This publication should be cited as: ECDPM Annual Report. 2002. Maastricht : ECDPM

ECDPM Annual Report 2002


Foreword

By Lingston Cumberbatch, Chairman of the Board of Governors

Change and uncertainty are permanent features of life. In international affairs, the rules established by the UN Charter used to provide a semblance of order in an uncertain world, as well as a system that could accommodate positive change. This system is now being called upon to accommodate major new changes as a result of the cataclysmic events of 11 September 2001 and the traumatic destabilisation subsequently caused by the invasion of Iraq. Although the major powers are trying to come to terms with these changes, it is still far from clear what their long-term impact will be. These changes will invariably affect poor countries, many of whom will find it impossible to come up with a suitable response to them.

The ECDPM is very mindful of the uncertainties faced by the ACP countries, given its focus on the latter and their relationship with the European Union. This is especially relevant today, now that the EU - one of the ACP countries' key partners - is so preoccupied with the consequences of further change, including the enlargement of the Union and the proposals for a new constitution launched by the Convention headed by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. These changes are taking place in an environment in which development concerns, since the heady days of the Maastricht Treaty, appear to be of less concern to the EU. The evidence available to those on the ground, among whom the ECDPM counts itself, does not support the pronouncements to the contrary made during G8 Summits.

The EU's relationship with the ACP countries has been constantly changing since its formal inception in Lomé in 1973. It followed an upward curve in the 1970s and 1980s, but has been on a downward curve ever since. The recently signed Cotonou Partnership Agreement has modernised the Lomé Conventions to reflect new thinking in international cooperation and trade policy. The EU brought about a seismic shift in its relations with the ACP States by demanding reciprocity in trade concessions from them. Negotiations on these trade concessions commenced in September 2002, and are intended to lead to free trade agreements between the EU and various regional ACP groups. This too, has created uncertainty; this time, about the results of the negotiating process.

Fortunately, other factors are at work within the ACP Group itself. African leaders have adopted a series of measures to foster both African unity and the growth of their economies. The decision to establish an African Union and NEPAD has prompted a series of activities leading towards the adoption of supranational regional structures and cooperation in areas such as peace and security, good governance, trade and investment. The active involvement and commitment of Heads of State - and the process they have started - have attracted the interest of foreign donors, among whom the EU is prominent.

Cognisant of these changes, the ECDPM intends to step up its efforts to provide policy options for ACP countries in the key and twin areas of trade capacity-building and development finance. With respect to trade capacity-building, the Centre will seek to facilitate dialogue, encourage networking and provide information to stakeholders. In the area of development finance, the ECDPM will focus on the ever widening gap between the pronouncements of aid allocation and the actual delivery and use of such aid. We will continue to attach priority to the political issues surrounding conflict and governance, and to the role played by non-state actors in resolving conflicts and in developing society as a whole. We will continue our efforts to bring ACP stakeholders up to date with events that affect them.


Contents

Director’s report
ECDPM’s interactions in ACP countries
ACP-EU Trade Relations
Political Dimensions of Partnership
Actors of Partnership
Internal Donor Reform
Communication and Information
Strategy and Innovation
Human Resources
Financial report
List of acronyms
Notes


Director's report

Last year's headlines

EU transferred development issues to a new General Affairs and External Relations Council, and abolished the Development Council

African leaders officially launched African Union in Durban, South Africa

Ten new countries will gain access to the EU


The ACP-EU context

Since the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992, the EU has moved a considerable way in formulating and implementing its development policy. In terms of relations with the ACP countries, the signing of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in 2000 was a major event. The Agreement should be fully ratified by all partners by early 2003. But what will the next decade look like? Judging by events in 2002, the European agenda for the next few years is turbulence in the making.

Last year saw the abolition of the EU's Development Council. The EU's agenda was dominated by the issues of enlargement, immigration and trade. The Convention on the Future of Europe hardly touched upon development issues, despite many efforts to raise them. EDF disbursements again failed to live up to expectations. During the coming years, the Convention and the Intergovernmental Conferences will affect both the division of responsibility and relations between the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. The General Affairs and External Relations Council will gradually find its footing with respect to development issues. European Parliamentary elections will be held; a new Commission will be appointed; talks will be held on the next five-year EU Financial Perspectives and the 10th European Development Fund. Could a watershed in the history of the European Union's development cooperation efforts be looming?

The EU is not the only group of nations that is affected by change. The ACP group is also examining the options for its global relationships. The African Union and NEPAD have laid the foundations for an invigorated African perspective on international development by creating joint institutions and instruments. Though good governance remains a vital issue, many African countries are demonstrating forthright leadership. These developments bode well for the strengthening of international cooperation on development. Also with EU-ACP trade negotiations having started in September 2002, regional trade alliances are now much more important than they used to be.

Within this political and developmental context, both governments and non-governmental countries in ACP countries turn to the ECDPM, asking it to act as an independent broker, facilitating multi-actor dialogue and capacity development. How has the ECDPM responded to these demands in line with its five year strategy?


The ECDPM in a dynamic context

Acting in response to developments in ACP-EU relations, the ECDPM consolidated its thematic programmes in close collaboration with ACP and EU partner organisations and individuals in 2002. While the staff working on 'Actors of Partnership' continued to support ACP civil-society and business platforms as well as decentralisation processes, they also helped to strengthen civil-society participation in a number of ACP countries.

The team working on 'Internal Donor Reform' continued its work on donor practices, coordination and harmonisation, and also initiated a major new action-research project on lessons learned regarding support for capacity development.

The 'Trade Relations' staff responded to a rapidly growing demand for national, regional and ACP-wide support following the start of EU-ACP trade negotiations in September 2002. By forming strategic alliances with like-minded groups and institutions, the 'Trade Relations' team established a niche for itself in capacity development for trade negotiations.

Finally, the staff working on the 'Political Dimensions' theme carefully pursued their aim of monitoring and understanding ACP-EU relations with respect to political dialogue, consultations and sanctions. In-country seminars in Benin, Niger and Rwanda, and a regional pacific seminar in Fiji helped to strengthen the Parliament's role in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

The staff of the 'Communication and Information' cluster thoroughly reviewed the ECDPM's information activities and developed a new communication and information strategy for the Centre. This new strategy is intended to improve both the interactivity and the impact of the Centre's information services. It is a huge task, as demands for information on development policy and management issues are clearly on the rise, in both the ACP countries and Europe. Large investments were therefore needed to upgrade electronic systems and equipment, so as to guarantee the effective use of modern information systems and media.

The members of the 'Strategy and Innovation' team provided regular input for strategic planning at the Centre. Their research efforts focused on improving networking, institutional learning and evidence-based communication for development. The 'Institutional Relations' section successfully concluded multi-annual programme contracts with Finland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland; annual contracts with Belgium were also continued.

In line with its long-term financial strategy, the Centre managed to significantly increase its external funding. As a result, programme and project funding has almost doubled since 2000 and in 2002 represented approximately 60% of the total budget. Internally, the Centre intensified its customer orientation; integrated executive support with programmes and clusters; streamlined logistics support and strengthened administrative and financial support. It gradually increased its ability to handle larger numbers of external collaborators, including Programme Associates, ACP consultants and interns. Finally, the Centre brought its own staffing again up to full strength in 2002.

Dr James Mackie joined the Centre to head the Political Dimensions programme. Ms Charlotte Carlsson joined as a programme officer. Ms Sabine Mertens, Mr Peter van 't Wout and Ms Tilly de Coninck joined the Centre's Finance, Human Resources and Logistics Support Staff. Mrs Isabelle Bosman and Ms Terhi Lehtinen left the Centre. Ms Lehtinen joined the EC delegation in Bangkok.




Paul Engel
Director

The ECDPM's strategic objectives The Centre's overriding aim is to encourage the autonomous development of the ACP by facilitating a more effective use of development policies and instruments offered by the EU and its Member States. The Centre has two strategic objectives: • To enhance the capacity of public-sector and private-sector actors in ACP and other low-income countries. • To improve cooperation between development partners in Europe and the ACP region. The Centre’s main assets are: • its role as an independent broker; • its capacity to integrate practical experience with academic theory; • its mainstream networking approach; • its capacity to operate in, and build bridges between language communities; • its commitment to long-term involvement with key stakeholders in policy processes; • its desire to focus on a limited number of key issues.

ECDPM’s interactions in ACP countries

As usual, the ECDPM staff interacted with many policy makers and practitioners in the EU and the ACP throughout 2002. Their interactions were guided principally by the ECDPM's strategy as an independent broker of development policy processes and innovation, and secondly, by the needs of the ACP-EU development actors. The interactions included staff visits, seminars and workshops in many countries; conferences in Maastricht and elsewhere, and close collaboration with local ACP consultants and organisations based in the ACP. Additional outreach was provided by distributing publications and promoting the ECDPM web site.

To provide a clear picture of these interactions, the contacts with the various ACP countries have been broken down into four categories1. In summary, the higher the rating, the closer the interactions between the ECDPM and partner organisations, policy makers, practitioners and local consultants in the various countries during 2002. At one end of the scale, the category-four countries are Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. These are high interaction countries; they were visited by the ECDPM staff, where there was close collaboration with local consultants and large numbers of ECDPM publications found their way to policy makers and practitioners in the country. On the other end of the scale, interactions with the category-one countries were limited basically to publications and to visits to the ECDPM website (see table and maps).

Viewing the level of interactions during 2002, the concentration on Africa and more in particular southern and eastern Africa is striking. As a comparison with 2001, the ECDPM was more active in the Great Lakes Region; thus a tangible shift in the centre's interactions has taken place in 2002. When countries have strong regional organisations, such as the Caribbean group or when countries are represented in multiple fora in Europe, the ECDPM may not necessarily seek an intensive in-country focus, but would focus on interactions within Europe.

Networking* • ACP Ambassadors • ACP Civil Society Forum • ACP High-Level Group of Trade Experts • ACP Local Government Forum • ACP Private-Sector Intermediary Organisations • ACP Secretariat • Department for International Development (DFID) • Development Assistance Committee (DAC) • Directorate-General for International Cooperation (Belgium) • Directorate-General for International Cooperation (the Netherlands) • European Commission (DG Development, DG Relex, EuropeAid) • EU Council Secretariat • EU Executive Development Agency (AIDCO) • EU delegations (in-country) • European Parliament • EU Member State Representations • Euforic • German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) • Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) • Overseas Development Institute (ODI) • Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) • World Bank * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

ECDPM’s interactions with ACP countries in 2002




ACP-EU Trade Relations

Last year's headlines

Trade negotiations between EU and ACP started on 27 September 2002


The development of a new ACP-EU trade regime highlights a variety of challenges for promoting sustainable development and integrating the ACP countries into the world economy. In 2002, the preparations for the trade negotiations which began in September, dominated the dialogue processes and emphasised the need for capacity development. In response, the ECDPM's strategy focused on providing consultancy on ACP-EU trade, building trade capacity, producing independent technical and analytical reports, and knowledge-sharing, as part of the joint ECDPM-ODI Programme on ACP-EU Trade Relations.


Consultation on ACP-EU trade

Throughout the year, the Centre was actively involved in preparations for the ACP-EU trade negotiations, which started in September 2002.

The ECDPM organised and facilitated an informal ACP brainstorming session in February. The meeting helped to identify common ACP objectives, potential ACP regional configurations and preparatory actions for the talks. The participants included ACP ambassadors, officials from ACP regional organisations, the ACP Secretariat and the Commonwealth Secretariat, members of the advisory group of high-level trade experts and ACP representatives from the private sector and civil society. The Centre published a discussion paper as background information for the meeting, to provide an overview of ACP-EU trade relations. The report on the meeting was subsequently used as input for the ACP Ministerial Trade Committee in April.



Following the February meeting, the ECDPM organised a second informal meeting between ACP and EU (i.e. Commission and Member States) stakeholders. The meeting helped to foster a better understanding of the scope of ACP-EU trade negotiations and the issues the talks need to address.

As a result of these meetings, several ACP regional
organisations expressed a strong interest in holding similar gatherings at a regional level. The idea is that the Centre should organise and facilitate such meetings during the course of the negotiations.

Throughout the year, the ECDPM provided specialist and facilitation support to conferences dealing with ACP-EU relations, the WTO context and capacity-building. These conferences were organised inter alia by AIF, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the ACP Secretariat, COMESA, CTA, and INZET.


Capacity-building for trade

In line with its mandate, the Centre was involved in a variety of trade capacity-building initiatives, including by:

• Supporting the drafting of Economic Partnership Agreements, by providing ad-hoc support to several ACP regional organisations. The ECDPM also contributed to informal brainstorming seminars organised by the Project Management Unit (PMU) on ACP needs for trade capacity-building.

• Contributing to an Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) seminar and Board Meeting on ACP-EP trade negotiations, held in The Hague in March 2002, and also to the AERC Research Newsletter in November 2002.

• Taking part in the launch of International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP) in Nairobi in May 2002. The Centre was invited to join the Advisory Group, which will later be transformed into the ILEAP's Board of Directors.

• Continuing to participate in the DAC's steering committee on capacity-building for trade. This involved taking part in the DAC/IAWG Joint Informal Meeting in January 2002, and the OECD (DCD and the Development Centre), UNECA, UNDP and WTO regional workshop on trade capacity-building in Mombasa, Kenya, in August 2002.

• Giving a keynote presentation at the International Federation of Agricultural Producers' (IFAP) 35th World Farmers Conference in Cairo, Egypt, in May 2002. As a result, the ECDPM will collaborate with IFAP on a large 4 year programme on trade capacity development for farmers' organisations. ECDPM's contribution will focus on strengthening the capacities of farmer organisations to develop and promote policy positions on trade.

During 2002, the trade team prepared the ground for a series of case studies on capacity building for trade negotiations, to be undertaken in 2003 in South Africa, the Caribbean, MERCOSUR, and maybe Chile.


Partnerships

Together with the ICTSD and ODI, the ECDPM jointly produced and disseminated Trade Negotiations Insight, a newsletter designed to contextualise progress on trade negotiations between the ACP and the EU in relation to the multilateral (WTO) framework. Four issues were sent to over 2,000 initial contacts.

In collaboration with the EU-LDC Network and the ODI, the ECDPM jointly developed the ACP-EU trade website
(www.acp-eu-trade.org) as an independent source of information on ACP-EU trade relations. The website was officially launched at the opening of the ACP-EU trade negotiations in September 2002.

Networking* • Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) • Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie (AIF) • Caribbean Council • COMESA Secretariat • Commonwealth Secretariat • ECOWAS Secretariat • EU-LDC Network • International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) • International Federation for Agriculture Producers (IFAP) • International lawyers and Economists against Poverty (ILEAP) • Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) • Overseas Development Institute (ODI) • SADC Secretariat • UEMOA Commission • United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) • United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

Contents of four issues of Trade Negotiating Insights (TNI), From Doha to Cotonou No.1, February 2002 The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health: Does it change anything? WTO Negotiations on Implementation Issues: How, Where & When? Who will Negotiate with the EU? In Search of an ACP-EU Negotiating Framework. No.2, June 2002 Questions Raised by the Proposed EC Negotiating Mandate EU/ACP Negotiations and the Agriculture Negotiations under the Doha Mandate. Special and Differential Treatment in WTO Rules in the Context of the ACP/EU Economic Partnership Agreements No.3, September 2002 Urgent Preparation Needed to Negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements Challenges Facing the Caribbean During EPA Negotiations Special And Differential Treatment at the WTO And Its Relevance for the ACP-EU Negotiations No.4, December 2002 CAP Reform and ACP Preferences: What is at Stake for ACP Countries? Services Negotiations Under the Cotonou Agreement: The Scope for Liberalisation WTO Compatibility of EPAs

Knowledge Sharing Bilal, S. 2002. The Future of ACP-EU Trade Relations: An Overview of the Forthcoming Negotiations. ECDPM-ODI Discussion Paper No. 1. Bilal, S. 2002. Les enjeux du programme de travail de Doha pour les pays francophones en voie de développement. Paper presented at the AIF 'Séminaire sur les enjeux du programme d'action de Doha et les priorités d'action pour la francophonie', Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie. 28-29 May 2002, Paris, France. Bilal, S. 2002. Les aspects multilatéraux des accords de parternariat économique entre les pays ACP et l'Union européenne. Paper presented at the joint AIF, Commonwealth Secretariat and ACP Secretariat 'Séminaire sur les aspects multilatéraux de l'accord de partenariat économique ACP-EU de Cotonou', ACP House. 30-31 May 2002, Brussels, Belgium. Bilal, S. 2002. The Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda for an Economic Partnership Agreement. Prepared for the COMESA EPA Seminar. 31 October-1 November 2002, Lusaka, Zambia. Bilal, S. 2002. Foreign Direct Investment in ACP-EU Development Cooperation: From Lomé to Cotonou. Background note presented at UNCTAD's intergovernmental expert meeting on the development dimension of FDI. 6-8 November 2002, Geneva, Switzerland. Bilal, S. and P. Nicolaides. 2002. 'Regulatory Instruments and Enforcement in Regional Blocs'. In: Aussenwirtschaft, Vol. 57, pp. 187-220. Bilal, S. and K. van Hove. 2002. ACP-EU relations in the context of WTO negotiations. In: AERC Research News. October 2002. Bilal, S. and K. van Hove. 2002. An Overview of the ACP-EU Negotiations: Issues and Timeframe. Presented at an CTA seminar entitled 'Meeting the Challenge of Effective ACP Participation in Agricultural Trade Negotiations: The Role of ICM'. 27-29 November 2002, Brussels, Belgium. Engel, P.G.H., 2002. Global chains: chain gangs or development opportunities? In: The challenge of global chains. Wageningen: Mercurius. ECDPM. ICTSD, ODI, Trade Negotiations Insights: From Doha to Cotonou. Vol. 1, Nos. 1-4. 2002. ECDPM. ICTSD, ODI, Eclairage sur les négociations commerciales: De Doha à Cotonou. Vol. 1, Nos. 1-4. 2002. Solignac-Lecomte, H.B. 2002. Renforcer les capacités liées au commerce : mode d’emploi. L'expérience des partenaires au développement en Afrique et dans les Caraïbes. Document de réflexion nº 33. ECDPM. Capacity Development for Trade. Capacity.org. Issue 13, April 2002. ECDPM. Le renforcement des capacities commerciales. Capacity.org. Numéro 13, avril 2002.

Political Dimensions of Partnership

Last year's headlines

Political dialogue was tested between Zimbabwe and the EU when Article 96 was invoked

African Union and NEPAD lay foundations for an invigorated African perspective on international development


As a new aspect of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), the political dimensions of the partnership are new territory for both EU and ACP countries. Events within the EU and the ACP countries in 2002 will influence international development cooperation in the years to come.

During 2002, the political dimensions programme identified the following major challenges and will continue to follow the debates:

• Changes in the institutional structure of the EU and the fundamental impact on its external actions. The shape of these changes should be clear by early 2004.
• Key financial decisions in the period 2004-7 and the parameters for the Overseas Development Assistance from the EU for the next five to seven years.
• The global trade negotiations and various international agreements in the next five years.
• More proactive African leadership in the way they position themselves vis à vis the international community. In this regard, the EU will factor these developments into their external actions,

The ECDPM's programme seeks to understand the dynamics of this relationship. The main focus lies on the application of the CPA's articles on the political dimension, the changes affecting external relations in the EU Council, activities in Lusophone countries, and the establishment of the African Union.


Programme development

Over the past year, the ECDPM held discussions with key stakeholders on the use that is being made of the CPA's framework for political dialogue, and on how to strengthen this framework. The Centre's activities included consulting with the ACP on the guidelines for political dialogue presented to the Joint Council of Ministers meeting in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in June 2002. The Centre organised training seminars for DG Development staff on the use of the political dimension articles in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. These seminars were well attended, and showed that there is a demand for a greater understanding of the political dimension in ACP-EU collaboration.

The Centre also identified a need to monitor the broader institutional changes in the EU and examine how these might affect development cooperation and the EU-ACP partnership. This new lean was reflected in the programme planning for 2003-2004. Further discussions led to the EU and AU requesting the ECDPM to undertake an Identification Study on how the EU might support the OAU/AU transition.

The Centre took part in a GRESEA seminar on the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, held at the European Parliament in May. This led to the subsequent publication of a collection of papers on the CPA.


Fragile or poorly performing states

The ECDPM initiated a series of case studies on the practicalities of political dialogue between the EU and the ACP countries in 2002. The Centre performed the research for and wrote the preliminary report on the first study in this series, which is about the EU-Zimbabwe political dialogue under Articles 8 and 96 of the CPA. The report will be ready for publication in 2003. Future case studies have been planned on countries including Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

The ECDPM performed preliminary work on a Policy Management Brief on regional approaches to conflict prevention and management, with particular reference to the Great Lakes Region. This involved conducting fieldwork in Rwanda, in addition to interviewing regional desk officers at DG Development and holding discussions with partners such as International Alert.

In the same framework, Centre staff also attended an OECD/World Bank seminar on Low-Income Countries under Stress (LICUS), and an International Alert seminar designed to review the latter's work programme.

Networking* • African Union (AU) / Organisation of African Unity (OAU) • Government of Zimbabwe • Government of Cape Verde • Groupe de recherche pour une stratégie économique alternative (GRESEA - Belgium) • International Alert (UK) • Instituto de Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais (IEEI) • MWENGO (Zimbabwe) • Portuguese Institute of Cooperation (ICP) • Platform of NGOs Cape Verde • Saferworld, UK • Southern Africa Regional Institute for Policy Studies (Zimbabwe) * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

Knowledge Sharing Simon, A. 2002. The new organisation of the Council of the European Union: Setback or Opportunity for EU Development Cooperation?Discussion Paper No. 46. Simon, A. 2002. La nouvelle organisation du Conseil de l’Union Européenne: un recul ou une opportunité pour la coopération au développement de l’Union Européenne ? Document de réflexion nº 46. Mackie, J. Forthcoming. Challenges for 2003: EU External Relations in a Changing Framework. Implications for the ACP.

EU institutional changes and their impact on EU development cooperation

At the request of the Instituto da Cooperação Portuguesa (ICP), the ECDPM conducted a study into (i) the strengths and weaknesses of the former Development Council, now subsumed as part of the EU's General Affairs & External Relations Council (GAERC), and (ii) the challenges and opportunities for development cooperation in working with the new Council. The study was presented to the Portuguese institute at the end of the year and will be published early in 2003.

Major changes will be made to the European Union's institutional architecture over the next two years, prompted in part by the enlargement of the Union. One of the foci of The Convention on the Future of Europe is the strengthening of the EU's external relations. The debate on this issue will continue during the forthcoming Inter-governmental Conference (IGC). The Centre closely followed the ongoing debate in 2002, and promoted a discussion of the impact of these changes on the EU's development cooperation programmes and relations with international partners, such as the ACP group of countries. A first overview document, entitled Challenges for 2003, was drafted for publication on the Centre's website early in 2003. The Centre reviewed the capacity of its own internal information systems to mobilise expertise on these subjects.


Activities in Lusophone countries

Under the joint ECDPM-IEEI programme, the Centre contributed to seminars on EU-Africa relations organised by the IEEI at Portuguese universities. Seminars were held in 2002 at the Universidad Moderna in Oporto and the Institute Piaget in Viseu.

The joint IEEI programme also provides for an international seminar to be held each year in a Lusophone African country. The 2002 edition of this seminar was held in Cape Verde, and provided a unique opportunity to review the country's foreign relations with senior government officials, experts and EU officials.

The ECDPM also began work on the organisation of the 2003 seminar, which is due to be held in Angola. The Centre is planning to monitor East Timor's bid to join the ACP group.


African Union Identification Study

Following initial talks with DG Development, staff from the ECDPM visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-2002 to meet key stakeholders at the EU Delegation, the OAU Secretariat Transition Team, and the UNDP. They also attended an OAU civil-society conference. The prime aim of this exploratory visit was to see how the Centre could assist the European Commission and the African Union in identifying areas for collaboration and support. A further half-day seminar at DG Development explored the implications of the formation of the African Union for existing regional integration processes in Africa. Towards the end of the year, the ECDPM signed a contract with the EU and the AU, under which the Centre will be conducting a formal Identification Study on EC support to the AU in early 2003.

Seminar in Cape Verde Aim of the seminar The aim of the seminar was to discuss a range of the current major debates in the external relations in Cape Verde with a particular emphasis on relations with the European Union. The participants examined Cape Verde's situation, as a small island nation on the West African coast, and its relations with Europe as part of the ACP group. Because of the natural and economic vulnerability, the country still belongs to the LDC Group although GDP is amongst the highest in Africa. Cape Verde is however well placed in terms of standards of good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Elections are held regularly. High level participants The seminar attracted a high level of participants including the prime minister at the opening session, various ministers, diplomats and high level civil servants and the president of the National Assembly at the closing session. Officials included staff from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Agriculture, Justice and Immigration and other participants included NGO and civil society representatives.

Actors of Partnership

Last year's headlines

Programmes designed to support non-state actors in many ACP countries

ACP Secretariat and EC seek to clarify modalities of NSA participation


Broadening participation to non-state actors (civil society, private sector, etc.) is a key innovation of the Cotonou Agreement. However, putting the principle of participatory development into practice will require time, experimentation, learning by doing as well as major adjustments in the ways development cooperation is conceived and implemented. The Actors of Partnership programme of the ECDPM aims to facilitate the process of mainstreaming new actors into the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in ways that (i) maintain the legitimate roles of government; and (ii) focus on improving cooperation between state and non-state actors (NSAs). In addition to maintaining contacts with strategic partners and networks, the programme did research on modalities for effective public-private dialogue in policy processes; organised seminars for parliamentarians; and continued to work on issues of decentralisation and local governance.


Strategic partnership and networking

Promoting participatory development in ACP-EU cooperation is a tall order. Both official ACP-EU parties (including the Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Economic and Social Committee) as well as non-state actors themselves have a critical role to play in this at global, regional and national level. The Actors programme aims to complement and where requested, to facilitate the efforts undertaken by these different actors. To this end, it has developed extensive networks as well as strategic partnerships with NSAs in the ACP. In the latter category, the Centre has worked the ACP Civil Society Forum and the ACP Business Forum. It has continued to facilitate the consolidation of the ACP Local Government Platform, amongst others by helping representatives of ACP local government bodies to enter into dialogue and cooperation with different ACP-EU official bodies. In this context, the ECDPM further developed its strategic alliance with the Partenariat pour le Développement Municipal (PDM), an African-led institution promoting decentralisation and local development In the years to come, the ECDPM wants to expand the number of strategic partnerships with a view to sharing experiences and pooling resources in promoting participatory development. This holds particularly true for newly created NSA platforms in ACP countries where the ECDPM has developed actitivities (e.g. Benin, Guinea, the Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe).

Part of our networking consists of providing expert inputs into several seminars organised by others. The ECDPM staff thus attended a seminar organised by various DGs of the European Commission on development policy for the 10 candidate Member States (Brussels, 17-19 July 2002). They gave presentations entitled ’The contribution of European NGOs and Civil Society’ and ‘The participation of non-state actors in the implementation of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.’


Public-private dialogue

The ECDPM continued to support the pilot project run by the ACP Business Forum on structured public-private sector dialogue. A number of case studies on this topic were performed with the Centre's assistance in Barbados, Botswana and Senegal. A case study was also performed on capacity-building for private-sector intermediary bodies, with the Southern African Enterprise Network forming the case in point. The Centre was also actively involved in the development of the Fiji Islands Business Forum (September 2002). The ECDPM began the preparatory planning work for a conference in 2003 for the ACP tourist industry. The aim of the conference is to develop a common ACP position on services for the trade negotiations.

The ECDPM helped to prepare and organise the 1st ACP-EU Private Sector Conference, which was held in Brussels in May 2002. Centre staff presented a keynote paper on how to operationalise the Cotonou Partnership Agreement for the private sector. The conference adopted an ACP-EU action plan for the private sector and an ACP private sector declaration. These were both submitted to the ACP-EU political institutions.


Decentralised cooperation in sectors

Decentralised cooperation is another label for development programmes based on participatory approaches. The ECDPM has continued to promote this approach, mainly in the sector of cultural cooperation. This project started in 2000 with support of the EC. It aimed to explore how a bottom-up, participatory approach could be applied to formulating and implementing cultural development programmes in the ACP. A concluding regional workshop was held in May which was attended by over 60 actors (i.e. representatives of government, decentralised cultural actors and five EC Delegations), who together planned a number of future cultural cooperation programmes. The workshop took place in Dakar, Senegal. A field mission to Ghana helped to set up a 'Programme Soutien Initiatives Culturelles' (PSIC), which is a national NSA programme under the 9th EDF. The cultural cooperation project is due to end at the beginning of 2003.


Promoting civil-society participation in ACP-EU cooperation

As an independent organisation, the ECDPM seeks to mainstream participation by supporting and facilitating dialogue between different institutional actors (i.e. the ACP Secretariat, the EC, the EU Presidencies, EU Member States, and the Economic and Social Committee) and the broad NSA community in both ACP countries and Europe. The Centre organised two informal meetings in 2002 to exchange practical experiences with NSA participation and to jointly identify improved implementation strategies.

The Centre links policy work with field experiences by performing case studies that give snapshots of national experiences (as in the case of Chad and Guinea), and by supporting national processes and the EC Delegation.

CHAD Chad established a national platform known as OANET (Organisation des Acteurs Non Etatiques), which consists of elected representatives from the main groupings of national civil society, such as the media, the women's movement, trade unions, technical associations and universities, the private sector and the environmental lobby. Set up with the aim of improving and structuring NSA involvement in EC operations in Chad, it was formed with EC support during country strategy consultations on the 9th EDF. It has since opened a permanent secretariat and also helped to formulate a regional NSA strategy for ACP-EU cooperation in Central Africa. A report summarising the origins and progress of the OANET will be published in February 2003. GUINEA In April 2002, the ECDPM studied the civil-society participation process in Guinea and its impact on Guinea-EU cooperation, in particular in relation to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. A Conseil National des Organisations de la Société Civile Guinéenne was created in February, following a year-long national dialogue on civil-society participation. With a membership consisting of networks covering a wide range of NSAs, the Council has become a national interlocutor in public-private dialogue and aims to build the capacities of its members and enhance its advocacy role. As the main Guinean body for coordinating consultation among civil-society organisations, it is responsible for funding and will be seeking to strengthen its legitimacy. A brief setting out the study's main outcomes will be published in March 2003.

Support for pilot programmes in ACP countries

The ECDPM facilitated a three-month dialogue process with Sudanese NSAs. This process included seminars attended by actors from both northern and southern Sudan (contacted in Nairobi, Kenya) attempted to map NSAs in secondary Sudanese cities. Validation seminars were held in Khartoum and Nairobi in May. The second phase focused on future EC-funded NSA capacity-building programmes and on the two action plans produced by two NSA committees.

An institutional analysis of non-state actors in Kenya, funded by DFID Eastern Africa (Kenya) in collaboration with the EC Delegation, focused on state-civil society interactions and the role of NSAs in influencing pro-poor policies. A team of ECDPM staff and national consultants carried out a study between July and September 2002. The work involved three case studies on primary education, budget processes and the private sector.

Networking* • ACP Civil Society Forum • ACP Business Forum • ACP Local Government Forum • Commonwealth Local Government Forum • Conseil National des Organisations de la Société Civile Guinéenne • l'Organisation des Acteurs Non Etatiques (OANET) • NSA Committees in the Sudan (North and South) • Non-State Actors Forum (Zimbabwe) * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

Seminars for ACP parliamentarians

With ongoing support from the Belgian Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGCI) and the Secretary of State for Development in Belgium, the ECDPM organised seminars for ACP parliamentarians in Niger in May and Rwanda in June, with Benin and Senegal following in October. The seminars informed the parliamentarians about the new Cotonou Partnership Agreement and explored its practical implications for their countries. It was also an opportunity for initiating dialogue with the parliamentarians about their role in implementing and monitoring the CPA.


Decentralisation and local economic development

In the framework of its research and capacity-building activities on decentralisation and local development, the ECDPM continued to monitor two multi-actor dialogue processes on local economic development in two Malian towns, Ségou and Sikasso, as part of the ECOLOC programme. This programme, which is piloted by the Cotonou-based Programme de Développement Municipal/ Afrique de l'ouest et centrale (PDM) and the West Africa Club of the OECD, aims to strengthen local governments' capacities to promote multi-actor dialogue on local economic development, including the definition of strategies for local economic development in West African cities. In its role as an independent observer, the ECDPM contributed to both exercises. The Centre prepared a presentation summarising observations on experiences with participation, for a regional restitution seminar organised by the PDM in Grand Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire, in April 2002. Centre staff also supplied comments on and suggestions for methodological guidelines and a restitution seminar with donor representatives in June 2002.


Nordic donors' approaches to decentralisation

The ECDPM conducted a number of interviews in which various Fins, Swedes and Danes were asked to describe their approaches to decentralisation. The Centre completed a case study of Guinea in November; publication is planned for 2003.


SWAps and decentralisation

The Centre studied the relationship between sector-wide approaches (SWAps) and decentralisation in Uganda, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso and Bolivia. The purpose of these studies is to help formulate policy recommendations, and thus foster greater cohesion and complementarity in the design and implementation of sector programmes and support for decentralisation and non-state actors. The project was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGCI) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV). The results of the studies will be discussed during a policy seminar in early 2003. The initial findings of the Ugandan case study were presented at a Forum on Accountability and Risk Management Under Programme-Based Approaches, held in Ottawa, Canada.


Effects and impact of EU support for decentralisation and local development

Following the conclusion of several activities relating to decentralisation and local governance, the ECDPM launched a multi-annual activity to monitor and evaluate European support for decentralisation and local governance. This study seeks to analyse different approaches to assessing the effects of development cooperation, and to look into monitoring and evaluation strategies and practice in three ACP countries: Burkina Faso, Mali and South Africa. The work performed in 2002 involved performing a literature search, designing a general methodology and undertaking initial fieldwork in Burkina Faso.

Knowledge Sharing Janssens-Bevernage, A. 2002. Capacity-Building for Private-Sector Development: The SAEN. Discussion Paper No. 38. Land, A. 2002. Structured Public-Private Sector Dialogue: The Experience of Botswana. Discussion Paper No. 37. Loquai, C. 2001. Strategic Priorities and Operational Cahllanges for European Support for Democratic Decentralisation in the Context of the New ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. Discussion Paper No. 24. Loquai, C. 2002. Décentralisation et réduction de la pauvreté, Perception des liens dans les politiques et les pratiques, Étude de cas portant sur la République de Guinée. Document de réflexion nº 32. Cotonou Newsletter No. 4. Local Governments in ACP-EU Cooperation. May 2002. Nouvelles de Cotonou nº 4. Les gouvernements locaux dans la cooperation ACP-UE. May 2002. Cotonou Newsletter No. 5. Global Responsibility for Development: the priorities of the Danish EU Presidency. September 2002. Nouvelles de Cotonou nº 5. Le développement: une responsabilité mondiale. Les priorités de la présidence danoise de l'UE. September 2002. Cotonou Newsletter No. 6. Europe as a Global Player? December 2002. Nouvelles de Cotonou nº 6. L'Europe, un acteur mondial? December 2002. ECDPM. Capacity for 'Voice'. Capacity.org. Issue 15, October 2002. ECDPM. Pouvoir faire entendre sa voix. Capacity.org. Numéro 15, October 2002. ECDPM, 2002. Operationalising the private-sector provisions of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. Brussels, 15-17 May 2003. ECDPM, 2002. Mettre en oeuvre les dispositions de l'accord de partenariat de Cotonou sur le secteur prive, Brussels, 15-17 May 2003.

Internal Donor Reform

Last year's headlines

International community continues the debate about the nature of aid (DAC, February 2002)

LENPA Conference provided productive networking on programme-based approaches ( May 2002)


The debate on how to improve the quality of development assistance of the EU and its Member States continues in numerous international fora. The EU is in the process of reforming its own structure, mechanisms and approaches to providing quality of development assistance to the ACP countries. In this regard, the ECDPM's study on the pooling of technical assistance had a strong impact, and influenced the policy debate among a range of donors.


Study on the pooling of technical assistance

Building on the 2001 study on the harmonisation of technical assistance, the Centre performed a number of complementary activities in 2002. Five case studies were published, three (on Botswana, Ethiopia and Mozambique) under the Centre's own name and two (on Tanzania and Uganda) under the aegis of the Economic and Social Research Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which had performed the original research in these countries. The Centre also prepared a shorter version of the main report, containing operational recommendations aimed at practitioners in the field.

This pooling study forms the groundwork for the Centre's research programme focusing on how capacity develops and links up with performance.

ESRF in Tanzania led first debate on pooling of technical assistance The Dar-es-Salam based Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) hosted the first workshop in September on the results of the study on the pooling of technical assistance. The purpose of the workshop was to look at the relevance of the overall study and how useful recommendations on joint funding and resource sharing for government defined technical assistance could be incorporated into national processes of policy and procedural change. The overall study was based on series of case studies in Botswana, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. Representatives from these six countries participated in the workshop and expressed a strong interest for similar workshops in each country involved in the case studies.

Research into best practices in capacity development

Under the aegis of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, the ECDPM is managing a major research programme on how capacity develops and ties in with performance. This study, which will take about 18 months to complete, is intended to produce new insights into how capacity develops locally, as opposed to how it may be generated by external agents such as donors. It should also produce tools and frameworks that can assist practitioners in the field, such as guidelines for assessing existing capacity and for analysing an organisation's readiness to undergo major change. Special attention will be devoted to the question of how organisations should develop capacity for addressing common problems.

The inception report, outlining the rationale for the study, the expected outcomes, the methodology, and forthcoming activities, is available for inspection on the ECDPM's website, which is where other relevant documents will also be posted.




UNDP study on the reforming of technical cooperation

The ECDPM continued to support a UNDP study entitled 'Reforming Technical Cooperation'. The Centre provided web services and organised an e-conference, the third in a series, in October-November 2002. Another component of the study was an issue of Capacity.org focusing on some of the study's preliminary findings. In addition, Centre staff participated in an advisory group and in a Round Table conference held in Accra, Ghana. The ECDPM continued to provide advice on various operational aspects.


EC aid reform

The Centre helped the Spanish presidency define its strategic standpoint for the EC aid reform debate. DFID also asked the Centre to prepare and present a background paper on indicators and performance monitoring for a European Parliament seminar on meeting the millennium goals for poverty reduction. As background material for this seminar, the ECDPM commissioned a paper examining the progress made by the EU in alleviating poverty.


Promoting EU cohesion on the ground

The ECDPM prepared a paper on intra-EU coordination, to be published in early 2003, that looks at the gap in the European political debate between the 'myth' of non-coordination and the 'reality', which is that there is in fact considerable coordination. However the EU needs to define its value added and to increase activity in these areas. A second paper, also to be published in 2003, will examine the challenge of European coordination in a multilateral context.


Support for international NGOs

The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) asked the ECDPM to provide inputs for strategy discussions on its future policy and involvement in sector-wide approaches. The Centre produced a paper, which will be discussed by the SNV in early 2003.


Accountability

Centre staff took part in a forum on accountability and risk management sponsored by the Learning Network on Programme-Based Approaches (LENPA). This included chairing a session on institutional development. The aim of the forum was to provide an opportunity for representatives of funding agencies engaged in programme-based approaches to reflect on the accountability issues that arise from such approaches and to identify suitable risk-management strategies. Programme-based approaches imply that the partner country is in charge, which creates major challenges for donors in terms of how to organise themselves and carry out their mandates.

Networking* • African Capacity-Building Foundation (ACBF) • Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) • Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Development (CAPAM) • Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) • Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) • International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) • Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) • Learning Network on Programme-Based Approaches (LENPA) • Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) • Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) • Tanzania Public Sector Reform Programme • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

Knowledge Sharing Baser, H. and P. Morgan., 2002. Harmonising the Provision of Technical Assistance: Finding the Right Balance and Avoiding the New Religion. Discussion Paper No. 36. Baser, H. and P. Morgan., 2002. Harmoniser la fourniture d'assistance technique : trouver un juste équilibre sans verser dans le dogme. Document de réflexion nº 36. Baser, H. and P. Morgan., 2002. Harmonizar o Fornecimento de Assistência Técnica: encontrar o equilíbrio justo e evitar a nova religião. Documento de reflexão 36. Hauck, V. 2002. Building capacities of political parties in Southern Africa: Reviewing the strategy of the Netherlands. Presented at the International Conference entitled 'Network democracy: Enhancing the Role of Parties'. The Hague, 24 -25 April 2001. Land, A. 2002. Taking Charge of Technical Cooperation. The Experience of Botswana: A Case of a Country in the Driver's Seat. Discussion Paper No. 34. Lehtinen, T. 2002. Measuring the Performance of EC Development Cooperation: Lessons from the Experiences of International Development Agencies. Discussion Paper No. 41. Lehtinen, T. 2002. The Coordination of European Development Cooperation in the Field: Myth or Reality? Discussion Paper No. 43. Lehtinen, T. 2002. Implementing EC Development Policy: Debates and Emerging Approaches to Poverty Reduction. ECDPM Brief. Pavignani, E. and V. Hauck. 2002. Pooling of Technical Assistance in Mozambique: Innovative Practices and Challenges. Discussion Paper No. 39. Pavignani, E. and V. Hauck. 2002. Agrupamento da Assistência técnica no âmbito da reforma da gestão da ajuda em Moçambique. Documento de reflexão 39. Shimeles, Worku. 2002. Pooling of Technical Assistance in the Context of Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps): Ethiopian Case Study. Discussion Paper No. 42. Van Reisen, M. 2002. Directing EU Policy Towards Poverty Eradication: From Commitments to Targets to Results. Discussion Paper No. 35. Wangwe, S.M. and G. Kasumba. 2002. Study on Pooling of Technical Assistance in the Context of Sector-Wide Approaches: The Case of Uganda. ESRF Discussion Paper No. 31. Wangwe, S.M. and L. Madete. 2002. Pooling of Technical Assistance in the Context of Sector-Wide Approaches in Tanzania. ESRF Discussion Paper No. 32. ECDPM. Pooling of Technical Assistance. Capacity.org. Issue 12, January 2002. ECDPM. Agrupamento da Assistência Técnica. Capacity.org. Edição no. 12, Janeiro 2002. ECDPM. La mise en commun de l'assistance technique. Capacity.org, Numéro 12, Janvier 2002. ECDPM. Capacity for Development: Insights and Innovation. Capacity.org. Issue 14, July 2002. ECDPM. Les capacities pour le développement: apercus et innovation. Capacity.org. Numéro 14, juillet 2002. ECDPM. Capacidad para el desarrollo: Conceptos e innovación. Capacity.org. Número 14, Julio de 2002.

Communication and Information

Last year's headlines

Preparations start for 2003 World Summit on information society

UN launches African diaspora network for ICTs


Information is becoming more competitive. Not only is the quality of information improving but so too is the quantity and the sources of information. However, access remains unequal. In this competing environment, the ECDPM strengthened its internal and external communication processes by matching its technology with the informational and learning needs of the key stakeholders in ACP-EU cooperation. The main focus last year was on developing a strategy for communication, information and technology, and on streamlining existing systems.


Programme development

Last year saw the finalisation of a communication, information and technology strategy, which will form the basis for the work programme for the next two years. The Centre streamlined its internal systems to focus on external outreach and knowledge-sharing, and also produced an editorial style guide.

The ECDPM completed initial research into the role of ICT in relation to Country Strategy Papers and the National Indicative Programmes for the ACP countries. This project will be expanded in 2003.


Public information

The Centre's publications and website remain its key outreach activities. Over the year, 37,479 publications were distributed to policy-makers and practitioners in EU and ACP countries. Of these, 25,316 were sent out via targeted mailing lists. A further 12,163 publications were disseminated via workshops or seminars. ECDPM publications continue to be represented in ELAND, which is an electronic library database hosted by EADI and embracing seven development research institutes.

The OneSiteEurope group continued to manage the contacts database, which contains data on 6,000 key organisations in development. The OECD Development Centre has contributed an additional 400 names to the list. The OSE group comprises the ECDPM, Euforic, CIDSE, IICD, the OECD Development Centre and EADI.
The content management system and the design of the website were both finalised in the course of the year. The new website should be ready for launch early in January 2003. The web statistics reveal an upward trend in the number of visitors. In the first few months, www.ecdpm.org had approximately 3,500 hits per month. This increased to 12,000 hits per month by the end of the year. On average, 1,000 new visitors accessed the website every month.

Networking* • All Africa Global Media • Accacia Program Initiative for Southern Africa • Association for Progressive Communications (APC) • Bellanet • Centre de relaciones internacionales y cooperación internacional (Fundació CIDOB) • Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE) • East African Newspaper • Eland • International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) • L'institut universitaire d'études du développement (IUED) • Makerere University, Uganda • Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) • National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) • OneWorld International and Africa • Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) • South African Broadcasting Corporation online • South African Non Governmental Network (SANGONET) • University of South Africa (UNISA) • Women's Network of Uganda (WOUGNET) * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

ECDPM outreach in statistics


Publications

Over the year, the cluster has reduced the number of types of publications to four main groups. The following graph indicates the number of copies distributed by publication type.



The ECDPM distributes publications to recipients in both EU (50%, 12,564) and ACP countries (50%, 12,752). The graphs on the following pages show the destinations of most of its publications.


In the chart above, the 19% for Belgium may be split into 39% to ACP representation based in Brussels, 35% for the European Union and its institutions and 27% for Belgian organisations.




Website

The following pie charts indicate the origin of visitors to the ECDPM's website, in terms of regions and countries. The web statistics are based on visitors who come with country distinct addresses (.be, .nl, .fr) and those who visit with organisational type distinct addresses:

.edu educational organisations
.org international organisations
.net mainly NGO type organisations
.com mainly commercial organisations

'The rest' category applies to non EU or ACP countries.



One percent of those visiting the website were from ACP countries. Of these, 42% were from South Africa as indicated in the chart below.

The Europe-Wide Congress on Global Education The North-South Centre Congress in November 2002 brought together practitioners and policy-makers from Europe to outline a global education strategy. Using a unique quadrilogue process, the delegates comprised members of government, parliamentarians, local and regional authorities and civil society from the 44 member states of the council of Europe. At the end of the two day conference, the delegates declared themselves willing to pursue ongoing consultations both with each other and with the Southern countries. The North-South Centre, which is based in Lisbon, Portugal, coordinated the event, with the ECDPM acting as a local partner. The Congress was attended by over 200 European and Southern delegates.

Capacity.org newsletter and website

Four issues of the Capacity.org newsletters (in both electronic and hard-copy versions) were published in both English and French in 2002. The website received an average of 5,500 visits per month, and the newsletter was distributed electronically and in hard-copy form to approximately 3,000 addresses each quarter. The website also hosted an electronic discussion platform that provided inputs for the UNDP project on Reforming Technical Cooperation for Capacity Development.


Cotonou Newsletter

The Cotonou Newsletter aims to provide brief updates on essential evolutions in ACP-EU cooperation for a broad, often non-specialized audience. Building on a tradition that goes back to the start of the Post-Lomé IV negotiations, the ECDPM produced three issues of the newsletter in 2002 (in an English and French version). These were widely disseminated in hard copy across the ACP and the EU. Efforts were made to complement the coverage of Cotonou issues with other topics that may also have a major (indirect) impact on ACP-EU cooperation (e.g. changing political climate towards international cooperation in the EU).


Hosting services

In 2002 the Centre sought alternative arrangements for some of its hosting activities. Some hosting services (QuickSite and the Euforic library database) will continue in a different form with another provider. In 2003 ECDPM will continue hosting the shared contacts database (OneSiteEurope) as well as Eland.
Information technology

The Centre completed the process of upgrading its ICT systems, and linked up and equipped its Brussels office in September.


Euforic

The ECDPM continues to be an active member of Euforic, a cooperative of 55 development institutions, providing a web-based platform for exchange and interaction on development policy issues through co-branding of information products with its membership. During the year, Euforic achieved greater autonomy after a joint re-assessment of its operational and administrative ties with the ECDPM.


EzSubscriptions

The EzSubscriptions.net offers a subscription service for the international development community. The project seeks to help individuals requiring an overview of e-mail newsletters, who would like an easy way of subscribing and unsubscribing electronically. It also enables organisations to promote their e-mail newsletters among a wider audience. The initial functional testing was completed in December 2002, with the next phases planned for 2003.

Knowledge Sharing ECDPM. 2002. Revised version of the Cotonou Infokit. ECDPM. 2002. Version revisée de l'Infokit. ECDPM. 2002. Annual Report 2001. ECDPM. 2002. Rapport Annuel 2001. ECDPM. 2002. The Centre Realigns its Strategy. Highlights of 2001. ECDPM. 2002. Le Centre réajuste sa stratégie. Points clés 2001.

Strategy and Innovation

Last year's headlines

With ten accession counties joining the EU in 2003, the implications for development cooperation gained focus

International organisations and networks evaluated progress and learning strategies


The aim of the Strategy and Innovation cluster is to foster strategic debate, innovation and learning among partners, associates and networks. By establishing and facilitating communities of practice on strategic issues, it aims to consolidate expertise and methods, and to generate new ideas.

During the year, the cluster worked on the ECDPM's approach and methodology, country strategy evaluations, knowledge, learning and network management, and institutional relations, and helped to develop policy on research capacity development in the ACP.

How can we learn more from what we do? Last December 12 and 13, an expert workshop was organised by the ECDPM and Exchange in Maastricht on the subjects of learning, evaluation and evidence-based communications for development. One of the conclusions of the meeting was that Evaluation is a powerful tool. For ‘what we do’, as recorded and assessed in evaluations, to have any real societal impact, initiatives also need to spur, facilitate and adapt to learning and change processes in our own organisations, among our partners and in society at large. The request came from workshop participants to continue debating online, but with a desire to develop a sustainable community of practice. The ECDPM and Exchange are therefore preparing to launch an open online community through the dGroups. It would be professionally run community, with dedicated group of moderators and facilitators. It would also be a multilingual debate, offering bi-weekly summaries in French and Spanish. It would link regularly into other evaluation debates like Leap and Evaltica.

Approach and methodology

The process of streamlining the Centre's approach and methodology was initiated in 2002, and will continue in 2003.


EU country strategy evaluations

The ECDPM was part of a team working on the EU's country strategy evaluations of South Africa and Morocco.


Knowledge, learning and network management

In 2002, the Centre initiated a practical research study on knowledge management, governance and development. Centre staff produced an article on the subject that was
written in collaboration with the Farmer Support Group,
South Africa. Various tentative ideas for a Global Knowledge Systems Research Program were presented at the request of IDRC, Canada.

The Centre headed a team of specialists, including senior experts from Agraria, Chile, in a strategic assessment of global networking, communication and regionalisation by ILEIA - an international programme of low-external-input and sustainable agriculture. This included undertaking a thorough analysis of publishing, networking, learning and policy initiatives relating to the global LEISA Magazine and its Latin American and Indian editions. These reach 19,000 subscribers world-wide, half of whom are in ACP countries.


Learning from evaluations

With support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ECDPM conducted a study on how to enhance learning through evaluation. This began with a literature review and concluded with a networking workshop in December 2002. It was organised in conjunction with Exchange, a communications network based in the United Kingdom. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the resulting paper at the European Evaluation Society's annual meeting in Seville, Spain, in October 2002.


Demanding innovation

The papers presented at the highly successful 'Demanding Innovation' conference held at the end of 2001 were published in 2002. The Centre acted as an observer at the ACP Technical Meeting and the ACP Ministerial Meeting and helped to facilitate the joint ACP-EU Technical Meeting on Research and Development in Cape Town, South Africa, in July. The meetings recognised the need for demand-oriented research, effective participation of stakeholders, national policy surveys and multi-stakeholder science and technology policy development and implementation.


External representation

The main focus in 2002 was on strengthening institutional relations with the ACP Secretariat, the EU presidencies, the EU, the European national donor agencies and partner organisations in Europe. In addition, the ECDPM staff attended several conferences, workshops and meetings, such as the IFAP World Conference in Egypt, the EADI conference on EU enlargement and development, Slovenia, and the SID World Conference, Tanzania.

Networking* • Bellanet • CIET • CERES • Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) • European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) • Exchange • International Development Research Centre (IDRC) • International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) • International Programme on Low-External Input and sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) • North South Centre • Society for International Development (SID) • UNICEF * Organisations and institutions with which the ECDPM has sustained contacts of particular relevance to strategic objectives.

Knowledge Sharing Engel, P. & Carlsson, C. 2002. Enhancing learning through evaluation: Approaches, dilemmas and some possible ways forward. In: Proceedings of the European Evaluation Society, Annual Conference, Seville, 2002. Engel, P. & Salomon, M. 2002. Cognition, development and governance: some lessons form knowledge systems research and practices. In: Wheelbarrows full of frogs, 2002. Prof. C. Leeuwis/Rhiannon Pyburn (eds). Koninklijke van Grocum. Greenidge, C. and R. Engelhard. 2002. The Need for an ACP-EU Policy Dialogue on Science and Technology for Development in ACP Countries. Policy Management Brief 15. Greenidge, C. and R. Engelhard. 2002. La nécessité d'un dialoque politique ACP-UE sur la science et la technologie pour le développement dans les pays ACP. Notice de gestion des politiques de développement 15. Nair, K.K. and V. Menon. 2002. Capacity Building for Demand-led Research: Issues and Priorities, Policy Management Brief 14. Nair, K.K. and V. Menon. 2002. Renforcement des capacités de recherche pilotée par l'aval: problèmatiques et priorités, Notice de gestion des politiques de développement 14.

Human Resources

Linkages across clusters

The reorganisation initiated in 2001 was finalised in 2002. Programme staff were consolidated into clusters around 'key themes' and 'crosscutting issues'. The fact that staff are members of several different clusters at the same time ensures strong personal linkages across the organisation.

To optimise its outreach and impact as a small organisation, the Centre continued to extend its network of programme associates and partner organisations, making use of external sources of expertise, such as consultants and young research assistants (students).


Joint appointments

The ECDPM continued its joint appointments with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Instituto de Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais (IEEI) in Lisbon, with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the United Kingdom, and with the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) in the Netherlands.


Management team

Dr Paul Engel, Director
Mr Jean Bossuyt, Head of Strategic Development and Programme Coordinator, Actors of Partnership
Mr Geert Laporte, Head of Institutional Relations and Programme Coordinator, ACP-EU Trade Relations
Ms Heather Baser, Programme Coordinator, Internal Donor Reform
Dr James Mackie, Programme Coordinator, Political Dimensions
Ms Bridget McBean, Senior Communication and Information Specialist
Mr Volker Hauck, Senior Programme Officer
Mr Roland Lemmens, Head of Finance, Human Resources and Logistics Support
Ms Raymunde Neven, Executive Assistant


Cluster team members and Programme Associates

ACP-EU Trade Relations
Mr Geert Laporte, Programme Coordinator
Ms Kathleen Van Hove, Programme Officer
Dr Sanoussi Bilal, Programme Officer / Research Fellow; joint appointment with ODI
Ms Raymunde Neven, Executive Assistant

Political Dimensions of Partnership
Dr James Mackie, Programme Coordinator
Ms Terhi Lehtinen, Programme Officer
Ms Patrícia Magalhães Ferreira, Programme Officer; joint appointment with IEEI
Ms Sabine Mertens, Executive Assistant
Ms Anne Simon, Programme Associate

Actors of Partnership
Mr Jean Bossuyt, Programme Coordinator
Ms Charlotte Carlsson, Programme Officer
Ms Gwénaëlle Corre, Junior Programme Officer
Mr Volker Hauck, Senior Programme Officer
Mr Geert Laporte, Programme Coordinator
Ms Christiane Loquai, Programme Officer
Ms Sabine Mertens, Executive Assistant
Ms Isabelle Bosman, Programme Associate
Ms Caroline Valette, Programme Associate
Ms Anne Simon, Programme Associate

Internal Donor Reform
Ms Heather Baser, Programme Coordinator
Mr Volker Hauck, Senior Programme Officer
Ms Anje Kruiter, Programme Officer
Ms Judith den Hollander, Executive Assistant
Ms Terhi Lehtinen, Programme Officer
Dr Tony Land, Programme Associate
Mr Peter Morgan, Programme Associate

Communication and Information
Ms Bridget McBean, Senior Communication and Information Specialist
Ms Pia Brand, Publications Officer
Ms Jacquie Dias, Information Assistant
Dr Paul Engel, Director
Mr Volker Hauck, Senior Programme Officer
Mr Klaus Hoefsloot, ICT Manager
Mr Ivan Kulis, Programme Officer; joint appointment with IICD
Mr Dave Lieveld, ICT Assistant
Mr Jacques van Laar, on appointment from Euforic
Ms Raymunde Neven, Executive Assistant
Mr Chris Addison, Programme Associate
Mr Rutger Engelhard, Programme Associate
Ms Melissa Julian, Programme Associate

Strategy and Innovation
Dr Paul Engel, Director
Mr Jean Bossuyt, Head of Strategic Development and Programme Coordinator, Actors of Partnership
Ms Charlotte Carlsson, Programme Officer
Mr Volker Hauck, Senior Programme Officer
Mr Geert Laporte, Head of Institutional Relations and Programme Coordinator, ACP-EU Trade Relations
Ms Raymunde Neven, Executive Assistant
Mr Rutger Engelhard, Programme Associate

Finance, Human Resources and Logistics Support Staff
Mr Roland Lemmens, Head Finance and Human Resources
Peter van 't Wout, Administrative Officer
Ms Floor Hameleers, Administrative Officer
Ms Hanske Kamphuis, Administrative Officer
Ms Ghita Salvino, Executive Assistant
Mr Bèr Wintgens, Steward
Ms Léonne Willems, Human Resources Officer


Members of the Board

Mr L. Cumberbatch
Chair
Chair of the Board Executive Committee

Ms E. Ankumah
Executive Director, Africa Legal Aid

Mr D. Frisch²
Chair of the Board Programme Committee

Mr P.I. Gomes
Director, Caribbean Centre for Development Administration
Member of the Board Programme Committee

H.E. Mr J.-R. Goulongana
Secretary-General, ACP Secretariat
Vice-Chair

Mr J. Issa-Sayegh³
Professor, Universities of Nice and Abidjan
Member of the Board Programme Committee

Mr J.T.A.M Jeurissen
Board Consultant, BPMT Pension Fund
Member of the Board Executive Committee

Mr R. Makoond
Executive Director, Joint Economic Council

Mr B. Olowu
Institute of Social Studies
Member of the Board Programme Committee

H.E. Mr D.A.C. Saunders³
Ambassador of Jamaica to the European Union

Ms M.J.A. van Putten
Inspection Panel, World Bank
Vice-Chair
Member of the Board Executive Committee
Member of the Board Programme Committee

Mr B.J.M. Baron van Voorst tot Voorst
Queen's Commissioner for the Province of Limburg
Member of the Board Executive Committee


Financial report

Auditor's report

An interim audit was conducted in October 2002. The end-of-year report was found to present a true and fair view of the Centre's financial position.


Income

Core funding from the Dutch government continues to form 40% of the Centre's annual income. However, with interest rates having remained consistently low since 1999, core income declined to a low in 2002. In the light of this long-term trend, the Centre's financial strategy is aimed at increasing the non-core proportion of its funding base. During the year, the Centre renewed its programme agreements with Finland, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal and signed a new agreement with Switzerland. Project funding remained stable. The pie chart below indicates the percentage shares of core, programme and project funding in the Centre's funding base in 2002.



Looking at the projected trends in core and non-core funding over a six-year period, the outlook is for the turnaround in the funding profile achieved in 2002 to continue in 2003. The trend over the past five years is shown in the following graph, together with the projected trend for 2003.



Expenditure

Increases in external funding generally correspond with higher operational spending. Hence, expenditure on programme activities increased in line with the rise in external funding in 2002.

As in 2001, the most important obstacle to an increase in externally funded activities is the Centre's absorption capacity. This problem was solved in part by hiring more external consultants, by entering into long-term contracts with associate staff and by raising the number of short-term employment contracts, including internships. This trend will be continued in 2003. Greater synergy between programmes and activities will be sought, so as to increase the Centre's efficiency.











Auditor's report

Introduction
We have audited the 2002 financial statements of the European Centre for Development Policy Management of Maastricht, the Netherlands. These financial statements are the responsibility of the organisation's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

Scope
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the Netherlands. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Opinion
In our opinion, the financial statements of the European Centre for Development Policy Management give a true and fair view of the financial position of the organisation as of 31 December 2002 and of the result for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the Netherlands.


For Deloitte & Touche Accountants,
L.M.M.H. Banser RA RC

Maastricht, 11 March 2003
LB/JD-5819263-01


List of acronyms

ACP African, Caribbean and Pacific
AERC Africa Economic Research Consortium
AIF Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie
ALADIN Association for Law and Administration in Developing and Transition Countries
AU African Union
CARICOM Caribbean Community
CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
CPA Cotonou Partnership Agreement
CTA Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation
CZI Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
DAC Development Assistance Committee of the OECD
DFID Department for International Development (UK)
DGCI Directorate-General for International Cooperation (Belgium)
DGIS Directorate-General for International Cooperation (the Netherlands)
EADI European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes
EC European Commission
ECOLOC Économies locales (French)
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
ECDPM European Centre for Development Policy Management
EDF European Development Fund
EPA Economic Partnership Agreement
EU European Union
EUFORIC Europe's Forum on International Cooperation
EU-LDC European Union and developing countries
GRESEA Groupe de recherche pour une stratégie économique alternative
GTZ German Technical Cooperation Agency
ICP Instituto da Cooperação Portuguesa
ICT Information and Communication Technologies
ICTSD International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
IICD International Institute for Communication and Development
IEEI Instituto de Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais
IFAP International Federation for Agricultural Producers
IGC Inter-governmental Conference
ILEAP International Lawyers and Economists against Poverty
ILEIA Centre for Information on Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture
INZET Association for North-South Campaigns
JPA Joint Parliamentary Assembly
M&E Monitoring and evaluation
MERCOSUR Common market between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay
NGDO Non-governmental development organisation
NEI Netherlands Economic Institute
NGO Non-governmental organisation
NSA Non-state actor
OAU Organisation of African Unity
ODI Overseas Development Institute
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OSE OneSiteEurope
PDM Programme de Développement Municipal
PSIC Programme Soutien Initiatives Culturelles
SAEN Southern African Enterprise Network
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
SWAp Sector-Wide Approach
TAIECS Technical Assistance Information Exchange Office
WTO World Trade Organisation
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa


Notes

1 The composite rating is based on a weighed average of four indicators: the number of in-country visits by ECDPM staff members and associates; the number of collaborations with local consultants; the amount of publications distributed, divided by 100, and the number of web site visitors, divided by one thousand. As a result, a higher the level of interpersonal interaction means a higher the relative weight of the indicator within the composite value, providing a measure of intensity. On the basis of these composite ratings, countries were allocated to one of four categories to indicate relative levels of intensity. Category 4 corresponds to a rating equal to or larger than 10; category 3 to a rate between 6 and 9; category 2 to a rate between 3 and 5 and category 1 to a rating equal or less than 2.

2 Joined the Board in 2002

3 Left the Board in 2002