The overall goal of the Development Policy & International Relations programme is to foster debate on key EU external policy issues that affect ACP-EU relations. The ultimate aim in doing so is to help ACP, particularly African, countries and institutions derive the maximum benefit from their relations with the EU. Whilst promoting effective development cooperation is a key concern, it is also important to relate development policy to major issues in the wider arena of EU external action. In order to tackle the two policy processes systematically, and to be able to respond adequately to wider demands as they emerge, the Development Policy and International Relations Programme maintains a core knowledge base. Read more

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The Joint Africa-EU Strategy

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With the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, Europe aims to make a major effort on poverty reduction in Africa. At the same time, it appears to cut across the Union's 40-year relationship with the ACP countries. The Strategy is set to be the major overall framework for EU support to Africa in a variety of areas, including development, security, economic development and migration. Yet there some major gaps that need to be filled for it to be successful. Read more...

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Addressing the effectiveness of EU external assistance

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International agreements on aid effectiveness (like the Paris Declaration) and the European Consensus provides a framework for building a more unified and effective system of EU external aid. The current multiplicity of EU (EC & bilateral) aid programmes and procedures reduces the effectiveness of the  Union's collective effort. At the same time, the Paris Declaration encourages the European Commission and the EU Member States to re-examine these issues and enhance the effectiveness of EU aid. Read more...

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DPIR staff and their areas of expertise

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James Mackie: Programme Coordinator Andrew Sherriff: Senior Programme Officer expertise: EU-Africa relations, security-development nexus, EU peacebuilding, situations of fragility, evaluation Gwénaëlle Corre: Programme Officer expertise: EU development policy, EU aid effectiveness, Policy Coherence for Development, EU aid architecture, aid management and coordination, participatory development (NSAs, parliaments) Anje Jooya-Kruiter: Programme Officer expertise: capacity development, technical assistance, women and children in conflict areas, monitoring and evaluation Niels Keijzer: Programme Officer Expertise: Policy Coherence for Development, EU aid effectiveness, Support to decentralisation and local governance, Learning and communication for development Eleonora Köb: Programme Officer expertise: EU-Africa relations, African Peace and Security Architecture, Cotonou Partnership Agreement, EU institutional reform/ Lisbon Treaty, Policy coherence for development, security-development nexus, budget support and PFM reform, food security Faten Aggad: Programme Officer expertise: African Peer Review Mechanism, New Partnership for Africa's Development, African civil society organisations, African Union institutions Jeske van Seters: Programme Officer expertise: aid management and coordination, policy coherence for development, aid for trade, gender mainstreaming Melissa Julian: Knowledge Management Officer expertise: monitoring and reporting on activities and interactions between ACP and EU stakeholders and the ECDPM Henrike Hohmeister: Programme Assistant expertise: EU development policy, Policy Coherence for Development Julien Mehdi Mehamba: Research Assistant Tilly Bogataj-De Coninck: Executive Assistant expertise: administration

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Programme publications, news and events

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Joining up Africa Support to Regional Integration: (Discussion Paper No. 99). Report summarising the main findings of a study conducted by ECDPM in preparation for the Joining up Africa (JUA) conference held in London on 3-4 March 2010. The report addresses key issues relating to aid effectiveness at the regional level in view of improving donor support to regional integration processes in Africa.  The DPF 'Future World' lunch debate report: After Lisbon: Streamlining EU development cooperation Summary Report: Workshop for ACP Ambassadors The implications of the Lisbon Treaty for the ACP Group. Read also the Background Paper Brussels, 27 May 2010. Issue 36 (July 2010) of the Europafrica bulletin is now available: It provides you with an up-date on the implementation and monitoring process of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy. It includes information about various events held on the topic, as well as a summary of recent contributions on the implementation. It also gives you news on the institutional negotiations and their timeline. European Think-Tanks Group publishes policy brief on EEAS Four leading European Think-Tanks have published a new policy note titled ‘Development-proofing the EEAS’ in response to the new blueprint on the European External Action Service (EEAS) agreed by the EU General Affairs Council. The document elaborates on the four key priorities set out by heads of the four organisations: Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE) and ECDPM – in their Open Letter of 5 May. Noting that speed is of the essence in implementing the agreement, the paper offers further guidance on some of the ‘how’ questions in the implementation phase. Download a summary of the SAIIA and ECDPM meeting - Taking Stock of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and Africa's International Relations ECDPM invited to brief European and Pan African Parliaments delegations on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. On the 23rd of March, ECDPM gave a briefing on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Delegation to the European Parliament (EP) and to the EP Delegation to the PAP. The purpose of the meeting was to brief the Parliamentarians on the key challenges facing the JAES and highlight the issues that should be addressed in the 2nd Action Plan of the JAES which should be discussed by European and African Heads of States at the end of November 2010 in Sirte, Libya. ECDPM’s presentation was divided into two sections. The first section was based on the issues raised in its recent publication ‘What next of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy? Perspectives on revitalizing an innovative framework’. The presentation reviewed the basics of the JAES (treating Africa as one, promote regional integration and promote a long-term cooperation framework that would address issues of common concern) and assessed the challenges hampering the implementation of such vision. The second section of the presentation briefly focused on and challenges faced by the; Peace and Security Partnership; the Governance and Human Rights Partnership; and the Trade, Regional Integration and Infrastructure Partnership. ECDPM publication’s What next of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy? Perspectives on revitalizing an innovative framework’ is available in French and English. ECDPM intends to produce publications on the Partnerships for Trade, Regional Integration and Peace and Security over the next few months. Setting up the European External Action Service: Building a comprehensive approach to EU external action This paper aims to contribute to a more inclusive and better informed debate ahead of the final decision on the set-up of the European External Action Service (EEAS). It presents a set of criteria to guide an assessment of the new institutional arrangements and mandates from a development perspective, highlights some of the issues that are being discussed and lays out a series of options. Joint SAIIA and ECDPM event on "Taking Stock of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and Africa’s International Relations" held in South Africa in March 2010. Read the summary report here. The revision of Article 13 on Migration of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. What’s at stake for the ACP? Article 13 on ‘Migration’ is a priority issue for European Union (EU) member states in the revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). However, the ongoing revision process scheduled to be finalised at the end of February 2010 does not seem to be high on anyone’s agenda. This is a shame, as surely it is in the interest of both parties to make the most of this framework for ACP-EU relations that will expire in 2020. The CPA is the largest North-South partnership in the world and with its co-decision, joint management and Non-State-Actors participation principles, is regarded by some also as one of the most progressive cooperation frameworks. Its future after 2020 is nevertheless unclear and the current revision is an opportunity to ensure that it remains relevant in a changing context. Read more What next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy? Perspectives on revitalising an innovative framework The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) was conceived as an innovative and far-reaching new partnership, in Lisbon in December 2007, with the aim of transforming the relationship between the two continents. After 2 ½ years of existence, the JAES is currently subjected to an in-depth reflection amongst the official stakeholders about its architecture and the contents of the next Action Plan. This review process could result in proposals for “significant changes” to be discussed at the next Africa-EU Ministerial Troika on the 27th of April 2010, which will come to some decisions to present to the Third EU-Africa Heads of State Summit scheduled for November 2010. ECDPM, as an independent non-partisan foundation that has followed the JAES since its inception, has sought to contribute to this process in the form of a paper scoping on what could be next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The paper seeks to refresh readers on the original commitments made in the JAES and to provide analysis on underlying successes and challenges, including upstream (political) bottlenecks. It also presents 3 possible reform scenarios for the future of the JAES as well as perspectives on how they might be achieved. Click to download the scoping paper. Click here to download the summary of the scoping paper Towards a Joint Caribbean-EU Strategy As a small and vulnerable region, the Caribbean is likely to be even more affected by the international economic crisis and new global challenges. The Caribbean has had longstanding relations with the European Union since1975, but both are redefining their external relations priorities in the context of a rapidly evolving geopolitical scene. The challenge now it seems is to start a joint reflection process on a future partnership that enables both parties to better respond to global challenges. Caribbean integration and the future Caribbean-EU partnership is one area addressed under the recently established Memorandum of Understanding between ECDPM and the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. In the run up to the EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit of Heads of State in mid-May in Madrid, the current Spanish EU Presidency, with the support of ECDPM, will stimulate reflection on the future of the Caribbean-EU partnership. Click here to read more. Independent African monitoring report aimed at enhancing public engagement on peace and security in Africa presented to European Union officialsThe African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Protocol encourages non-governmental organisations to participate in efforts aimed at promoting peace, security and stability in Africa and feed information into the official decision-making processes of the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC). The Addis Ababa based Institute for Security Studies recently launched a monthly Peace and Security Council Report which seeks to provide independent, publicly available and informative analysis on the work of the PSC with a view to increasing capacities to be able to effectively engage with the PSC’s work. Peace and security issues in Africa are also of increasing relevance to Europe as recognised in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and EU-Africa Partnership on Peace and Security as well as in Europe’s support for the African Peace and Security Architecture. To gain access to African perspectives on peace and security, ECDPM and ISS organised a launch event for the report on 25 November in Brussels for key stakeholders. Read the report and watch the video of the opening statement This Briefing paper previews some of the headline debates expected in 2010 and sketches the backdrop against which these will unfold. The aim is not so much to predict outcomes, but to situate and frame the EU debates on development cooperation so as to enable as wide a group of stakeholders as possible to follow and participate in them. This year’s Challenges paper includes contributions from some of ECDPM’s African partners1 as well as results from an ECDPM opinion survey on EU-ACP relations. The poll covered issues such as regional priorities for 2010, the role of emerging actors and the future of the ACP Group. Click here to download. To see full list of programme publications, click here