CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION
The agreement shared by main multilateral aid agencies and by the EU to consider poverty reduction as a central objective of co-operation and development strategies makes it essential to ensure the widest possible participation of all sectors of society in order to provide the conditions for greater equity and inclusion of the poor in the benefits of economic growth.
Democratisation processes and increased demand for participatory approaches have also led to opening the ACP-EU partnership translated into the Cotonou Agreement to a wide range of Non-State Actors as well as local governments.
The main challenge facing EU NGOs and the European Commission is to put this new policy in favour of civil society and participatory development into practice.
APRODEV is an active member of the CONCORD Cotonou Working Group which advocates in favour of civil society participation in all aspects of the Cotonou agreement (link with Cotonou and EDF) from poverty reduction policies, strategies and implementation to negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements.
Aprodev Papers
A CONCORD response to the European Commission Communication to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee on “Participation of Non-State Actors in the EC Development Policy” (November 2003)
CONCORD response to the European Commission Communication on the participation of Non State Actors in Development presents a series of suggestions and recommendations on ways to better involve civil societies of the EU and developing countries in EU development policies, decision making processes, aid programming and implementation.
It was drafted by Aprodev in cooperation with CIDSE and Caritas Europa and was endorsed by the whole membership of CONCORD through a formal consultative process.
Reflection document on The Role of Civil Society in the EU’s Development Policy
This paper was prepared in spring 2002 by a small committee, including APRODEV secretariat, in view of contributing to the drafting of the European Commission Communication on the participation of Non State Actors in Development. It is co-signed by the main EU NGO networks.
The paper seeks to address the main implementation challenges of the EU policy towards civil society participation.
It begins with an examination of the concept of civil society and its relationship with the state, highlighting the role of civil society organisations in policy dialogue and their contribution to the development process. It continues with a discussion on cooperation in programme implementation and an examination of the modalities of funding. The paper ends with a list of recommendations for consideration, intended for the Commission Communication that was finally adopted in November 2002.
Discussion paper on the direct funding of Southern NGOs
This discussion paper has been written in November 2001 as a contribution to the debate on the preparation of the European Commission Communication on the participation of Non State Actors in Development. It was drafted by the Liaison Committee in consultations with colleagues in NGOs and NGO networks.
Supporting the development of Southern civil society can be done in many ways, among which working with European NGOs as brokers and intermediaries is only one. Direct funding support is another path open to official donors. This discussion paper is intended to explore some of the policy and management issues associated with both these routes and derives some first recommendations for EC and NGO policy makers.
This paper was written in response to the first major policy paper produced by the Commission on its relations and dialogue with NGOs. Aprodev comments start by making proposals to strengthen the effectiveness of the paper. It then outlines some general considerations on the cooperation between NGOs and the European Commission, which the paper does not sufficiently take into account, and finally make some specific comments on the Commission paper.
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