euforic blog

Organic or Green, agriculture is back on the agenda : CTA briefs on Global Food Crisis and Local Food Insecurity

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:30:00 +0000

On 9 December, in its well-known series of Brussels Briefings for policy makers, CTA organized a session on food security entitled From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders.

Including the most important stakeholders: farmers. After having listened to a number of speakers Mr. Bagna of the Platform of Producers' Organizations in Niger concluded he actually had not heard anything new: food insecurity is a serious problem, we need money, we need research and we need capacity development….. everything has been said already, .... yesterday. But where is the real commitment, asked Mr. Bagna? Maybe policy-makers are not altogether honest with themselves, he felt. Despite all the plans there is no funding, no decent financial credit systems. There is no money for capacity development of people and their organizations. And in the end, farmers do their own research, to survive they have to….. Donors and governments could solve all these problems, Mr. Bagna feels, if they really wanted to…..

The exchange at the CTA briefing was very lively. Not everything may be new but it is useful to contrast different approaches and assessments and reaffirm the need for concerted action.

Presentations and background materials on the Global Food Crisis and Local Food Insecurity compiled by CTA can be accessed at the Brussels Briefings blog, also available in French at Bruxelles Briefings

Dr. Hans Herren co-chair of IAASTD, was the keynote speaker at the 9 December briefing. He presented the key findings of "Agriculture at a Crossroads", the report series of the International Assessment of Agricultural knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. The challenges for food security are quite clear according to Herren: climate change, population- and demand growth, and finally shrinking natural resources. In the past, the green revolution has not been a solution, according to Herren, nor will in the future crop-technology development solve the problem. People have benefitted unevenly from the yield increases generated by the green revolution, and the increases have come at a serious cost in terms of degrading natural resources (soils, water). Across regions, agricultural output is now distributed more uneven than ever.

So while the green revolution is not a solution and there is no simple alternative solution. The organic revolution that Dr. Herren calls for has to deal with “the inescapable connectedness of acgriculture's different roles and function”. Agriculture is not one but two words, Herren argues, “agri” and “culture”. It is not about the production of commodities but rooted in society in culture. Consequently, not crop productivity, but farm productivity has to be the subject of research when 75% of the food is produced by family farms. In his view what is needed is another kind of research based on a participatory, systems approach, working with women, training at agricultural colleges practitioners not people that end up behind desks.

Agricultural economist Steve Wiggins (ODI) emphasized that the 2008/09 food price spike made already high levels of under-nutrition more visible. Also the spike provoked awareness of possible future shocks and the challenges on agriculture agenda.

Agriculture is changing and will have to change according to Wiggins:
- From non-renewables to renewables
- Reducing use of water
- Limiting emission of greenhouse gasses (quite a large contribution (17 – or 32% when including expansion - to 13% from transport)
- From usual to altered climates

Information technology is critical for more efficient use of resources, also pricing of scarce resources and taxing the wastefulness and GHG intensity of food are important strategies. There are win-win scenarios according to Wiggins: climate friendly agriculture = less pollution and land degradation…….

Ndiogou Fall of the Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations of West Africa explained that at micro-level, families and communities develop strategies to address food insecurity. However, so much more can be done in terms of supportive public policies and finance. Fall says support to family agriculture is a priority because they directly suffer food insecurity and there are important multiplier effects of investment in family agriculture. He would like to see that pricing policies favor family agriculture and that support includes various parts in value chain. Also het felt it is very important to support farmers organizations. Maybe not a lot of additional research is needed, said Fall, getting existing knowledge to farming families would already be quite an accomplishment. Finally Fall mentioned that land tenure policies often very negatively affect family farming.

Dr. David Nabarro, Special Representative of UNSG on Food Security, saw with satisfaction that after many years of neglect, agriculture and food security are back on the development agenda. He emphasized that the food crisis is deepening. Food insecurity was already a serious issue before the food price spike of 2008. Now, after the spike, the economic contraction is generating a further negative impact. The crisis is also deepening. Poor people are increasingly susceptible to climate change and systems that do not work.

Global availability of food is not the problem said Mr. Nabarro. The problem is inequitable access and utilization. According to him the question is not “how to feed the world” as the Economist headlined a few weeks ago, but “how to ensure people can exercise their right to the food they need”. Since agriculture is back on the global agenda, Mr. Nabarro is optimistic. He feels major stakeholders are coming together and promising approaches are emerging.

The European Commission, DGDevelopment highlighted aspects of the new EU Framework for support to Food Security and Agriculture. A representative from AIDCO explained how a 3-year funding time frame helps create some continuity in the funding for agricultural research. Several other participants commented on the presentations of the experts.

Rajul Pandya-Lorch - the only women on the panels - of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC, rose at the crack of dawn to contribute her views, but unfortunately technology failed us. Her slides were available on paper and the first one framed the problem nicely: In the late 1950 there were 1 billion people going hungry every day. In 2009 ……. 1 billion people still go hungry every day.

Visit the Brussels Briefings blogs to see all presentations and summaries of presentations.

For more background information on food security check the Euforic newsfeed.

EC invites to comment on Issues Paper on Agriculture and Food Security

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Food Security and Agriculture are very much back on the agenda. Building on its Food Security Thematic Strategy Paper 2007-2010, the European Commission is currently developing a new Policy Framework to assist developing countries addressing agriculture and food security challenges. On 9 december 2009, at the CTA organized Brussels Briefing “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity”, the Directorate General for Development elaborated on its Issues Paper on food security.

The new policy framework will build on central elements of the past framework:

• The aim remains not simply to deliver food aid but to achieve Food Security for all
• Maintain a link between relief and protecting sustainable livelihoods and crisis prevention
• Address four pillars: availability (1), access (2), quality and utilization (3), and crisis management and prevention (4)

The Issues Paper was published 16 november 2009 and is part of the consultation and policy development process which has to lead to Council Conclusions – an official statement of the ministers of EU members states – on a Policy Framework on Agriculture and Food Security in May 2010.

Until 9 January 2010 you can voice you opinion about the Issues Paper at www.ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/consultations

Several participants at the Brussels Briefing organised by CTA commented on the presentation by the DG-Development representative. ActionAid welcomes the EC initiative but feels the Commission has no long term approach to investment in agriculture and food security. Also, according to ActionAid, the EC approach lacks attention for women’s access to credit, land and services. For example, compared to an earlier version, the chapter on agriculture has been removed from the current version of the EC Gender Action plan, a document stakeholders may comment on next week. ActionAid also warns about the so-called “whole of union approach” that the Commision wishes to explore in connection with issues of Food Security. This approach suggests that members states – besides official development cooperation - use all kinds of other resources to achieve development objectives. However, ActionAid and Concord are concerned that the "whole of the union" approach is more about “counting all resources” as opposed to really “using all resources”.

Subscribe to the euforic newsfeeds on food security and eu cooperation for more news

Brussels Briefings live on the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:01:00 +0000

The Briefing “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity” live on the Internet!. This way, you can easily follow the presentations and debates.

WHEN: December, 9 – 8:30 – 13:00 (Brussels Time)

This service (in English and French) is FREE and requires simply the use of a computer connected to the Internet.

To get access, please click on this link: http://scic.ec.europa.eu/str/index.php?sessionno=401 (use of the Internet Explorer browser is recommended)

For the programme, background note and registration form, please check http://brusselsbriefings.net/.

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeeds on rural development, food security and the food crisis

Members vote to dissolve the Euforic Cooperative

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:00:00 +0000

After nearly 15 years the Euforic Cooperative will disappear. Twenty-four members (out of 34) represented at the special general meeting of members, held on 26 November 2009 in Brussels, voted for the dissolution of the Cooperative.

Fifteen years ago, when the Internet started to become a key tool in information and communication, a diverse group of organizations in development cooperation acknowledged its importance for communication and collaboration and constituted Europe's Forum on International Cooperation (Euforic). Euforic was founded by ECDPM - independent, funded by governmental donors -, Clong, Eurostep, CIDSE and APRODEV - all NGOnetworks - and the ACP Secretariat - representing southern governments. The current group of members remains very diverse, including also a number of research networks and institutions.

In a joint effort the Web was used to communicate and to collaborate. Initially the focus was on sharing and disseminating information, over the last years Euforic supported members in using Internet interactively (Web 2.0) in support of networking and collaboration. Euforic always remained on the forefront in working with members on innovative projects and supporting them through training and consulting.

More recently, Euforic supported ICCO’s Compart project that uses Web 2.0 for collaboration and learning within ICCO and with its partners. With ILEIA a similar project was undertaken on a smaller scale. Euforic was also involved with CABI in setting up a repository storing products of all DFID funded research – Research for Development (R4D). In the process of transforming D-Groups, Euforic associates played a critical role. Similarly Euforic has been a partner in support of CTA’s Brussels Briefings since 2007. With NIAS and DDRN Euforic worked in 2009 on using Web 2.0 for communication of research. Campaigns and events were promoted through social reporting, working with FAO, GDN, Concord, IDS, Helvetas and CTA. In training sessions - either open, or targeted for specific clients – Euforic has been building capacities among a diverse groups of staff of member organizations. Euforic staff will work until mid December to transfer outputs of projects and completing work on the IKM-Vines project and the Brussels Briefings.

Funding Euforic has always been a complex issue. As a Cooperative it had limited income from membership fees which were always kept low as the Cooperative was supposed to earn its keep. The combination of a first class, independent public information service on Europe’s development cooperation while at the same time servicing the diverse membership as well as working with individual members on a project basis was not always easy to manage. Over a period of years deficits accumulated, a loan from one of the members allowed a re-start in 2006 but eventually the members agreed that there was no structural viability to the organization, at least not in this form.

To enable the Cooperative to pay all its outstanding debts and close with a zero balance, ICCO, ECDPM and EADI committed ad hoc contributions, at the same time APRODEV, CIDSE, Bernard van Leer Foundation and ISS doubled their membership contribution over 2009.

While the Cooperative is dissolved, there are also indications that – besides project outcomes and capacity development activities over the years - Euforic's heritage will live on: EADI has agreed to host the public information services that are provided through www.euforic.org. Also former Euforic staff and associates will continue to provide training and consulting services under the name 'Euforic Services' communicating through this blog euforic.blogspot.com.

Note: the liquidation also includes the sale of office furniture. For those interested, please click here.

Next Briefing on food crisis and food insecurity

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000

The next Brussels Development Briefing will be held on 9th December and will discuss “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity” in the context of the new EC policy on Food security to be released.

The Briefing will be looking at the domino effects of increased speculation in food markets (How has the global food and financial crisis affected food production and distribution and the food security of the poorest? Is global food production at risk in the medium and long term and will national food security and food sovereignty be the priority over global food availability? Is the small-scale farming more effective and resilient in times of crisis in least-developed countries?) and the on what realistic policy options can secure food supply and availability at global and local levels.

For the programme and registration form, please check http://brusselsbriefings.net/.

Earlier Brussels Briefings looked at 'ACP Agricultural and Rural Development: why Media matters?', 'Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?','The Role of Livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead', ' Meeting Food Safety Standards: Implications for ACP agricultural exports', 'Fighting against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU): Impacts and challenges for ACP countries', 'Land access and rural development: New challenges, new opportunities', 'How does international migration affect ACP rural development?', 'Rising food prices: an opportunity for change?', 'New drivers, new players in ACP rural development', 'Does Fair Trade contribute to sustainable development?', 'The climate challenge for ACP agriculture', 'Aid for Trade', 'Advancing African Agriculture' and 'Challenges to rural development in ACP countries.'

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeeds on rural development, food security and the food crisis

Information, knowledge and communication – 3rd training on the social Web in Bonn

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Behrens) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:16:00 +0000

In a good tradition Euforic facilitated the third Web2Share Training in Bonn. The event took place from 19-20 November 2009 and was co-organized with EADI, the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes.

Like in the years before a diverse group of information and communication professionals from several countries, including Switzerland, Norway, Italy and Germany joined the training. Among other things they expected to learn how to work with social webtools such as wikis to cooperate and to share knowledge in open and closed networks. Furthermore they were looking for guidelines for social media usage in NGOs, good monitoring tools and podcasting.

The Euforic trainers provided an up-to-date overview of possibilities and advantages that web 2.0 tools and social media offer for their work. Popular buzzwords included “social bookmarking”, “RSS”, “wikis”, “blogs”, "Googling", and “podcasting”. Besides, we looked at how to connect and integrate these new tools into daily business processes across the organization, for communication, knowledge sharing and campaigning.

Since an increasing number of our participants have already some experience with the new Social Web, we spent more time on storytelling and discussion then in our first trainings. We compared experiences and explained new ways to apply tools strategically for different purposes. To name just a few, discussions touched upon issues like the pros and cons of social networking sites for organizational purposes, privacy and content ownership, or the use of internal micro-blogging tools.

Towards the end of the training participants were fascinated by the different possibilities the new Web provides but also called for more advanced training.

Some interesting quotes from the evaluation:

"I think I can teach the communication crowd how to work with some of the new tools but I'm afraid it won't go that well with the researchers, who are not always keen on sharing."

"I knew most of the tools already, but this workshop confirmed that you really need to look at the target group to know which tool or package to use. I feel that I don't have the time to use all this, but what is worse is that my colleagues think that everything connected to a computer is up to me, because I'm the IT person"

"The Web still very depends on written language but I'm sure that podcasts are the future."

"I heard what is going on on the Web before but now I'm not afraid anymore to try it out and use it for my organization"

Former Euforic associates and staff will look into possibilities to organize a Master Class in the first half of 2010 which will address the challenges participants face when they go back to their organizations.

See some pictures of the workshop

Explore the Euforic Web2Share Wiki

Find more information about Web 2.0 in our newsfeed

Brussels Development Briefings: more background information available

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:18:00 +0000

The report of the Briefing on “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?” held on 23rd September 2009 is available now. The report presents a detailed account of the presentations and debates, and can be downloaded here.

The reader provides extensive background information on the issue - including online resources - and is also available online.

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeeds on rural development and agriculture

Cooperative Euforic: in the process of closing down

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:07:00 +0000

Euforic has called an Extraordinary General Meeting of members to take place on 26 November 2009 in Brussels. On the agenda is the complete close-down of operations and dissolution of the Cooperative.

Over the past few years the Board and staff of Euforic have tried to achieve a minimum degree of financial sustainability of the organization. After a profound financial crisis in 2004/2005 the organization’s finances seemed to recover somewhat in 2007 and 2008 but in the course of 2009 the structural financial instability of the organization showed again. When this became clear the Euforic members were contacted and the Board decided on 30 September to proceed to scale down operations and to dismiss staff (see also the announcement)

Over the years Euforic has provided a free, public information service, funded through membership income and surpluses that were generated through the implementation of specific projects with members. Because of the limited core income, and the small surpluses on projects and services, Euforic has always been financially unstable.

In September 2009 it became clear that the operational losses the organization would incur, required that the ExCo and Board seek immediate financial support for the organization to comply with contractual obligations, particularly regarding the personnel. At this stage however it was very much evident that the financial problems are structural, which is why the Board proposes to completely dissolve the Cooperative. Various member have committed contributions - in particular ICCO, ECDPM, APRODEV, EADI and CTA – that enable (financial) closure of the Cooperative.

Euforic has few assets and the motion to dissolve that the Board is presenting to the members of the Cooperative includes arrangements to dispose of these assets. EADI has kindly offered to seek ways to continue to provide some sort of public information services on matters that used to be covered by Euforic, possibly linking to the original Euforic URL. Some staff have indicated they may continue to provide consulting services as independent consultants together with former Euforic associates, for which they consider to establish a collaborative association provisionally called Euforic Services.

Check also the newsfeed for more news about Euforic's cooperative life

European Development Days 2009: the power of networking

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:07:00 +0000

Last week Stockholm hosted the European Development Days, a three day event involving a number of heads of State and thousands of development professionals and students from all over Europe, indeed the world. You can read it all on the official EDD-website.

Even though Euforic – as readers of this blog will know – is scaling down its operations, we were present in Stockholm to promote one of the many exciting projects Euforic has been involved in over the last few years: R4D, an information service providing free access to information on DFID (co)financed research for development programs and over 20,000 outputs of these research efforts.

Several Euforic members presented panel discussions at the European Development Days, or the Development D-days as Rajendra Pachauri, Director General of the Energy Resources Insitute in New Delhi and one of the keynote speakers, called them. CTA invited twelve partners from the South to have stands at the Development Village and organized an important event about land acquisition (also known as “land grabbing”). At an event co-organized by AFD, Koos Richelle, head of AIDCO and others examined aid practices. AFD also organized with DFID and DIE a debate about the evolving aid architecture. Concord co-organized an event about development education, sharing ideas and experiences around involving and mobilizing citizens for development. Citizens were also central to the ECDPM-organized event about the EU-Africa Partnership. EADI together with the Development Gateway Foundation looked at the future of European Development Cooperation: Development Beyond 2015 and APRODEV, CIDSE and Concord staged an event on Copenhagen, Climate Justice and the Right to Development. SNV had a session on Accountability and Transparency and cheered us all up with a musical spectacle at the end of the second day.

Most events attracted quite some interest. A crowd of EDD-visitors lined-up outside the forum on Media and Development. In the panel, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Raile Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya, blogger and digital activist Ndesanjo Macha and others discussed the role of media in development. Dominique Darmon of SNV was lucky to get in and reported that there was an extensive discussion around the role of new media. Nowadays in Africa over 17 million phones are in use ... or at least, in use when there is electricity, as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf noted, underlining that energy and infrastructure are critical priorities for investment in this continent. Odinga explained how he used a blog to communicate with the electorate during the recent presidential election campaign in Kenya, but someone in the audience noted that comments from readers of the blog were screened and the comments criticizing Odinga actually never made it to his blog. So new media can promote interaction and participation but they do not eliminate exclusion, whether because of lack of electricity or because of censorship.

Written communication does not reach too many Africans because of the high illiteracy rates, television is important but technically much more demanding than radio which is the number one “old” means of communication in the continent. At the same time, mobile devices are changing the way the good old radio is operating, boosting its use through for example podcast. During the session several other examples of mobile phone use were highlighted for example how they were used to warn people during recent floodings in Burkina Faso. Phones can also be used to hold the government accountable as the HIVOS/SNV project Twaweza demonstrates.

Some participants in the audience felt that new media pose a greater risk of misinformation while others laud their potential to promote democracy. A BBC reporter asked the politicians in the panel what at the end of the day would make them more uncomfortable: a bad news paper story, or a critical blog ... thus showing that the good old newspaper remains critically important.

Having to attend my R4D stand in the Development Village I saw few live presentations. But I made an exception for the “testimonies” on climate change that were given in the morning of the last day, 25 October. Michelle Duvivier Pierre-Louis, Prime Minister of Haiti and former executive of the Soros-sponsored Knowledge and Freedom Foundation told about the seven (7) hurricanes that hit her country over the last few years and asked for fairness and just reparations as part of the strategy to confront the climate change crisis, “The market mechanism is not going to save the planet”, she insisted. Moderator Sackur, known from BBC’s “Hard Talk” highlighted her systematic emphasis on fairness and justice and he asked her whether – when talking with European leaders, she felt they actually “got it”. Very honestly she replied that her gut feeling was not very good, but she also made it clear she will not give up fighting for climate justice.

President Emanual Manny Mori of the Federated States of Micronesia explained how his country has been fighting for climate justice for quite some time already. The small islands state is very much exposed to the potentially disastrous effects of the sea level increase. To anyone who doubts whether this is a serious crisis he urged to reflect “Who are you fooling? Not the oceans and disappearing species”. Mori insisted that all nations will have to bite the bullet: “We will face a different world in our lifetime”

Mary Simon has been an activist for Inuit interests for decades. “My homeland is melting” she stated, “the situation is terrifying, villages just sink in the ground because of melting permafrost”. The changes may very well exceed the traditional capacities op her people to adapt. Simon concludes that previous efforts to reduce carbon emissions have not done the job, public policies have fallen short and emissions have continued to grow. Simon stressed the interrelation between economic and environmental security and calls for massive investments in clean technology. A Climate Change Adaptation Fund of 20 billion euro needs to become operational now, not by 2022 as current proposals suggest. Besides climate change, Simon also warned for what she labeled to be misguided policies that affect the Inuit people like the upgrade in CITES of the polar bear which makes them an endangered species, and the EU ban on seal products. It is climate change that endangers the polar bear, she said, Inuit hunting practices are sustainable. She felt that such policies negatively affect the Inuits capacity to adapt and preserve their livelihoods.

Back at my R4D stand, I listened to Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, through a video live-stream. She said that the political realities will force the EU to be more ambitious about reduction of CO2 emission and deliver climate justice. With Michelle Duvivier and the others we continue to hope (but fear her gut feeling).

For more stories on the European Development Days, check the official EDD-site and sites of Euforic member organizations.

by Rosien Herweijer

See also Euforic's newsfeeds on Euforic cooperative life on European Development Days and on Information, knowledge, and communication

R4D at the European Development Days

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:59:00 +0000

During the 4th edition of the European Development Days - held from 22 to 24 October in Stockholm - Euforic actively promotes the Research for Development (R4D) project.

R4D is a free access portal containing information about research programmes supported by DFID. It provides you with the latest information about research funded by DFID in the framework of its 2008 Research Strategy, including news, case studies and details of current and past research in over 20,000 project and document records. Information is available on a broad range of topics, such as sustainable agriculture, climate change, economic development, health and capacity building.

R4D is unique in the sense that it makes information available to researchers, students and policy makers that hitherto was circulated at a limited scale. Documents and reports are presented in full text, there are various search options for different types of information, plus the Research Dialogue and Communications Corner blogs allow for reflection and debate.

Please feel free to meet with Euforic's Rosien Herweijer at stand 25 to hear the latest about R4D and to subscribe to the newsfeeds of your choice.

You can also visit Euforic's research feedfinder page to subscribe to selected R4D newsfeeds.

Putting web 2.0 to work - Training on the social web - Bonn, 19-20 November 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Pier Andrea Pirani) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:57:00 +0000

After the success of the last web 2.0 workshops and the positive feedback received from participants, the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) and Europe’s Forum on International Cooperation (Euforic) organise a new workshop: “Information, Knowledge and Communication - Putting web 2.0 to work: Training on the social web”.

As last year we intend to provide information and communication professionals in the development community with an up-to-date overview of possibilities and advantages that web 2.0 tools and social media offer for their work. Some of the buzzwords include “social bookmarking”, “RSS”, “wikis”, “blogs”, ‘Googling’, “podcasting” - all are free to use and they provide numerous flexible solutions to the challenges we face. Besides, we aim to look at how to connect and integrate them into daily business processes across the whole organisation, for communications, knowledge sharing and campaigning.

The workshop will equip participants with the skills to use and combine these tools into useful information sharing systems. We will be exploring and learning from a typical organisational toolkit 2.0. This might include blogging, the use of multi-media tools, wikis, custom searches and customised feeds for news or knowledge sharing as well as use of online social networks.
This course is designed for individuals and teams who are new to the tools, as well as currently exploring these tools and want to extend their use. It will also include “second wave” adopters, individuals and teams who are not web specialists but who want to extend their use of web 2.0 approaches into areas such as research and policy communications; collaborative working; publications, network and partnership relations and event management – bringing together participants, social reporting and documentation.

The workshop will combine presentations from people who use the web 2.0 in their everyday work, with intensive guided ‘hands-on’ training.

This workshop forms part of the Euforic web2share initiative that supports Euforic members in using the new web tools and services and working collectively.

Cost: 550€ EADI/Euforic members (650€ non-members) including 2 days training, materials, lunches, refreshments.

To register or get more information, please contact heil(AT)eadi.org

See Euforic newsfeed, dossier and wiki on web 2.0.

SNV shows that development assistance does make a difference

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:36:00 +0000

SNV, a major Dutch development NGO, and the news channel Euronews have produced a series of five journalistic video reports (or vignettes) of 90 seconds each. Each addresses a global issue such as the energy crisis, water, sanitation and hygiene shortages, the gap between rich and poor and the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries. In all of these video reports we convey the message that ODA (Official Development Assistance) works. There are concrete, local solutions that really make a difference. Scaling these up is the key to long-term growth in the developing world.

The vignette series will be launched at the 4th European Development Days 2009 (Stockholm, 22-24 October), and will be broadcast on Euronews from October 19th until 27th December.

They can also be seen on the websites of both SNV and Euronews, and on the campaign website

For more information see also Euforic's newsfeeds on energy, water and sanitation, economic development, the financial crisis, and the European Development Days

CTA’s 14th Brussels Briefing: woman bites dog or why media matter for rural development

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:10:00 +0000

At the Brussels Briefing # 14, organised by CTA on 12 October, a lively discussion on media and rural development took place. The debate was fed by contributions of a variety of panelists and a large crowd of participants from ACP countries. Why is there so little reporting done on regular media on issues concerning farmers and rural communities? Why do the media treat the food crisis as an urban issue? Can journalists partner with farmers, politicians, policy advocates and researchers in promoting rural development? What is the role of the new media and do ICTs contribute?

To prepare for this session the organiser CTA hosted a 4 weeks e-discussion. Susana Thorp from WREN gave a brief summary of the outcomes. First and foremost, Mrs. Thorp emphasized that participants hope that discussion actually leads to action. The e-debate focused on constraints faced by media on – conflicting - expectations of various stakeholders on new media and ICTs, and on support for enhancing media activities and building capacities. A summary of the e-debate is available here.

It was interesting to observe that at this Brussels Briefing the majority of panelist and quite a number of participants were female. Mrs. Tumi Makgabo, lead discussant and former CNN anchor stressed that in the world of media women have more barriers to overcome than men. But together with Mrs. Violet Otindo of K24TV in Kenya, winner of the CNN African Journalist Award, and all the other women participating in this debate she showed it can be done.

How do women overcome these barriers? Violet Otindo mentioned the importance of mentoring, but she said it should be used with care. For a journalist mentoring involves risks because it exposes you to political and commercial interests. Lack of resources and equipment are the major barrier according to her. She remarked that when you have no resources, everything takes more time. As a journalist you have to work smart and time management skills are essential. She feels that more recognition for the work of local African journalists is important, the big media houses should make more use of local journalists. Also support initiatives involving training and awards can be helpful.

Tumi Makgabo defined herself as a feminist with three-inch heels. You have to counter the way media portray women as a victim by acting like the opposite. She wants women to have a voice and she feels she can contribute more working as an independent journalist from Africa. She also illustrated how women seek to balance professional and private goals by telling how for her living in Africa as opposed to Atlanta serves both. As for the professional goals: Mrs. Makgabo stressed that with the new technologies Africans can tell stories about Africa: “we can tell our stories from any place now”.

In his keynote address CTA’s director Hansjörg Neun observed that media tend to report on the extraordinary – a man biting a dog is news, the reverse is not. Much of the messages on rural development do not seem to qualify as news. The first panel was lead by Tumi Makgabo of South Africa, a former anchor of CNN Inside Africa, now African Broadcasting and Media, and director of the African Women Development Fund. She introduced the panelists: Mr. Jean-Philippe Rapp who founded in 1985 the International North-South Media Forum, Mrs. Brave Nsidale, Ambassador of Malawi, Mr. Ignatius Jean, Representative of IICA and former minister of Agriculture of St. Lucia, Mr. Thozi Gwanya, Director General of the Department of Land Reform in South Africa and Mrs. Krishendaye Rampershad, media consultant based in Trinidad.

Ms. Rampershad emphasized that it is important to differentiate: are we talking high tech corporate media or low tech community based. She felt the latter to be very powerful in serving development objectives. To those wishing to communicate messages to rural populations Ms. Rampershad had a clear advice: talk normal! Extension people have to be communicators and not talk science. Mr. Gwanya felt that media systematically ignored rural people and their interests. Mr. Jean of IICA observed that technical people in agriculture and media may not understand or like each other but they do need each other. In the Carribean Mr. Jean has observed that ICTs and the participatory information sharing they enable, have dismantled monopolies. He also emphasized that new partnerships emerge; in the oral, musical community of the Carribean the power of songs and the influence of musicians can support our communication for agriculture. Jean-Philippe Rapp commented on Hansjörg Neun’s example but he argued that the current food insecurity and plague of hunger is indeed a case of “man bites dog” and considered quite newsworthy. He observed a sincere interest among media for agriculture, but there is also a shift, he noted: media look for testimonies, there is less interest for the stories of the experts.

After the contributions of the panelists Ms. Makgabo opened the debate and the floor. She challenged the panelists: if people continue to buy tabloids that pay no attention to issues and needs of rural people, who are we to question these priorities? Ms. Rampershad emphasized that you may see this disconnection in public and corporate media, but in community driven media agendas are set differently. Mr. Rapp emphasized that agriculture is not a difficult or grateful subject but you need to tell the story with passion and in original, authentic language.

In the ensuing debate the focus was on the relations between the various stakeholders. There is often antagonism between politicians and media but participants also commented on how scientists are suspicious of journalists and vice versa. You can remove that suspicion by talking about the differences and the different roles, looking for common ground. Specific, deliberate and focused education initiatives may help to bridge the gap between what media (thinks it) needs and what the industry needs and what both sides can do.

Ms. Protz, the coordinator of CARIMAC, noted that few agriculture ministries actually do have a communication strategy. She observed that the media coverage of the climate change issue was not lead by journalists but by communities, the corporate and public media enlisted later in the process. Maureen Agena of the Women of Uganda Network questioned the role of (urban) journalists: how do you report on something you are not involved in? WOUGNET works with citizen journalists, women reporting on their own problems. Other participants questioned whether these citizen journalists had the skills and ethics to communicate responsibly.

More information on this briefing and earlier editions are available on the website of the Brussels Development Briefings and - in French - Briefings sur le Développement à Bruxelles

To get regular updates subscribe to the Euforic English language newsfeed for the Brussels Briefings or to the French language newsfeed at Briefings à Bruxelles

More on EU cooperation with ACP countries is available in the corresponding Euforic newsfeed on EU-ACP cooperation. Euforic also has a newsfeed on information, knowledge and communication. Visit the CTA website for more on agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.

Financial constraints force Euforic to scale down operations

noreply@blogger.com (Rosien Herweijer) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Euforic is facing financial problems. The operational budget of the cooperative is funded through membership fees, income from projects and grants. Membership fees cover only a very small part of that budget. After reviewing the current situation, the Board of the cooperative issued the following statement in a message to members:

"The Euforic Board met 30 September 2009 in Brussels to discuss the financial situation of the organization. All members of the Board agreed that the current situation is extremely serious. Several options to address this critical situation in the short and medium term were reviewed during the meeting.

The Board observes that the lack of structural financial viability of the cooperative inevitably means a continued risk of operational deficits, particularly since the cooperative has a negative general fund and no reserves. Because of this structural dimension and considering that the expected deficit for 2009 may amount to over 50,000 euro, the Board has unanimously decided to proceed to ask relevant authorities for permission to serve all staff redundancy notices and scale down Euforic operations accordingly. It is expected that the staff will continue to work until 31/12/2009. How to handle grants and service contracts with members that go beyond December 2009 will be looked at over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile the crisis implies that the cooperative urgently needs 50,000 euro to cover the 2009 operational deficit and to avoid bankruptcy. A swift transition in which we down-scale and prevent any further operational losses, may enable us to review the long term perspectives for the cooperative during the first half of 2010. To make such a transition, the Board urgently request members to make a contribution financially or otherwise during the coming months. Any contribution, small as it may be, can make a difference! The Board agrees that it is in the interest of all members to avoid Euforic avoid a forced demise of Euforic."

See also Euforic's newsfeeds on Euforic cooperative life and on information, knowledge, and communication

ECDPM seeks your views on policy priorities for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:32:00 +0000

In a world where countries and regions must cooperate to address urgent problems – climate change, conflict, food security, health and education – ECDPM helps countries in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) build effective partnerships. The Centre provides support to key development processes in developing regions and countries in a long term perspective.

ECDPM is currently preparing its annual paper on the challenges for EU-ACP development cooperation for the year ahead and is very much interested in your views on the policy priorities for your country/region for 2010 and particularly how the EU can support these. Please take five minutes to respond to this anonymous survey by 23 October 2009 (you can also reply in French).

Click here to access the survey.

Also check out Euforic's newsfeeds on ECDPM, and on EU-ACP cooperation

Next Brussels Development Briefing on rural development and the media

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:15:00 +0000

The next Brussels Development Briefing will be held on 12th October 2009 (14h30 – 18h30) on the role of the media in rural development.

We will discuss the need to mainstream media in development and increase donor’s attention to media as well as the challenges the journalists and media specialists face when addressing agricultural and rural development issues in their work. We will try to find more on how media can better serve rural communities in ACP countries. This Briefing will be part of the 25th Anniversary events of CTA and we will have with us prominent policy-makers and media specialists sharing with us their experience and views on these issues.

For the programme and registration form, please check http://brusselsbriefings.net/.

Earlier Brussels Briefings looked at
'Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?','The Role of Livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead', ' Meeting Food Safety Standards: Implications for ACP agricultural exports', 'Fighting against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU): Impacts and challenges for ACP countries', 'Land access and rural development: New challenges, new opportunities', 'How does international migration affect ACP rural development?', 'Rising food prices: an opportunity for change?', 'New drivers, new players in ACP rural development', 'Does Fair Trade contribute to sustainable development?', 'The climate challenge for ACP agriculture', 'Aid for Trade', 'Advancing African Agriculture' and 'Challenges to rural development in ACP countries.'

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeed on rural development and media

The 'Whole-of-Union Approach' and what it means for EU Development Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Behrens) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:28:00 +0000

Recently the EC published a communication on 'Policy Coherence for Development' focusing on the establishment of a policy framework for a ‘Whole-of-the-Union Approach’(see pdf).

Now the European NGO Confederation CONCORD reacted on the communication in a policy briefing (see doc-file). CONCORD welcomes the proposal to take a more systematic and strategic approach to Policy Coherence. It welcomes the EU's wish to engage developing countries in dialogue on policy coherence.

According to the ‘Whole-of-the-Union Approach’ the Union would move towards a more holistic relationship with developing countries. One key element should be the ‘ODA plus’ concept which means to count not just official aid (ODA) but a variety of other ‘financial flows’ such as private investment, technology transfer, and research as a contribution to development.

According to CONCORD this poses a major shift in EU development cooperation away from ODA towards a wider range of sources with a questionable development impact and delivered with non-development objectives in mind. Such a process would go along with the current situation where several EU member states fail to meet their aid targets.

“Despite the rhetoric, the EU seems to be abandoning the focus on policy coherence for development and moving towards a self-interested development agenda” the Concord briefing says.

CONCORD calls for a firm recommitment from member states to meet their aid promises and for any approach to policy coherence for development to be focused on the protection of developing countries from harmful effects of EU policies, rather than promoting EU interests.

For more information, check out Euforic's newsfeeds on Concord and the Euforic dossier and newsfeed on policy coherence.

What's your view on R4D?

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:31:00 +0000

R4D is a free access portal containing information about research programmes supported by DFID. It provides you with the latest information about research funded by DFID, including news, case studies and details of current and past research in over 20,000 project and document records.

We are conducting a short survey to help inform future improvements. It covers what you think of the current service from R4D, and what you would like to see on the R4D portal. The survey should take around 5 to 10 minutes to complete, depending how much you choose to say. It does not ask for personal, identifying data.

We need your views on R4D and thank you in advance for your input!

To start the survey, please click here.

This survey is being conducted on behalf of DFID, the UK Department for International Development.

Visit Euforic's research feedfinder page to subscribe to selected R4D newsfeeds

Research communication: Act now!

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:15:00 +0000

Euforic was in Vietnam last week working for the Danish Development Research Network (a member since last year). We were facilitating a workshop on research communications. Euforic was approached because of our work with communication between development actors and our involvement in the research for development project (R4D) for DFID in the UK.

Strengthening communication in N/S research partnerships for development

The workshop was designed to support DANIDA funded research projects and is a continuation of the series begun in Tanzania.

Over 45 participants drawn from all over Vietnam together with research colleagues from Denmark met for 3 days in Hoi An to develop their understanding of developing communication strategies and approaches for their projects. The two projects involved are both examining the impact of climate change, one focussing on physical changes, while the other has a multidisciplinary approach including geographers, natural scientists and socio economists.

The workshop aimed to develop communication skills, build strategies and make practical products.

Group work in project teams ran through the three days, resulting in a draft communications plan for each project and the development of example products such as press releases and leaflets. These working sessions were interspersed with demonstrations, papers and presentations and culminated with a presentation exercise to explain the final results of each project team to the rest of the workshop.

The sessions covered standard methodologies to developing communication strategies, identifying target groups, establishing the aim of the communication, developing messages for that group and chosing the appropriate channel to reach them.

One of the most popular sessions was looking at new opportunities on the web for research communication and ways the projects could work with these systems.

Wiki
A common Wiki platform for the resources and learning from the workshop process has been developed by Euforic for DDRN and provides a resource base for those who have attended the Tanzanian and Vietnamese workshops. The commscorner and web2share sites also provide reference points on Web2 tools and communications advice for researchers respectively.

Learning by acting

The final presentations were a learning exercise in themselves with one project team demonstrating clearly how a theatre exercise could explain the communications plan through role play, a synopsis of
their presentation is given below.

ACT1: The local authority
Set in the office of the local authority, we saw project members explaining their project with the aid of a leaflet they planned to have distributed by various actors in the community and to win the support of the local authority in the process. As this scene was acted out we saw an image of the proposed leaflet they were discussing as a backdrop to the piece of theatre.

ACT2: The donor
The scene set at the Danish embassy showed how the project team planned to communicate with the funder of the project, using their communications strategy to demonstrate they had planned more communication activities than expected, and would seek additional funding for some specific activities. Meanwhile the screen behind them highlighted the relevant part of their communications strategy.

ACT3: The farming community
Here the scene quite clearly illustrated the local community concerns with changes in climate andthe ways the project team had considered explaining their study activity and considering how they could present eventual findings.

Setting the scene: Open meeting
The other project group staged a local open meeting attended by all stakeholders touched by the projects, i.e. local authorities, CSOs, local social organisations as a way to present their strategy.

The take home message
In discussing all the information products and actvities there were three elements the researcher needed to consider.

1)Start by putting yourself in the shoes of your audience, think of what their interests are and what will make them act on information.

2)The inverted pyramid - don't write all your communications like a research paper, most audiences want the conclusions first rather than last.

3)Answer the Who, What,Where,Why,When and How questions in everything you write.

Finally we summed this all up in an active mnemonic.

Make a pyramid with your hands above your head and then invert it 6 times by swinging your arms down to point at the ground and at the same time look at your shoes. Each time you bend down say to yourself each of the six questions...Who, What,Where,Why,When and How.

- Who.... will benefit from the research and who is doing it?
- What... is it all about?
- Where... is it happening?
- Why... does it need to be done?
- When... will the results be ready or events happening
- How... is it all being done?

We all learnt a lot from the workshop, in particular how to communicate across two languages and two cultures. For this we found two solutions. For the first we had a great translation team and for the second............

Good singing voices and a common sense of humour.

World Congress on Organic Cotton

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Behrens) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:38:00 +0000

The World Congress on Organic Cotton kicked off in Interlaken, Switzerland today.
Euforic is attending the event and working with our member Helvetas to support social reporting the congress. We organized a training session for social reporters that will be blogging, blipping and tweeting during the conference.

People interested in the topic who do not have the chance to participate, can still follow the congress in a variety of ways:

the Organic Cotton blog - http://ocplatform.wordpress.com/ - will capture the conversation and ideas that are being discussed at the congress. People can visit it, or subscribe to the event feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/wcoc09
on the blog, people can also find a series of 'blips' - see them all at http://helvetas.blip.tv/
@helvetas on twitter will be used to post links and quotes from the different session
pictures will be posted on on flickr

We invite social bookmarkers who are interested in the topic to use the congress tag wcoc09 [#wcoc09 for twitter] if they want to share their views using the same web spaces.

AFD supports innovation of development finance mechanisms

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:13:00 +0000

On March 4 and 5 2010, the French Development Agency AFD will organise in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank an international Marketplace on Innovative Financial Solutions for Development (2010 MIF).

The 2010 MIF will be dedicated to smart, fine-tuned, innovative financial mechanisms for mobilizing, channeling, and spending funds for development issues. The event will bring together development practioners, donors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, academics, representatives from across a range of financial institutions and policy makers to exchange experience and ideas on innovative development finance solutions. The 2010 MIF will be structured around workshops and a marketplace where innovators can showcase their initiatives and projects.

The main objectives of the event are to:

advance the agenda on innovative financial solutions for development;
facilitate knowledge sharing and learning, including South/South learning, on what kinds of innovative financial solutions for development work, what don’t, and how to design these solutions to maximize development impact and cost-effectiveness;
spur the evolution of cutting-edge projects that apply innovative financial mechanisms to development challenges.

A key feature of the 2010 MIF will be a competition to garner and highlight fresh ideas on how innovative financing mechanisms can be used to better solve development challenges at local, country, regional, or global levels, with the goal that successful innovations can be scaled up and replicated broadly.

The winners will be awarded pilot grants to assist them in the implementation of their proposals. Proposals are welcomed from all organizations involved in innovative finance focused on development, including financial institutions, private-sector companies, social enterprises, non-governmental and civil society organizations, government agencies, universities and other academic organizations, foundations, and development organizations. Guidelines and application forms can be accessed on this website. Proposals must be submitted by November 15th 2009.

You can download the MIF 2010 guidelines and application form on: www.fininnov.org. Proposals need to me submitted before 15 november 2009 at the latest.

For more information please contact : info@fininnov.org

See also the Euforic newsfeeds on AFD and on finance for development

ATOL has relaunched its website

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:45:00 +0000

Recently, Euforic's member organisation ATOL (Belgium) has drastically changed its website (atol.be). At the moment only the Dutch language version is fully operational, but the French version is supposed to be ready soon.

The changes include not only a new look and feel but the information about ATOL's vision, mission, and activities is presented in a far more organised way to make it easier for readers to understand what ATOL is all about. Topically, ATOL's activities focus on empowerment, gender, the learning organisation, social economy and development information, whereby it plays an advisory role providing information and knowledge, doing research and consultancy.

The most prominent change however is the application of Web 2.0 features such as Twitter, RSS feeds etc., enhancing the interactive character of the website and reinforcing the broadcasting and sharing of information.

ATOL is an active member of the Euforic cooperative and has contributed in several Annual General Meetings by facilitating sessions and presentations, and has participated in various projects.

For more information about the ATOL website, please contact Ann Fransen

See also Euforic's newsfeed on ATOL and on information, knowledge, and communication

Next Brussels Briefing on agricultural SMEs in ACP countries

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:22:00 +0000

The next Brussels Development Briefing will be held in Brussels on 23rd September 2009 from 8h30 to 13h00 on “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?”.

This Briefing will discuss the effects of the financial and food crisis on enterprises in developing countries and also the opportunities this can provide to link local SMEs to global economies. Experts will also discuss investment programmes needed to support SMEs in order to promote growth and investments, upgrade and upscale SMEs to reach regional and exports markets. This session will also share concrete examples of SMEs being successful by boosting innovation and technology, processing, value-addition, infrastructure upgrading.

For the programme and registration form, please check http://brusselsbriefings.net/.

Earlier Brussels Briefings looked at 'The Role of Livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead', ' Meeting Food Safety Standards: Implications for ACP agricultural exports', 'Fighting against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU): Impacts and challenges for ACP countries', 'Land access and rural development: New challenges, new opportunities', 'How does international migration affect ACP rural development?', 'Rising food prices: an opportunity for change?', 'New drivers, new players in ACP rural development', 'Does Fair Trade contribute to sustainable development?', 'The climate challenge for ACP agriculture', 'Aid for Trade', 'Advancing African Agriculture' and 'Challenges to rural development in ACP countries.'

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeed on agriculture

Options for architectural reform for EU development cooperation

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Behrens) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:40:00 +0000

A recent ODI Background Note looks at key issues of EU development cooperation which will be decided upon in the remaining months of 2009. The paper assumes that the Lisbon Treaty will come into force on January 1 2010 after a positive Irish referendum in October.

This implies that key decisions need to be taken, including the appointment of the Council President, the High Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy as well as the creation of the European External Action Service.

“Although the institutional location and the role of the new High Representative are outlined in the Lisbon Treaty, the question remains as to how the role will be balanced with the triple Presidencies – those of the European Council, the Council of Ministers and the Commission.”

According to the authors the High Representative could be improve EU stabilization efforts in the areas of conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict and institution building. However, the political influence of this post over development cooperation could lead to a policy which might be overridden by short-term foreign policy goals.

The paper also provides three models for a future Commission structure. The first model describes an overarching DG International Development with ACP countries, Asia, Latin America, the neighbourhood, the Middle East and former Soviet Union under one roof and a broad mandate managing all aspects of the program cycle as well as humanitarian aid. The second model would combine all regions as well plus the aid programming. However the neighbourhood and enlargement policies as well as humanitarian aid would stay separate. The third model proposes a DG for development policy, programming and humanitarian aid. Here programming and implementation would be separated in different DGs. Also part of this suggestion is a DG for the EU neighbourhood and enlargement policy.

Irrespective of the model that will be preferred, the authors underline that:

“[i]n any model [...] an important principle and lesson learned from the current set-up will be to avoid, or at least reduce, the creation of conflicting and overlapping portfolios in the Commission.”

by Martin Behrens

The paper is one of the outcomes of the ODI European Development Cooperation Support Programme.

See the Euforic newsfeed and dossier on EU development cooperation and management.

See also EADI's EDC2020 project on the future of EC development policy and cooperation

Vacancy: Concord is seeking an Policy Manager

noreply@blogger.com (euforic) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:13:00 +0000

CONCORD is the European confederation representing, through its members, over 1600 European NGOs for relief and international development. CONCORD leads reflection and political actions on key development issues and regularly engages in dialogue with EU institutions and other civil society organizations.

Since its creation in 2003, CONCORD has been managing a growing membership and an increased number of processes. To oversee the internal workload generated by CONCORD’s diverse activities, CONCORD is seeking an experienced POLICY MANAGER.

The manager will manage the policy department overall, overseeing planning and implementation of agreed strategies, supervising staff and managing directly and indirectly CONCORD’s policy – related the working groups. She/he will act as senior adviser to the Director and to the Board on policy issues and lead on CONCORD’s institutional relations and dialogue. As a member of the Management Team he/she will be co-responsible for the achievement of CONCORD’s organizational mission and goals.

The successful candidate will have demonstrable people management skills, knowledge of how to influence EU decision making through advocacy and effective communications, excellent networking skills and demonstrate the ability to think strategically. She/he will speak English and French, have direct experience of the NGO sector and experience of working in a multicultural environment.

The position is based in Brussels.

For further information about this exciting opportunity go to www.concordeurope.org/. Click here to see the full job description. Applicants are invited to submit a CV and cover letter in English or French by 15 September to secretariat@concordeurope.org . Interviews will take place on 17th September.