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.
Thursday, 26 February 2015
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
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
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
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
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
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
Click here for more information on the required qualifications and application procedure.
Deadline for submitting applications: 1st of March 2015.
Source: Open Society Foundations
Thursday, 22 January 2015
New Policy Digest: Latvian Presidency Priorities for Development Cooperation
In the first half of 2015, Latvia will for the first time hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union (from now on referred to as the ‘presidency’). Holding the presidency means being at the very centre of EU policy making by setting the Council’s agenda for six months.The priorities of the Latvian Presidency in development cooperation will reflect the Trio Presidency – Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg – joint programme and especially focus on a common and strong position of the EU on the Post-2015 development framework, financing for development issues, gender equality and good governance. The Latvian Presidency also plans to work on closer cooperation of the EU with Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries.
This policy digest will look at the wider context of the Latvian Presidency, the main topics concerning development cooperation what will be addressed, explain ideas behind LAPAS’ - the Latvian development CSO platform - priority areas during the presidency and identify opportunities for engagement with the Latvian Presidency for CSOs outside Latvia.
Download the Policy Digest here.
Information provided by TRIALOG
TRIALOG Exchange with the Global South: Uganda meets EU13
In November 2014, two Ugandan project partners of Brother and Sister in Need (BSIN) (Dioceses Innsbruck) – a member organisation of HORIZONT3000 – came to give school workshops on the topic of global development in Austria. TRIALOG approached BSIN to see if the Ugandan partners were interested in introducing their organisations’ work and building up new contacts with organisations in the enlarged EU. They were, and so it came to be that within the TRIALOG Global Exchange activity the two Ugandan colleagues visited development CSOs in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia and Poland.Mr. Tonny Kyambadde, an agriculture expert working for the Ugandan CARITAS Maddo, and specialised on promotion of sustainable agriculture among small scale rural farmers, was invited to events of the Czech development CSO platform FoRS and its member organisation Glopolis. At a public lecture “Towards Food Sovereignty– Can Africa Feed itself?” Mr. Kyambadde shared his experience in working with local small scale food producers; during a roundtable discussion he engaged with NGO and Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives on the topic of food security. His journey continued to Latvia, where he was involved in global education activities of the hosting organisation Humana People to People, as well as the development CSO platform LAPAS.
Ms Cissy Nakabugo from the dioceses Kiyinda-Mityana shared her experiences in child rights and social protection with development CSOs and students in Hungary and Poland. She met with Polish teachers who innovatively implement Global Education in kindergartens and preschools and visited six kindergartens herself. As an outcome of this exchange activity the Angelus Silesius House in Wroclaw is looking into opportunities of sending volunteers to work on Ms Nakabugo’s projects in Uganda and some of the kindergartens asked to establish partnerships with Ugandan kindergartens.
Both hosting NGOs from EU13 and the Ugandan guests appreciated the opportunity to meet and describe the exchange as a great learning opportunity.
Photo credits: Demnet, Cissy Nakabugo during a workshop with students in Hungary.
Information provided by Elisa Romero and Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG
NGO Networks: Opportunities and Challenges
An exchange of experience:
Together with its lead agency HORIZONT3000, TRIALOG organised an evening to discuss the opportunities and challenges of NGO networks with development practitioners and guests from universities on 27 November 2014.
During the event at the c3 centre for international development in Vienna, questions such as “what is the added value of networks, what indicates a successful NGO network and how can a platform work effectively?” were in focus. The speakers shared experiences from different angles.
Joachim Lindau, former Bread for the World programme director and co-founder of the German NGO platform VENRO, as well as the TRIALOG project, has been active in various networks. He underlined that forming networks is necessary for the political work of NGOs, particularly their joint lobby and advocacy work. “NGO networks are not social movements”, Joachim Lindau explained, “They are convenient alliances”. Small organisations especially benefit from membership of a network. On the other hand platform building and maintenance require financial and human resources from its members. To keep the network alive and relevant, it is indispensable to constantly prove the benefits for its members. It can help to recall why a network was initially formed, re-define objectives and check if the context has changed.
TRIALOG has been supporting the establishment of development NGO platforms in EU13 and their integration in the European NGO confederation CONCORD. It has organised many networking activities where it showed that personal and continuous contacts lead to partnerships of trust and an open culture of learning and knowledge exchange. Elisa Romero of TRIALOG reported that regarding the integration of weaker or smaller members in a network or larger platform, it is important to show solidarity! The newcomers might need some guidance and support to find their roles and spaces to contribute. Also if in financial terms, the weaker members might contribute less to the network, nevertheless their voices must being heard equally loud.
Jakob Mussil is EU Policy Officer at the Austrian development platform and active in various CONCORD working groups. Apart from the external representation, he sees the internal capacity development and experience sharing as an asset of networks. In CONCORD, ideally the wider network benefits from the work of its members (for example lobby towards national governments), while the members benefit from CONCORD’s lobby towards the EU institutions. As a challenge Jakob Mussil identified the active participation of members and the representation of a very diverse group of members. Defining topics that are relevant to a big group of members and setting up effective ways of working together has to be constan
tly reviewed using participatory methods.
In the discussion that followed, it was said that pluralism of membership is both an opportunity and a challenge for networks and if a classic platform is the best way to work or if a loose network would better serve certain objectives. Finally it was found that an enabling environment for CSOs is the necessary basis for a strong and effective contribution to development cooperation. NGOs in countries with financial instability often lack personal resources and consequently have lower impact both on lobby and advocacy, as well as in their role as development actors.
During the event, the booklet “TRIALOG in the enlarged EU: 15 years supporting civil society to engage in development” and a short film were launched. The booklet is a journey through the TRIALOG experience from its beginning to the fifth project phase, starting in 2012. It provides insights into the context in which the project was embedded. Project activities are described and analysed according to the three main areas of TRIALOG’s work: “European Integration of Development CSOs from the Enlarged EU”, “Platform Building Support” and “Capacity Building for Development CSOs”. A special focus looks at the contribution of TRIALOG to “Networking”, “Learning and Empowerment” and “Advocacy” in EU13. At the end of this journey you will find the lessons learnt and case studies from EU13 development NGO platforms.
The booklet and the film are available on the TRIALOG website.
Photo credits: TRIALOG, participants of the event NGO Networks: Chances and Challenges.
Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG
Together with its lead agency HORIZONT3000, TRIALOG organised an evening to discuss the opportunities and challenges of NGO networks with development practitioners and guests from universities on 27 November 2014.During the event at the c3 centre for international development in Vienna, questions such as “what is the added value of networks, what indicates a successful NGO network and how can a platform work effectively?” were in focus. The speakers shared experiences from different angles.
Joachim Lindau, former Bread for the World programme director and co-founder of the German NGO platform VENRO, as well as the TRIALOG project, has been active in various networks. He underlined that forming networks is necessary for the political work of NGOs, particularly their joint lobby and advocacy work. “NGO networks are not social movements”, Joachim Lindau explained, “They are convenient alliances”. Small organisations especially benefit from membership of a network. On the other hand platform building and maintenance require financial and human resources from its members. To keep the network alive and relevant, it is indispensable to constantly prove the benefits for its members. It can help to recall why a network was initially formed, re-define objectives and check if the context has changed.
TRIALOG has been supporting the establishment of development NGO platforms in EU13 and their integration in the European NGO confederation CONCORD. It has organised many networking activities where it showed that personal and continuous contacts lead to partnerships of trust and an open culture of learning and knowledge exchange. Elisa Romero of TRIALOG reported that regarding the integration of weaker or smaller members in a network or larger platform, it is important to show solidarity! The newcomers might need some guidance and support to find their roles and spaces to contribute. Also if in financial terms, the weaker members might contribute less to the network, nevertheless their voices must being heard equally loud.
Jakob Mussil is EU Policy Officer at the Austrian development platform and active in various CONCORD working groups. Apart from the external representation, he sees the internal capacity development and experience sharing as an asset of networks. In CONCORD, ideally the wider network benefits from the work of its members (for example lobby towards national governments), while the members benefit from CONCORD’s lobby towards the EU institutions. As a challenge Jakob Mussil identified the active participation of members and the representation of a very diverse group of members. Defining topics that are relevant to a big group of members and setting up effective ways of working together has to be constan
tly reviewed using participatory methods.
In the discussion that followed, it was said that pluralism of membership is both an opportunity and a challenge for networks and if a classic platform is the best way to work or if a loose network would better serve certain objectives. Finally it was found that an enabling environment for CSOs is the necessary basis for a strong and effective contribution to development cooperation. NGOs in countries with financial instability often lack personal resources and consequently have lower impact both on lobby and advocacy, as well as in their role as development actors.
During the event, the booklet “TRIALOG in the enlarged EU: 15 years supporting civil society to engage in development” and a short film were launched. The booklet is a journey through the TRIALOG experience from its beginning to the fifth project phase, starting in 2012. It provides insights into the context in which the project was embedded. Project activities are described and analysed according to the three main areas of TRIALOG’s work: “European Integration of Development CSOs from the Enlarged EU”, “Platform Building Support” and “Capacity Building for Development CSOs”. A special focus looks at the contribution of TRIALOG to “Networking”, “Learning and Empowerment” and “Advocacy” in EU13. At the end of this journey you will find the lessons learnt and case studies from EU13 development NGO platforms.
The booklet and the film are available on the TRIALOG website.
Photo credits: TRIALOG, participants of the event NGO Networks: Chances and Challenges.
Information provided by Elisa Romero, TRIALOG
From Membership based Network to Ideas Community: 10 Years of Development Cooperation Platform in Latvia
On January 8, Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation LAPAS celebrated its 10 years anniversary and the launch of Latvia's Presidency in the EU Council.Celebrating its 10 year anniversary, LAPAS has announced its transformation from membership based network to ideas community. Supporting the new paradigm of development, any person and any organisation aiming at changing the world towards more sustainable development are welcome to become member or friend of LAPAS.
To reinforce the new approach and also the EU Presidency priority - glocalisation - LAPAS has also changed the visual identity of the platform. The new symbol of LAPAS is the sign of the Latvian ancient goddess Laima (Happiness) and symbolises local solutions to global problems as a key towards development.
For the EU Presidency launch, instead of formal presentations, LAPAS chose to show the movie „The Economics of Happiness” (see www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org) that gives a glance on LAPAS perspective to development priorities.
Please find the full text of LAPAS Presidency Manifesto “Ideals at Work” here.
LAPAS thanks all members, ex-members, ex-directors and partners, guests from platforms and NGOs from Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Germany, GCAP, Beyond 2015 and Action 2015 campaigns, and especially CONCORD director Seamus Jefferson and EP DEVE Committee chair Linda McAvan for their participation. Find happy pictures of happy people on our Facebook Page LAPAS_LV.
Information provided by Inese Vaivare, LAPAS
News from the Slovak NGDO Platform
Global Education Week 2014 in Slovakia: Food Security Edition
A Europe-wide Global Education Week took place from 15th and 23rd November 2014. The topic discussed during this year’s events was food security, sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Slovak edition of the Global Education Week encompassed a number of interesting activities. University lectures were delivered by a renowned analytic of global challenges Juraj Mesík, along with food sovereignty academic Katarína Juríková. The Slovak NGDO Platform that organized the Week in Slovakia also cooperated with Adela Banášová, a fan favourite of Slovak TV and radio audiences, in preparing a panel discussion debating local grown initiatives spreading the ideas of food sovereignty.
On 22nd November a group of around 40 people went for a public critical mass bike-ride with check points at the most important local food markets in the city of Bratislava. The bike-ride ended in the biggest and oldest interior marketplace in the city – Stará tržnica, which has been revived only in the recent years by local activists. Thereafter the final discussion with local farmers took place. Other interesting discussions, film screenings, workshops and debates took place in different regions of the country organised for students and wider public, most of all spreading one particularly important message: ŽI FÉR (for a fair and just world).
Photo credits: Slovak NGDO Platform. Participants of the bike-ride.
Pre-Christmas Breakfast with Journalists
On 11th December 2014 The Slovak NGDO Platform organised breakfast for journalists. The event was organised to introduce the upcoming European Development Year 2015 and present its aims and main topics that will be discussed. The Slovak NDGO Platform informed about prepared activities within the EYD 2015 and presented the opportunities for journalists, including the possibility to apply for a field trip to African or Asian countries. The Platform presented European AidWatch report launched in Paris in November 2014,
as well as the Slovak AidWatch report for the previous year. One of the important areas discussed during the European Year for Development will be policy coherence for development and the campaign of the Platform ŽI FÉR for a life in a fairer world. The Slovak NDGO Platform presented a publication prepared for the media and for NGOs entitled “When one hand gives and the other one takes back”. The brochure focuses on several issues related to the policy coherence for development. Around 14 journalists attended the breakfast. Some of them did interviews on spot and published media outcomes. The Platform hopes to strengthen the cooperation with them during 2015, the European Year for Development.
Information provided by Andrea Girmanova, Slovak NGDO Platform
A Europe-wide Global Education Week took place from 15th and 23rd November 2014. The topic discussed during this year’s events was food security, sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Slovak edition of the Global Education Week encompassed a number of interesting activities. University lectures were delivered by a renowned analytic of global challenges Juraj Mesík, along with food sovereignty academic Katarína Juríková. The Slovak NGDO Platform that organized the Week in Slovakia also cooperated with Adela Banášová, a fan favourite of Slovak TV and radio audiences, in preparing a panel discussion debating local grown initiatives spreading the ideas of food sovereignty.On 22nd November a group of around 40 people went for a public critical mass bike-ride with check points at the most important local food markets in the city of Bratislava. The bike-ride ended in the biggest and oldest interior marketplace in the city – Stará tržnica, which has been revived only in the recent years by local activists. Thereafter the final discussion with local farmers took place. Other interesting discussions, film screenings, workshops and debates took place in different regions of the country organised for students and wider public, most of all spreading one particularly important message: ŽI FÉR (for a fair and just world).
Photo credits: Slovak NGDO Platform. Participants of the bike-ride.
Pre-Christmas Breakfast with Journalists
On 11th December 2014 The Slovak NGDO Platform organised breakfast for journalists. The event was organised to introduce the upcoming European Development Year 2015 and present its aims and main topics that will be discussed. The Slovak NDGO Platform informed about prepared activities within the EYD 2015 and presented the opportunities for journalists, including the possibility to apply for a field trip to African or Asian countries. The Platform presented European AidWatch report launched in Paris in November 2014,
as well as the Slovak AidWatch report for the previous year. One of the important areas discussed during the European Year for Development will be policy coherence for development and the campaign of the Platform ŽI FÉR for a life in a fairer world. The Slovak NDGO Platform presented a publication prepared for the media and for NGOs entitled “When one hand gives and the other one takes back”. The brochure focuses on several issues related to the policy coherence for development. Around 14 journalists attended the breakfast. Some of them did interviews on spot and published media outcomes. The Platform hopes to strengthen the cooperation with them during 2015, the European Year for Development.
Information provided by Andrea Girmanova, Slovak NGDO Platform
News from the Slovenian Development NGO Platform SLOGA
Training on the role of private sector in development cooperation
As part of the project WorldWise Europe, where SLOGA is partner, training on the role of private sector in development cooperation was organised in early December 2014. The participants were familiarised with the context of private sector in development cooperation and different initiatives and guidelines on global and European level. They furthermore learned about the role of the European Investment Bank and public-private partnerships. The day was concluded with examples of campaigns on the topic of the role of private sector in development. The second day was focused on strengthening the capacity of organisations and the planning of future activities within the project.
Workshop on campaigning for EYD2015
SLOGA, with the support of TRIALOG, invited Matthias Schickhofer, an independent consultant and expert in the field of campaigning and communications, who has been working at Greenpeace for 17 years, to hold a workshop in Slovenia in November 2014. Matthias Schickhofer presented the basics of campaign management, illustrating theory with practical examples of successful campaigns. The participants then discussed campaign possibilities for the European Year of Development 2015. They identified key messages that would be transmitted by NGDOs to the wider public, thought of events and communication through social networks and media. Skills acquired during the training will represent a great foundation for future activities of Slovenian NGOs.
New Slovenian AidWatch Report
SLOGA’s review on international development cooperation of Slovenia in 2013 concludes that Slovenian development aid is stagnating since 2010. Based on the review, recommendations for the Government of Slovenia have been prepared: increasing bilateral Official Development Assistance that will focus on reduction of poverty and improving level of implementation of human rights, better coordination within and among sectors, addressing the role of private sector in development, committing to reform development aid and comprehensive new strategic documents.
Opportunities for NGOs within Horizon 2020
In November 2014, SLOGA Platform organised a presentation of the program Horizon 2020 and the funding opportunities it offers for NGO projects. The program was presented by the national coordinator Peter Volasko and contact persons for particular fields of the program from the Slovenian Ministry for Education, Science and Sport. NGOs are as well eligible for co-financing projects in their full amount. Representatives of the Ministry emphasised that a new feature of the project is its focus on society challenges and that is certainly an opportunity for NGOs.
How to be heard? Handbook for NGO cooperation with the media
Within the project “World-Wise Europe”, SLOGA Platform prepared a handbook for NGO cooperation with the media. The handbook that was prepared and edited by Ana Kalin and Iva Likar, is a result of existing practice of media relations in the development sector. It suggests improvement possibilities that might boost understanding of development issues. In its conclusion, the handbook opens questions that NGOs will need to address in the near future. The hand book can be downloaded in Slovenian language here.
Representatives of civil society discussed SDGs in Copenhagen
On November 13−14, 2014 Copenhagen hosted 170 representatives of civil society from 46 countries at the Beyond 2015 Copenhagen CSO Conference. Conference participants discussed about the progress in creating the post-2015 agenda with an aim to influence the concluding phase of negotiations and ensuring that the governments will commit to an ambitious, transformative agenda that will address key challenges of the present time – inequality, environmental sustainability, eradication of poverty, human right, peace and security and participation. The Conference was attended by the representatives of associations “Food for Life”, “Zavod Povod” and SLOGA’s secretariat.
Photo credits: SLOGA, participants during the Horizon 2020 presentation.
Information provided by Adriana Aralica, SLOGA
Hungary, but…
There has been some good Hungarian international development related news lately. But…
At the end of 2014 the first ever law on international development cooperation was accepted in Hungary! Great. Now there is the new law but it lacks nearly all of the progressive elements lobbied for by NGDOs and academic experts over a long period of time.
It was officially proposed to have 380 million HUF as the MFA’s own bilateral budget for development and humanitarian issues for 2015, a more than doubling of the 2013 sum. But in the national budget for 2015, only 23,7 million HUF (approx. 75.000 EUR) was secured for this purpose, and additionally many verbal promises for much more money if need.
ODA is still growing, hopefully, but it is yet to be seen how the decided move for more bilateral aid is to be achieved – in 2013 it was 26,5% bilateral, the rest multilateral, quite the opposite to OECD average.
On 5th of January 2015 Hungary’s president, Mr Ader, announced that a new Directorate for Environmental Sustainability is opened at the Office of the President and is going to be led by H.E. Kőrösi, who is probably the most successful Hungarian diplomat lately. He was Co-chair of the UN Open Working Group on SDGs conducting an exemplary work. But Mr Ader also signed a new law taxing solar panels (more anti-renewable energy taxes are foreseen), and this Directorate’s work is said to be for international affairs, whilst national environmental governance (and with it, sustainability practices), has been demoted several times during the recent and the previous governments. From a separate Ministry of Environment and Water until 2010, today Hungary only has a State Secretariat responsible for the agricultural developments and the “hungaricums” and the environment at the same time.
From 1st of February, there will be a Hungarian, Mr Juhász in a top UN role, as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change, but… well, there is no „but” here, hurray!
Hungarian Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change here.
For more info please contact Peter Rohonyi at peter.rohonyi@hand.org.hu
Information provided by Peter Rohonyi, HAND
At the end of 2014 the first ever law on international development cooperation was accepted in Hungary! Great. Now there is the new law but it lacks nearly all of the progressive elements lobbied for by NGDOs and academic experts over a long period of time.
It was officially proposed to have 380 million HUF as the MFA’s own bilateral budget for development and humanitarian issues for 2015, a more than doubling of the 2013 sum. But in the national budget for 2015, only 23,7 million HUF (approx. 75.000 EUR) was secured for this purpose, and additionally many verbal promises for much more money if need.
ODA is still growing, hopefully, but it is yet to be seen how the decided move for more bilateral aid is to be achieved – in 2013 it was 26,5% bilateral, the rest multilateral, quite the opposite to OECD average.
On 5th of January 2015 Hungary’s president, Mr Ader, announced that a new Directorate for Environmental Sustainability is opened at the Office of the President and is going to be led by H.E. Kőrösi, who is probably the most successful Hungarian diplomat lately. He was Co-chair of the UN Open Working Group on SDGs conducting an exemplary work. But Mr Ader also signed a new law taxing solar panels (more anti-renewable energy taxes are foreseen), and this Directorate’s work is said to be for international affairs, whilst national environmental governance (and with it, sustainability practices), has been demoted several times during the recent and the previous governments. From a separate Ministry of Environment and Water until 2010, today Hungary only has a State Secretariat responsible for the agricultural developments and the “hungaricums” and the environment at the same time.
From 1st of February, there will be a Hungarian, Mr Juhász in a top UN role, as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change, but… well, there is no „but” here, hurray!
Hungarian Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change here.
For more info please contact Peter Rohonyi at peter.rohonyi@hand.org.hu
Information provided by Peter Rohonyi, HAND
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
