Thursday, 31 January 2013

GDN Global Development Awards

The Global Development Network (GDN) is offering development organisations headquartered and working in developing countries and transition economies the opportunity to receive grants through the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project.

If your project is creative, innovative and has had a significant social impact, hurry and apply on our website for the 2012 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition.

Why do you want to apply?
• If you win, your project will be entitled to a grant of US$ 30,000
• If you win the second prize or third prize, your project will get a grant of US$ 10,000 and US$ 5,000, respectively
• The first prize winner will be eligible to compete for a grant of up to US$ 200,000 for their project through the Japan Social Development Fund
• If your project is shortlisted, your organization will participate as a presenting finalist at the parallel sessions in GDN’s 14th Annual Global Development Conference to be held in Manila, The Philippines, in June 2013. Travel and stay will be funded by GDN
• If your project is shortlisted, as a finalist, you will participate in a two-day training workshop before the Conference to enhance your communications skills
• Finalists get a chance to present their project to a high profile international audience at the Conference
• The winners will be chosen by an eminent jury at the Conference

Application Deadline: 18 February, 2013 (Indian Standard Time 6:00 PM).
To Apply: Please visit www.gdn.int/amc.
All applications and documents must be submitted electronically.

For queries related to the Competition, please write to us at: awards@gdn.int
Watch what past winners have to say: http://vimeo.com/27619123

Information provided by Global Development Network

Human Rights and Development Tools

In 2009 a working group of researchers focused on the subtopic of human right and development tools with a particular focus on EU and UN institutions was established by AHRI members participating in the current COST Action on the role of the EU in UN Human Rights reform.

The main output of the work of the team is an edited volume: Towards a Theory of Change: Human Rights and Development in the new Millennium (Routledge, 2013) . It analyses how human rights expansion into development influences organizational and operational change and the role of relevant actors in bringing about the change at local, national and international levels.

During the expert breakfast organized by CONCORD on Monday 28th January 2013 in Brussels, three of the authors presented their research findings.

Prof. P. Gready, who analysed the human rights-based approach (HRBA) implementation and its impact on ActionAid, discussed the need to align all aspects of the organization’s work with its approach to programming. Is there for instance also a HRBA to fundraising and advocacy?

Prof. W. Vandenhole studied HRBA to development within the EU context. He drew attention to the recent EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy of the Council of the EU from June 2012 which explicitly mentions HRBA for the area of the EU development cooperation. The question however remains how seriously and coherently is HRBA taken by EU institutions and policy-makers in practice.

Last, but not least, prof. K. Arts researching on a positive HRBA practice example - Plan’s project on countering violence against children in the Philippines, stressed the importance of similar positive HRBA examples and suggested that the complexity and the lengthiness of HRBA should be reflected in the evaluation and the project cycle.

For more information and online ordering visit: www.routledge.com.

AHRI consists of 43 member institutions based in Europe that carry out research and education in the field of human rights.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is one of the longest-running European instruments supporting cooperation among scientists and researchers across Europe.

Information provided by Katarina Sramkova, TRIALOG

“MY World” - It all starts with you!

The United Nations and partners want to hear from you! “MY World” is a global survey asking you to choose your priorities for a better world. Results will be shared with world leaders in setting the next global development agenda.

It has been 7 months since the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil and the Sustainable Development Dialogues. Due to the lively discussions that occurred on the riodialogues.org platform, the Dialogues influenced the Rio+20 outcome and planning for future sustainable development.

Building on this success, the “MY World” survey will help define the next set of global goals by telling the UN and partners the changes that everyone would like to see in the world.

Vote for the changes that would make the most difference to your world at: http://www.myworld2015.org/  

Information provided by MY World.

Human Rights Impact Assessments as a New Tool for Development Policy?

Development policy affects human rights in manifold ways. Policy-makers have tried to tackle these issues by employing various impact assessment tools. Traditionally, economic and environmental effects are at the centre of the existing tools, while social effects are only included to a lesser extent. This paper argues that the existing tools are insufficient for reasons that concern their legal status, their methodology and, in particular, their effectiveness. Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) promise to cure some of these shortcomings.

In the paper, published by ÖFSE (Austrian Research Foundation for International Development), the potential fields of application of HRIAs in development policy will be addressed.

Download the working paper here (pdf).

Source: Newsletter of Global Responsibility - Austrian Platform for development and humanitarian aid (17/01/2013)

"Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Balkans"

The report from the conference “Inclusive and sustainable development: The role of finance - Lessons from the Balkans” organised by ÖFSE – The Austrian Research Foundation for International Development on December 5, 2012 is available.

For several years, microfinance has been regarded as one of the main instruments that might be used to achieve economic development by mobilizing resources, increasing the volume of local productive investment and meeting the needs of different groups of the society. However, the microcredit-sector in Bosnia crashed in 2010, and its positive reputation has been severely damaged within Bosnian society.

The conference addressed the following questions:
What conclusions can be drawn from the experience of the Balkans and other regions for the design of financial systems in support of inclusive and sustainable economic development?
Which financial sector reforms should be implemented in the Balkan countries in this context?
Which role could and should international institutions and donors play in this respect?
What are the economic, social and political effects of the implosion of the microcredit bubble in Bosnia?
What role did European banks and, specifically, microfinance institutions play in this context?
What are their lessons learnt?

Download the report here (pdf).

Source: ÖFSE - The Austrian Research Foundation for International Development

Join the DEEEP Team

DEEEP will continue with a fourth project phase for another three years, co-funded by the European Commission and for DEEEP4 - Citizens' empowerment for global justice - they are currently seeking:

- an Advocacy Officer, 80%
- a Communication Officer, 80%
- a Research Officer, 60%
- a Capacity Building Officer, 60%

All posts are based in Brussels and deadline for applications is 3 February.

Click here to find all details about responsibilities, qualifications needed and the recruitment procedure in the linked job announcements.

Source: DEEEP/CONCORD EU Monitoring Newsletter (25/01/2013)

Friday, 21 December 2012

TRIALOG Advocacy Guide and new Website

We are happy to announce our latest publication and the re-lauch of the TRIALOG website.

The TRIALOG advocacy guide introduces readers to the world of lobbying and advocacy, with inspiring examples from EU12 experience. Drawing up an advocacy strategy, choosing target groups, using media, planning a campaign and many more topics are covered. The guide is a practical and down to earth– tool which provides suggestions on how to incorporate advocacy into your organisation’s work. A special feature of the guide are successful advocacy examples from new EU member state organisations and NGDO platforms.

Download the guide from the TRIALOG website.

The TRIALOG website was refreshed with a new design and a more user-friendly structure. New elements include an interactive EU-map that brings you directly to the country pages of the newer EU member states, quick-links to all EU13 platforms, news from EU13 platforms and TRIALOG and a login areas for partners to share internal documents. Visit the website now at www.trialog.or.at

We hope that the Advocacy Guide and the website will be useful tools for your work in the field of development education and development cooperation.






Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG

4th TRIALOG Development Education/Awareness Raising Partnership Fair – Application open

TRIALOG held successful Partnership Fairs in 2006, 2010 and 2011 where many of the EC-funded development education projects under NSA-LA line were conceived. TRIALOG will host the fourth edition of this event from 13 to 15 March, 2013. At this event around 100 participants from across the EU work on possible projects for the NSA-LA Development Education call. The Partnership Fair is a learning, networking and project-designing event from development CSOs from across Europe. TRIALOG aims to include representatives not only from NGOs but also from trade unions, academia, political foundations and Local Authorities. The Partnership Fair facilitates partnerships, cooperation, learning and exchange at an international level for joint projects for DEAR.

Please find a more detailed description here.
Download the application form.

Deadline for application is 8th of February 2013.

For further information please contact Ulrike Bey at u.bey@trialog.or.at

Information provided by Ulrike Bey, TRIALOG

First TRIALOG Strategy Meeting in the New Project Phase

On December 4th 2012, the first Strategy Meeting of TRIALOG in the new project phase was held in Vienna. This meeting – in previous phases called the Central Training - is meant for mutual exchange and updates about the situations of the platforms and planning of joint projects. In a market place EU12 /AC platforms presented an overview of the platform situations, their achievements and challenges of the past couple of months with regards to financial situation, platform structure and priorities of work. It was clear that all platforms are struggling with an insecure financial future. Main challenges are stability and continued involvement of member organisations within the platform under the current circumstances but also the improvement of relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The day continued with a presentation of CONCORD priorities in 2013 by Klavdija Cernilogar, head of programmes, which was useful in relating to the platforms’ own activities. Following were presentations on specific policy issues and how they are translated into the national contexts of several countries. Jana Milerova of the Czech platform FoRS presented examples of how NGO effectiveness – also laid down in the Istanbul principles - is implemented by member organisations of FoRS. Kerstin Wittig presented the activities of the Cypriot island-wide platform CYINDEP to promote the Beyond2015 campaign during the Cypriot EU presidency. Marjan Huc of the Slovenian platform Sloga introduced the project “World Wise Europe” on policy coherence for development (PCD) where eight EU12 platforms are involved under the lead of the Belgian NGO 11.11.11. He elaborated how Sloga engages to relate PCD to the Slovenian national context and to get public and policy support for the topic. The discussions that started during the panel presentations continued during the following working groups where platform representatives were looking more deeply at the different topics. The sessions turned out to be a sharing of information, best practices and examples. In future the Strategy meetings will be held by the end of the calendar year. The capacity building activities of TRIALOG V leave a lot of space for joint actions.

In the photos: participants of the Strategy Meeting during working group sessions.

Information provided by Ulrike Bey, TRIALOG

Czech NGDO Platform FoRS launched new Aidwatch Report on Czech ODA in 2011

In their new Aidwatch report on Czech Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2011, development NGOs associated in Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS) point out that the quality of the Czech aid has increased, but it is necessary to ensure its stable funding.

The report shows that Czech ODA is operating more effectively and more transparently. Several conceptual documents were prepared by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 2011 such as country strategy papers with 4 of the 5 priority program countries, a new Project Cycle Methodology for bilateral ODA defining standard procedures and roles of individual actors as well as the National Strategy for Global Development Education and the Strategy for Government Grants for Students from Developing Countries. In addition, evaluations of bilateral development projects were launched in 2011. Moreover, the responsibilities, competencies and the aid budget within the Czech ODA will be unified under the Czech MFA in 2013.

The volume of Czech ODA in 2011 slightly increased compared to 2010 reaching approx. 177,2 million EUR. Most bilateral ODA went to the priority countries: Afghanistan (8 million EUR), Mongolia and Moldova (3 million EUR each). The highest part of bilateral ODA was spent on strengthening government and civil society, which is the sector of a long-standing Czech expertise. However, with ODA representing only 0,12 % of the Czech Gross National Income (GNI), compared to 0,13 % in 2010, the Czech Republic does not meet its international commitments to provide 0,33 % of its GNI for ODA by 2015. In addition, the proportion of the bilateral ODA was further reduced to 31 % of the total ODA and was spent mostly on development projects in partner countries carried out by various actors, especially private companies (37 %) and civil society organizations (34 %).

A briefing paper in English based on FoRS Aidwatch report including FoRS recommendations for Czech state institutions is available here.

Contact person: Marie Zazvorkova, marie.zazvorkova@fors.cz

Information provided by Marie Zazvorkova, FoRS

Malta’s AidWatch Working Group

Malta’s AidWatch Working Group (AWWG) has had a very busy second part of 2012. SKOP (National Platform of Maltese NGDOs ) was granted funds through CONCORD’s Sub-contracting Scheme to employ an AidWatch Research and Advocacy Officer for six months.

During this period, the AWWG managed to intensify its research capacities and thus enhance its advocacy actions. Malta’s AWWG aims to provide a detailed report and analysis of the Government’s Official Development Assistance programme. This would enable the AWWG to make recommendations aimed at a more efficient and effective national ODA programme. The necessity to focus more energies on this issue came after years of difficulties encountered in accessing data and information related to Malta’s ODA, as a result of lack of transparency.

The work carried out since June brought about a strengthened dialogue with the Development Unit within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as established new communication links with other Ministries and institutions involved in the management and allocation of Malta’s ODA. Communication with other national platforms, especially from the EU12, helped in identifying potential solutions. This was based on sharing of experiences, good practices and lessons learnt.

The research project has been helpful for SKOP’s AWWG and other civil society organizations and representatives (such as academia) to jointly advocate for an improved political framework and a clearer implementation strategy focused on poverty. A multi-stakeholder workshop was organized on the 8th November entitled, “A Review of Malta’s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) through the past three years from a political, academic and civil society point of view”, during which representatives from political parties, academia, NGOs and other civil society backgrounds discussed how the quality and transparency of Malta’s ODA programme could be improved.

The next step is to gear up on advocacy actions with politicians, especially in view of the upcoming General Elections in Malta on 9th March 2013.

For further information, contact Ms. Paola Prinzis, AidWatch Research and Advocacy Officer: paola.prinzis@skopmalta.org  

Information provided by Philippa Arrigo, SKOP

The World We Want – Global Civil Society Symposium

CYINDEP, the Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform carried out a symposium with the aim of providing the space to civil society to interact with other relevant stakeholders from academia, international institutions, governments and the private sector, to discuss, share ideas and concerns on the issue of food and nutrition security. The symposium was held on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2012 in Cyprus.

The symposium focused on six key issues of food security, namely: nutrition, sustainable agriculture, resilience, water, governance and the role of the private sector, while it was based on the cross-cutting issues of the Human Rights based approach, Policy Coherence for Development and Sustainable Development with its three dimensions (environmental; economic; and socio-political).

During the second day a High Level Panel was co-organised with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, hosting European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, the Irish Development Minister Joe Costello, Baroness Northover from DfID, HRH Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso of Lesotho, Krystyna Bednarska, Director of WFP Office in Brussels and Ben Slay from UNDP Regional Centre in Bratislava. Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Erato Kozakou Marcoullis during her opening speech noted that ‘The pursuit of an ambitious and visionary post-2015 development agenda requires an inclusive and visionary coalition, encompassing a variety of dedicated stakeholders within and beyond Europe. Our aim today is to build such a coalition, a coalition which stretches across civil society and governments, across Europe and the world’.

The conference envisages influencing the post-2015 framework through a set of specific recommendations, which will feed into the Thematic Consultation on Hunger, Food and Nutrition Security and the national consultations. The Cypriot Platform is also very keen in continuing the work on food and nutrition security within the new development framework through other activities.

Information provided by Sophia Arnaouti, CYINDEP

Visegrad4 Parliamentarians Visiting Ethiopia

From 10th- 19th November 2012 nine members of the parliaments of the Visegrad4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) visited Ethiopia as part of the EU funded project V4 Aid- United Support for the MDGs. The journey was organized by People in Need (CZ), DemNet Foundation (HU), Polish Humanitarian Action (PL), Slovak NGDO Platform and PDCS (SK).

The visit enabled the V4 decision makers to gain firsthand experience of Global South countries' development problems, provide them invaluable insight into development cooperation and its complexity as well as stimulate debate and further interaction between the representatives of V4 countries on national ODA policies. Participants had the opportunity to meet the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Water and Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the EU Delegation in Ethiopia, the Federal and Regional Parliament of the SNNPR. Most of the journey concentrated on visiting V4 development projects. In Debre Zeit the participants visited a school supported by the Slovak Integra Foundation, in Alemtema a school run by the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit which is supported by Polish Aid. Most of the visited project was supported by Czech NGOs, especially People in Need that have the most extensive presence in Ethiopia among V4 countries. Apart from the health and education projects in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, the MPs visited environmental, sanitation and agriculture projects implemented by Czech NGOs. The beginning and the end of the visit was accompanied by a meeting with the V4 ambassadors who are present in Ethiopia.

Partners of the project will organize a follow-up conference on V4 cooperation in the area of development that will take place on 21st January 2013 in Budapest.

More information on V4 cooperation in Ethiopia can be found in the analysis here.

The author of the photo is Robert Hodosi
Description: Meeting at the Polish Embassy in Ethiopia.

Information provided by Andrea Girmanová, Platforma MVRO - Slovak NGDO Platform

Czech Engagement in Development Cooperation in the Times of Economic Crisis

On 20 November 2012, the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS) organized a panel discussion titled "Should the Czech Republic remain engaged in development cooperation in the times of an economic crisis?". Panelists from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Czech Development Agency, the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament and Caritas Czech Republic agreed on the strengths of Czech aid especially the experience from the transition period to democracy and market economy, a considerable progress on the systemic level (clear structure with responsibilities, a multiannual strategy, country strategy papers etc.) and small, but relatively stable funding despite an economic crisis. Some weaker aspects of Czech aid were also mentioned such as relatively low sustainability of development projects and insufficient communication towards, awareness among and support from policy and decision makers and the public for development cooperation.

On this occasion FoRS also published a press release, presented its new Aidwatch report on Czech Official Development Assistance in 2011 as well as a new version of the website http://www.fors.cz/ceskapomoc/ providing a detailed and interactive database of over a hundred development projects of Czech NGOs.

Contact person: Marie Zazvorkova, marie.zazvorkova@fors.cz

Information provided by Marie Zazvorkova, FoRS