Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness

Open Forum launches two new tools - CSO Wiki and Practitioner's Activity Guide

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-12-20T13:42:13Z

Just before the end of its 3-year mandate, Open Forum has officially launched two new resources to facilitate country-level application of the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness, which will come to supplement the Implementation and Advocacy Toolkits: the CSO Wiki and the Practitioner's Activity Guide.

Download the Press Release: Effective development in practice - Civil society launches two new tools for worldwide implementation

CSO WIKI

WHAT? An interactive online platform and one-stop resource center for civil society practitioners who want to work on improving the impact and quality of their development work.

HOW TO USE IT? Whether you are starting to plan your work, or already have some tools and best practices to share, on this site you can access, share and rate tools, case studies and best practices from CSOs around the world, on implementing each of the eight Istanbul Principles and advocating for enabling environment.

To access the CSO Wiki:

http://wiki.cso-effectiveness.org

(Available in English - Français - Espanol)

And download the Wiki flyer in English, French and Spanish

MORE INFORMATION: CSO Wiki webpage

Practitioner's Activity Guide

WHAT? Process and collection of activities to start analysing how the Principles for CSO Development Effectiveness relate to your current work, and facilitate the first steps towards strategic planning for implementation.

HOW TO USE IT? Organize outreach workshops about CSO effectiveness, or undertake longer term reflection processes in your organization, to set the ground for the concrete implementation of the Principles in your work.

Download a copy of the Practitioners Activity Guide:

English - Français - Espanol

Also download the Practitioner's Activity Guide flyer

MORE INFORMATION: Practitioner's Activity Guide webpage

New beginnings for CSO Development Effectiveness - Final Open Forum Newsletter out now!

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-12-17T12:01:13Z

En español abajo – en français ci-dessous

Yes, it is time for the final edition of the Open Forum Newsletter!

After three exciting and inspiring years of fruitful cooperation with civil society organizations worldwide, we are coming to a successful end of our mandate.

In this edition, we:

Revisit some of the major milestones in the Open Forum process : we have come a long way as a sector!

Highlight the implementation tools available to you going forward : including the brand new interactive CSO Effectiveness Wiki and Practitioner's Activity Guide !

Bring you the latest updates on the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation : with focus on the 1st Steering Committee meeting

Provide you with information on how to engage with the new global civil society platform: the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) , focusing on the working groups on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment

Download the final edition of the Open Forum Newsletter:

English - Français - Espanol

You can consult the previous versions of the newsletters in our Archive

¡Pues sí, ha llegado la hora del ultimo Boletin del Foro!

En este boletín, vamos a:

Repasar algunos de los más importantes hitos del proceso del Foro : ¡hemos recorrido un largo camino como sector!
Destacar las herramientas de puesta en práctica disponibles para ir aún más lejos : ¡incluyendo los recientemente disponibles Wiki interactivo y la Guía de actividades del Profesional !
Presentar las últimas novedades de la Alianza de Busan para una Cooperación al Desarrollo Eficaz : centrándonos en la 1ª Reunión del Comité Directivo
Proporcionarle información sobre cómo comprometerse con la nueva plataforma global para la sociedad civil : la Alianza Mundial de OSC para la Eficacia del Desarrollo (AOED), centrándonos en los grupos de trabajo para la eficacia del desarrollo de las OSC y en un Ambiente Favorable.

DESCARGAR el ultimo Boletin del Foro :

Espanol - English - Français

Oui, il est temps du dernier Bulletin du Forum ouvert!

Dans cette édition, nous:

Revisitons certains jalons du processus du Forum ouvert : nous avons fait un long chemin en tant que secteur !
Mettons l'accent sur les outils de mise en oeuvre à votre disposition pour avancer : y compris les tout nouveaux Wiki interactif et Guide du praticien !
Vous faisons part des dernières mises à jour sur le Partenariat de Busan pour une coopération efficace au service du développement : avec information sur la première réunion du Comité de pilotage
Vous donnons des informations sur la manière de s'engager avec la nouvelle plateforme mondiale de la société civile : le Partenariat mondial des OSC pour l'efficacité du développement (POED), en mettant l'accent sur les groupes de travail sur l'efficacité de la contribution des OSC et l'environnement propice.

Téléchargez le dernier Bulletin :

Français - Espanol - English

The 'ABC' of the new Global Civil Society Platform (CPDE)

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-12-13T09:54:10Z

Following civil society's participation to the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea, and key role in shaping the multi-stakeholder outcome agreement, the two global CSO processes involved in aid effectiveness have mobilized to better respond to the emerging post-Busan development agenda.

Over the past year, Open Forum and BetterAid facilitated CSO consultations worldwide regarding the mandate and structure of a new and unified global platform for civil society development effectiveness work . This consultation process has come to a conclusion this December 2012, when the Global Council of the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) met in Nairobi, Kenya, to finalize the new civil society strategy and working arrangements in the post-Busan reality.

The meeting in Nairobi formalized the new global CSO partnership, working groups and mandate going forward.

The Nairobi Declaration:

EN - FR (coming up) - ES (coming up) - AR (coming up)

CPDE Structure

Global Council:

The Global Council represents the ultimate decision-making body of the CSO Platform for Development Effectiveness

List of provisional Global Council members

Four Co-Chairs of the Global Council were elected:

Emele Duituturaga (Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations)
Mayra Moro-Coco (Association for Women's Rights in Development),
Richard Ssewakiryanga (Uganda NGO Forum),
Tony Tujan (IBON).

Coordination Committee:

Represent the various constituencies - regional and sectoral and, in collaboration with the Global Council, oversees the work of the CPDE.

List of provisional Coordination Committee members

Global Secretariat:

Supports the Global Council and the Coordination Committee in their daily work and as financial agent.

It was agreed that IBON should be the host agent of the secretariat.

Working Groups:

The priority thematic areas of work will be taken forward by designated working groups.

Download the working groups terms of reference: EN - ES - FR - AR

Independent Accountability Committee:

The IAC shall ensure evaluation and audit mechanisms as well as other aspects and applications of accountability.

Download the IAC's terms of reference: EN - ES - FR - AR

CPDE prioirity Areas

Action in the following areas was prioritized at the moment:

CSO Development Effectiveness (Download strategy paper)
Enabling environment for CSOs (Download strategy paper)
Human rights based approach (Download strategy paper)

Other Priority areas

The Development Assistance Committee
The United Nations Development Cooperation Forum (Download strategic guidelines)
The Post-MDG and Sustainable Development Frameworks (Download strategic guidelines);
The Building Blocks (Download strategic guidelines)
The Private Sector (Download strategic guidelines)
South-South Cooperation;
Application of the feminist approach and social justice. (Download strategic guidelines)

Also download the general CPDE Country, Sub-regional and Regional Engagement and Advocacy Strategies

Keep an eye on our CPDE page for more updates!

Principles for CSO Effectiveness on the Day of Human Rights - Development by and for the People!

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-12-10T18:12:17Z

On the 10th of December, Open Forum joins people everywhere in the world to mark the Human Rights Day!

Respect and fulfillment of Human Rights is the most important pre-condition for any thriving democratic society.

And for effective development as understood by CSOs, Human Rights hold a special place. Indeed, a truly sustainable development is one that is undertaken by and for the people that it is meant to support.

And so, for civil society globally, Human Rights are the foundation of effective development:

Principle for CSO Development Effectiveness 1 states:

CSOs are effective as development actors when they …

develop and implement strategies, activities and practices that promote individual and collective human rights, including the right to development, with dignity, decent work, social justice and equity for all people.

Join us to commemorate the World Human Rights Day by spreading the Principles for CSO Effectiveness - now also available in an Image Library!

And to implement the Principles, don't forget to refer to the Practitioner's Activity Guide and the Implemenation Toolkit - for ideas on how to introduce and bring Principle 1 (and the other seven) to life in your own organization and context!

Wishing you an inspirational Human Rights Day!

Civil society submission to the 1st meeting of the Global Partnership Steering Committee

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-12-05T14:54:24Z

The 1st meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) is taking place today Wednesday 5th and tomorrow Thursday 6th of December 2012 in London, UK.

Civil society is participating actively in the event through our representative on the Steering Committee - the co-chair of BetterAid Mayra Moro Coco.

Mayra'a participation is based on the consolidated position of civil society representatives across regions and sectors, submitted just ahead of the meeting. In this paper, CSOs provide general and overarching remarks and comment on specific discussion points that are being addressed in the meeting.

Here are some brief highlights from the civil society submission and what it is calling for:

Improved partner government involvement in the process
Stronger mobilization of efforts at country level (an ask which echoes the current questioning of the GPEDC achievements in its first year)
Active re-focusing on the Building Block initiatives
Evaluation of the relationship between decreased ODA and private sector financing
Thematic focus on inclusive democratic participation, accountability, policy coherence for development, as well as human rights, decent work, gender equality, environmental sustainability and disability

On Discussion Paper 1: A post-Busan, post-2015 nexus: What role for the Global Partnership?

Need to address the human rights situation - including the harassment of human rights defenders and the women's human rights defenders among them
Coordination between the Sustainable Development Goals coming out of Rio+20 and the UN post 2015 development agenda

On Discussion Paper 2: Towards the First Ministerial Level Meeting in 2013: Draft Roadmap

Creating two-way links between the work of GPEDC and country level activities
Reflection on creating thematic working groups to support the Ministerial panel

On Discussion Paper 3: The Global Framework of Indicators and Targets for Monitoring Busan Commitments

Importance of multi-stakeholder work on the indicators

On Discussion Paper 4: Communications and Stakeholder Engagement for an Inclusive Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation

Consistent online TV streaming of official GPEDC meetings
Update on the renewed civil society engagement through the new Global CSO Partnership
Multi-stakeholder nature of the Ministerial panel - for example, by including a CSO seat

Download the full Civil Society Submission to the 1st meeting of the GPEDC Steering Committee meeting

1st Meeting of the Busan Global Partnership Steering Committee coming up

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-11-30T14:51:03Z

The 1st meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation is set to take place next week:

1st Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

5 - 6 December 2012

London, UK

Following the high level meeting of the 3 ministerial co-chairs in Tokyo in October, the Steering Committee event marks the beginning of the Global Partnership operations in practice.

The joint OECD-UNDP Secretariat supporting the Steering Committee has now released the discussion paper accompanying the draft annotated agenda of the meeting. Documentation is available in English, French and Spanish . To consult the material and get updates, please visit the Open Forum Busan Global Partnership page or the official page of the Global Partnership directly.

The joint OECD-UNDP Secretariat advised stakeholders of the inability to provide live web streaming of this event due to technical reasons. The possibility to put the video online after the meeting will nevertheless be addressed.

A multi-stakeholder body composed of all parties that endorsed the Busan Global Partnership, the Steering Committee is tasked to coordinate the its work programme. Civil society currently has 1 seat on the Steering Committee.

Click here to see the full compositon of the Steering Committee, background information, and related civil society documentation.

Towards a new Global Partnership for Civil Society - final meeting 8-9 December in Nairobi, Kenya

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-11-27T09:29:53Z

Following civil society's participation to the 4th High Level Forum in Busan and key role in shaping the outcome agreement, the 2 global CSO processes involved in aid effectiveness mobilized to better respond to the emergent development agenda. Over the past year, Open Forum and BetterAid facilitated CSO consultations worldwide regarding the mandate and structure of new and unified global platform for civil society. This process is coming to a conclusion this December 2012, when the Global Faciliatation Groups of Open Forum and BetterAid will meet in Nairobi, Kenya, to finalize the new civil society stategy and working arrangements in the post-Busan reality.

Global Civil Society Meeting: 8-9 December 2012, Nairobi, Kenya

The process towards a new global partnership for civil society started with the Cebu Consensus, which set the foundation for further consultations through the concept note on the Global CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE). Regional and thematic consultations with civil society took place in the period June - July 2012, and sub-regional consultations are currently in their concluding phase.

The meeting in Nairobi will formalize the new global CSO parntership secretariat, working groups and mandate going forward.

Keep an eye on our blog and follow Twitter and Facebook for live updates.

CSO Development Effectiveness in the MENA region - regional workshop in Erbil, Iraq

Anonyme — 2012-11-26T10:49:58Z

On the 23th - 24th of November, some 20 senior CSO practitioners from Iraq and the MENA region gathered in Erbil, Iraq (Kurdistan) for a workshop on CSO Development Effectiveness.

Organized by Iraqi Al-Amal Association with the support of the Open Forum, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Kurdistan government, the event was a success in introducing the Open Forum outcomes and implementation strategies.

The Iraqi civil society is very active and has already achieved important progress on enabling environment in the country. Indeed, civil society advocacy played a key role in shaping the new Iraqi NGO Law of 2010, which presents important improvements over previous provisions - including on administrative procedures and government intervention. More recently, Iraqi NGOs took part in agreeing the implementation guidelines for this new law as equal participants with the Iraqi Government and the Parliament.

Bringing a wealth of civil society experience and insights on the Arab Spring, the workshop also included participants with from Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Lebanon, Sudan and Morocco.

Based on the Open Forum Practitioner's Activity Guide, participants engaged in strategic discussion and interactive exercises on ways to apply the 8 Principles of CSO Development Effectiveness to their regional and national realities.

Among the key issues addressed were:

Equitable partnership and solidarity between local and international NGOs (Istanbul Principle number 6)
Initiatives on promoting social justice (Istanbul Principle number 1)
Gender equality and equity (Istanbul Principle number 2)

Going forward, participants will be bringing back to their constituencies the implementation strategies on the Principles for CSO Development Effectiveness with the support of the Practitioners Activity Guide and the Implementation Toolkit. A feedback session on the workshop is already planned in Tunisia, and the possibility of a regional follow up event in March 2013 is being discussed.

Open Forum extends our warm gratitude to Iraqi Al- Amal association, the workshop faciliator Anas Elhasnaoui of Espace Associatif in Morocco, and all the participants for a great event!

Workshop documentation

View the photos from the workshop

Download the Workshop presentation in English and French

Download the workshop agenda (Arabic/English)

The report from the workshop will be available shortly - please visit this page for more information

Donor perpective on enabling environment - 12 Lessons from DAC Peer Reviews

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-11-21T10:32:06Z

At the end of October, the Development Cooperation Committee of the Orgnization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD - DAC) launched its new report:

Partnering with Civil Society: 12 Lessons from DAC Peer Reviews

by OECD-DAC

The report presents interesting insights in light of the discussion on enabling envioronment for civil society on the donor side, and reflects the issues raised by the Multi-Stakeholder Task Team in this respect. Although essentially the product of consensus between DAC donors, the development of the report also involved CSO contributions from the global North and South.

On the occasion of the report launch, Brian Tomlinson - the co-chair of the Task Team representing civil society/Open Forum - took on the task to produce a commentary on the findings from the perspective of civil society and the Task Team itself:

Briefing Paper - Good Practice in Donor Engagement with Civil Society: Creating an Enabling Environment for CSOs?

A Commentary on Partnering with Civil Society: Twelve Lessons from DAC Peer Reviews

by Brian Tomlinson

While the commentary provides a critique of certain aspects of the 12 Lessons, it also makes it clear that other areas of the OECD-DAC report echo the outcomes of the Open Forum and the Key Messages of the Task Team towards Busan.

Do you have comments on one or both papers? Write to Brian Tomlison at brian.t.tomlinson gmail.com

More concerns on enabling environment and action going forward

CSO-Effectiveness — 2012-11-19T16:43:53Z

The lack of enabling environment for civil society came into the spotlight once again as members of Transparency International gathered at their annual meeting on the 6th of November 2012 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Representatives from over 100 countries expressed deep concern about the violation of basic rights in relation to civil society by several governments worldwide. Citing the non-respect of rights to peaceful assembly, of association, and of expression, the global platform denounced the violation of international commitments on civil society and its reduced role in fighting corruption as a result.

Transparency International now issued a resolution to ensure that the international commitments on civil society - including specifically the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, are respected.

Indeed, the lack of basic freedoms severely undermines civil society's independence and ability to operate in all activity sectors, and development is no exception.

In line with the observations of Transparency International, the Multi-Stakeholder Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment, collected evidence that shows persistent legal barriers to the work of civil society as well as limited funding and physical harassment of activists in many parts of the world.

Along with this research, the Multi-Stakeholder Task Team contributed substantially to developing the minimum criteria for enabling environment for the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness in the run up to the 4th High Level Forum in Busan.

With the enabling environment enshrined in the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation monitoring under indicator 2, civil society and multi-stakeholder actors worldwide have a solid ground for further action on this key area for civil society contribution to development.

Civil society actors worldwide can refer to the Advocacy Toolkit that accompanies the International Framework for ideas on how to advance enabling conditions in your own country or region.

The Multi-Stakeholder Task Team also plans to contribute to this work going forward - the group has re-constituted itself in the post Busan scenario and plans to focus on:

Facilitating dialogue between civil society, governments and donors at country level,
Updating its key messages on enabling environment based on new evidence,
Active information-sharing.

The detailed work plan of the Multi-Stakeholder Task Team to contribute to more enabling environment for civil society will be circulated shortly. For more information about the Multi-Stakeholder task team, please click here.