The IDFP gives people who are interested in a career in international relief and development an opportunity to increase their overseas experience and gain exposure to our programs. Each year, CRS places approximately 20-25 Fellows with our country programs overseas. Assignments are for 8-12 months, starting in early September. Specific job responsibilities vary greatly from one country to another depending on the country program's focus (Agriculture, Health, Peacebuilding, Education, Microfinance, or a combination of these).
APPLICATIONS CLOSE MONDAY, DECEMBER. 1
Click here for more details.
Source: Catholic Relief Services
Friday, 31 October 2014
Thursday, 25 September 2014
EU13 CSOs’ Participation in EC Funded Projects in the Last Decade – Where do We Stand?
This summer at TRIALOG we looked systematically at the level of participation of EU13 civil society organisations (CSOs) in different European Commission (EC) funding schemes, namely in Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) projects, in development cooperation projects in the Global South and projects in the area of humanitarian action.
Three papers were published:
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Development Education and Awareness Raising Projects, June 2014
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Development Cooperation Projects, July 2014
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Humanitarian Actions, August 2014
To mark the 10 year anniversary of EU enlargement in 2014, we looked back at the last decade. The studies were put together on the basis of publicly available information from EC websites and databases, and supported by a questionnaire sent to EU13 CSOs.
The findings revealed that EU13 CSOs have been quite successful in securing EC DEAR grants while the implementation of EC development cooperation and humanitarian action projects has been extremely limited. EU13 CSOs lead the implementation of 14.1% of the budget of EC DEAR grants between 2004 and 2013 – the EC did not meet its aim to allocate 20% of the budget for DEAR grants to EU10/12 CSOs, but came close to achieving the aim in some years. However, 88% of the DEAR projects included at least one partner from EU13 which shows a large extent of partnerships between EU13 and EU15 CSOs.
Analysis of some of the most important EC development cooperation programmes (e.g. Investing in People, the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and others) revealed extremely limited participation of EU13 CSOs in these project schemes. Out of the 3921 grants analysed, only 30 were awarded to EU13 CSOs, representing 0.75% of the grants analysed.
Within the last ten years, only 42 European humanitarian projects were implemented by five different EU13 CSOs coming from four different countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. During 2004-2012, EU13 CSOs managed to obtain only 0.41% of the total funding for humanitarian operations awarded by DG ECHO to CSOs. 99.59% of the funding was awarded to CSOs from the EU15 and European Economic Area countries.
Among the EU13 group there were considerable differences noticed in terms of implementation of EC funded grants. Czech CSOs implemented the most projects in all three categories. Hungarian CSOs also implemented a considerable amount of DEAR and development cooperation projects as did the Polish CSOs with DEAR and humanitarian action projects.
The studies identified numerous issues that pose difficulties for EU13 development CSOs to participate to a larger extent in the EU-funded project schemes. They include the big sizes of the project grants and inability to raise co-financing for the projects; lack of experience in managing such large scale projects; limited “field experience” in the Global South and ability to identify partners for the projects.
Some recommendations from the study to address the current situation are for the EC to encourage and open up opportunities for EU13 CSOs to partner up with EU15 and non-European CSOs for implementing joint development cooperation projects on the ground or to implement humanitarian action e.g. through junior partner schemes; Member States to ensure predictable and reliable co-financing schemes for EC projects for national CSOs; Different stakeholders, including from civil society, European institutions, national governments to have a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the role and participation of EU13 CSOs in implementing European development cooperation and humanitarian assistance projects with the view to find solutions for the current extremely low involvement of EU13 CSOs in these programmes.
Download the Studies from our website.
Information provided by Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG
Three papers were published:
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Development Education and Awareness Raising Projects, June 2014
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Development Cooperation Projects, July 2014
• A Decade of EU13 Civil Society Participation in European Humanitarian Actions, August 2014
To mark the 10 year anniversary of EU enlargement in 2014, we looked back at the last decade. The studies were put together on the basis of publicly available information from EC websites and databases, and supported by a questionnaire sent to EU13 CSOs.
The findings revealed that EU13 CSOs have been quite successful in securing EC DEAR grants while the implementation of EC development cooperation and humanitarian action projects has been extremely limited. EU13 CSOs lead the implementation of 14.1% of the budget of EC DEAR grants between 2004 and 2013 – the EC did not meet its aim to allocate 20% of the budget for DEAR grants to EU10/12 CSOs, but came close to achieving the aim in some years. However, 88% of the DEAR projects included at least one partner from EU13 which shows a large extent of partnerships between EU13 and EU15 CSOs.
Analysis of some of the most important EC development cooperation programmes (e.g. Investing in People, the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and others) revealed extremely limited participation of EU13 CSOs in these project schemes. Out of the 3921 grants analysed, only 30 were awarded to EU13 CSOs, representing 0.75% of the grants analysed.
Within the last ten years, only 42 European humanitarian projects were implemented by five different EU13 CSOs coming from four different countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. During 2004-2012, EU13 CSOs managed to obtain only 0.41% of the total funding for humanitarian operations awarded by DG ECHO to CSOs. 99.59% of the funding was awarded to CSOs from the EU15 and European Economic Area countries.
Among the EU13 group there were considerable differences noticed in terms of implementation of EC funded grants. Czech CSOs implemented the most projects in all three categories. Hungarian CSOs also implemented a considerable amount of DEAR and development cooperation projects as did the Polish CSOs with DEAR and humanitarian action projects.
The studies identified numerous issues that pose difficulties for EU13 development CSOs to participate to a larger extent in the EU-funded project schemes. They include the big sizes of the project grants and inability to raise co-financing for the projects; lack of experience in managing such large scale projects; limited “field experience” in the Global South and ability to identify partners for the projects.
Some recommendations from the study to address the current situation are for the EC to encourage and open up opportunities for EU13 CSOs to partner up with EU15 and non-European CSOs for implementing joint development cooperation projects on the ground or to implement humanitarian action e.g. through junior partner schemes; Member States to ensure predictable and reliable co-financing schemes for EC projects for national CSOs; Different stakeholders, including from civil society, European institutions, national governments to have a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the role and participation of EU13 CSOs in implementing European development cooperation and humanitarian assistance projects with the view to find solutions for the current extremely low involvement of EU13 CSOs in these programmes.
Download the Studies from our website.
Information provided by Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG
Policy Digest: Food Security
Get an overview on the different terms related to food security. Which EU policies have the biggest effects on food security? How are CSOs active in this field?Food insecurity is a double-edged sword as it is both the cause and the effect of poverty, which means that solutions to this problem are also diverse. It is an inherently global challenge and we in Europe must also take action by supporting policies that enhance agricultural productivity and increase food availability, especially for smallholder farmers, so that we can achieve hunger reduction even where poverty is widespread.
This policy digest looks at three main issues: firstly, different terms related to food security are explained; secondly, EU policies that have one of the biggest effects on food security are explored; thirdly, CSO activities in this field are highlighted.
Download here.
Information provided by TRIALOG
What does the future hold?
After fourteen years, TRIALOG is entering its final year of the fifth phase of the project. It’s an exciting time. CONCORD is designing the strategy that will take it from 2016 to 2022 and together with DEEEP and CONCORD, TRIALOG partners are discussing what should happen once the current project phase ends.
If you watch this from a distance, it might seem that everything is under control, and running smoothly. It is, but there is one thing missing: you! If you have not skimmed the questionnaire or heard feedback from the CONCORD General Assembly; if you have not discussed your platform’s vision of CONCORD’s role in the future or have central elements you want to highlight related to thematic focus or membership issues; if you feel strongly about your place in the European context in the coming years, then we want to hear from you.
It is not too late and there are a number of ways you can still get your organisation and platform involved in designing our joint future. Submissions are still being accepted by the strategy task force based on the questionnaire that was circulated early in the year, and in addition:
• The EU13 platforms will meet in Prague on 23 October 2014: The day will be divided between the CONCORD strategy and the TRIALOG future plans.
• CONCORD’s second semester event will take place in Brussels on 17/18 November 2014 and will be strongly focused on the strategy.
• All of TRIALOG’s project partners will come together for the Annual Partner and Strategy meeting in Malta on 3/4 December 2014 where the broader issues related to the final year of the project will be discussed, judged in the broader context of the CONCORD strategic plans and the lines being developed for continuing TRIALOG’s wok after October 2015.
If it is not clear to you how you can contribute and ensure CONCORD is the confederation in which you will find your place as a member, your work will be supported and you will be able to link your national level work to, then get in touch. Members of the team will be happy to hear from you.
Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska
If you watch this from a distance, it might seem that everything is under control, and running smoothly. It is, but there is one thing missing: you! If you have not skimmed the questionnaire or heard feedback from the CONCORD General Assembly; if you have not discussed your platform’s vision of CONCORD’s role in the future or have central elements you want to highlight related to thematic focus or membership issues; if you feel strongly about your place in the European context in the coming years, then we want to hear from you.
It is not too late and there are a number of ways you can still get your organisation and platform involved in designing our joint future. Submissions are still being accepted by the strategy task force based on the questionnaire that was circulated early in the year, and in addition:
• The EU13 platforms will meet in Prague on 23 October 2014: The day will be divided between the CONCORD strategy and the TRIALOG future plans.
• CONCORD’s second semester event will take place in Brussels on 17/18 November 2014 and will be strongly focused on the strategy.
• All of TRIALOG’s project partners will come together for the Annual Partner and Strategy meeting in Malta on 3/4 December 2014 where the broader issues related to the final year of the project will be discussed, judged in the broader context of the CONCORD strategic plans and the lines being developed for continuing TRIALOG’s wok after October 2015.
If it is not clear to you how you can contribute and ensure CONCORD is the confederation in which you will find your place as a member, your work will be supported and you will be able to link your national level work to, then get in touch. Members of the team will be happy to hear from you.
Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska
Organisation of the Month: A.R.T Fusion, Romania
A.R.T. Fusion is a nongovernmental organisation from Romania which was set up in 2005, out of a desire to make a change. Their mission is to create social change by making people in the community take responsibility.
They are currently conducting activities which can be divided along two main dimensions: social responsibility and global responsibilities.
Through the global dimension of the organisation, A.R.T Fusion wishes to enhance the level of active participation in global issues among people. They consider that citizens need knowledge and abilities to understand, participate and interact critically with our global society as citizens empowered on a global level.
From this desire of a world made of responsible global citizens they developed in 2013 “The Global Education School”, a pilot project that aimed to raise the level of global responsibility and global citizenship among the youngsters from Bucharest. They created a team of global education facilitators, which implemented global education workshops, with focus on consumerism and sustainable lifestyle, in high schools from Bucharest. The results of this project were a team of 10 global education facilitators, around 500 youngsters which participated in global education workshops, a curriculum with activities on global education for high schools and a global citizenship self assessment grid. In October 2014 they will start the second edition of “The Global Education School”, this time with a bigger team of global education facilitators and a bigger impact.
They also implement two international projects on global education financially supported by European Commission through its Program “Youth in Action”, action 3.2: “You are part of this world, be part of its future” and “Animate the global change”. Both of them are implemented in partnership with organizations from Africa and Europe. “You are part of this world, be part of its future” aims to create a team of global education multipliers, which will contribute to developing a community of global citizens back in their countries. At the end of this project A.R.T. Fusion will have also developed a curriculum with activities for global education and a movie about global citizenship. “Animate the global change” is a project on street campaigning as a tool of raising awareness on global issues. The participants took part in two training courses on street campaigning and global education and in September - October 2014 they will implement a street campaign on global issues, like consumerism, child labor, sustainable lifestyle, etc., back in their countries.
For more information about A.R.T. Fusion’s projects you can contact them at office@artfusion.ro and oana.mucea@yahoo.com and visit their website http://artfusion.ro
Photo credits: A.R.T Fusion “Animate for Social Change” training course in Brasov, Romania
Information provided by Adriana Zaharia – FOND, Romania
Through the global dimension of the organisation, A.R.T Fusion wishes to enhance the level of active participation in global issues among people. They consider that citizens need knowledge and abilities to understand, participate and interact critically with our global society as citizens empowered on a global level.
From this desire of a world made of responsible global citizens they developed in 2013 “The Global Education School”, a pilot project that aimed to raise the level of global responsibility and global citizenship among the youngsters from Bucharest. They created a team of global education facilitators, which implemented global education workshops, with focus on consumerism and sustainable lifestyle, in high schools from Bucharest. The results of this project were a team of 10 global education facilitators, around 500 youngsters which participated in global education workshops, a curriculum with activities on global education for high schools and a global citizenship self assessment grid. In October 2014 they will start the second edition of “The Global Education School”, this time with a bigger team of global education facilitators and a bigger impact.They also implement two international projects on global education financially supported by European Commission through its Program “Youth in Action”, action 3.2: “You are part of this world, be part of its future” and “Animate the global change”. Both of them are implemented in partnership with organizations from Africa and Europe. “You are part of this world, be part of its future” aims to create a team of global education multipliers, which will contribute to developing a community of global citizens back in their countries. At the end of this project A.R.T. Fusion will have also developed a curriculum with activities for global education and a movie about global citizenship. “Animate the global change” is a project on street campaigning as a tool of raising awareness on global issues. The participants took part in two training courses on street campaigning and global education and in September - October 2014 they will implement a street campaign on global issues, like consumerism, child labor, sustainable lifestyle, etc., back in their countries.
For more information about A.R.T. Fusion’s projects you can contact them at office@artfusion.ro and oana.mucea@yahoo.com and visit their website http://artfusion.ro
Photo credits: A.R.T Fusion “Animate for Social Change” training course in Brasov, Romania
Information provided by Adriana Zaharia – FOND, Romania
News from the Latvian CSO Platform LAPAS
The Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation – LAPAS, recently organised three events on global interdependencies. One was on the topic of food security and the other two were addressed at youth and focused on their role in local and global development.
Workshop “Food Security – from Global to Local”
LAPAS organised the training “Food Security – from Global to Local” in Riga from 6-7 August 2014. The participants represented a wide range of staleholders – non-governmental organisations, government institutions, research institutes, food producers and green organisations, all working with food issues and haveing an interest in the topic. The training, which was financed by TRIALOG and the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the was let by Britta Schweighöfer, former Secretary General of the FIAN International Section Germany (www.fian.org). The first day was spent on clarifying concepts, case work and examples, the seond – in debates about local perspectives.
LAPAS will continue to work on food security and organise an informative campaign during the Latvian EU Presidency between January and June 2015.
Youth training “From personal to global – role of youth at global level”
On the way to the Latvian Presidency and European Year for Development 2015, LAPAS in close cooperation with Latvian Youth Council, organised a training for youth activists “From personal to global – role of youth at global level”. The event took place on August 23-24 in Malpils, Latvia. The participants – more than 15 young activists from NGOs, were trained on development issues and also gave their input in preparation of the youth event “Think Global, Act Local”. LAPAS expects that majority of participants will work as activists and volunteers within 2015. The event was financed by TRIALOG project and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Youth event “Think Global, Act Local”
LAPAS and 10 of its member organisations, on September 21
organised the youth event “Think Global, Act Local”. The event was planned and organised by young people – more than 40 volunteers from LAPAS member organisations. It was an interactive journey through 6 stations around Riga: “Development Moment”, “Safe Meeting”, “Eco Human”, “Volunteerism”, “Presidency” and “Musical Glocalization”. The event was part of Youth Month organised by Riga City Council. LAPAS perceives this event as intriductory event for youth involvement in 2015 as the information on opportunities within Presidency and EYD2015 was explained, avents were promoted and supporters with their contact information gathered.
Photos by LAPAS: Participants of events
Information provided by Inese Vaivare, LAPAS
Workshop “Food Security – from Global to Local”
LAPAS organised the training “Food Security – from Global to Local” in Riga from 6-7 August 2014. The participants represented a wide range of staleholders – non-governmental organisations, government institutions, research institutes, food producers and green organisations, all working with food issues and haveing an interest in the topic. The training, which was financed by TRIALOG and the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the was let by Britta Schweighöfer, former Secretary General of the FIAN International Section Germany (www.fian.org). The first day was spent on clarifying concepts, case work and examples, the seond – in debates about local perspectives.
LAPAS will continue to work on food security and organise an informative campaign during the Latvian EU Presidency between January and June 2015.Youth training “From personal to global – role of youth at global level”
On the way to the Latvian Presidency and European Year for Development 2015, LAPAS in close cooperation with Latvian Youth Council, organised a training for youth activists “From personal to global – role of youth at global level”. The event took place on August 23-24 in Malpils, Latvia. The participants – more than 15 young activists from NGOs, were trained on development issues and also gave their input in preparation of the youth event “Think Global, Act Local”. LAPAS expects that majority of participants will work as activists and volunteers within 2015. The event was financed by TRIALOG project and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Youth event “Think Global, Act Local”
LAPAS and 10 of its member organisations, on September 21
organised the youth event “Think Global, Act Local”. The event was planned and organised by young people – more than 40 volunteers from LAPAS member organisations. It was an interactive journey through 6 stations around Riga: “Development Moment”, “Safe Meeting”, “Eco Human”, “Volunteerism”, “Presidency” and “Musical Glocalization”. The event was part of Youth Month organised by Riga City Council. LAPAS perceives this event as intriductory event for youth involvement in 2015 as the information on opportunities within Presidency and EYD2015 was explained, avents were promoted and supporters with their contact information gathered.
Photos by LAPAS: Participants of events
Information provided by Inese Vaivare, LAPAS
Hungarian Police Raid NGOs
On Monday 9 September 2014, Hungarian police raided the offices of Norway-backed NGOs Okotars and Demnet, escalating the government’s campaign against civil society.
Norway reacted by saying the moves were "unacceptable" and represent "harassment" of civil organisations. Police said the action was taken because the NGOs were suspected of embezzlement and unauthorised financial activities. It follows similar raids on NGOs in June.
Across the EU, CSOs expressed their solidarity with Hungarian NGOs. For example the Croatian CSO platform CROSOL handed out solidarity letter to MEPs and organised a protest in front of the Hungarian embassy in Zagreb.
Read more on the situation of Hungarian CSOs here and about the activities of CROSOL here.
Source: CONCORD and CROSOL
Across the EU, CSOs expressed their solidarity with Hungarian NGOs. For example the Croatian CSO platform CROSOL handed out solidarity letter to MEPs and organised a protest in front of the Hungarian embassy in Zagreb.
Read more on the situation of Hungarian CSOs here and about the activities of CROSOL here.
Source: CONCORD and CROSOL
Make Chocolate Fair! Launches European Chocomobile Tour
3 months, 14 countries, 10.000 km
From August to October 2014 – the Chocomobile Tour 2014 is visiting people from Italy to Finland and Germany to Slovenia to mobilise for an immediate stop of exploitative child labour, improvement of working conditions and fair payment for workers and farmers in the cocoa production. Already more than 50 NGO´s in all over Europe joined already the petition of the MCF! Campaign.
The Chocomobile Tour offers Join-in actions, an exhibition, movies, information sessions and lots of fair chocolate: In Austria, the Chocomobile will stop in Vienna, Graz and Linz.
• Blog of the tour with an overview of all tour stops, reports and photos: tour.makechocolatefair.org
• Website of the campaign: www.makechocolatefair.org
Source: Südwind
From August to October 2014 – the Chocomobile Tour 2014 is visiting people from Italy to Finland and Germany to Slovenia to mobilise for an immediate stop of exploitative child labour, improvement of working conditions and fair payment for workers and farmers in the cocoa production. Already more than 50 NGO´s in all over Europe joined already the petition of the MCF! Campaign.The Chocomobile Tour offers Join-in actions, an exhibition, movies, information sessions and lots of fair chocolate: In Austria, the Chocomobile will stop in Vienna, Graz and Linz.
• Blog of the tour with an overview of all tour stops, reports and photos: tour.makechocolatefair.org
• Website of the campaign: www.makechocolatefair.org
Source: Südwind
Lithuanian Kolping Society Shared Experience with Development Education Experts from the Global South
As a representative of Lithuanian Kolping Society and Kolping University of Applied Sciences, Vytautė Eismontaitė, took part in the International Conference “Educational Institutions for Development- down to Earth and Close to the People” organised by HORIZONT3000 in Vienna. Development education experts from partner organisations and universities in the Global South, participants from the development cooperation community in Austria and representatives of CSOs and universities from EU13 discussed the significance and role of educational institutions for the sustainable development of the Southern countries, especially for people in peripheral regions.Ms Eismontaitė shared good practices as well as successfully implemented projects and methods while spreading and promoting development education and cooperation in Lithuania. During the recent 10 years, Kolping University of Applied Sciences was one of the few higher education institutions in Lithuania, which actively worked with development issues and organised development education projects. Since 2007 Lithuanian Kolping Society was actively involved in preparation of materials, coordination of projects and implementation of development education seminars, summer camps and small scale researches.
Sharing experience and making new contacts with education institutions from the Global South promoted the generation of new ideas how Kolping University of Applied Sciences could contribute and engage more in development education and cooperation issues. One of the possible future cooperations includes knowledge transfer in ecotouri
sm from Kolping University of Applied Science to Ugandan higher education institutions. Such kind of project could contribute to awareness raising how ecotourism could be developed in the area of Central Africa.
For more information on the conference please visit the online platform KnowHow3000.
For more information on Lithuanian Kolping Society and Kolping University of Applied Sciences please contact Vytaute Eismontaite at vytaute.eismontaite@kolping.lt
Photo credits: Vytautė Eismontaitė at the HORIZONT3000 conference , Lithuanian Kolping Society
Information provided by Vytautė Eismontaitė , Lithuanian Kolping Society
Volunteer Activities in Flooded Areas in Serbia
In June 2014, the action for cleaning Obrenovac, which has been organised by the crisis committee #United (#Udruzeni), started with the renovation of the local school and kindergarten. Direct aid to this renovation action also arrived from two international organisations: Global Solidarity Association from Poland, whose volunteers arrived directly in Obrenovac to put hands on the renovation, and People in Need from the Czech Republic, which provided necessary building material and translated the manual ‘’Elimination of damage after floods’’ into Serbian language; the manual is available online and it was handed out to the citizens of Obrenovac and Paracin.
The President of the European Comission Jose Manuel Barroso visited the primary school "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" in Obrenovac, later on June 29, where he affirmed that the EU will continue to support Serbia, not only in the upcoming weeks, but for months and years.
Also in June, a multiethnic group of young men and girls (Albanians, Bosnians, Roma and Serbs) from South Serbia provided their help in action for cleaning Paracin in the frame of the “YouthBuild” program. Together with the Student Organisation of Paracin, they helped cleaning public institutions, schools, as well as private properties. Participants in the “YouthBuild” program have been acquainted with this type of activities, since they had implemented several successful local actions in their local communities, such as renovation of schools or cleaning of parks and river branches.
The "YouthBuild - Educated and Active Youth" program is conducted by Civic Initiatives and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Caritas Luxembourg Foundation, YouthBuild International, the city of Vranje and municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo. During the past five months, the girls and young men attended training events in order to become prepared for the labor market, with a special focus on civic activism, human rights, development of entrepreneurship and leadership skills. "These young people have shown that effort, work and engagement in the local community are never unnoticed. I believe that their effort and enthusiasm should be supported and rewarded in order for them to continue to provide a positive example for the complete society’’, said Maja Stojanovic, Executive Director at Civic Initiatives.
For more information please contact Višnja Filipović, PR Manager of Civic Initiatives at visnja@gradjanske.org
Information provided by Višnja Filipović, Civic Initiatives
The President of the European Comission Jose Manuel Barroso visited the primary school "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" in Obrenovac, later on June 29, where he affirmed that the EU will continue to support Serbia, not only in the upcoming weeks, but for months and years.
Also in June, a multiethnic group of young men and girls (Albanians, Bosnians, Roma and Serbs) from South Serbia provided their help in action for cleaning Paracin in the frame of the “YouthBuild” program. Together with the Student Organisation of Paracin, they helped cleaning public institutions, schools, as well as private properties. Participants in the “YouthBuild” program have been acquainted with this type of activities, since they had implemented several successful local actions in their local communities, such as renovation of schools or cleaning of parks and river branches.
The "YouthBuild - Educated and Active Youth" program is conducted by Civic Initiatives and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Caritas Luxembourg Foundation, YouthBuild International, the city of Vranje and municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo. During the past five months, the girls and young men attended training events in order to become prepared for the labor market, with a special focus on civic activism, human rights, development of entrepreneurship and leadership skills. "These young people have shown that effort, work and engagement in the local community are never unnoticed. I believe that their effort and enthusiasm should be supported and rewarded in order for them to continue to provide a positive example for the complete society’’, said Maja Stojanovic, Executive Director at Civic Initiatives.
For more information please contact Višnja Filipović, PR Manager of Civic Initiatives at visnja@gradjanske.org
Information provided by Višnja Filipović, Civic Initiatives
“Give a Damn, use that Cam!” - Global Campus Amateur Short Film Competition for University Students
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On the 16th of July, the Maltese NGO KOPIN, in the framework of the EC co-financed project Global Campus has launched a video competition for students enrolled at the University of Malta.
The aim of the competition is to raise awareness among University students about issues related to the Millennium Development Goals, Global Social Justice issues and sustainable development by asking them to create a 2-minute long video through which they will be able to express their views about these topics.The prizes are tempting – the winner gets a trip for two to Ethiopia, where they will be linked up with local development NGOs to get a better understanding about development work on the ground, while the second and third prize winners will receive books vouchers. Students have plenty of time to create the video – the deadline for submissions is the 17th of October 2014. A total of 6 videos will then be selected by an international jury and put on Facebook for a second round of voting through the public. Videos can be filmed using any equipment including mobile phone, webcam or amateur video camera, and no professional recording devices are required.
More information on the Rules and Terms & Conditions, as well as the Application Form to be submitted alongside the video can be found here.
Contact person at KOPIN: Federica Di Giulio, federica.digiulio@kopin.org
Article provided by Anete Svence and Silvia La Rosa (Interns at KOPIN)
New EU Development Commissioner: Neven Mimica
Croatian Commissioner-designate Neven Mimica would replace Andris Piebalgs from 1 November 2014.
The European Commission for 2014-2019 is set to have Neven Mimica as Commissioner for 'International Cooperation and Development', pending approval from the European Parliament. He will be joined by new Commissioners for Humanitarian aid as well as a new Foreign Policy chief.
CONCORD talked to the media saying that the future development Commissioner must make sure development does not become "second best" to foreign policy interests in the new institutional setup.
Find more information here.
Source: CONCORD
CONCORD talked to the media saying that the future development Commissioner must make sure development does not become "second best" to foreign policy interests in the new institutional setup.
Find more information here.
Source: CONCORD
EC Study on the Uptake of Strategic Evaluations in EU Development Cooperation
Every year, EuropeAid produces 10 to 12 ‘strategic evaluations’ dealing with countries, regions, themes or aid modalities. As their name suggests, they adopt a broader perspective than project and programme evaluations, which are of a more operational nature. Strategic evaluations are interested in the overall relevance and coherence of EU interventions. They have a dual objective to provide accountability and promote learning. Most importantly, they seek to generate knowledge to help decision-makers to improve development policy, programming and practice.
In order to address these questions, EuropeAid commissioned an ‘uptake study’ with two very clear objectives: (i) to collect evidence of the translation of knowledge from strategic evaluations into EU development policy and practice, and on that basis (ii) to make recommendations for strengthening uptake in EuropeAid and the wider EU external action system.
The study can be read here.
Source: European Commission
In order to address these questions, EuropeAid commissioned an ‘uptake study’ with two very clear objectives: (i) to collect evidence of the translation of knowledge from strategic evaluations into EU development policy and practice, and on that basis (ii) to make recommendations for strengthening uptake in EuropeAid and the wider EU external action system.
The study can be read here.
Source: European Commission
Report on the European Union’s Development and External Assistance Policies
The European Commission launches the 2014 annual report on the European Union’s development and external assistance policies and their implementation in 2013.
The report outlines the actions of the European Union in 2013 designed to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development worldwide. Apart from looking back at EU’s successes and its contribution to global development in 2013, the report also looks ahead.
Referring to the European Year for Development 2015, the authors of the report state: “This would be an ideal opportunity for the European Union to inform its citizens about the added value of EU development cooperation and to demonstrate the results that the EU has already achieved. It can also highlight the unique ability of the EU to draw on the combined strengths of its Member States, in terms of fighting poverty and championing development, peace and prosperity all across the world and achieving even more in the future.”
The full report is available here.
Source: EU Neighbourhood Info Centre
Referring to the European Year for Development 2015, the authors of the report state: “This would be an ideal opportunity for the European Union to inform its citizens about the added value of EU development cooperation and to demonstrate the results that the EU has already achieved. It can also highlight the unique ability of the EU to draw on the combined strengths of its Member States, in terms of fighting poverty and championing development, peace and prosperity all across the world and achieving even more in the future.”
The full report is available here.
Source: EU Neighbourhood Info Centre
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