2008-2009 Annual Highlights – A snapshot of our work

In 2008, ECDPM contributed to various multi-actor initiatives to enhance synergies and policy coherence in international development cooperation. Following the adoption of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy in Lisbon in December 2007, ECDPM focused major effort on supporting the key players in defi ning an institutional architecture for implementing the ambitious plan. Emphasising treating Africa as one and concrete activities in eight thematic “partnerships”, the Joint Strategy aims to go beyond a relationship based on aid to respond to trends in globalisation and Africa’s re-emergence on the world stage.

To enhance clarity and help build an enabling environment for the next phase in the dialogue on these issues, ECDPM was invited by both the European Union and the African Union to facilitate a public consultation process on the strategy. One of ECDPM’s early contributions was a seminar at which some fi fty European civil society organisation (CSO) representatives agreed to create a steering group to follow the strategy implementation process.

The conclusion of the second phase of the Whither EC Aid? project – jointly implemented with ActionAid – further illustrates how ECDPM helps to foster rich insights among a wide stakeholder group. The project aimed to renew debate on European development cooperation with a focus on the European Commission and its added value as a development partner, the management of its aid, its accountability and its ability to stimulate ownership among its partners. More than 500 participants were involved directly in sixteen closing roundtables organised in seven EU Member States, three developing countries and at the European Commission.