks to understand what a broad range of journalists – both specialists and generalists – think about aid and the agencies that deliver it. The criticisms are wide ranging but several themes emerge. There’s a consensus that the aid sector as a whole needs to be more open and transparent. Since media reporting of the aid industry undoubtedly has a big influence on public opinion, it’s important that we take the views of journalists seriously. A better understanding of what journalists really think will also enable those working in the aid sector to deal more effectively with media criticism.

The report can be read here.

Source: The International Broadcasting Trust

Why are there still so many hungry people in the world?

This question is the title of an article in The Guardian, looking at the progress made in achieving food security and eradicating malnutrition, as part of the global efforts towards the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the challenges ahead. The greatest challenge for the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is to eradicate poverty and hunger while maintaining sustainable food security for all in a crowded and dramatically unequal world. Although the world has succeeded in reducing poverty in accordance with the millennium development goal (MDG) targets, food security and adequate nutrition have not been achieved. The world produces enough food, the author says, while poverty and hunger prevail because of economics, not scarcity. If the international community is serious about eliminating hunger, a shift is needed from a development model based on charity and aid to one based on human rights, reinforced by accountability mechanisms.

Read the full article here.

Source: The Guardian

The Degrowth Alternative and Debating the Alternative

Giorgos Kallis, a prominent scholar on ‘degrowth’, recently wrote an essay that was the subject of debate among members of the Great Transition Initiative network. Rajesh Makwana, in a blog post on the website of Share The World’s Resources (STWR), responded to the following theme of discussion: is degrowth, as currently formulated, sufficiently rigorous and inclusive to offer the theoretical legitimacy and political unity for a system shift? He goes on to suggest that “as a popular framing that can mobilize a global citizens movement or enable system change on the scale needed, degrowth is limited. Apart from concerns around what might (paradoxically) still need to grow in a degrowth society, which might even include GDP, a key concern is its negative and unappealing framing.”

Read more on his recommendations for reframing the discussion here and Giorgos Kallis’s excellent article here.

Source: Share The World’s Resources

Google Grants – AdWords for Nonprofits

Google Grants is the nonprofit edition of AdWords, Google’s online advertising tool. Google Grants empowers nonprofit organizations, through $10,000 per month in in-kind AdWords™ advertising, to promote their missions and initiatives on Google.com. Every nonprofit has unique goals. Whether you are trying to build awareness, recruit volunteers, or increase donations, Ad Grants can help you utilize AdWords to captivate your audience and tell your story.

More information is available here.

Source: Google for Nonprofits 

OHCHR Minorities Fellowship Programme

Deadline: 20 April 2015 Open to: candidates who are/or working with minority groups
Fellowship: monthly stipend to cover accommodation and living expenses, insurance and travel costs The Minorities Fellowship Programme (MFP) was launched by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2005.

Through the MFP, the OHCHR aims to give persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities an opportunity to gain knowledge on the UN system and mechanisms dealing with international human rights in general and minority rights in particular. The MFP is intended to assist organizations and communities in protecting and promoting the rights of minorities the fellows belong to.

More information and the application form can be found here.
Deadline for submitting applications: 6th of April 2015.

Source: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Open Society Foundations Internship

The main purpose of this position is to research and produce materials for the Privatisation in Education Research Initiative (PERI) website and assist with management of social media profiles and the media dissemination strategy, within the Education Support Program. The Education Support Program works to make the right to education meaningful by combating inequality and discrimination in education and exposing structural inequalities that reproduce education disadvantage and exclusion.

Click here for more information on the required qualifications and application procedure.
Deadline for submitting applications: 1st of March 2015.

Source: Open Society Foundations