Hot summer for Romanian NGDOs

The end of June and the month of July featured three events supported by TRIALOG:

28-29 June, Iasi: “Moldova in the context of the Romanian Development Cooperation Policy and of the European Neighbourhood Policy - opportunities and challenges for the civil society organizations”
The Moldova – Georgia working group of the Romanian NGDO platform FOND, through CSDF (C ivil Society Development Foundation) and Pro Women, organised a seminar on civil society and development co-operation that brought together 40 NGOs from Moldova and Romania to discuss financial assistance to Moldova provided through the Romanian bilateral programme and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). The seminar had three main objectives: elaborating a common position of the civil society representatives from Romania and Moldova on the necessity to accelerate the programming of the Romanian development assistance for Moldova and to ensure that the process will involve civil society on both banks of the Prut river in the identification of the priorities and types of assistance; a general need assessment and exchange of information between NGOs in Romania and Moldova; discussion on ENPI programming and monitoring in Moldova.
“It is vital that the fight against poverty remains at the heart of any financial assistance. Poverty is at the centre of all our problems, which include migration of skilled workers, corruption, HIV/Aids...”, said Victor Munteanu from the Open Society Institute in Chisinau.

14-15 July, Bucharest: Work meeting of FOND board on strategic planning and strengthening platform coordination and effectiveness
Members of the FOND board, with the help of Angela Haynes - BOND Policy Officer and Joachim Lindau – former Chairmain of the Liaison Committee of NGDOs to the EU and former Executive Secretary of Bread for the World, Germany -, worked on the consolidation of FOND’s internal rules of conduct and strategic papers for 2007-2008. Among other things the focus was put on two things: FOND’s policy and advocacy strategy and the creation of a common vision on development cooperation and common objectives for the member organizations - strictly connected to the Romanian context and to the member organizations’ capacity to implement projects.

24 July, Bucharest: Seminar on „EU Funding and Partnership Opportunities for Romanian NGOs”
On the 24th of July representatives from 12 FOND member organizations took part in a one day seminar organized by FOND and CSDF with the participation of TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer Petra Kreinecker and Julien Vaissier from the GCAP Europe Secretariat (Global Call to Action Against Poverty). The main purpose of the seminar was to give updates on EU funding opportunities for NMS NGOs, discuss on the eligibility criteria and how they can apply to the context of Romanian NGOs and raise the question of partners and associates. The end of the day was dedicated to a presentation on GCAP and a discussion on potential involvement of FOND members in GCAP activities in 2007-2008. The discussion continued on the 25th of July in a small workshop where FOND member organizations evaluated their capacities and their needs in establishing contact with GCAP.

Information provided by Claudia Iatan, National Platform Coordinator, FOND, Romania
Email: claudia.iatan@fond-romania.ro
Web: www.fondromania.wordpress.com

The Baltic Platform Meeting in June

The first ever Baltic NGDO platform meeting took place on June 4th and 5th in Jurmala, Latvia. Participants from AKU, the Estonian platform legally estabished in late 2006, the Latvian platform LAPAS and the newly established Lithuanian platform exchanged information on issues of importance in each of the Baltic States and agreed on areas in which cooperation is valuable and in which areas cooperation is not necessary. Following a tour de table on national strategies for development cooperation in the three Baltic States and platform evolution, TRIALOG Policy Officer Annika Kool described similarities and differences regarding the NGDO platforms in the three Baltic States that she observed while preparing Baltic country reports for TRIALOG.

The Baltic representatives concluded that there is room for cooperation in activities in countries of national priority such as Georgia and Moldova. They also discussed the differing approaches in addressing development needs in the Global South and the role of the platforms in influencing politicians' opinions on the European development policy. Finally, all meeting members decided to meet with Nordic platforms representatives to discuss cooperation in the East and South and expressed a common concern about the interface between security policy and development policy in their nations. The meeting was supported by the Presidency Fund.

Information provided by Mara Simane, Latvian NGDO platform LAPAS.
For further information on the Baltic meeting please contact her at: simane@lapas.lv

Relation between TRIALOG and CONCORD

“Perceptions of TRIALOG’s relationship with CONCORD vary widely” was one of the main messages of the external evaluation of TRIALOG which was finalised in September last year. On the basis of interviews with the project's target group and key partners, the evaluator made a number of recommendations, one of them asking for clarity and transparency regarding the relationship between CONCORD and TRIALOG.

This was the starting point for joint discussions which led to a concrete definition of the cooperation between TRIALOG and CONCORD and their specific roles towards the new EU member states. As a result of this process, the document at the following link was agreed upon: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/relation_concord_trialog.pdf

It gives an answer to all points raised in the evaluation and we hope that it not only clarifies the mutual relationship but further fosters our cooperation.

For a summary of the evaluation results go to:
http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/executivesummary_evaluation.pdf

For further information please contact Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG Director, at c.bedoya@trialog.or.at

New TRIALOG information folder

Those of you who are not yet that much familar with the work of TRIALOG can now download our new information folder which summarizes TRIALOG's main objective, target groups and countries, activities and priorities. It is directed to NGOs which are interested to get involved in development cooperation or education and want to get in touch with us. Find the information folder at the following link: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/trialogiii_folder_final.pdf

If you would like to obtain hardcopies (e.g. for distribution at events which you organise) , please write to office@trialog.or.at

September 25-26, 2007: Added Value of FDR for new member states

The TRIALOG seminar “Added Value for NMS organizations” in preparation of the next FDR meeting (Funding for Development and Relief) will take place in Brussels from 25th – 26th of September.

All NMS platforms are warmly welcomed and encouraged to participate in the FDR working group meetings which take place regularly in March, June and October. At the last meetings, only one or two NMS platforms were represented. Therefore it was decided to organize this seminar to lower the obstacles for NMS platforms to participate in these FDR meetings.

FDR - Funding for Development and Relief is one of the four CONCORD core working groups to which all CONCORD members are supposed to send one representative.

The September seminar is targeted to representatives of NMS NGOs which are part of their national development NGO-platform. They should be selected by their national NGDO platform and represent their country platform in the FDR-meetings in Brussels. The participants should be motivated and able to bring the news from the FDR working group meetings back to their national platforms.

The seminar will make the work of the FDR group (and of the EC) more accessible and better understandable to FDR-"newcomers" explaining the actual work of FDR. The agenda will focus on the needs of NMS and will highlight the possibilities for NMS to play an active role within the European NGO-scene and to influence European policies.

The deadline for registration (via your platform) has been extended to Wednesday, August 8, 2007.

For further information please contact TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer Petra Kreinecker at: p.kreinecker@trialog.or.at

September 12-15, 2007: Uniting Humanity. Toward a World Citizenship

In the framework of the "Uniting Humanity. Learning Advocacy for a World Citizenship."- GRUNDTVIG Project realized by 12 partners from the European Union, the Open Education centre in Bulgaria in co-operation with the Scarman Trust (UK) organizes a dissemination seminar in which the Uniting Humanity - materials will be presented.

The Seminar will take place in the Black sea resort of Primorsko, Bulgaria, from September 12th to September 15th. The convener of the seminar will be Rumen Valchev from the Open Education Centre. Guest lectures will be given by Andy Harvey, administrator of the Uniting Humanity - project and freelance consultant (UK) and by Kiril Temkov, professor at the University of Skopje, Macedonia.

Accomodation will be covered by the organizers. Participants from Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Poland and South Africa are expected to attend the seminar.

For more information on the topics to be discussed download the programme at http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/uniting_humanity.pdf or contact oec@mbox.contact.bg

Information sent by Virginia Valova, Executive director, Open Education Centre

September 10-12, 2007: CONCORD event for NGDO Platforms

CONCORD is inviting all its affiliates to Brussels to discuss two issues which have been high on the list of priorities of many members:
- Financial sustainability of Platforms / Networks
- Inter-regional Civil Society Dialogue

During the first day of the event, CONCORD members are invited to share their experience, identify pros and cons of the different funding options and develop new approaches on financial aspects of NGO Platforms/Networks. This first day is part of CONCORD’s initiative to strengthen the capacities of its members (in line with the seminars of August 2006 and April 2007).

On the second day and the morning of the third day, CONCORD members will meet with national NGDO platforms from Latin America (gathered in the regional network “Mesa de Articulacion”) to exchange on experiences and to discuss potential common interests.

Participants to this meeting:
Representatives of National NGDO Platforms and Networks (preferably elected/board members) wanting to engage at a strategic and prospective level on questions linked to financial strategy and on the relation of Europe with other regions of the world.

Accommodation will be provided by CONCORD. TRIALOG will reimburse travel costs of the 5 representatives of NMS platforms which are not yet CONCORD members (LT, EE, CY, RO, BG). Participants who want TRIALOG support for their participation in this event (all days or either 1st or 2nd/3rd day) and are nominated by the platform should send their application (http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/application_for_events_2007.doc) to TRIALOG Capacity Building Officer Petra Kreinecker before August 15. Email to: p.kreinecker@trialog.or.at

For more information on this CONCORD capacity building event please contact: Andreas Vogt, CONCORD Membership and Networking Officer, at: Andreas.VOGT@concordeurope.org

September 6-7, 2007: Sustainable Agriculture, Bio-Diversity Protection and Fair Trade

A seminar on “Sustainable Agriculture, Bio-Diversity Protection and Fair Trade – together against Poverty" will take place in Warsaw from September 6-7, 2007.

It is organised by the Italian NGO CEFA (European Commitee for training and agriculture) together with the Slow Food Foundation and Fair-Trade in the context of their development education project (financed by the EC under the budget line 21-02-03). A broad spectrum of topics - from fish to honey.. - and participants from the “global South”, the “East”and the "North" will guarantee an interesting discussion around traditions and innovations in agriculture with the aim of poverty eradication.

Find more on the seminar at: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/sustainable_agriculture_poland.pdf

For further information on the seminar or the project, please contact Aloys Rutakamize: a.rutakamize@cefaonlus.it

Understanding EU Development Cooperation: Brochure and RPP Seminar

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

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 building 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

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:

• 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

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

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