22 million EUR for new Civil Society Facility

The European Union is setting up a Civil Society Facility to provide funding for non-state actors in its Neighbourhood Partners, with EUR 22 million between 2011 and 2013, targeted at reinforcing the role of civil society across the region (read more). This refers to the Communication on ‘A new response to a changing Neighbourhood’, outlining the EU’s response to recent events in the 'Neighbourhood South'. The Neighbourhood Civil Society Facility is made up of three components, to be funded by the ENPI over 2011-2013:

Component 1: Strengthening capacity of civil society, through exchanges of good practice and training, to promote national reform and increase public accountability, to enable them to become stronger actors in driving reform at national level and stronger partners in the implementation of ENP objectives.

Component 2: Strengthening non-state actors through support to regional and country projects, by supplementing the funding available through thematic programmes and instruments.

Component 3: Promoting an inclusive approach to reforms by increasing the involvement of non-state actors in national policy dialogue and in the implementation of bilateral programmes.

First regional calls could be published by mid-October already. Part of the funds for several countries could be combined with funds for the NSA/LA call and announced together with a local call. The list of eligible countries contains countries from the partnership programme East (EuroEast) as well as Partnership Programme South (EuroMed).

Besides, a „SPRING Programme“ for the "Support for partnership, reforms and inclusive growth (SPRING)" was decided according to which in 2011 and 2012 altogether 350 million EUR for democratic transition in Tunisia, Egypt, Marocco and Jordan will be spent. (Document)

More information: http://www.enpi-info.eu/ and http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/index_en.htm.

Sources: bengo, CONCORD, EC

Butterfly Effect – Seminar about the Role of Media in Development Cooperation and Climate Change

The Seminar about the role of media in development cooperation and climate change, under the title "Buttefly Effect" took place in Ljubljana on 26.9.2011 and was organised by Sloga - the Slovenian Platform of development NGOs - and Focus – association for sustainable development - as a part of a project financed by Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration and European Social Fund.

The aim of the Seminar was mainly to discuss with representatives of Slovenian and international media on climate change, interlinkages between solutions for climate change and development challenges, ways of communicating the issues and the role media can play in it. First, Sandra Bašić Hrvatin, professor of media communication from University of Primorska, analised media in Slovenia and their communication of above mentioned issues. She concluded by saying that Slovenian media are subject to pressure for producing large amount of news, which decreases their quality. BBC correspondent and professor of journalism at the Reuters institute for the study of journalism, James Painter conducted a research on media reporting in countries in development on climate change and its impacts. He, on the other hand, implied there is a certain environmental fatigue occuring in media. Simple and relevant stories that the public can relate to, are the key to success. Also Vlasta Jeseničnik, a TV Slovenia reporter from Cancun climate change negotiations agreed with Sandra, that reporters and journalists are usualy subject to pressure from editors and media owners.

Accordingly all the speakers concluded, that the national televisions are the ones which have the most important role in communicating the climate change and developments cooperation issues to public. They also set standards for commercial televisions. NGOs on the other hand can help media by supplying them with stories that are simple and relevant for the common public. And so, like the butterfly effect, we can make small steps here, to make huge effects on people on the other side of the planet.

Information provided by Aleš Rovšnik, SLOGA

Partnersearch: Development Education on Migration and Identity

The Devon Development Education / The Global Center (UK) is looking for partner organisations for a DE project on migration and identity to apply under the NSA/LA call for Development Education in Europe (objective 2). For more information follow the link (pdf).

Transition Manifesto

As a result of the Transition Experience Conference in Budapest (26-27 May 2011) DemNet drafted a Transition Manifesto, a statement of civil society organizations, active in the field of democracy support, on what they believe to be indispensable for transitional societies in the post-communist context, and what they can offer, based on their own transition experiences, to be utilized in development cooperation (DevCo) programmes and external relations of the EU and its Member States. Find the Manifesto here.

Slovak - Balkan Public Policy Fund: Raising the Policy Development Capacity of CSOs

In cooperation with Pontis Foundation and with the financial support of SlovakAid, BCSDN will be launching a pilot grant scheme for CSOs and individuals. The aim of this program is to build the capacity of CSOs and young experts through offering them a grant support. The pilot phase running between September 2011 and October 2012 will cover 3 countries: Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. The kick off meeting of the partners implementing the project, BCSDN and Pontis Foundation, took place in Skopje on the 26th of September which served as a starting point defining all the general procedures on how to continue the project. The fist call for proposals should be expected by the end of October. More information is available at the BCSDN website.

Source: BCSDN No. 238

Integration of the Human Rights Based Approach into Development Policies and Programmes: A guide for the New EU Member States

The human rights based approach (HRBA) is a powerful and pragmatic framework which offers practical solutions for the new EU Member States to overcome some of the specific challenges they face as relatively new donors. This guide by the Minority Rights Group (MRG) provides a range of programming tools for policy makers and programme developers to enable them to integrate and thus capitalize on this framework in their specific context.

The new landmark publication, intended as a follow-up tool to MRG’s policy paper on the relevance of the HRBA for new EU Member States, provides an overview of the policy and programming processes of official aid administrations and identifies entry points for the integration of the HRBA to policy development and programming. The tools presented provide a general guide to development planning and implementation. They are applicable to any thematic area, ranging from infrastructure development to social development and beyond.

Specific focus in the guide is given to three countries, all of which are holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during 2011 and 2012: Hungary, Poland and Cyprus. The countries were selected because the Presidency provides some political space for agenda-setting and brings increased attention to the respective countries, including to their development cooperation activities and frameworks.

The toolkit also provides HRBA project management tools tailored for the needs of new EU Member States’ NGDOs to integrate HRBA principles into their projects. See the toolkit by following the link.

Information provided by Bernadett Sebály, Minority Rights Group Europe

European Network Academy - ATTAC Summer University

It’s been the second time that Polish delegates participated in the ATTAC Summer University. This year the event took place in Freiburg, Germany. Around 1200 people from different European countries (mainly Western Europe) participated. From Central and Eastern Europe, where there is lesser social activity, the Polish delegation was the largest with 6 persons. Attac Poland has been involved in a worldwide movement criticizing the neoliberal globalization for 10 years now. They took part in many events, beginning with the 1st European Social Forum, ending with the ATTAC University. Other countries of the region, for example, Hungary or the Czech Republic were represented by only two persons, which might mark a large crisis in social activity the region.

The academy itself was very well organized. It took place in the university building, where the offices of the event organizers were located, as well as rooms for translators and coordinators, meeting halls, registration and information for participants. Overnight stays were organised in local schools, camps or hostels. The organisation was impressive, there were no problems what-so-ever with registration and other administrative matters.

Representatives of ATTAC Poland participated in a number of meetings, for example, against privatization of public services, entitled “PrivatAttac”. Here also members of German and French Attac participated. The issues discussed there are crucial discussion points of all social movements. This event will be cyclically repeated in the future. Polish participants took part in numerous debates, seminars, integrating with activists from Western Europe.

Soon we are facing next meetings of Attac and other social movements. Hopefully, one day the countries from the Eastern Europe will become more active.

TRIALOG supported the participation of 8 persons from new member states in the European Network Academy in Feiburg.

Information provided by Piotr Kawiorski, ATTAC Poland

UNDP Lithunia is Looking for Partners for an International Student Exchange Programme

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lithuania and 5 main high education establishments of Lithuania are looking for organisations that might be interested in cooperating with and receiving Lithuanian students for international internships. Participation costs would be sponsored by the Lithuanian Government. The aim of this initiative is to provide Lithuanian undergraduates / graduates with real-life work experiences to: a) back up their studies, b) provide them with international profile for advancement of their early careers and c) contribute to “brain circulation”. Receiving organisations will in their turn benefit from new ideas, qualified temporary assistance and a talents pre-selection opportunity. Find more information...

Danube Road of Learning for Culture

FIDE (Romania) is looking for project partners for a network of organisations of 10 countries sharing the Danube river in the area of tourism, culture and local development. Please read more.

Evaluation of the Implementation of the Paris Declaration

An independent group has evaluated the effects of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The evaluation looks at how the principles of aid effectiveness have been put into practice and what results this is having in developing countries. The outcomes of this important international evaluation include a synthesis report, 21 country evaluations, 7 donor studies and several thematic reviews (see further down). The evaluation was managed by an independent reference group that includes country partners and will be a key input to the Busan High Level Forum in November 2011. For more information follow the link.

Source: OECD

Food Sovereignty: Exploring Debates on Development Alternatives and Women’s Rights

AWID – Association for Women’s Rights in Development has published an article on Food Sovereignty. This article compiles and analyzes current debates about food sovereignty from a gender perspective, in which the international and Latin American peasant women movement have played a central role. It explores the challenges and promotes debate among gender equality advocates on how to connect with the peasants’ movement vision of food sovereignty and peasants’ rights. The Feminist Perspectives Towards Transforming Economic Power series shares experiences from the ground and testimonies from diverse groups of women; provides analysis; and builds knowledge on alternative visions and practices of development, with a vision of transformation. Download the article.

Conference: See People Behind Politics. Why Effectiveness Matters. 10 October 2011 Warsaw

Zagranica Group, the Polish platform of development NGOs, invites you to the international conference: See People Behind Politics: Why effectiveness matters? Perspectives from the Global South, which takes place in Warsaw on 10th October 2011. Please find the agenda and additional information of the conference here. Some travel and accomodations costs can be covered. Deadline for registration is 30th September at event@zagranica.org.pl.

V4 Aid Transparency Conference 4 October 2011, Prag

Currently, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is the most comprehensive effort to improve transparency in development cooperation. Created in 2008 by key OECD donors IATI developed an open data standard for aid information open to bilateral, multilateral and private donors, including foundations and NGOs. OpenAid e.V. together with Visegrad non-governmental development organisations are organising the V4 Aid Transparency conference in Prague to explore the relevance of IATI and of open data generally for emerging donors such as the EU12 countries. Concrete examples of open data initiatives in other public sectors will stimulate the debate on the possible uses of aid data. Deadline for registration is 29th of September.

Find more information on the FoRS website.

TRIALOG starts into a new project year of Phase 4

After the summer break in August the TRIALOG team is now back and complete in its offices in Vienna and Brussels. Our Policy Officer Rebecca Steel-Jasinska is back in the Brussels Office, and we welcome our new Capacity Building Officer Faika El-Nagahsi, the maternity leave replacement for Andra Tanase.

We are happy to present our TIS newsletter in a new format and hope that you will enjoy reading it. We have been busy preparing our next activities including the Partnership Fair (19-21 September 2011). At the Partnership Fair we will welcome more than 100 participants from all over Europe - we were pleased by the high interest that the event generated.

We would also like to announce the publication of our annual Bulletin - fresh off the press. This issue includes a review of the conference and field visits in Nicaragua in November and December of last year, highlights relevant policy processes like the Structured Dialogue, the Multiannual Financial Framework and CSO Effectiveness as well as providing new perspectives on the transition experience of new EU member state. There are articles focusing on the EU presidencies in Poland (2011) and Cyprus (2012) as well as on Croatia as a future member of the EU. We hope you enjoy it! Please find the pdf-version online; hard copies can be sent upon request to office@trialog.or.at