Eurostep decided to get involved in the MTR making a toolkit called “Influencing the discussions on Country Strategy Papers during the Mid-Term Review of the 10th EDF”. The aim of this kit is to encourage the participation of NGOs from ACP countries to the MTR. It provides information about what is at stake with the MTR of the 10th EDF, why it is important to get involved in this process and how to be involved. There is also a questionnaire for ACP feedback on the MTR in order to assess the process and evaluate whether the participation of non state actors has increased as well as the democratic accountability.
As far as the European Commission and the DG Development are concerned, we had some talks with them, especially about the guidelines and the participation of civil society organisations. But, nothing really raised of these as the MTR is much in the hands of EC delegations in ACP countries. This situation restrains our capacity to act in Brussels, to the Commission and the DG Dev.
That’s why we decided to put our efforts working with our partners and colleagues in ACP countries. The toolkit has been sent to more than 100 NGOs in ACP countries, NGOs which were supposed to have been consulted during the programming of the 10th EDF. Furthermore, we encourage all organisations to share information, experiences and points of view about the MTR on this blog.
We are looking forward to read your experiences !
Virginie Martin for Eurostep
Thank you very much for drafting that guideline. It will be very usefull in communicating to our partnernetwork how to meaningfully engage at the policy formulation stage with the EC delegation in their respective countries. It is also very helpful in implementing the Paris Declaration and achieve maximum harmonization in policies. Implementation modalities can still vary, but would contribute to a shared agenda.
Thank you again for taking this forward and for trying to get in touch with civil society. I just express the hope that your effort will be met with sufficient enthousiasm of civil society. If the EC would like to sustain this effort it would have to take the inputs provided by those who contribute very seriously.
From my side I will try to mobilize as many partners as possible to chase you at the delegation level for participation and debate.
With warm regards,
Reinier