Organisation of the Month: Bankwatch Romania

2015 is the European Year of Development, the EU’s flagship campaign to promote its objectives and activities in the field of development cooperation. As the sustainable development goals replace the Millennium Development Goals at year’s end, EYD is intended to raise awareness about Europe’s role in areas like education, health, agriculture, access to energy, resilient ecosystems, equality. But where the Commission’s actions miss the mark, we’re there to connect the dots.

Bankwatch Romania together with a coalition of twenty civil society groups from 17 countries across the continent, members and partner organizations of CEE Banwkatch Network, is campaigning for ‘Catching the Train of Development’ and providing a critical understanding of Europe’s approach to ‘development’.
The campaign focuses particularly on the role of public and private sources of finance and the problematics of financial tools such as public-private partnerships, blending and using ODA (Official Development Assistance) to leverage private finance. Focused on campaigns in priority countries for Romania – nuclear energy in Ukraine, oil and gas in Tunisia and hydro-power in Georgia, Bankwatch Romania works to reduce the environmental and social impact of projects financed through European public financial institutions (European IFIs) such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.
Some of these bring to surface inconsistencies between the development goals of the EU and policies in the sectors of energy, extractive industries, transport and agriculture. Bankwatch Romania works to make IFIs accountable, transparent and participatory in the projects they are financing. Furthermore, Bankwatch Romania seeks to build collaboration with Romanian NGOs and Romanian public institutions towards a more thorough analysis of the impact on development goals in priority countries of public multilateral funding and private investments from Romania.

To learn more about the projects monitored by Bankwatch and the activities of the „Catching the train or development” campaign please visit www.bankwatch.org.

„Catching the train of Development” campaign is funded by EuropeAid and is part of a 3-year project: „Financing development and developing finance for EYD2015: a Pan-European campaign to align European investments in developing countries with the post-2015 MDG framework and the EU policies that promote sustainable growth and poverty reduction”.


Information provided by Bankwatch Romania