CORT Newsletter May 2011-Small

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The country outreach is calling upon civil society organizations

(CSOs) to embark on a global process to build a strong voice of

peoples demands towards the Fourth High Level Forum (HLF4) in

Busan. With respect to this, IBON/RoAs country outreach team

(CORT) is now actively engaging CSOs on BetterAids document:CSOs on the Road to Busan: Key Messages and Proposals, better

known as the CSO Key Asks. The document, authored in

cooperation with the Open Forum, aims to unite CSOs demands

towards Busan and enable a strong lobbying position on the HLF4

outcome compact. CORT began in April to actively support the

endorsement of the CSO Key Asks and distribute, discuss and

publicize the document at regional and national CSO consultations

and workshops.

MEJN Stresses Importance

of CSO participation for

Aid Effectiveness

Updates from BetterAid 2

NEWSLETTERIssue 4 May 2011

Inside Country Outreach BringsKey Asks to CSOs

Upcoming Activities

International

IBON

CountryEngagement

for

Aid and Development

Effectiveness

4

7

In cooperation

with:


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Country Outreach Newsletter Issue 4 May 2011

2

CSO Applications for HLF4:

BetterAid activities have been gaining

pace as the Fourth High Level Forum

on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Busan

at the end of this year 2011 draws

nearer. BetterAid is coordinating the

application process for CSOs wishing

to attend the HLF4, and is already

planning for the event, which will

include a parallel CSO event.

Key Asks Ready to Sign:

CSOs representing geographical and

thematic sectors globally, met in

Harnosand, Sweden, in March, to

decide on a joint civil society strategy

towards the HLF4. Attending

organizations included representatives

from both BetterAid and the Open

Forum on CSO development

effectiveness. The resulting document

CSOs on the Road to Busan: KeyMessages and Proposals, will serve as

a backbone for civil society policy

demands from stakeholders

participating at the HLF4. Civil

society organisations are encouraged

to sign on to the document at the

BetterAid website.

It is not surprising that following this engagement CSOs responded

to the efforts of this unifying text. During a regional CSO and Multi-

stakeholder Consultation on Agriculture and Rural Development

held last paril 7-9, African CSOs signed collectively on to the

document. Nigerian CSOs, at a national workshop on Aid

Effectiveness, last April 19-20, too endorsed the CSO Key Asks as

their main positions towards the HLF 4, strengthening the call for

real results and a committed outcome compact at Busan (see page

2). At a national workshop in the Philippines, CSOs discussed and

commented extensively on the document itself improving its content

and strengthening its validity (see page 5).

The CSO Key Asks is a draft paper that targets to stimulate

discussion amongst CSOs whose active contribution through

comments will enable the document to reflect CSOs positions

worldwide. Through the CSO Key Asks civil society is calling upon

all development actors to achieve a bold forward-looking outcomeat the Busan HLF 4. Substantial progress in four inter-dependent

areas of reform is essential for a meaningful and ambitious Busan

Compact on DevelopmentEffectiveness:A) Fully evaluate and deepen the Paris and Accra

commitments;

B) Strengthen development effectiveness through practices

based on human rights standards;

C) Support CSOs as independent development actors in their

own right, and commit to an enabling environment for their

work in all countries; and

D) Promote equitable and just development cooperation

architecture.

Apart from the comment process during consultations, CSOs are

also encouraged to provide inputs and sign-on to the document

either through its online-petition available from www.betteraid.org

or directly via e-mail. For further inquiries, please write: Clare

Birkett (mailto:[email protected]) and/or copy Reileen Dulay

([email protected]).

Africa:

NigeriaNIGERIAN CSOs URGE GOVERNMENT AND DONORS TO

PROVIDE AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR COOPERATION

Abuja CSOs in Nigeria called for the need to promote an enabling

environment to ensure the effective implementation of PD/AAA in

the country, specifically, CSOs demanded for the development of an

Updates from

BetterAid

Continue to next page


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action plan to guide PD and AAA implementation as well as the

establishment of an effective mechanism for result-based monitoring

and evaluation of progress in relation to implementation. The CSO

call was made during the CSO Consultation held in Abuja last April

19-20, 2011. The CSO Consultation in Nigeria was held at an

opportune time when freshly elected political leaders are open topartnerships with CSOs in monitoring the implementation of AAA,

ODA flows and utilization.

During the meeting, CSOs noted and discussed the gaps in

coordination, information dissemination and delivery and

monitoring of aid. These inadequacies, particularly on the

accessibility of information, hamper CSO engagement in the aid

reform discourse. The consultation concluded by endorsing the

BetterAid Key Asks document as Nigerian CSOs position towards

Busan and the resolution to organize a CSO National Platform on

aid and development effectiveness as the official CSO body who

will engage with stakeholders on the aid and development

effectiveness issue.

The CSO and Multi-stakeholder Consultation on Aid Effectiveness

was organized by IBON/International and African Network for

Environment and Economic Justice. The Abuja Consultation was

attended by thirty-five participants fromGovernment, Donors, Civil

Society, academe and media. The consultation reviewed the

current state of implementing the Paris Declaration (PD) and Accra

Agenda for Action (AAA) in Nigeria and the importance of the High

Level Forum (HLF) IV in Busan, South Korea.

ZimbabweCSOs IN ZIMBABWE DEMAND INCLUSION IN AID

MECHANISMS

Harare Civil society organisations (CSOs) are demanding a

meaningful role in structures and processes that co-ordinate aid in

Zimbabwe. This was the call among CSOs who participated in a

recent CSO Consultation on Aid and Development Effectiveness

held at Bronte Hotel in Harare last 23 February 2011. The meeting

was the start of thecountry-level process in Zimbabwe following the

Southern Regional CSO Consultations and Multi-Stakeholder

Consultations back in 2009. The meeting ended with the agreement

to establish an aid platform for CSOs to represent them officially

within dialogue mechanisms.

Dakarayi Matanga, Executive Director of ZIMCODD, noted that

CSO active involvement in the AID Coordination Mechanism of the

country is essential since aid issues affect everyone. He also

BetterAids Global CSO

Consultations:

BetterAid has initiated several

thematic global civil society

consultations on development

effectiveness. In March, a consultationon Labor and Development

Effectiveness was held in cooperation

with the International Trade Union

Confederation (ITUC) in Paris. Two

more consultations on agriculture and

development effectiveness were held in

cooperation with the Peoples Coalition

on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) in Sri

Lanka last January and in Tanzania

last April. An upcoming consultation on

development effectiveness and gender

will be held in Brussels coming June.

Aside from these thematic

consultations, African CSOs held a

regional consultation in late February

to decide on key messages from African

CSOs towards the HLF.

BetterAid at International Events:

In May, BetterAid members are

attending and speaking at several

international events crucial to the aid

and development effectiveness agenda,starting with the UN Development

Cooperation Forum symposium on May

5th -6th in Mali. Just before the event,

BetterAid submitted a response to the

UNDCFs draft strategy for 2012.

BetterAid was also present at the

Fourth United Nations Conference on

the Least Developed Countries,

launched a statement, and organized a

side event with the title: CSOs on the

Road to Busan: Peoples Perspective on

Development Effectiveness on May

10th.

For more information about the

BetterAid platform, visit:

www.betteraid.org

and follow BetterAid on twitter, at:

https://twitter.com/betteraid


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stressed the need of facilitating greater involvement of CSOs

representing other sectors/districts and other aid actors such as

academe and media.

Zimbabwe is not a signatory of the Paris Declaration but has takensteps to operationalize the principles of PD and AAA in the

country. The meeting was organized by Zimbabwe Coalition on

Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), Poverty Reduction Forum

Trust (PRFT) and Women's Action Group (WAG) and supported by

the IBON/RoA Country Outreach Program.

Asia Pacific

PhilippinesPHILIPPINE CSOs NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON ODA,

AGRARIAN REFORM AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: ODA FOR

FOREIGN DOMINANCE, COUNTER-INSURGENCY AND

CORRUPTION IN THE MIDST OF THE WORSENING POVERTY,

HUNGER AND LANDLESSNESS

Quezon City A National Consultation on ODA, Agrarian Reform

and Food Sovereignty held at St. Theresas College on March 25,

2011 was participated by over 60 representatives hailing from

diverse sectors including peasant leaders from nearly every region

of the country. The consultation revealed that at present, aid in

agriculture reinforces corruption in bureaucracy and has been usedto facilitate land-grabbing, intensified corporate agriculture and as a

consequence contributed to the militarization of the countryside.

Based on the experiences of peasants and other marginalized

sectors in the Philippines, the consultation concluded that to this

date, ODA supported programs in agriculture have failed and only

contributed to the intensification of poverty, hunger and

landlessness.

Upcoming Activity,

Second Quarter 2011

Asia/PacificRegional Eastern Europe and Central Asia

CSO Workshop and Multi-

stakeholder Consultation

Turkey, June 2011 (tentative)

Pacific CSO Workshop on Aid and

Development Effectiveness

Nadj, Fiji, July 2011 (tentative)

Cambodia Multi-stakeholder Consultation on

Moving from Aid towards

Development Effectiveness

03 June 2011

China Research Meeting on the Future of

Chinese ODA

June 2011 (Tentative)

Egypt CSO Workshop and Multi-


June 2011 (tentative)

Lebanon CSO Workshop and Multi-


14-15 June 2011

Tajikistan CSO Workshop and Multi-


21-22 July 2011

Tunisia CSO Workshop and Multi-


May 2011 (tentative)

Latin America

Bolivia National Consultation in Bolivia on

"Changes and Reform in

Cooperation and Development

Policies in Bolivia"

15-16 June 2011


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The consultation was characterized by diverse views from different

actors. The contribution of Danilo Ramos, Secretary General of

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Movement of Farmers in the

Philippines) (KMP) and the Asian Peasant Coalition, discussed the

imperatives of Agrarian Reform and Food Sovereignty as a platform

for advocacy and campaign against poverty, hunger and

landlessness. Highlighting the struggle of KMP for a genuine land

reform in the Philippines, he called for the strengthening of a multi

sectoral support for the peasants on a national and international

level. Overall, participants agreed to engage on the issues of aid and

development and heighten the campaigns against land-grabbing and

corporate farming schemes that impact negatively on the poor. The

event was a collaborative effort of the Peoples Coalition for Food

Sovereignty PCFS), the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), the Reality of

Aid (RoA) and the KMP with the support of BetterAid.

AT BUSAN AND BEYOND: CLAIMING THE PEOPLES RIGHT TO

DEVELOPMENT

Makati City Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from all over the

Philippines gathered on Friday, April 29 in a strategy meeting tagged

as In Busan and beyond: Claiming the Peoples Right to

Development which aimed to identify key issues to be forwarded

in the 4th High Level Forum (HLF4) on Aid effectiveness in

November this year. Moreover, the meeting also merged aid

effectiveness and its parallel process CSO development effectiveness

in the country. This initiative which aims to further advance Filipino

peoples development issues in the global community is the first ofits kind in Asia-Pacific.

During the said meeting, AidWatch Philippines presented its

engagement on the aid effectiveness process since its establishment

in 2003 as a strong CSO network on aid and development issues

while the Council for Peoples Development and Governance

(CPDG) discussed Philippine CSOs engagements in the

development effectiveness process.

Country Outreach

Materials Now

Available in Three

Languages

The IBON/Reality of Aid Country

Outreach Team in its efforts to reach

the broadest possible number of

CSOs and mobilizing them to

participate around Aid and

Development Effectiveness issues

has undertaken the tasks of

translating materials relating to

Country Outreach work into Frenchand Spanish. Such efforts were made

to meet the growing demands of our

CSO partners and in order to

facilitate the understandings on

policies, strategies and the aid

agenda worldwide by braking down

language barriers. The CORT team is

proud to provide these new materials

to our partner organizations.

Among the translated materials

available for distribution are Case

Stories of Civil Society Engagement

on Aid Effectiveness; IBON Primer

on ODA and Development

Effectiveness; and the newly

introduced IBON/RoA- CORT

brochure. CORTs bi-monthly

newsletter will from now on also be

available in both French and Spanishto ensure better communication with

our partners around the globe.

Soft- copies are available upon

request; or from the newly updated

Country Outreach website.

http://www.realityofaid.org/country-

outreach/index


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The afternoon session saw a presentation by the IBON/RoAs

Country Outreach Team on the BetterAid Key Asks (key demands

of CSOs united under the BetterAid platform) that was followed by a

lively discussion on the CSO agenda towards Busan. CSO

representatives pointed out several issues of the marginalizedsectors that need to be addressed in the Korea HLF4 through a

workshop guided by the BetterAid platform Key Asks document.Willy Marbella of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP/Peasant

Movement of the Philippines) registered that the peasants, the

largest sector in the society must be included in the global

discussions of development by addressing the issue of Agrarian

Reform. On the other hand, Carlos Maningat of Ecumenical Institute

for Labor Education and Research pointed out that issue of higher

wages must be part of development agenda. After the workshop,

AidWatch Philippines announced its series of CSO gatherings

towards the HLF4 and its projects, which include an independentreport on the Philippine governments implementation of the 2005

Paris Declaration in the country.

Indonesia

ASIA REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CSOs AID AND

DEVELOPMENT EFFECTIVENESS

Jakarta The Open Forum, in cooperation with the Asia Pacific

Research Network (APRN), organized a regional workshop on CSOs

aid and development effectiveness in Jakarta Indonesia, May 3-4.

CSOs aimed to gather momentum and intensify their advocacy

towards the HLF 4 in Busan Korea. In this capacity, the IBON/RoA

Country Outreach Team presented the BetterAids process that

offers opportunities for CSO involvement on the road to Busan, by

commenting and endorsing BetterAids CSO Key Asks document

(the document outlines and unifies CSO demands and positions for

a genuine outcome compact in Korea). In addition, the BetterAid

Restructured

CORT Website

Out Now

The Country Outreach has

reviewed and updated its

website space hosted by the

Reality of Aid network. The new

website offers CSOs the

opportunity to use this unique

space and contribute to country

specific information and

announcements. To view the

new site, please visit:

http://www.realityofaid.org/coun

try-outreach/index

For comments, suggestions on

how to improve the site further

or on how to contribute tocountry specific pages, please

contact:

Nicolas Gloeckl

Communications Officer

[email protected]


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process facilitates and organizes CSO participation at the HLF 4

providing windows of opportunities for obtaining access to funding

and official registration for CSOs.

The presentation was followed by a workshop, facilitated through

IBON/RoAs country outreach program, which sought to gather

feedback from participants on the CSO Key Asks and establish

strategies to circulate and endorse the document widely. Overall,

the workshop succeeded in raising awareness of CSOs

development effectiveness agenda, deepen the discussions on the

draft global framework for CSO development effectiveness and

come up with plans and mechanisms to coordinate national and

regional advocacy towards Busan.

CSOs CALL ON ASEAN LEADERS TO COMMIT TO PROVIDING

AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CSOs

Jakarta The Reality of Aid (RoA) joined 1300 other delegates atthe recently concluded Asean Civil Society Conference/ASEAN

Peoples Conference, which discussed the peoples main concerns

across the ASEAN states and developed key proposals for the 18th

ASEAN Summit.

In a workshop on 04 May 2011 in Hotel Ciputra in Jakarta, RoA,

along with other CSOs across Southeast Asia, organized the

workshop Civil Society Engagement in the ASEAN. The main

objective of the workshop was to bring voices and perspectives on

civil society engagement at the national level, in light of the

increasingly restrictive environment that exists for civil societysmeaningful engagement with governments in developing and

implementing policies and development programs. Despite this

restrictive environment, spaces for civil society engagement exist

such as on the aid and development effectiveness agenda. RoA

shared during the workshop the experiences of CSO engagement

with governments on this agenda in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Recommendations from the said workshop were included in the

Statement of the 2011 ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN

Peoples Forum which called on ASEAN member states to recognize

the civil societys crucial contribution to society and respect theirdiversity, expertise and autonomy; institutionalizing civil society

engagement with ASEAN and; committing to minimum standards

for an enabling environment for CSOs to reach their potential as

equal partners in development.

For the full statement, please follow the link below:

http://aseanpeoplesforum.net/media/press-releases/168-statement-

of-the-2011-asean-civil-society-conferenceasean-peoples-

forum.html

MEJN Stresses Importance

of CSO Participation for

Aid Effectiveness

The international campaign for a moreparticipatory development process in

the form of aid effectiveness was

highlighted in the high level panel

discussion forum, part of the World

Bank/IMF spring meeting last April.

Dalitso Kubalasa, Executive Director

of the Malawi Economic Justice

Network (MEJN), was vocal in

engaging Finance ministers and donors

present. He particularly stressed, theissue of the need for greater

transparency on part of governments.

Kubalasa said that citizen

participation is a requisite to aid

effectiveness, but for citizens to be able

to take on a proactive role, they must

have access to information. He stressed

that the role of civil society

organizations and the media is crucial

in providing mechanisms foraccountability, thus allowing for citizen

empowerment. Furthermore, he

emphasized that governments should

not keep budget and fiscal information

to themselves. Finance Minister

Samura Kamara of Siera Leone added

that civil servants and lawmakers

should also be involved in capacity

building. He insisted that donors need

to remove aid conditionalities andallow governments and their people to

spearhead development programs.

Finally, the debate also shed its

spotlight on the anticipated High Level

Forum on aid effectiveness to be held

in Busan this year. MEJN urged to

cover matters on how donors can

establish a truly citizen-led

development agenda.


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IBON Center

114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City 1103

Philippines

http://iboninternational.org

www.realityofaid .org

Country

for

Aid and Development

Effectiveness

Engagement

Contact us

Interested in

participating in country

processes? Do you want

your country stories

disseminated? The

following members of the

Country Outreach Team

are ready to work with

you:

Ava Danlog

Outreach Officer

for Asia Pacific

[email protected]

Myrna Maglahus

Outreach Officerfor Africa

[email protected]

Nicolas Gloeckl

Communications Officer

[email protected]

Nicole Benedicto

Team Leader and Outreach

Officer

for Latin America

[email protected]

The IBON/Reality of Aid country outreach program for the

broad implementation of AAA seeks to achieve greater and

more meaningful involvement of CSOs in bringing change in

aid effectiveness policy and practice. The strategy towards

this is capacity development of CSOs in order for them to

initiate policy dialogue spaces that allow for broader and

inclusive participation of various kinds of CSOs at country

and local level. These efforts are expected to contribute tochanges in policies along a development effectiveness

approach.

Country outreach work will be based on the country-level

plans of CSOs who are involved in aid effectiveness and

development effectiveness advocacy. A broad range of CSOs

will be encouraged to participate and work together to engage

their respective governments, parliaments and development

partners in the achievement and monitoring of AAA

implementation.

About IBON/RoAs

Country Outreach

Documents

CORT Newsletter May 2011-Small