CONCORD is recruiting a Communication Officer - 17 April 2011

CONCORD is the confederation of European relief and international development Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Its 25 national associations and 18 international networks represent over 1600 NGOs. CONCORD facilitates lobby and advocacy on key development issues at European level and regularly engages in dialogue with European institutions, policy makers and civil society organisations. CONCORD is a member-led, pan-European confederation with a Brussels-based secretariat at the service of its governance and constituency. CONCORD’s internal and external communication efforts are mainly designed to facilitate information sharing and collective action.

The role of the Communication Officer is to deliver CONCORD’s objectives in the field of communication in view of responding to members’ and stakeholders’ needs and ambitions. For more information follow the link on the CONCORD website. Deadline for application is April, 17.

Vocational Training for Persons with International Protection Status

The International Research and Development Center CARDET in cooperation with INNOVADE have recently launched the project “Vocational Training Programs for persons with international protection status”. The project was awarded to the consortium following an open call for proposals from the Asylum Service of the Ministry of Interior under the European Refugee Fund. The objective of the project is to support persons with international protection status to be successfully integrated in the local Cyprus labor market and the local society, through vocational training programs. CARDET and INNOVADE will develop and deliver courses in areas like entrepreneurship, basic computer skills, and how to apply and get a job. Important aspect of the programs will be the integration of facilitators from the target group in the development and delivery of the courses. The development of the Vocational Training Programs for Persons with International Protection Status is co-funded by the European Integration Fund (75%) and the Republic of Cyprus (25%). The project will be completed by the end of June 2011. For more information, contact sotiris.t@cardet.org

Information provided by Sotiris Themistokleous, CARDET

Documentary "Abendland" - Europe at Night

A film poem about a continent at night, a culture on which the sun’s going down, though it’s hyper alert at the same time, an “Abendland” that, often somewhat self-obsessively, sees itself as the crown of human civilization, while its service economy is undergoing rapid growth in a thoroughly pragmatic way. Nikolaus Geyrhalter takes a look at a paradise with a quite diverse understanding of protection. Night work juxtaposed with oblivious evening digression, birth and death, questions that await answers in the semi-darkness, a Babel of languages, the routine of the daily news, and political negotiation: All this has been captured in images with a wealth of details that make us look at things in a new way. The longer you consider a word, the more distant is its return gaze: ABENDLAND. Film start in Austria is 31st of March 2011. More information http://www.abendland-film.at/jart/prj3/abendland/main.jart?rel=en

TRIALOG Training for Multipliers 2011

In 2011 the Training of Multipliers will be organized in 2 modules, one in April (4 days) and one in October (3 days). The topic of the Training of Multipliers will be Managing Standard EC Contracts for development cooperation (including development education) projects. The first module would focus on content acquisition and knowledge deepening while the second module will involve to a higher degree exchange, debates and knowledge refinement. In between the two modules, the participants are requested to conduct a brief seminar/training in their own country on the topics covered in the first module. The first module will be held in Vienna from 11th to the 14th of April. Here you find a description of the Training of Multipliers (including requirements for participants). For further information contact TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer Andra Tanase (a.tanase@trialog.or.at). If you would like to apply for participation, contact your national platform before the 15th of March!

Central Training 2011: Transition Experiences

This years TRIALOG's annual exchange, the Central Training, will take place in Budapest between May 25th and 27th, 2011 and will be coordinated this year together with HAND, the Hungarian NGDO Platform, and DemNet. TRIALOG takes advantage of the ongoing Hungarian Presidency and a very relevant event organized by DemNet on the transition experiences and the role of the NMS in development cooperation to organize our annual exchange, the Central Training, around the same dates.

The training will start on Wednesday, 25th of May with a full day dedicated to the exchange between NMS NGDO platforms, in order to gain a full picture of their plans, challenges and successes. The following two days, 26th and 27th of May, the participants will participate in the DemNet conference, which looks at the role of the NMS in development cooperation (including the transition experience, influencing the Neighbourhood policy, good governance etc). For more information contact our office: office@trialog.or.at

Conference Documentation Global Crossroads

The documentation of the conference "Global Crossroads: The Role and Perspectives of CSOs in Development Cooperation" is now online. It contains the outcome document, a summary report, presentations, video comments and evaluation. Most of the documents are available in both English and Spanish. Please visit the TRIALOG website to see the documentation!

European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs in Slovakia

Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner for Development visited Slovakia on 8th February 2011. He met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mikuláš Dzurinda, as well as the Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová and the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for European Affairs Ivan Štefanec. The Commissioner expressed the need to keep our pledges concerning the ODA contribution and arrive to the target 0.33% GNI in 2015. During the meeting with the State Secretary, responsible for development aid, Milan Ježovica, they agreed on deepening and greater efficiency of cooperation that would more considerably engage Slovak organisations in implementation of specific EU development activities, namely in the target countries of the Slovak development aid such as Kenya and Sudan. ´

The Chairwoman of the Slovak NGDO Platform, Nora Beňáková, participated in a working lunch with the Commissioner. They had a talk on “positive discrimination” of the EU New Member States concerning applications for the EU call for proposals (for the projects in Africa and Asia) and on the possibilities of creating a new financial instrument for the provision of transition experience of NMS to the countries of West Balkan, Eastern neighbourhood and Central Asia. The Commissioner expressed his support for the New Member States. In the afternoon there was an informal meeting with the NGDOs members.

Information provided by Lenka Nemcová, Platforma MVRO

Building Bridges Between Humanitarian NGOs in Central Europe

As part of a DG ECHO project implemented by Foundation TOGETHER in partnership with Slovenian NGDO Platform SLOGA and People in Peril from Slovakia, an international meeting of humanitarian organizations from Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary was organized in Bratislava between 2nd and 4th February 2011.

Over 25 representatives from 13 Central European humanitarian NGOs discussed the common challenges faced by organizations from the region in the field of international humanitarian aid provision and options for establishing a network of humanitarian NGOs from the region.
On the first day, a presentation of non-governmental organizations in the form of an »open market« method was organized. The aim of this opening event was to acquire knowledge about activities implemented by participating organizations in order to identify possibilities and interests for future cooperation.

On the following day, a workshop facilitated by an expert trainer in the field of NGO networking, Mr Andrew Humphreys, addressed the topic of building a foundation for the establishment of an informal network of similar organizations from Central Europe, which could in the future further develop as a more formal structure. Working methods, a proposal of membership and a working plan for 2011 were also formulated during the meetings.

On the last day, the participants worked together on a preparation of an ECHO project proposal. The main purpose of the workshop was capacity building in the field of humanitarian projects preparation and sharing field experiences between different organizations. The simulation was also a practical example of a possible cooperation between organizations in the future, as within the network, organizations will have the opportunity to apply and implement joint activities in the field.

Representatives of Foundation TOGETHER, Platform SLOGA, People in Peril and the Slovak NGDO Platform also took part in a meeting with the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affair at its Development Assistance and Humanitarian Aid Department. The Ministry representatives expressed their support for the DG ECHO action »Strengthening the Capacities of the NGOs in ECHO underrepresented countries«, a one-year project aimed at improving relief work of NGOs from the region.

Information provided by Nina Perović, Sloga

Quality in Alternative Care: International Conference 4-6 April 2011, Prague

Various care systems exist for children living in alternative care which aim to ensure and improve their chances of development. However, inadequate care can hinder this development and result in children’s fundamental rights being violated. Against this background, SOS Children’s Villages, with the support of various partners, is organising the international conference "Quality in Alternative Care".

The conference aims to identify ways to empower children and young adults, to promote the implementation of quality care standards, to provide a platform and networking opportunities and to identify changes needed to policy and practice to align them with international frameworks. The conference will take place from 4-6 April 2011 in Prague. Information on the conference you find here.

Black Sea NGO Fellowship Program 2011: Policy and Advocacy, Application until March 14, 2011

The Civil Society Development Foundation (CSDF Romania) is pleased to launch the second phase of the Black Sea NGO Fellowship Program. The program runs under the aegis of the Black Sea NGO Forum with the financial support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. The initiative aims to increase the level of mutual knowledge, dialogue and cooperation among NGOs in the Black Sea region.

The second stage of the program (May 2011) is directed towards NGO professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine. 4 fellows from these countries will have the possibility to undergo an exchange and study program of up to 4 weeks in Romania, hosted by Romanian NGOs with excellent experience in policy and advocacy work.

The program includes:

• 1 week study-visit program to introduce the participants to the Romanian political, economic and social realities, as well as to the governmental and NGOs structures, from the perspective of the European integration. During this period the fellows will participate to meetings with experts and representatives from the Romanian Presidency, Government, Parliament, journalists and civil society leaders.
• 1 to 3 weeks of learning-by-doing and sharing experience of advocacy and policy work in well established Romanian NGOs (including watchdog or think-tank organizations) working in the following fields: democracy and citizen participation, good governance and transparency, human rights, environment, social services and child protection, youth, education and culture. During this period the fellows will be placed in a host NGO in Romania relevant for their field of work (in Bucharest or throughout the country).

The program is opened to candidates aged 25 – 35, employed fulltime in a NGO on a management position. Background in policy, advocacy and research represents an advantage.

Applications should be sent to the following address: valentin.burada@fdsc.ro. The deadline for the submission of the applications is 14 March 2011, 12.00 GMT.

The application forms and more details can be found here: http://www.fdsc.ro/pagini/black-sea-ngo-fellowship-2011-policy-an.php

Information provided by Valentin Burada

Advocacy towards European governments and EU institutions

At the end of February, the AidWatch working group of CONCORD federation organised an advocacy training in Vienna, Austria. The training was the 2nd part of a capacity building project realised jointly by CONCORD, TRIALOG and Coordination Sud, the French platform of Development NGOs in 2010 and 2011.

The event focused on advocacy and lobbying directed at national governments and EU institutions with their new institutional architecture: the AidWatch Advocacy Group invited several experienced speakers, among them Per Ola Mattsson from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke about the Swedish aid transparency initiative, or Liz Steele from the organisation Publish What You Fund who introduced the International Aid Transparency Initiative. During all sessions the preparation towards the High Level Aid Transparency Forum in Busan was present as a cross cutting issue.

For two days over 30 participants from most of the EU member states took part in discussions and interactive exercises designing advocacy campaigns, discussing the situation at their country levels and more. TRIALOG provided logistic support in Vienna and methodology input for the training.

A day before, AidWatch provided a training on the aid quantity analysis of OECD data for those members which will participate in the AidWatch report writing this year.

For more information, please visit CONCORD website: www.concordeurope.org
Or contact AidWatch working group: franz.berger@concordeurope.org

Information provided by Monika Matus, TRIALOG

Financial Management Toolkit for recipients of EU funds for external actions

EuropeAid recently published this toolkit that aims to help recipients of EU funds for external actions to comply with the conditions for financial management set out in contracts for EU-financed external actions.

The objectives are to:

• provide basic, practical guidance in an easy-to-use format;
• raise awareness of existing EC Contractual Conditions;
• identify important risk areas, indicate what can go wrong and explain how these risks can be avoided;
• provide best practices, tools and templates.

On 118 pages the toolkit explains all relevant issues of internal monitoring, documentation, filing and record keeping, procurement, asset management, payroll and time management, cash and bank management, accounting and financial reporting. The pdf-document as well as the relevant excel sheets are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/financial-management-toolkit_en.htm

The toolkit is not a set of rules in addition to the existing legal, contractual and regulatory framework and it is not a substitute for reading the EC Contractual Conditions and existing guides and instructions.

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

Harnessing the transition experience of the New EU member states in EU’s external relations: From policy to implementation

The European Consensus for Development sets in Article 33 that “the EU will capitalise on new Member States’ experience (such as transition management) and help strengthen the role of these countries as new donors” which since then was reiterated in different ocasions. Since 2008, the EC has been collecting the transition experiences and developed the European Transition Compendium which should provide tools for using the transition experience for supporting political and economic reforms in partner countries, especially in the European Neighbourhood and the Pre-Accession Countries. Main areas for implementation should be democratic institution building, support for democratic processes, protection of human rights, strengthening civil society, cooperation with local governments, independence of media etc.

The incorporation of transition experiences in EU policy and new instruments for the systematic use of transition experiences in the framework of EU financial instruments 2014-2020 is now requested by NMS such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The issue will also be raised from the Member States in the Structured Dialogue to be taken into consideration for the future architecture of development cooperation. The so-called Non-Paper on the Transition Experience is available here (návrh diskusního dokumentu).

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

Trainings Needs of Relief Workers from Eastern Europe: Red Cross

The Austrian Red Cross has been conducting various capacity building activities for humanitarian actors in the newly acceded EU countries and in South-Eastern Europe. To be able to respond with the upcoming activities better to the needs of relief NGOs and Red Cross Societies in this region, they are currently assessing their trainings preferences in an online survey. It is a short online survey that addresses humanitarian workers from relief organizations in new EU countries and in South-East Europe. It aims at assessing their training needs. The results will directly influence the focus of upcoming training courses that the Austrian Red Cross intends to organize. The survey can be accessed here.