Conference Documentation New Voices in Development

On 23 April 2010, the association of Irish Non-Governmental Development Organisations Dóchas hosted a conference entitled New Voices in Development, which brought together established and emerging development organisations with southern voices and representatives of the private sector, philanthropy and academia. The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for discussion between these groups to encourage cooperation between them and improve their collective understanding of what works. See the Dochas-Website http://www.dochas.ie/newvoices/ for the conference documentation and lots of resources.

Sharing the Czech EU Presidency Experience

The Czech Platform of Development Cooperation (FoRS) has launched a new report titled „How to engage in the new EU Presidency” sharing the Czech EU presidency experience with Polish and Hungarian development CSOs and their platforms. From 15 to 17 June 2010, a pre-Presidency workshop and study visit to Prague took place where nearly 20 Polish and Hungarian CSO representatives participated. At this workshop experiences with the Czech presidency were shared both on the policy/advocacy and project level. The main EU developments were explained, such as the development effectiveness agenda and climate change negotiations.

This programme enabled a reflection on national platforms' priorities and plans for the EU Presidency in the light of the Czech experience and initiated discussions of a potential cooperation with respect to Hungarian and Polish official presidency priorities. The presidency experience was summarized from the perspective of the national platform and CSOs, and it was advised how to develop and manage a successful advocacy strategy based on this experience.

The role of the representation of the European Commission in the presidency countries was also discussed and and finally, government representatives shared their experiences of the Czech presidency. The report summarizes the main recommendations and findings from all the meetings and discussions. You can find the report in English and Polish on webpages of FoRS.

Follow-up events will take place in October in Hungary and in November in Poland on presidency priorities. Please contact FoRS, Zagranica Group or HAND for details.

Information provided by Tereza Ambrozova, FoRS

3rd Black Sea NGO Forum, 21-23 October, Constanta, Romania

The third edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum with the title is approaching. The traditional annual event will take place on 21-23 October 2010 in Constanta, Romania. Thus, for the first time the Forum the Black Sea will be present not only in the minds of the participants, but also in their sights.

This year the theme of the forum is “Investing in our common future”. The topics of the forum will include panels dedicated to Democracy and citizen participation, Economic Development and Corporate Social responsibility, Youth movements and youth policies, Bridging Divided Communities, and Environment, as well as on tools for strengthening civil society. The focus will be on the vocation of civil society to lead by example. Good practices in various fields and countries and successful cooperation initiatives in the region will be presented during the Forum. Based on an analysis of the regional dynamics during the last three years of existence of the Forum, a set of recommendations for Governmental actors and civil society in the region will be proposed.

The Black Sea NGO Forum was launched in 2008 by the Romanian Federation of Development NGOs (FOND) and is organized in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. The Forum aims at increasing the level of dialogue and cooperation among NGOs in the wider Black Sea region, as a means of strengthening NGOs and their capacity to influence regional and national policies.

Since 2008, the event has provided a unique regional forum for debate centered on NGOs as a driving force for positive change in the wider Black sea region. Over 300 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, European Union member states and other important actors in the wider Black Sea Region, with different backgrounds (civil society, Governments and international organizations) have been engaged in the Forum's discussions.

Participation to the 3rd edition of the Forum is open to all actors in the region or working in the region, with a vocation for transnational and regional cooperation, interested in sharing good practices, mutual learning and joint mobilization.

As usual, a limited number of organizations from outside the wider Black Sea region are invited to participate to the Forum. Unfortunately, organizers cannot cover travel and accommodation costs. To apply, please fill in the application form available at http://www.blackseango.org/ and send it by the latest 20 September to forum@blackseango.org .

The agenda of the event and further details are attached, and also available on the web page of the Forum. For further details please contact us at forum@blackseango.org (contact person: Valentin Burada, project coordinator).

Report The Missing Peace - the need for a long term strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 14th of September 2010 the report "The Missing Peace - the need for a long term strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina" was launched in Brussels. The report is the result of the collaboration between UK based organization Saferworld working on conflict prevention and a local partner organization from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Nansen Dialogue Centre Sarajevo (NDC). It outlines findings from research carried out earlier this year and analyses the post war situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina with regards to politics and ethnicity, economy, regional relations.

The report focuses on community perceptions of the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a special attention towards youth, seen as a propagator of ethnic prejudices, due to educational systems and parent’s influence.

The launching benefited of the presence of various participants, from local activists and representatives of international NGOs, to representatives of European Commission (DG Enlargement) and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUSR).

The main conclusion of the report is that despite significant achievements in the security field, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to face a unique set of challenges. As for the EU role in the region, it is noticeable that even after years of engagement its credibility in the public perception is at a very low level. Therefore the authors recommend that the EU strategy towards the country should be adapted in a more realistic manner to Bosnia and Herzegovina real needs and problems.

You can download the full version of the report (pdf) in English.

Information provided by Karina Mereuta, Trialog Brussels

Guatemalan Organisation INEPAS offers internships and voluntary work

INEPAS was founded in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in 1994 as a self-sustaining non-profit organization. It is fully recognized by the Guatemalan government for performing a range of social, legal, and humanitarian projects within the framework of developing rural communities in and around Quetzaltenango. INEPAS functions solely with the help of national and international volunteers who offer their support, professional talent and work experience in diverse fields.
INEPAS has received official recognition from UNESCO. Its first social project, the foundation and construction of a rural school in the Maya-K'iché community of Choquiac was designated by UNESCO as exemplary for other organizations that work on similar projects. INEPAS generates the necessary funds for its social aid programs through its Spanish language school, thus remaining self-sustaining and non-partisan. It offers programs for individuals wishing to learn Spanish in the context of voluntary work and voluntary internships both in Social Projects and as an International Co-ordination Assistant.

If you would like to receive more information about our organization, please visit our website at http://www.inepas.org/ or contact INEPAS at info@inepas.org.

FA!R PROCURA 2010: Fair Trade Public Procurement, a tool for sustainable development

Join the conference at the Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany, on 24th September 2010. The conference aims at presenting the key outputs of a research and successful initiatives about the existing experiences of Fair Trade Public Procurement (FTPP) in Europe. The conference will also set the state of play of FTPP in the continent and explain how to continue using FTPP as a tool to support sustainable development and in particular marginalized producers from developing countries. Many high level speakers from all over the EU are expected to discuss key topics of FTPP such as legal do and don’ts in FTPP, textile and clothing, as well as food and catering sector issues. A specific session about FTPP in NMSs is foreseen. For more information about the conference and the registration procedures, please visit http://www.european-fair-trade-association.org/observatory/

TRIALOG Study Visit to Brussels

The study visit is a new activity in the current phase of TRIALOG, which foresees annual study visits for a group of CSO representatives from selected NMS platforms.

This year, the two neighbouring platforms, the Bulgarian Platform for International Development (BPID) and the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND) took part in a study visit to the European Union institutions in Brussels, organised by TRIALOG during the 12th and 16th July 2010.

The study visit’s goal was to help the participants get better understanding about main EU institutions and how to better interact with them in fulfilling the platforms’ tasks. The programme included meetings with representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee, the Development Committee of the European Parliament, DG Dev and DG EuropeAid of the European Commission and the Bulgarian and Romanian Permanent Representations in Brussels, which increased the knowledge of the participants on the European development policy and on the advocacy role of NGDOs. There were free hours provided so each of the groups had separate meetings with their country representatives based in Brussels.

As one of the main highlights of the visit, the participants were able to observe a meeting of the Development Committee, which was also attended by the EU Commissioner, Mr. Andris Piebalgs, providing a very useful insight on the dynamics and interaction between the representatives of the two institutions.

Overall the study visit increased the participants’ understanding of the EU development policies, with focus on current important issues (such as the European Transition Compendium, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, the DEAR Study…) and provided useful contacts for them. Also, it emphasized the need for further strengthening of the policy/ advocacy capacity of the two platforms to engage more actively in development cooperation at the European level. The visit gave additional and practical information on the activity of TRIALOG, CONCORD and DEEEP.

As for concrete follow-up activities, the participants of the two platforms will disseminate the report of the study visit among the platform members, elaborate thematic dossiers for the member NGOs (on the ETC, European institutions in development cooperation, EDF, ENPI…), follow-up with the people met during the study visit and encourage platform members to become more active at the European level.

The report of the study visit will be available shortly on the TRIALOG website.

Information provided by Adela Rusu, FOND, and Dimitar Sotirov, BPID

DE Watch released

The report, initiated by the European Multi Stakeholder Steering Group on Development Education, provides a detailed overview of development education (DE) policies, practices and funding in the 27 EU Member States and Norway. It analyses DE concepts, policies and practices of national development ministries and related agencies, the formal education sector as well as the approaches of civil society organisations and local or regional authorities.

As a first systematic attempt to assess the DE performance of state and non-state actors in 28 European countries, the DE Watch report develops draft indices and aggregates them into a mapping of the DE commitments and practices of national Non-Governmental Development Organisations and the Ministries/agencies responsible for development.

Furthermore, the report calls for conceptual clarity in the discourse about DE, and suggests a typology which distinguishes between four different understandings of DE that occur in the concepts and practice of the different actors.

In times of decreasing aid budgets and of a more and more interlinked world, the report calls both state and non-state actors to strategically strengthen DE in their organisations and institutions, in order to provide European citizens with the values, knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of an increasingly globalised citizenship.

The European Multi-stakeholder Steering Group on Development Education was established in Helsinki, in 2006. Its members are experts from National Governments, European Institutions, international organisations, and civil society. In 2007, the group drafted the European Consensus on Development: the contribution of Development Education and Awareness Raising, which provides the first strategy framework on European development education and awareness raising at local, regional, national and European levels.Download the DE Watch report

Comments can be made at http://www.deeep.org/dewatch.html. For more information, contact Tobias Troll t.troll@deeep.org

Information provided by Tobias Troll, DEEEP and MSH Secretariat

Schools as key actors in promoting Global Education

The 12th edition of the Development Education Summer School (DESS), co-organised by DEEEP together with Artemisszio and the Hungarian Inter Church Aid (HIA) focused on the theme of NGOs and schools cooperation. The 61 participants, together with the facilitators, the experts and the candidates met in Balatonzsemes, Hungary, from June 6 to June 13, 2010.

The structure of the DESS allowed participants to meet everyday in specific working groups, focusing on environmental sustainability, trade and consumption, poverty, diversity, as well as to attend thematic sessions (quality and impact, teachers training, school curricula and whole school approach, NGOs/schools cooperation), aiming at providing them with a more theoretical information, to feed their reflection.

One of the aims of the week was for participants to prepare a “local action day”, which took place in an art and sport school, nearby the venue. The idea was to bring DE to a local school, and raise pupils’ awareness on topics which for the time being are not yet included in their school curricula. Participants met pupils (aged 6-13) and implemented development education activities for a couple of hours. Both school kids and DESS participants were satisfied with the outcomes of these sessions.

DEEEP is currently working on the evaluation of the summer school. It will be finalised in the coming days and will be posted on the summer school webpage, hosted on DEEEP website. http://www.deeep.org/summerschool2010.html. A Summer school 2010 facebook page was created to allow participants to stay in touch in an informal way after the DESS!

Looking forward to DESS 2011…
DEEEP together with its Finnish partners is already working on the next summer school! The Summer School 2011 will take place in June (12-18), nearby Helsinki. The focus will be on Quality and Evaluation.

The final proposal for DESS 2011 will be submitted to DARE members in October. More information will be made available in the next issues of the DE Times.

For more information, contact Chiara Tripepi c.tripepi@deeep.org

Information provided by Chiara Tripepi, DEEEP

Maternity cover for Policy Officer in Brussels office

Our Policy Officer Rebecca Steel-Jasińska will go on maternity leave in the beginning of September. Her replacement will be Monika Matus from Poland, based in our office in Brussels.
Monika brings not only a “new EU member state”-perspective into our policy work but also a broad range of experiences in development cooperation and education as well as in policy and advocacy. Since 2005 she has been engaged with GLEN (Global Education Network of Young Europeans) as trainer and tutor and contributed to the network development. For the Kibera Kids 4 Peace programme in Nairobi, Kenya, she established a comprehensive support programme for Kibera slum community children. At the KARAT coalition in Poland she coordinated the “MakeITFair” & “ProcureITfair” campaign and over the last year she has been involved in advocacy activities in Brussels for Friends of the Earth Europe & CEE Bankwatch.

We are happy to welcome Monika in our team.

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG

From Slovakia to Kenya: Following the inner voice

She has always strove for seeing the world from the perspective of the poorest and empower them to change their situation. Thus, after studying engineering and psychology and many years of work in the international field, she decided to follow her inner voice and first set off for East Africa in 2000. From February 2005 to April 2010, Daniela Petrasova from Slovakia worked as HORIZONT3000 Technical Advisor and Director of Dreikönigsaktion and eRko Support Office in Nairobi, Kenya. She was accompanying and supporting more than 15 projects in the Nairobi region and also developing future project ideas with local partners. In a short interview she shared her experience with us:

What is, from your experience, crucial for the success of a development project?
Development work starts with an in-depth understanding of the situation of the target group, beginning where people are with their needs, dreams and fears and respecting their dignity and right to self-determination. It should respond to the real needs of people and communities and build on their inner potential without making them dependent on long-term outside assistance. At the same time, in development work we have to accept that changes happen only slowly and gradually. Those that want to see results too quickly get often very frustrated. There is a need to persist and persevere and then, if we are lucky, we can see some fruits of the work. Development is a marathon rather than a quick run.

A good development project also needs a common realistic vision that can inspire others, and motivated competent people able to face challenges and move forward.

Does your experience of transition in Slovakia - from a former communist country to a recipient country of ODA and then to a EU member and donor country - help you in your development work in Kenya?
Before I came to Kenya, I worked with two large international programmes assisting Slovakia in the transition period. These programmes also provided some technical expertise in form of personnel. From this experience I was aware that the outside assistance is always limited and those wishing to make an impact need to listen a lot, be patient and work very closely with local people who understand much better how things work in their particular context. At the same time, realizing what was achieved in Slovakia during the last 20 years with all the challenges is also encouraging. Change is indeed possible.

Thank you, Daniela, and all the best for your future work!

Interview by Anita Bister and Ulrike Bey.

Third Edition of the Romanian Development Camp

The third edition of the Romanian Development Camp under the title "MDGs in Focus: Perspectives from the re-emerging donors" took place from 24th till 27th of June 2010 in Bucharest and Covasna (Romania) and it was organized by the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND) in partnership and with the financial support of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The event brought together more than 100 participants from different countries and aimed at presenting the contributions of the new EU member states as re-emerging donors. The theme was chosen in the context of the UN Summit which will be held this year in September and will review the progress and the main challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals

The opening session, held in Bucharest on the 24th of June, had as guest speakers: Mr. Teodor Baconschi (Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs), Mr. Viorel Micescu (FOND President), EU Commissioner for Development, Mr. Andris Piebalgs and Mr. Paul Hoebink, Professor in Development Cooperation (Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen). Mr. Piebalgs emphasized in his speech that development cooperation should be at the center of the foreign policy agenda and noted that NGOs are a driving force for development cooperation.

The working sessions of the camp took place in Covasna and consisted of plenary sessions, workshops and debates. The conclusions of this edition of the Romanian Development Camp reflected the need for an effective national development cooperation policy and an increased involvement of other relevant actors such as the national parliament, academia, local authorities and private sector.

The Romanian Development Camp is an annual event bringing together major stakeholders in development cooperation at national and European level: governmental actors, civil society, experts from European and international donors, partner countries, mass-media, academia and the private sector.

For more information about this event, please contact the FOND Secretariat: office@fondromania.org

Information provided by Adela Rusu, FOND

BCSDN Policy Paper on the State of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans

The Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) published a policy paper titled “The Missing Link. Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans”. This policy paper is a continuation of the BCSDN effort to offer both local and international stakeholders, especially the EU institutions, analysis and recommendations related to development of civil society in the Balkans with a focus on its role in the EU accession process.

While drawing from findings and recommendations from the Balkan Civic Practices 6 - “The Successes and Failures of EU Pre-Accession Policy in the Balkans: Support to Civil Society” on support to development of civil society in the Western Balkan countries, the present paper focuses on analyzing the current situation in development and functioning of civil dialogue in the seven Western Balkans (pre-) accession countries. Furthermore, the paper draws conclusions on how the Enlargement policy could better support the ongoing local efforts on both regional and national level with recommendations addressed equally to the three stakeholders involved – the EC, national Governments and civil society. Experience of three New EU Member States, i.e. Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia are also included in order to explore the effect of the before and after EU entry as in many cases civil dialogue is a EU benchmark and thus, funded area by the EC in the accession period.

Thus, the paper is not a one-off activity, but part of targeted activities of the BCSDN Mid-term Programme 2009-2011, which in 2010 aim to improve influence of CSOs on the development and functioning of civil dialogue mechanisms in the Balkan countries. The paper is available in English and 3 main local language(s) groups - Albanian , Macedonian and Serbian . The English version is also available in hard-copy upon request from the BCSDN Executive Office .

Source of information: BCSDN

Roundtable "The Influence of the Lisbon Treaty in International Development Cooperation"

On June 28, 2010, a roundtable on the influence of the Lisbon treaty on the international developmental cooperation was organized by Sloga at the European Commission Representation in Slovenia. Representatives from the government, EU, and NGOs gathered to talk about the novelties that the Lisbon treaty brings with regards to the functioning of the European Union in the field of development cooperation.

Matej Marn, the political director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, talked about the creation of the External Action Service (EAS) and pointed out some issues which are still under discussion, such as the scope, budget, and personnel of the EAS. The head of Office of the European Parliament (EP) for Slovenia, Nataša Goršek Mencin, emphasized the role the national parliaments play in influencing development policy through the cooperation with the EP as well as their respective governments. She also talked about the role of the EP as one of the oversight organs of the EAS. The roundtable continued with the EUROSTEP representative Verena Winkler who provided a critical point of view of the decision-making process at the European level, as too many actors are involved and no clear hierarchy is established. The event was rounded up by SLOGA coordinator Marjan Huč who presented the main novelties and challenges of the Lisbon treaty and the implications they have on the functioning of developmental NGOs.

Information provided by Anja Novak, Sloga