In general civil society actors need to actively work to:

• ensure that the process of programming EC aid is as inclusive, transparent and participatory as possible and that civil society actors are invited to participate with their views being taken into account
  
  
• consider precisely how they will organise themselves so as to ensure that their voices are heard effectively. To this they will need to formulate clear strategies for getting their message across.
  
  
• ensure that the allocation of financial resources resulting from the programming exercise prioritise the MDG sectors and reflects the development needs of the country.

Concretely this means that civil society actors need to organise meetings with the National Authorising Officer (NAO – normally situated with the Ministry of Finance or Planning) and the European delegation to discuss the results for European intervention in the past and plans for the future. Civil society involvement should be seen as a process of ongoing engagement, and not merely a one sided consultation meeting. It should

• demand an inclusive process on the forthcoming decisions that are going to be taken in which the criteria for actors to be invited provides enough space for all the actors who wish to participate to do so regardless of their capacity and/or experience in this type of exercises.
  
  
• demand a transparent process whereby documents are made available to the interested organisations or to the broader public in a timely way so that they can be properly considered by civil society actors and their constituencies in advance of dialogue with the Commission and government. Feedback on discussions and negotiations should be provided.
  
  
• demand for a democratic process whereby the discussions on the priorities for each country/region are debated in the public arena or in parliaments. Involvement of national administrations with specific knowledge (technical ministries, local governments, etc) should be encouraged.

In 2007, the European Commission embarked on an assessment of 64 EC delegations' consultations with non-state actors and local authorities, results of which are documented in the Non-state Actors and Local Authorities Consultation in the Elaboration of the 10th EDF Country Strategy Papers in ACP Countries.