CORT Newsletter March 2011
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Transcript of CORT Newsletter March 2011
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As the eventful Country Outreach Team (CORT) year 2010 came to
an end, so did a busy review and assessment period of CORTs
activities for the past twelve months. The task at hand was
challenging, entertaining and inspiring at times. The following is a
short summary on some of the most important activities and
achievements for IBON/Reality of Aids (RoA) Country Outreach
Team in 2010.
CORT 2010:
In 2010 CORT facilitated and co-organized the conduct of a varietyof national civil society activities, answering to the specific needs of
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in twelve countries in
Asia/Pacific and Africa. CORT also assisted advocacy planning in
six further countries in Africa. Besides the Country Outreach also
advised seven other countries in drafting country plans on aid
effectiveness and participated in four regional workshops on the PD
Monitoring Survey. All in all, CORTs activities in 2010 reached out
to approximately 800 CSOs.
Experience from a Shadow
Report in the Making
Upcoming Events 2011 2
NEWSLETTERIssue 3 March 2011
Inside 25 Countries Engage in AidEffectiveness with CORT in
2010Inter-CountryConsultations Continue at
the WSF
International
IBON
CountryEngagement
for
Aid and Development
Effectiveness
3
7
Country Outreach at the
WSF5
In cooperation with:
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Country Outreach Work in All its Diversity
The Country Outreach Team does not limit itself to consultations
and workshops, but engages through diverse efforts. In countries
where the engagement among CSOs, the government and donors
has been ongoing and advanced, CORT helps sustain and deepen
these relationships. Continuous dialogue with member
organizations, technical assistance and important international
affiliation, contributes in asserting CSOs roles as equal partners on
aid and development effectiveness issues. Furthermore, CORT
provides essential information on recent international activities and
events building bridges between the global and local level.
Country Outreach work also includes various other tasks, such as
the development and dissemination of a first booklet of Case Stories
(more on page 4) and an advocacy toolkit. The toolkit is designed to
be a series that will provide CSOs with practical information on
advocacy work in aid and development effectiveness. Another
important undertaking of CORT is its facilitation of roughly 30
country-monitoring reports. Also known as the shadow report on
the implementation of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) and the
Paris Declaration (PD), these monitoring reports written by local
CSOs will form the basis for an international report by the Reality of
Aid network, directly responding to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2011 survey on monitoring
the Paris Declaration.
Emerging Impacts:
Country Outreach work has shown important results over the past
year. As direct and indirect results of CORTs engagement, CSO
networks became more dynamic in aid effectiveness advocacy. In
addition, existing CSO networks took on the task of integrating this
advocacy into their current activities; while in other cases entirely
new working groups and networks were founded. This forms one
important impact: a broader CSO base engaging in aid effectiveness
work at the country level. CORT work also resulted in increased
awareness and familiarity with the technical language and aspects of
aid effectiveness while providing a link to CSOs own issues.
Towards Busan:
On the road to Busan for the High Level Forum (HLF) 4, the Country
Outreach team will step up its efforts to build a solid foundation of
CSOs world wide that can, and have to be engaged with, to make
aid and development effective.
Upcoming
Activity, First
Quarter 2011
Nigeria Nigerian CSOs to Hold
Consultation on Aid
Effectiveness
April 19-20, 2011 (tentative)
Restructured
CORT Website
Coming Soon
The Country Outreach is
currently in the process of
reviewing and updating its
website space, hosted by
www.realityofaid.org. The
restructured web site will be
online soon.
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The IBON/Reality of Aid (RoA) country outreach program increased
its efforts to facilitate country consultations of CSOs, on the broad
implementation of the AAA, to reach countries in Asia Pacific,
Africa and Latin America. The common objective of each of these
consultations was to increase CSO involvement and engagement
with government agencies, donor organizations and other aid actors
in ensuring the effective implementation of the AAA and PD.
Africa:
Cameroon
BUILDING A STRONG CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE IN AID AND
DEVELOPMENT EFFECTIVENESS
Yaounde The Civil Society of Cameroon converged last January
18-19, 2011 at Hotel Jouvence, Yaounde, to address key challenges,
which affect the effective implementation of PD and AAA. The
AIDNET Group Cameroon organized the 2-day dialogue with the
aim of contributing a strong CSO message for the High Level Forumin Busan. The message was formed around building and
strengthening effective partnership, strengthening the Ministry of
Finance and addressing leadership and democratic ownership
inherent in the implementation of PD and AAA. The first day wasallotted for a CSO Consultation while the second day wasdesignated for planning and a multi-stakeholder consultation.
Invited to this dialogue were CSO representatives from the capital as
well as CSOs from the regions, sector representatives, Members of
Parliament, UN Women, EU representative, members of the French
donor community, private sector and media.
The meeting paved the way to discuss how CSO participation can
move away from being token participants to actively engaging in the
process and influencing aid policy and practice. It also provided an
entry-point to include parliamentarians, media and the private
sector in development effectiveness process. In particular, the
Members of the Parliament were keen to bring the issue to the
house hearings in the coming months.
BetterAid Discussion Paper Re-
launch Planned for March
BetterAid is currently finalizing a
discussion paper on development
architecture. "Making development
cooperation just: Governance principles
and pillars", is being revised following
discussion at the Workshop on Aid
architecture in Seoul last December
2010, and in consultation with our
wider membership. The final version
will be re-launched in March.
BetterAid Plans Further Thematic
Consultations on Aid and
Development Effectiveness
BetterAid is working hard to push for
ambitious outcomes at the Fourth High
Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
(HLF4) in Busan at the end of the year;the platform has submitted its
proposals for themes to be addressed at
the event. In January, in conjunction
with member organizations, BetterAid
held a consultation on development
effectiveness and agriculture and food
sovereignty. The platform is planning
to hold three further thematic
consultations on development
effectiveness in the coming months on
labor, women's rights and gender
equality, and agriculture and food
sovereignty.
For more information about the
BetterAid platform, visit:
www.betteraid.org
and follow BetterAid on twitter, at:
https://twitter.com/betteraid
News from
BetterAid
Inter-Country
Consultations Continue
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Civil society organizations in Cameroon are starting to increase their
engagement through active participation, dialogue mechanisms and
lobbying for the inclusion of the development agenda into the aid
debate. There is a strong need to monitor aid flows and manner of
utilization. In addition, there is the demand of CSOs to influencethe donor community to harmonize and align their efforts using the
existing country development plan and country systems.
SenegalMAKE AID WORK FOR AFRICA
Dakar CSOs demanded government and donor communities to
respect democratic ownership of countries in relation to the aid
provided to the region. The call was made during the World Social
Forum in Dakar on February 9, 2011. The activity was organized
by IBON/RoAs Country Outreach Program with the aim of
showcasing CSO engagement in selected sectors and fromparticular countries in Africa. CSOs highlighted the fact that African
countries remain to be the biggest recipient of aid and yet the
continents poverty situation and other development issues remain
unchanged.
CSOs from Senegal, Cameroon, and RoA/Africa presented their
country aid and development situation and the key challenges CSOs
face in engaging with donors and government. Reality of Aid-
Africa provided the overarching framework of aid and development
effectiveness and the main message of African CSOs to the HLF4.
Concrete cases of CSO involvement were also presented. InSenegal, members of the trade union and the migrants sector are
working with CSOs in the country to raise awareness of ineffective
aid to these sectors. CSOs from Cameroon presented the challenges
of forming a CSO platform and of monitoring French aid and how
CSOs take advantage of every opportunity to assert their right to
participate in dialogues. The presentations were attended by
various CSO representatives, donor delegates and the University
Chiek Ante Diop studentry.
MONITORING FRENCH AID FROM THE CSO PERSPECTIVE
Dakar The AIDNET Group Cameroon held a session on howCSOs in Cameroon are independently monitoring French aid. CSOs
relay that their main challenge is to secure funds as most donor
partners refused to be monitored by CSOs. But despite this major
challenge, CSOs from Cameroon are still affirming their role as
watchdogs of aid in the country. The AIDNET Group Cameroon
plans to conduct another monitoring report on the British aid once
funds are secured.
Country Outreach
Program at the
World Social Forum
The IBON/Reality of Aid Country
Outreach Program participated in the
10th World Social Forum in Dakar on
February 6 11, 2011 with the aim to
bolster the scope of its outreach
engaging further CSOs in advocacy of
Aid and Development Effectiveness.
A Photo Exhibit showcasing the
challenges of Aid Effectiveness wasset up from February 7 to February
10 at the Reality of Aid tent. The
exhibition attracted a continuous
stream of visitors, ranging from CSO
representatives to donors and
students overarching a variety of
different countries.
Besides active participation at the
various Reality of Aid events such as
the Forum on South-South
Cooperation, CORT facilitated and
organized a consultation on Aid and
Development Effectiveness among
CSOs in Africa. In addition, CORT
representatives made the most out of
the networking opportunities that
arose at the global event and attended
a variety of aid related activities.
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TanzaniaMAKING THE AID AGENDA INCLUSIVE
Dar Es Salaam A Workshop for CSOs was held on January 26,
2011 to increase the capacity of CSOs engaging in the aid and
development effectiveness agenda. Specifically, the workshopaimed to build understanding of CSOs around aid and development
issues and to develop a CSO-led action plan. Around 25
representatives from the CSO sector, both national and regional, the
Ministry of Finance and External Affairs (MOFEA) as well as the
media attended the workshop.
MOFEA provided an overview of the general aid situation and the
aid effectiveness program of the country. CSOs, on the other hand,
shared their experiences of the aid situation at the grassroots level,
with a concrete case study from the agricultural sector. CSOs in this
workshop agreed to address challenges related to CSOs capacity,issues on access to information, and the exclusion of CSOs from the
regional and other sectors in the aid discussions. CSOs also agreed
to build and strengthen the CSO Platform for Aid Effectiveness. The
CSO workshop was conducted a day after a donor Workshop on
Mutual Accountability concluded in Dar Es Salaam where CSOs
were given very limited space to participate.
ZimbabweCSOs DEMAND PARTICIPATION IN AID-COORDINATION
Harare The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development
(ZIMCODD) organized a CSO consultation in the nations capital ofHarare to sound off the importance of CSOs in the aid debate and
also to assert for CSO spaces in official dialogue mechanisms. The
country recently established an Aid Coordination Policy to guide aid
flows. It also provided an opportunity for CSOs to engage in the aid
debate.
Asia Pacific
ChinaCHINA TAKES STEPS TOWARDS AID EFFECTIVENESS
Xian An initiative of the China Development Effectiveness
Network (CDEN) in cooperation with IBON/RoAs Country
Outreach Team, Chinas first CSO consultation workshop on Aid
Effectiveness was conducted in Xian, Shaanxi Province, on
November 20-21, 2010. A total of 32 representatives from civil
society organizations and nine delegates from donor institutions and
the government were present. The two-day workshop was divided
CSO Stories
Booklet Out Now
On February 9, succeeding the
launch of the Reality of Aid 2010
Report on Aid and Development
Effectiveness: Towards Human
Rights, Social Justice and
Democracy, the Country Outreach
Program launched its very first
publication, the booklet Case Stories
of Civil Society Engagement on Aid
Effectiveness. Over 50
representatives from various CSOs,
donors and government ministries
attended and actively participated in
the presentation.
The booklet of Case Stories of civil
society engagement on aid
effectiveness is primarily meant to
document and share civil society
organizations experiences and
involvement in national aid policy
reform. It aims to provide insights
into mechanisms and processes thatdemonstrate CSO involvement in aid
effectiveness policy reform and the
implementation of the PD and AAA.
Towards the 4th HLF in Busan, the
intention of this booklet is to provide
lessons to be learned while serving as
a tool for CSOs, donors and
governments engaging with aid
effectiveness issues towards
development effectiveness.
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into three parts: understanding aid effectiveness; multi-stakeholder
consultations; and formulating CSO-led country plans.
Overall, the participants viewed the activity as a great success. The
workshop succeeded not only in opening up dialogue betweenCSOs from many different areas with the government, but also
brought attention to the importance of aid effectiveness, a topic
many CSO representatives never before engaged with. A short
survey at the end of the workshop revealed that 73 percent of
participants learned significantly from the common discussions, and
63 percent considered the overall quality of the discussions as high.
An interesting outcome of the activity was the realization of CSOs
own limitations. In order to explore innovative ways to improve and
engage with aid effectiveness issues, CSOs realized that it is
imperative to first improve their own capacities.
PhilippinesVISAYAS-WIDE CSO-NEDA WORKSHOP
Cebu City The nationwide series of consultation workshops on the
Country Level Evaluation (CLE) on the Implementation of the Paris
Declaration in the Philippines was conducted in Cebu City on
December 1, 2010 at the Rajah Park Hotel. The one-day workshop
was held in two sessions. In the morning, Jazminda Lumang of
AidWatch Philippines gave the introduction of the meeting, the
basic issues and questions regarding Aid, the Paris Declaration and
the CSOs participation on the issue of aid effectiveness while Lirio
Abuyuan of the CLE Team presented the draft final report of the CLEPhase 2.
An open forum was facilitated after the two inputs. In the afternoon,
Lumang presented the CSO initiatives on Aid Effectiveness post-
ACCRA while Mr. Vince Cinches, Executive Director of the
Fisherfolks Development Center (FIDEC, Inc.) in Cebu presented a
case study on the ODA funded Coal-fired Power Plants in the
province.
MINDANAO-WIDE CSO-NEDA WORKSHOP
Cagayan de Oro City The Mindanao leg, the last of thenationwide series of NEDA-CSO consultation workshops on the CLE
evaluation in the Philippines was conducted in Cagayan de Oro
City on December 14, 2010. Similar to the previous consultations,
the workshop was conducted in two parts and concluded with an
open forum that saw a lively debate on the impacts of ODA in the
region.
About IBON/RoAs
Country Outreach
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 forbroader and inclusive
participation of various kinds of
CSOs at country and local level.
These efforts are expected to
contribute to changes 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 developmenteffectiveness 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
implementation and monitoring
of AAA implementation.
RoA is the partner agency of the
BetterAid in this program. IBON
International is implementing
the outreach through the RoA
network.
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Long interviews, feverish desk research, writing, consolidation,
verification of information, it is all well under way with the
Shadow Report taking shape in many countries around the world.
Mongolia is one of those countries and a deeper look reveals it to
be a great example of the difficulties, challenges and opportunities
that arise from this task.
The Country Core Group (CCG), a coalition of Mongolian CSOs
working on various issues, including aid effectiveness with the
support of the Reality of Aid Network, has taken on the task of
preparing Mongolias Shadow Report. To date, the CCG was able to
interview representatives from 10 ministries, each interview lasting
between 2 to 3 hours. From an intended 26 donor organizations,
the CCG however was only able to interview a total of 7
representatives. The challenge was that a majority of embassies and
bi-lateral donors declined CCGs invitation letters, reasoning that
they are not in a position to provide any information. If CSOs would
like to access their data they have to speak to the ministry of
finance instead.
In spite of the challenges, work on the Shadow Report provided
new opportunities for engagement with government and donors as
meetings led to contact and new focal points. Urantsooj
Gombosuren, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights
and Democracy(CHRD) and CCG member, ensured the support of
the presidential office to organize a donor validation consultation,
after meeting with an advisor to the president on civil society
participation and human rights. The meeting is now scheduled to
take place in the week 14-18th of March.
Updates from
RoAs Shadow
Report
Responding to the need for an
objective and comprehensive Civil
Society analysis on the
achievements of the Paris
Declaration and Accra Agenda for
Action, the Reality of Aid network
began in late 2010 with the
research phase of its CSO basedCountry Monitoring Report.
Commonly known as the Shadow
Report, the report overcomes the
limited participation from
development actors such as
parliamentarians and CSOs. It
aims to deepen the understanding
of key issues surrounding aid and
development effectiveness that
may or may not be addressed by
the Phase 2 Evaluation and offers
country-level evidence based CSOmonitoring that may enrich or
reinforce the findings of the
official Monitoring Survey.
With writing and research well
under way, the first quarter of
2011 has seen already the
submissions of several shadow
reports. Cameroon, Cambodia,
the Philippines and Sri Lanka
were among the first countries tosend in their drafts. While in over
ten further countries the research
and writing continues the
Country Outreach Team
continues its communication with
CSOs in ten additional countries.
Mongolia: Experiences of a
Shadow Report in the Making
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IBON Center
114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City 1103
Philippines
http://iboninternational.orgwww.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
Myrna Maglahus
Outreach Officerfor Africa
Nicolas Gloeckl
Communications Officer
Nicole Benedicto
Team Leader and Outreach
Officer
for Latin America