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More CSOs endorse Key Ask
Upcoming Activities 2
NEWSLETTERIssue 6 September 2011
Inside BetterAid calls for inclusion ofcivil society messages in the
HLF Outcome Document
Better Aid Updates
International
IBON
CountryEngagement
for
Aid and Development
Effectiveness
3
4
In cooperation
with:
10
Regional Consultations
http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.htmlhttp://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.htmlhttp://www.dochas.ie/Shared/Files/4/First_Draft_Outcome__Doc_HLF4.pdfhttp://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_43382307_1_1_1_1,00.html8/3/2019 CORT Newsletter Issue 6
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| Country Outreach Newsletter Issue 6 September 2011
CSO consultations on aid anddevelopment effectiveness
Upcoming ActivitiesSeptember 2011
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Country Outreach Newsletter Issue 6 September 2011
Updatesunites over 1200 development
organizations from civil society, and has been
working on development cooperation and
challenging the aid effectiveness agenda since
January 2007. BetterAid is leading many of
the civil society activities including in-country
consultations, studies and monitoring, in the
lead up to the Fourth High Level Forum on
Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in 2011.
Test runs for BetterAids CSO KeyAsks were made in Europe with aid
effectiveness experts and non-
experts alike as participants.
Experts who joined in the tests are
WP-Eff members, officials from the
Europian Union technical seminar,
and some parliamentarians from
the European Parliaments
Development Committee. Ministry
officials not specializing on aid
effectiveness such the Polish MoFA,
as well as development NGOs not
directly involved in the BetterAid
processes like Saferworld/Concord
also participated through the fragile
states seminar.
For more information about the BetterAid platform,
visit:www.betteraid.organd follow BetterAid on
Twitter, athttps://twitter.com/betteraid
Country consultations
intensify
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Regional Consultations
Give development a human
face, Pacific Civil Society
leaders say*
SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS (11 July, 2011).
A Pacific regional meeting on aid and
development effectiveness has
reinforced an international call for
people to be brought to the centre of
development and that development co-
operation and aid effectiveness
processes are people centered, respect
human rights and achieve social justice
as cornerstones of aid and development
effectiveness.
In recent years, the Pacific region has
experienced structural adjustments,
political instability and policy changes
in its development assistance
landscape. Threats to human rights,
peace and security being experienced in
some Pacific countries have impacted
on the enabling environment for civil
society and affected the way in which
civil society works.
This was revealed at the Pacific Islands
Consultation on Aid and Development
Effectiveness which ended in Nadi at
the weekend. The meeting was
attended by civil society leaders from
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati,
Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor
Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Organised by the Pacific Islands Association of Non Governme
Organisations (PIANGO) in
partnership with the Reality of Aid
Asia Pacific, the meeting acknowledged
the critical importance of donor support
for CSOs. It congratulated the
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*Article reprinted with permission from PIANGO.
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Australian government on accepting
the recommendations of an
independent aid review to increase
development assistance to the Pacific
and its emphasis on support to Non
Government Organizations.Participants also congratulated the
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
(PIFS) on its positive decision to
reinstate the post of Non State Actor
Officer saying they looked forward to
working closely with PIFS in
supporting Pacific governments to
engage more effectively with civil
society.
Civil society leaders called on Pacific
Island governments to revisit their
commitments to Pacific people and
CSOs at regional and international
levels within the context of the
Pacific Plan and Cairns Compact.
As umbrella CSO bodies, we have an
important role to play and
collaborate with other development
actors to influence regional and
global agendas and give voice to the
poor, disadvantaged andmarginalized that we work with. We
need to bring together youth, women,
men and community voices to
advocate on very real and pressing
issues affecting our region such as
climate change, food security, human
rights, gender, disabilities and
trade, says Ms Emele Duituturaga,
PIANGOs interim Executive
Director.
Commitments made on donorharmonization in international
agreements such as the Paris
Declaration need to be extended to
dialogue, resourcing and
collaboration with CSOs. Civil
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Society needs to have partnership
agreements with governments and
development partners to ensure that
development takes on a human face,
she said.
Ms. Ava Danlog of Reality of Aid said
that in some instances aid
effectiveness processes have been
very disempowering for citizens.
There is a need for CSOs to focus on
concrete, tangible outputs as there is
usually a tendency to focus on donor
hot topics. Aid should be about
partnerships. Development partners
must foster basic principles ofpartnership and acknowledge the
contribution of recipients. In
addition, trade and other economic
activities need to also focus on human
development, Ms. Danlog said.
An emerging issue in the Pacific
region and one that is also a part of
the larger development agenda issue
concerns the rights of people living
with disability in the region whocontinue to be marginalized and
excluded from development processes.
Mr Katabwena Tawaka, of the Pacific
Disability Forum told the meeting
that present statistics (June, 2011)
illustrate that over 800,000 people
are living with disabilities in the
Pacific.
There is a need for governments and
development partners to recognize
disability as a development issue.
Disability may increase the risk of
poverty. In the Pacific, people with
disabilities rely on their families for
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assistance and medical care and this
must be acknowledged by stakeholders.
The Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) also do not make specific
reference to people with disabilities,
he said.
The Pacific meeting was organized by
PIANGO and was part of Reality of Aid
Asia Pacific regional consultations in
the lead-up to the HLF4 in Busan,
South Korea, in November 2011.
HLF4 will assess whether or not key
government commitments on aid
effectiveness have been achieved since
the last High Level meeting in Accra in
2008.
The Busan meeting is a key
opportunity for governments to go
beyond promises and commit to more
effective, sustainable development
assistance in terms of its real impact
on the lives of all people.
Asian CSOs call forSustainable Development
BANGKOK, THAILAND (15 -17 August, 2011). About 50 CSOs from20 countries in Asia Pacific werepresent at the recently held RegionalConference on Development Models:Promoting a Transformative Agendafor Sustainable Development.
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The conference aimed to raise
awareness and knowledge among
southern CSOs and peoples
movements on the Key Issues in
Busan High Level Forum this coming
November, including building a newconsensus on development, one that is
sustainable. It was a vibrant affair
which included numerous exchanges
of ideas, experiences and practices as
it reflected on the challenges and ways
forward in tackling sustainable
development.
A two- day conference, the first day
affirmed the role of aid in
development where it is seen as an
integral factor while highlighting the
question for whom? especially in the
face of seemingly new Aid Donor
actors like China and India. Reality of
Aid Network Asia Pacific
Chairperson Antonio Tujan Jr., in his
key note speech, made the connection
between the High Level Forum 4 in
Busan and the Rio +20 or the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development.
The discussions were enriched by
inputs from Nurgul Djanaeva (Forum
of Womens NGOs of Kyrgyzstan), Lyn
Pano (Asia Pacific Research Network),
Suranjan Kodithuwakku (Green
Movement of Sri Lanka), Dr. Azra
Sayeed (APWLD) and Anselmo Lee
(Korean Civil Society Forum on
International Development) among
others.
The second day introduced thedifferent models of development and
how they work or do not work at all
just as Ms. Ujjaini Halim (IMSE)
maintained as she presented on the
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neoliberal model of development.
Other speakers were Kelly Haden of
UN ESCAP on Alternative
Development Approaches as well as
IBON Internationals Paul Quintos on
Sustainable Development.
New Delhi based intellectual Kavaljit
Singh (Public Interest Research
Centre) argued for China and Indias
potential to challenge the OECD in its
role but that it has to wait until both
countries have mapped out exactly
their own strategic objectives as aid
donors vis a vis being a developing
country still. According to him though,
it is clear that both China and India
have clear strategic interests, China
on natural resources in exchange for
infrastructure investments and India
on for a greater influence in the
region.
The conference produced theAsia
Pacific CSO Statement on
Development Cooperation for
Sustainable Development* which
highlights their key messages for
Busan on Private Sector fordevelopment, Climate Finance and
South- South Cooperation.
The Regional Conference was co-
organized by Reality of Aid Network,
Asia Pacific Research Network and
IBON International.
*The Peoples Statement on Sustainable Development
and Rio +20 and Action plan were produced on
August 17, 2011 in a back to back activity called A
Strategy Workshop on Rio +20. Both statements may
be downloaded at the ibon.org and realityofaid.org
websites.
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More CSOs endorse BA
Key Asks
As country outreach work continues in
different regions, more CSOs pen theirsupport and make recommendations to
strengthen the points of the BetterAid Key
Asks as their collective message in the
High Level Forum 4 in Busan.
China
CSOs in China held Past and Future
of Foreign ODA Workshop last July
8, 2011, which underscored and
highlighted details to some points in
the Key Asks, such as the inclusion of
the rights of differently-abled persons
and the elderly. CSOs also agreed on
including more discussions in the
issues of gender inequality as well as
the restriction of the private sectors
intervention and participation in the
issue of aid.
Benin
CSOs signed on and endorsed the CSOKey Asks and gave recommendations
in the recently held Benin National
Consultation on aid effectiveness last
5 August. Reflecting the Key Asks, the
Declaration drafted endorsed the eight
principles of Istanbul on the
development effectiveness of CSOs.
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Niger
The Niger National Consultation held
in Niamey saw 33 CSOs endorsing the
Key Asks. The workshop resulted inrecommending a framework for
dialogue and exchange among the
government and other stakeholders to
strengthen their partnership.
Argentina
The Argentine Consultation held on
August 2-3 at the capital Buenos Aires
resulted to 20 CSOs and members of
the academe endorsing the Key Asks.
Also present on the consultation weregovernment
Dominican Republic
In the recently conducted Dominican
Republic Consultation on August 18-
19, 2011, 40 signatures were penned
endorsing the Key Asks. These came
from 36 civil society organizations,
three from the academe and one from a
media personality.
Nicaragua
The two-day Nicaragua CSO Workshop
and National Multi Stakeholder
Consultation held in Managua last
August 25 and 26 added 120
signatures in support of the Key Asks.
Guatemala
25 CSO participants signed on andendorsed the Key Asks in the
recently held National Consultation
on Aid Effectiveness in Guatemala
City last August 30 and 31.
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