European Council # Council of the EU # Council of Europe???
The Austrian EU platform has recently printed a very useful publication on “Understanding EU Development Cooperation”. The brochure gives a good overview and explanations on the EU development cooperation structures and procedures. It is available for download at: http://www.eu-platform.at/english/start.asp?showmenu=yes&fr=&b=805&ID=14032 If you would like to order a hardcopy or obtain the rights to use the raw version for a publication in your own language, please write to Claudia Bonk: office@eu-platform.at
In the framework of the Regional Partnership Programme (RPP), the Austrian EU platform held a seminar on ‘Understanding EU Development Cooperation’ in Vienna on 13 and 14 June 2007 . 22 people coming from NGOs from the different RPP countries (CZ, SK, H, SLO, A) participated in the seminar. Experts from the Austrian EU-Platform gave a comprehensive overview of the functioning of the European Union and Community. They explained the different institutions and bodies, their functions and influence as well as informed on the processes between the institutions regarding legislation, programming and budgeting. After a substantial introduction on the functioning of EU development cooperation, the participants were also informed about the possibilities and importance of NGOs to actively involve themselves in the EU development cooperation policies e.g. by participating in the European network CONCORD.
Source: http://www.eu-platform.at; http://www.regionalpartnership.at
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Countdown for the GLEN Eurizons 2007 Tour
"We are part of this world - let's be part of its future"
After the successful campaign in 2006, GLEN Eurizons, the European Tour for Global Responsibility, will also take place in 2007.
The last preparations are running: young Europeans from 14 countries are getting ready for the great summer adventure with a noble goal. Between August 22nd and September 13th 2007, a team of 60 campaigners will hitch-hike 3000 km through 8 European countries, joining 8 events in 8 cities and creating a colorful development education caravan.
On their way they want to:
- raise awareness and educate about global interdependencies and development issues and involve Europeans in an active reflection of their responsibility;
- remind politicians to fulfill their promisses towards the 8 Millennium Development Goals and
- stand up for fair trade regulations within the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations.
The highlight of this year's tour will be the meeting with the members of the European Parliament in Brussels, where the "Eurizonists" will bring the voices and opinions of European public to the discussion about trade policy and currently criticized EPAs with the ACP countries.
As last year, the campaign was thoroughly prepared. TRIALOG supported the preparation team members from NGOs in the new EU member states. Two capacity b
uilding seminars in Krakow and Gdansk took place. In the beginning of July the team had its final meeting - now the real countdown starts - in less than 4 weeks Eurizons will hit the road and 'rock' the cities of Riga (LV), Krakow (PL), Bratislava (SK), Praha (CZ), Basel (CH), Freiburg (DE), Nancy (FR) and Brussels (BE) with street actions, political street theatre, panel discussions, development education workshops, concerts and much more - everyone's sincerely invited!
For details on the events schedule, background info, news from the tour, discussions in the weblog, photos and contact details please go to http://www.eurizons.net/. Eurizons is a project of GLEN, the Global Education Network of Young Europeans, please visit http://www.glen-europe.org/
For more information please contact the project coordinator of Eurizons, Christoph Hinske, at: christoph.hinske@eurizons.net
Information provided by Zuzana Kissova, Eurizons
After the successful campaign in 2006, GLEN Eurizons, the European Tour for Global Responsibility, will also take place in 2007.The last preparations are running: young Europeans from 14 countries are getting ready for the great summer adventure with a noble goal. Between August 22nd and September 13th 2007, a team of 60 campaigners will hitch-hike 3000 km through 8 European countries, joining 8 events in 8 cities and creating a colorful development education caravan.
On their way they want to:
- raise awareness and educate about global interdependencies and development issues and involve Europeans in an active reflection of their responsibility;
- remind politicians to fulfill their promisses towards the 8 Millennium Development Goals and
- stand up for fair trade regulations within the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations.
The highlight of this year's tour will be the meeting with the members of the European Parliament in Brussels, where the "Eurizonists" will bring the voices and opinions of European public to the discussion about trade policy and currently criticized EPAs with the ACP countries.
As last year, the campaign was thoroughly prepared. TRIALOG supported the preparation team members from NGOs in the new EU member states. Two capacity b
uilding seminars in Krakow and Gdansk took place. In the beginning of July the team had its final meeting - now the real countdown starts - in less than 4 weeks Eurizons will hit the road and 'rock' the cities of Riga (LV), Krakow (PL), Bratislava (SK), Praha (CZ), Basel (CH), Freiburg (DE), Nancy (FR) and Brussels (BE) with street actions, political street theatre, panel discussions, development education workshops, concerts and much more - everyone's sincerely invited!For details on the events schedule, background info, news from the tour, discussions in the weblog, photos and contact details please go to http://www.eurizons.net/. Eurizons is a project of GLEN, the Global Education Network of Young Europeans, please visit http://www.glen-europe.org/
For more information please contact the project coordinator of Eurizons, Christoph Hinske, at: christoph.hinske@eurizons.net
Information provided by Zuzana Kissova, Eurizons
Monday, 16 July 2007
Glopolis seminar: Climate, Agriculture and Development - CEE NGO Advocacy
A regional capacity-building seminar focused on Climate, Agriculture and Development – CEE NGO Advocacy. The seminar was organized by Glopolis - Prague Global Policy Institute and took place in Prague from May 21 until May 23, 2007. The seminar hosted about 30 participants, mainly from development, environmental, alter-globalization and other civil society organizations (CSOs) from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries along with top NGO experts from the EU-15 countries.
The main objectives of the seminar were to:
The main objectives of the seminar were to:
- find linkages between climate change, agriculture and development,
- exchange experience with other civil society organizations from the CEE region and with experts and NGOs from the EU,
- strengthen regional and EU networks,
- strategize, brainstorm and plan how to enhance NGO advocacy and policy work in the region.
The seminar was divided into two parts – an analytical one with panel discussions, workshops and brainstormings where participants presented different views on, and links between, economic globalization and sustainable development (food sovereignty, climate change, EPAs). They identified and discussed pro-development and pro-sustainable alternatives to these global problems.
The second part consisted of meetings between Czech NGO representatives and decision-makers on the advocacy work and lobbying. This was followed by a debriefing of the meeting and strategic brainstorming about advocacy strategies for CEE NGOs.
The recommendations can be summarized as follows:
CEE NGO’s need to monitor and analyze relevant national, EU and international policies (agricultural, energy/climate and trade policy) and their impacts on sustainable development (with a view to increasing policy coherence for development) to be able to advocate for alternatives in these fields among key target groups (decision-makers, media, public). This includes learning how to hand over advocacy skills in the local work, through transfer of knowledge and skills from selected international and European development campaigns.
For further information on the Glopolis seminar please contact: vaculik@glopolis.org
Information provided by Marek Vaculik, Glopolis
GLEN training seminar: Transferring South Experience into quality global education
The Global Education Network of Young Europeans, GLEN, established in 2004, is active in global education activities. It organises three-month stays for selected young Europeans in East-European, Asian and African countries. Since the stay abroad is part of a wider range of activities aiming at awareness raising in Europe, GLEN organises accompanying activities which prepare participants of the program for using their experience in global education activities.
“Transferring South experience into quality global education” was the topic of a seminar, conducted within this broader framework for participants of GLEN in May 2007. The Slovene Philanthropy, a new member of GLEN hosted the seminar, which took place in Vojsko, West of Ljubljana, Slovenia. 22 Europeans from 6 European countries participated in the 4 days seminar co-financed by TRIALOG. Those participants, most of which were former and future participants of GLEN, will work as multipliers for issues of global development in the future.
The seminar was facilitated by the former GLEN participants Dorota Gadzinowska and Gabriele Lipska who work for the Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO). After the GLEN project phase, they have conducted several global education activities in cooperation with Polish schools. The seminar offered a broad overview on organisational, methodological and conceptional aspects of global education particularly in schools.
A special emphasis was put on how to use South experience without reproducing stereotypes. Representation of the so-called South, such the assumption, is often using pictures which show a very small and distinct part of the reality of life in these countries. GLEN is concerned with producing an alternative picture in and through its global education activities. The seminar offered a great possibility for sharing ideas concerning this topic and for exchanging on different country contexts. The international context of the seminar contributed to strengthening exchange of knowledge for further networking and engagement in global education on country- and cross-country level.
For further information visit the GLEN website at: http://www.glen-europe.org
Information provided by Joanna Muenker, ASA/GLEN. For additional information contact her at: joannamue@gmx.de
“Transferring South experience into quality global education” was the topic of a seminar, conducted within this broader framework for participants of GLEN in May 2007. The Slovene Philanthropy, a new member of GLEN hosted the seminar, which took place in Vojsko, West of Ljubljana, Slovenia. 22 Europeans from 6 European countries participated in the 4 days seminar co-financed by TRIALOG. Those participants, most of which were former and future participants of GLEN, will work as multipliers for issues of global development in the future.
The seminar was facilitated by the former GLEN participants Dorota Gadzinowska and Gabriele Lipska who work for the Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO). After the GLEN project phase, they have conducted several global education activities in cooperation with Polish schools. The seminar offered a broad overview on organisational, methodological and conceptional aspects of global education particularly in schools.
A special emphasis was put on how to use South experience without reproducing stereotypes. Representation of the so-called South, such the assumption, is often using pictures which show a very small and distinct part of the reality of life in these countries. GLEN is concerned with producing an alternative picture in and through its global education activities. The seminar offered a great possibility for sharing ideas concerning this topic and for exchanging on different country contexts. The international context of the seminar contributed to strengthening exchange of knowledge for further networking and engagement in global education on country- and cross-country level.
For further information visit the GLEN website at: http://www.glen-europe.org
Information provided by Joanna Muenker, ASA/GLEN. For additional information contact her at: joannamue@gmx.de
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Call for Proposals for NGOs from 12 NMS: development debates
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission announce a call for proposals for non-profit organizations from 12 EU New Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) to organize national debates on development cooperation and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The project is funded by the European Commission and is implemented by UNDP - UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre and UNDP Country Office in Poland.
UNDP and EC cooperation aims at raising awareness and building support for development cooperation and achievement of MDGs. To this end UNDP will be contracting non-profit organizations from these countries for organizing debates in October 2007, promoting the issue in national media, preparing materials/brochures.
The debates have primary objectives of promoting the European Development Days 2007, mobilizing national media coverage of development/MDGs topics (including MDGs mid-point assessment), mobilizing participation of Members of Parliaments (MPs) and decision-makers in discussing development topics.
Eligible non-profit organizations, which have capacities of mobilizing participation of MPs and media, are encouraged to apply for this project. The project does not require providing co-funding. It is advisable that the applicant has at least one Member of the Parliament (for example the Speaker of Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs or European Integration committee) and at least one nationwide media as co-organisers of the debate.
The detailed information accompanied by application templates is available at:
http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_tenders&tid=175.
The deadline for submitting the applications is 24 August 2007.
For further inquires about this initiative, please contact Ms. Simona Petru, Project Manager, simona.petru@undp.org, tel. +421 2 59337-413 or Mr. Jan Szczycinski, UNDP Communications Officer, jan.szczycinski@undp.org.
Information sent by Jan Szczycinski, UNDP Communications Officer
UNDP and EC cooperation aims at raising awareness and building support for development cooperation and achievement of MDGs. To this end UNDP will be contracting non-profit organizations from these countries for organizing debates in October 2007, promoting the issue in national media, preparing materials/brochures.
The debates have primary objectives of promoting the European Development Days 2007, mobilizing national media coverage of development/MDGs topics (including MDGs mid-point assessment), mobilizing participation of Members of Parliaments (MPs) and decision-makers in discussing development topics.
Eligible non-profit organizations, which have capacities of mobilizing participation of MPs and media, are encouraged to apply for this project. The project does not require providing co-funding. It is advisable that the applicant has at least one Member of the Parliament (for example the Speaker of Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs or European Integration committee) and at least one nationwide media as co-organisers of the debate.
The detailed information accompanied by application templates is available at:
http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_tenders&tid=175.
The deadline for submitting the applications is 24 August 2007.
For further inquires about this initiative, please contact Ms. Simona Petru, Project Manager, simona.petru@undp.org, tel. +421 2 59337-413 or Mr. Jan Szczycinski, UNDP Communications Officer, jan.szczycinski@undp.org.
Information sent by Jan Szczycinski, UNDP Communications Officer
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Presidency Fund: Results of the Third Call for Proposals
The Third Call for Proposals issued by the Presidency Fund came to a close on 21 February 2007. As a result of the call 44 applications were submitted to the Preliminary Phase of which 22 were invited to participate in the Main Phase of the Call. Unfortunately two organisations did not submit a Main application and so, 20 project proposals were assessed by the Presidency Fund Board. It must be said that the quality of the proposals submitted to the Preliminary and the Main Phase were of a quality that surpassed the previous two calls and the Board members deliberated much before selecting six proposals.
To begin with, the National Platform of Maltese NGDOs was selected with its proposal to build up its capacity and that of its members to participate more actively in the debate on the EU Development Policy. This project would also help build up the Secretariat to ensure the long term sustainability of the Platform.With the upcoming Presidency of Slovenia and its focus on climate change, the project submitted by Focus Association for Sustainable Development with their project to link the issues of climate change with the general debate on development cooperation was also an obvious choice for the Board. The project submitted by the Environment Management & Law Association- EMLA was also selected for its interesting focus on environmental governance in the global south and the implementation of the project which would involve NGDOs from five of the EU-10 countries. A Latvian NGDO was also awarded aid in a project applying the principles of the global movement Social Watch to the EU-10. Lastly, the Network of East-West Women was awarded aid again to continue the project "Gender Watch" in order to expand the activities of the Gender Watch Network to focus on aid monitoring at the EU level especially with respect to development cooperation with the CEE/CIS countries. With aid received in the first Call for Proposals, NEWW set up the Gender Watch. The Hungarian National Platform, HAND, was also selected for its proposal to build up its capacity to focus on aid-monitoring.
To read summaries of each of these Projects, you can follow this link http://www.presidencyfund.org/wcm/content/category/24/349/129/
Information sent by Samantha Saldanha, Presidency Fund
To begin with, the National Platform of Maltese NGDOs was selected with its proposal to build up its capacity and that of its members to participate more actively in the debate on the EU Development Policy. This project would also help build up the Secretariat to ensure the long term sustainability of the Platform.With the upcoming Presidency of Slovenia and its focus on climate change, the project submitted by Focus Association for Sustainable Development with their project to link the issues of climate change with the general debate on development cooperation was also an obvious choice for the Board. The project submitted by the Environment Management & Law Association- EMLA was also selected for its interesting focus on environmental governance in the global south and the implementation of the project which would involve NGDOs from five of the EU-10 countries. A Latvian NGDO was also awarded aid in a project applying the principles of the global movement Social Watch to the EU-10. Lastly, the Network of East-West Women was awarded aid again to continue the project "Gender Watch" in order to expand the activities of the Gender Watch Network to focus on aid monitoring at the EU level especially with respect to development cooperation with the CEE/CIS countries. With aid received in the first Call for Proposals, NEWW set up the Gender Watch. The Hungarian National Platform, HAND, was also selected for its proposal to build up its capacity to focus on aid-monitoring.
To read summaries of each of these Projects, you can follow this link http://www.presidencyfund.org/wcm/content/category/24/349/129/
Information sent by Samantha Saldanha, Presidency Fund
Thursday, 28 June 2007
TRIALOG steps into the world of new webtools
Information provided by Anita Bister, TRIALOG Information Officer
With this first issue of the TRIALOG Information Service (TIS) being available as a blog, TRIALOG enters into the world of the web 2.0. tools which are freely available on the internet and offer a lot of new possibilities for sharing and exchanging information and open up new communication spaces. In future, you will not only receive the TIS every 1-2 months electronically as pdf file, but you can access our newsletter regularly on http://www.trialog.or.at/tis. Refer to the content on the left hand side to read all entries related to a certain topic. You can also display the latest TIS headings on your own webpage or subscribe to receive an email alert whenever there is a new entry on the site (use the links at the bottom of the left hand side). After a trial phase, we will explore further possibilities for our readers to contribute to the TIS newsletter and make the TIS more interactive. If you would like to post an article on development cooperation in the context of EU Enlargement in the TIS, please write to Anita Bister, TRIALOG Information Officer: a.bister@trialog.or.at. Feel free to also email any comments on the new TIS format.
During the last months, CONCORD together with EUFORIC (Europe’s Forum on International Cooperation) have been offering training and promoting the use of new webtools. The new TIS format is a result of these efforts. CONCORD recently became member of EUFORIC and collaboration has been established based on operational needs and synergies related to communication and information management. In June (5-6), CONCORD and EUFORIC joined forces by holding the first CONCORD Communication network meeting together with the EUFORIC Annual General Meeting. As CONCORD Director Olivier Consolo mentioned in his opening words, the aim was not only to reinforce communication within the CONCORD network but to build alliances with other actors and to increase the visibility and impact of CONCORD's work as a whole. The central theme of the event was on how to use better new techniques to increase one's impact when campaigning, advocating, raising funds or dealing with the media. In a number of parallel workshops the participants were offered trainings and had the possibility for peer-to-peer exchanges of experience and knowledge. Most of the workshops and discussions were immediately documented on the established conference blog which is available at: http://euforicagm2007.blogspot.com/
TRIALOG has circulated a questionnaire to explore the usage of new webtools in the new EU member states. If you are a development NGO from a new member state and interested in training on these topics, please reply to the questionnaire at http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/webtools_questionnaire.doc and email it to a.bister@trialog.or.at.
For more information on the CONCORD Communication Network please contact Agnes Philippart, CONCORD Communication Officer: Agnes.PHILIPPART@concordeurope.org
With this first issue of the TRIALOG Information Service (TIS) being available as a blog, TRIALOG enters into the world of the web 2.0. tools which are freely available on the internet and offer a lot of new possibilities for sharing and exchanging information and open up new communication spaces. In future, you will not only receive the TIS every 1-2 months electronically as pdf file, but you can access our newsletter regularly on http://www.trialog.or.at/tis. Refer to the content on the left hand side to read all entries related to a certain topic. You can also display the latest TIS headings on your own webpage or subscribe to receive an email alert whenever there is a new entry on the site (use the links at the bottom of the left hand side). After a trial phase, we will explore further possibilities for our readers to contribute to the TIS newsletter and make the TIS more interactive. If you would like to post an article on development cooperation in the context of EU Enlargement in the TIS, please write to Anita Bister, TRIALOG Information Officer: a.bister@trialog.or.at. Feel free to also email any comments on the new TIS format.
During the last months, CONCORD together with EUFORIC (Europe’s Forum on International Cooperation) have been offering training and promoting the use of new webtools. The new TIS format is a result of these efforts. CONCORD recently became member of EUFORIC and collaboration has been established based on operational needs and synergies related to communication and information management. In June (5-6), CONCORD and EUFORIC joined forces by holding the first CONCORD Communication network meeting together with the EUFORIC Annual General Meeting. As CONCORD Director Olivier Consolo mentioned in his opening words, the aim was not only to reinforce communication within the CONCORD network but to build alliances with other actors and to increase the visibility and impact of CONCORD's work as a whole. The central theme of the event was on how to use better new techniques to increase one's impact when campaigning, advocating, raising funds or dealing with the media. In a number of parallel workshops the participants were offered trainings and had the possibility for peer-to-peer exchanges of experience and knowledge. Most of the workshops and discussions were immediately documented on the established conference blog which is available at: http://euforicagm2007.blogspot.com/
TRIALOG has circulated a questionnaire to explore the usage of new webtools in the new EU member states. If you are a development NGO from a new member state and interested in training on these topics, please reply to the questionnaire at http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/webtools_questionnaire.doc and email it to a.bister@trialog.or.at.
For more information on the CONCORD Communication Network please contact Agnes Philippart, CONCORD Communication Officer: Agnes.PHILIPPART@concordeurope.org
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
New member state representative in new CONCORD board
Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG Director
During the recent CONCORD General Assembly which took place in Brussels on June 7-8, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development elected four new board members. All active CONCORD members had the possibility to nominate candidates for these positions. After a period without a board member from the new EU member states, now again the CONCORD board is "enlarged" and enriched by a person coming from a new member state: We congratulate Annamaria Kekesi, President of the Hungarian Platform HAND and Director of the Hungarian NGO Foundation for Development of Democratic Rights (DEMNET), who was elected into the CONCORD board. CONCORD has become an important name in Europe in the world of development. With an increasing political reputation and impact on European development policies, these are exciting times for CONCORD. An effective and active Board to govern CONCORD's activities and to represent CONCORD at the most senior levels contributes to the continued strengthening of the quality and impact of the confederation’s actions.
For more information see: http://www.concordeurope.org/
During the recent CONCORD General Assembly which took place in Brussels on June 7-8, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development elected four new board members. All active CONCORD members had the possibility to nominate candidates for these positions. After a period without a board member from the new EU member states, now again the CONCORD board is "enlarged" and enriched by a person coming from a new member state: We congratulate Annamaria Kekesi, President of the Hungarian Platform HAND and Director of the Hungarian NGO Foundation for Development of Democratic Rights (DEMNET), who was elected into the CONCORD board. CONCORD has become an important name in Europe in the world of development. With an increasing political reputation and impact on European development policies, these are exciting times for CONCORD. An effective and active Board to govern CONCORD's activities and to represent CONCORD at the most senior levels contributes to the continued strengthening of the quality and impact of the confederation’s actions.
For more information see: http://www.concordeurope.org/
New aid, expanding trade - what do feminists have to say?
Information sent by Barbara Specht, WIDE
WIDE – Network Women In Development Europe PRESS RELEASE:
Brussels, 22.06.2007: The WIDE 2007 Annual Conference (14-17 June 2007) took stock of the changes in international trade policies, regulation of financial flows and investment together with international development policies and their impact on women’s realities, rights and gender equality. The discussions also focused on strategies on how to tackle the new aid and trade architecture from feminist perspectives. Entitled "New aid, expanding trade - what do women have to say?" the conference, hosted by the Spanish WIDE national platform CONGDE (Gender and Development Working Group of the Spanish Platform of Development NGOs) in Madrid, brought together more than 150 women activists from over 40 countries.
"The WIDE AC is a great opportunity for activists to exchange views and a good space for feminist exchange on trade and development issues.
Globalisation and development issues are themes that need to be analysed within a feminist framework. The Capacity -Building day helps to build more public-awareness raising and sharper policy analysis. Presentations from trade experts such as Mariama Williams and Zo Randriamaro provide us with tools that can inspire future debates." commented Mabel Au from Hong Kong.
In lively debates and interactive panels participants confirmed even so new international development architecture has developed on the basis of shared commitments of the international donor community in the areas of trade, debt, investment and financing for development, the structural causes of gender inequality persist all over the world. Various speakers highlighted that the current mainstream development agenda is embedded in an ideological framework that promotes trade liberalisation and economic growth at the expenses of women and men’s rights and livelihoods. Indeed, the feminisation of poverty is a global problem. Participants engaged in analyses of the causes of these structural problems and discussed the implications these developments for women in the South, the East and also in the West.
"The conference was a success in bringing together so many women from such different places and it was a great opportunity to meet activists who agreed on the same ideal of social justice, even if their own conditions varied from one locality to another." remarked Venna Dholah from Mauritius.
In various workshops and presentations, participants further developed feminist proposals and alternative visions to the policy mainstream in the area of trade and development and discussed concrete strategies for change at different levels. Women activists not only identified opportunities for ensuring the implementation of political commitments and legal obligations regarding gender equality, democracy and human rights, the quality of aid, and policy coherence. They also highlighted the importance of building up a common alternative strategy to "attack patriarchal structures on a global scale, as women’s emancipation can not be achieved in isolation" as Rosa Cobo Bedia from Spain explained.
The three-day conference also provided an important space for joint learning, sharing experiences and building alliances among women’s organisations from all over the world to find feminist alternatives. As Pam Rajput from India commented "I like the policy from WIDE to invite women from the south and provide a platform for sharing and learning and working out global strategies for issues of common concerns."
All contributions and presentations of the conference will soon be available on WIDE’s web-site: http://www.wide-network.org/. For more information, please contact Barbara Specht, WIDE Information and Advocacy Officer: barbara@wide-network.org
WIDE – Network Women In Development Europe PRESS RELEASE:
Brussels, 22.06.2007: The WIDE 2007 Annual Conference (14-17 June 2007) took stock of the changes in international trade policies, regulation of financial flows and investment together with international development policies and their impact on women’s realities, rights and gender equality. The discussions also focused on strategies on how to tackle the new aid and trade architecture from feminist perspectives. Entitled "New aid, expanding trade - what do women have to say?" the conference, hosted by the Spanish WIDE national platform CONGDE (Gender and Development Working Group of the Spanish Platform of Development NGOs) in Madrid, brought together more than 150 women activists from over 40 countries.
"The WIDE AC is a great opportunity for activists to exchange views and a good space for feminist exchange on trade and development issues.
Globalisation and development issues are themes that need to be analysed within a feminist framework. The Capacity -Building day helps to build more public-awareness raising and sharper policy analysis. Presentations from trade experts such as Mariama Williams and Zo Randriamaro provide us with tools that can inspire future debates." commented Mabel Au from Hong Kong.
In lively debates and interactive panels participants confirmed even so new international development architecture has developed on the basis of shared commitments of the international donor community in the areas of trade, debt, investment and financing for development, the structural causes of gender inequality persist all over the world. Various speakers highlighted that the current mainstream development agenda is embedded in an ideological framework that promotes trade liberalisation and economic growth at the expenses of women and men’s rights and livelihoods. Indeed, the feminisation of poverty is a global problem. Participants engaged in analyses of the causes of these structural problems and discussed the implications these developments for women in the South, the East and also in the West.
"The conference was a success in bringing together so many women from such different places and it was a great opportunity to meet activists who agreed on the same ideal of social justice, even if their own conditions varied from one locality to another." remarked Venna Dholah from Mauritius.
In various workshops and presentations, participants further developed feminist proposals and alternative visions to the policy mainstream in the area of trade and development and discussed concrete strategies for change at different levels. Women activists not only identified opportunities for ensuring the implementation of political commitments and legal obligations regarding gender equality, democracy and human rights, the quality of aid, and policy coherence. They also highlighted the importance of building up a common alternative strategy to "attack patriarchal structures on a global scale, as women’s emancipation can not be achieved in isolation" as Rosa Cobo Bedia from Spain explained.
The three-day conference also provided an important space for joint learning, sharing experiences and building alliances among women’s organisations from all over the world to find feminist alternatives. As Pam Rajput from India commented "I like the policy from WIDE to invite women from the south and provide a platform for sharing and learning and working out global strategies for issues of common concerns."
All contributions and presentations of the conference will soon be available on WIDE’s web-site: http://www.wide-network.org/. For more information, please contact Barbara Specht, WIDE Information and Advocacy Officer: barbara@wide-network.org
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
CONCORD Working Group EPAN met in Brussels
Information provided by Annika Kool, TRIALOG Policy Officer
On May 15-16, the CONCORD working group on Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood (EPAN), formerly known as WG Enlargement, gathered in Brussels for the first time after its restructuring. The meeting attracted about 20 participants, mostly from new member states’ NGDO platforms but also from several networks.
The first day started with a short session on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) in which participants heard of relevant cooperation opportunities within the framework of the EU Coherence Programme and Vince Caruana (Maltese platform) presented his recent paper on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and PCD within the EU. The rest of the day focused on the EU Neighbourhood Policy: Florent Sebban (Eurostep) and Colombe de Mercey (Aprodev) highlighted problematic matters related to the framework covering the EU neighbourhood countries, participants exchanged information on what NGOs in their respective countries (or through their networks) are doing regarding the EU Neighbourhood and finally, Vince Caruana and Mateja Krasevec (Humanitas, Slovenia) draw
attention to the Southern Mediterranean by sharing issues arising from the ongoing Maltese-Slovenian-Cypriot project supported by the Presidency Fund (http://www.presidencyfund.org/).
The second day was kicked off by a session on the Western-Balkans where Marjan Huc (Slovenian platform) gave a thorough presentation on the current challenges and needs of the Western Balkans based on the conference held in February in Ljubljana (see also TRIALOG Information Service 02/04/2007, article 4.2.). Subsequently, Mara Simane (Latvian platform) and Valentin Burada (Romanian platform) provided food for thought for reflecting on the working group’s future activities in the area of transitions, enlargement and lessons learned. Additionally, the WG members gave feedback on the Czech EU Presidency project plans and were introduced to EuroNGOs.
Most importantly, the meeting spared time for shaping the working group’s next steps. Thus, the “ENPI sub-group” decided to direct its energy on ensuring the E
C aid is being distributed in a participatory manner and the “Pre-accession sub-group” will in the forthcoming months centre on building contacts with relevant actors in Western Balkans and sharing with them new member states’ NGOs’ experience regarding relations with the governments, particularly with the MFAs. During the next meeting, the group will devote more time on deciding upon activities regarding EPAN’s “enlargement and lessons learned” objectives.
Last but not least, the group elected a new chair: the "old-new" chair is Vince Caruana.
The presentations held at the EPAN meeting are available at: http://www.trialog.or.at/start.asp?m=4,32,232 The Minutes of the meeting will become available at the same link.
On May 15-16, the CONCORD working group on Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood (EPAN), formerly known as WG Enlargement, gathered in Brussels for the first time after its restructuring. The meeting attracted about 20 participants, mostly from new member states’ NGDO platforms but also from several networks.
The first day started with a short session on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) in which participants heard of relevant cooperation opportunities within the framework of the EU Coherence Programme and Vince Caruana (Maltese platform) presented his recent paper on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and PCD within the EU. The rest of the day focused on the EU Neighbourhood Policy: Florent Sebban (Eurostep) and Colombe de Mercey (Aprodev) highlighted problematic matters related to the framework covering the EU neighbourhood countries, participants exchanged information on what NGOs in their respective countries (or through their networks) are doing regarding the EU Neighbourhood and finally, Vince Caruana and Mateja Krasevec (Humanitas, Slovenia) draw
attention to the Southern Mediterranean by sharing issues arising from the ongoing Maltese-Slovenian-Cypriot project supported by the Presidency Fund (http://www.presidencyfund.org/).The second day was kicked off by a session on the Western-Balkans where Marjan Huc (Slovenian platform) gave a thorough presentation on the current challenges and needs of the Western Balkans based on the conference held in February in Ljubljana (see also TRIALOG Information Service 02/04/2007, article 4.2.). Subsequently, Mara Simane (Latvian platform) and Valentin Burada (Romanian platform) provided food for thought for reflecting on the working group’s future activities in the area of transitions, enlargement and lessons learned. Additionally, the WG members gave feedback on the Czech EU Presidency project plans and were introduced to EuroNGOs.
Most importantly, the meeting spared time for shaping the working group’s next steps. Thus, the “ENPI sub-group” decided to direct its energy on ensuring the E
C aid is being distributed in a participatory manner and the “Pre-accession sub-group” will in the forthcoming months centre on building contacts with relevant actors in Western Balkans and sharing with them new member states’ NGOs’ experience regarding relations with the governments, particularly with the MFAs. During the next meeting, the group will devote more time on deciding upon activities regarding EPAN’s “enlargement and lessons learned” objectives.Last but not least, the group elected a new chair: the "old-new" chair is Vince Caruana.
The presentations held at the EPAN meeting are available at: http://www.trialog.or.at/start.asp?m=4,32,232 The Minutes of the meeting will become available at the same link.
The Fourth Call for Proposals of the Presidency Fund is now open
Source: http://www.presidencyfund.org/
The Fourth Call for Proposals of the Presidency Fund is now open! The Presidency Fund came into operation to stimulate the capacity of civil society in the ten (2004) New Member States (NMS) to engage effectively in dialogue over the EU Development Policy. Eligible are NGOs from the 10 New Member States that joined the EU in 2004. The application process is in two phases. The deadline of the Preliminary Phase is July 31, 2007. Main Applications will then be expected by 30 September 2007.
Download the Preliminary Application Form and details of the Call from:
http://www.presidencyfund.org/wcm/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,36/Itemid,67/
Find more information on the Presidency Fund and the results of the previous calls at: http://www.presidencyfund.org/
The Fourth Call for Proposals of the Presidency Fund is now open! The Presidency Fund came into operation to stimulate the capacity of civil society in the ten (2004) New Member States (NMS) to engage effectively in dialogue over the EU Development Policy. Eligible are NGOs from the 10 New Member States that joined the EU in 2004. The application process is in two phases. The deadline of the Preliminary Phase is July 31, 2007. Main Applications will then be expected by 30 September 2007.
Download the Preliminary Application Form and details of the Call from:
http://www.presidencyfund.org/wcm/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,36/Itemid,67/
Find more information on the Presidency Fund and the results of the previous calls at: http://www.presidencyfund.org/
Two national calls (SK, SLO) for remaining RPP funds
As not all financial means for pilot projects from Slovenia and Slovakia have been used within the final RPP (Regional Partnership Programme) call for proposals (see related article below) two small calls are launched to make access for pilot projects to the remaining funds.
Invited are NGOs from Slovenia and Slovakia together with Austrian NGOs. The lead agency has to come from the new member state. It is open for initiatives in the field of development awareness/education and development cooperation. Projects can start at the earliest mid of September and the maximal duration is until the end of August 2008.
For Slovenia, the Call will be open until July 31, 2007; for Slovakia until July 21, 2007.
For more information please turn to the "news"-section of the RPP website http://www.regionalpartnership.at/
Source: http://www.regionalpartnership.at
Invited are NGOs from Slovenia and Slovakia together with Austrian NGOs. The lead agency has to come from the new member state. It is open for initiatives in the field of development awareness/education and development cooperation. Projects can start at the earliest mid of September and the maximal duration is until the end of August 2008.
For Slovenia, the Call will be open until July 31, 2007; for Slovakia until July 21, 2007.
For more information please turn to the "news"-section of the RPP website http://www.regionalpartnership.at/
Source: http://www.regionalpartnership.at
VENRO EU Presidency Project „Prospects for Africa – Europe’s Policies”
Information provided by Marc Baxmann, VENRO (Association of German Development NGOs)
With a wide range of NGO events on the main topics of the EU Presidency Project “Prospects for Africa – Europe’s Policies”, VENRO, the Association of German Development NGOs, accompanied the official German EU Council Presidency in the last months. The main events were:
- Conference "Prospects for Africa – Europe’s Policies”, ahead of the Informal Development Ministers Meeting in March in Bonn
- Panel debate: Women – Agents of Change: Gender, Development and Millennium Goals in April in Hamburg
- International Forum: Civilian Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building – a Challenge for Africa-Europe’s Policies in late April in Berlin
- Conference on Civil Society and the Joint EU-Africa Strategy, organised by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in cooperation with VENRO in April
- International Conference in May on Responsibilities of Governments & Civil Society in the Fight Against HIV and AIDS in Africa – The Way Forward to 2015
- International Civil Society Workshop on Building a strategic partnership between Southern and Northern NGOs, organised by VENRO and Coordination Sud in early June in Bonn.
Given the rapidly changing economic, political and social processes in Africa and Europe, close co-operation between Southern and Northern NGOs is more urgent and necessary than ever. Also with a view to the common EU-Africa Strategy that is to be adopted at the planned EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon towards the end of this year, intensifying co-operation appears to be imperative to influence the political processes and follow the implementation of the strategy in the coming years. Leading up to the Summit, AU and EU institutions are organising a broad-based public debate (See: http://www.europafrica.org/ / http://www.europafrique.org/).
Read a 2-page summary on the main VENRO activities at: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/venro_presidency.pdf
Check out the website http://www.prospects-for-africa.de/ (Events/Archive) for the full documentation of the VENRO presidency events and for up-to-date information. Register online for the project newsletter.
Read the key demands that African and German NGOs have addressed to the German government in their Development Policy Manifesto: http://www.prospects-for-africa.de/publikationen.html?&L=1
For further information contact Anke Kurat, Coordinator of the VENRO EU Presidency Project: a.kurat@venro.org
Romanian platform FOND registered and online
Information provided by Claudia Iatan, FOND
On March 23 the process of legal registration of the Romanian NGDO platform FOND, initiated in October last year, was completed. The first General Assembly of FOND took place on March 29 in Bucharest. Three working groups got official recognition by the General Assembly: WG Development Education, WG Moldova-Georgia, WG MFA Roundtable. On this occasion the new Director of the Development Assistance Unit within the Romanian MFA, Mr. Cosmin Dobran, reaffirmed the Government’s openness towards cooperation with FOND.
FOND’s WG Moldova-Georgia and several member organizations will organize two seminars dedicated to building knowledge and making contacts with civil society organizations in Georgia (22 May, Bucharest) and Moldova (27-28 June, Iasi). The seminars aim to allow for sharing experiences in working on the field with other organizations from EU member states and local donors.
FOND’s WG MFA Roundtable aims to follow closely the latest developments leading to the establishment of a national mechanism of financing for development cooperation projects as well as to the budgetary revision for the enactment of the budget line for development cooperation in July 2007.
FOND’s WG Development Education decided to organize a training session on Awareness Raising and Advocacy Skills for Development EducationProgrammes on 27 - 28 September, in Cluj-Napoca, with support from DEEEP.
Starting with April 16, the Romanian platform FOND has a new coordinator (with financial support from TRIALOG). Her name is Claudia Iatan, she holds a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Studies from Padua University, Italy, worked as a journalist for a few years and was involved in projects of Development Education in Italy.
In June the platform established its own website – the new platform blog is online on http://www.fondromania.wordpress.com/. It is mostly in Romanian, but basic information on the platform and its activities is available also in English. For more details please email Claudia Iatan at claudia.iatan@fond-romania.ro
On March 23 the process of legal registration of the Romanian NGDO platform FOND, initiated in October last year, was completed. The first General Assembly of FOND took place on March 29 in Bucharest. Three working groups got official recognition by the General Assembly: WG Development Education, WG Moldova-Georgia, WG MFA Roundtable. On this occasion the new Director of the Development Assistance Unit within the Romanian MFA, Mr. Cosmin Dobran, reaffirmed the Government’s openness towards cooperation with FOND.
FOND’s WG Moldova-Georgia and several member organizations will organize two seminars dedicated to building knowledge and making contacts with civil society organizations in Georgia (22 May, Bucharest) and Moldova (27-28 June, Iasi). The seminars aim to allow for sharing experiences in working on the field with other organizations from EU member states and local donors.
FOND’s WG MFA Roundtable aims to follow closely the latest developments leading to the establishment of a national mechanism of financing for development cooperation projects as well as to the budgetary revision for the enactment of the budget line for development cooperation in July 2007.
FOND’s WG Development Education decided to organize a training session on Awareness Raising and Advocacy Skills for Development EducationProgrammes on 27 - 28 September, in Cluj-Napoca, with support from DEEEP.
Starting with April 16, the Romanian platform FOND has a new coordinator (with financial support from TRIALOG). Her name is Claudia Iatan, she holds a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Studies from Padua University, Italy, worked as a journalist for a few years and was involved in projects of Development Education in Italy.
In June the platform established its own website – the new platform blog is online on http://www.fondromania.wordpress.com/. It is mostly in Romanian, but basic information on the platform and its activities is available also in English. For more details please email Claudia Iatan at claudia.iatan@fond-romania.ro
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