The overall goal of the Development Policy & International Relations programme is to foster debate on key EU external policy issues that affect ACP-EU relations. The ultimate aim in doing so is to help ACP, particularly African, countries and institutions derive the maximum benefit from their relations with the EU. Whilst promoting effective development cooperation is a key concern, it is also important to relate development policy to major issues in the wider arena of EU external action. In order to tackle the two policy processes systematically, and to be able to respond adequately to wider demands as they emerge, the Development Policy and International Relations Programme maintains a core knowledge base. Read more

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The Joint Africa-EU Strategy

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With the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, Europe aims to make a major effort on poverty reduction in Africa. At the same time, it appears to cut across the Union's 40-year relationship with the ACP countries. The Strategy is set to be the major overall framework for EU support to Africa in a variety of areas, including development, security, economic development and migration. Yet there some major gaps that need to be filled for it to be successful. Read more...

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Addressing the effectiveness of EU external assistance

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International agreements on aid effectiveness (like the Paris Declaration) and the European Consensus provides a framework for building a more unified and effective system of EU external aid. The current multiplicity of EU (EC & bilateral) aid programmes and procedures reduces the effectiveness of the  Union's collective effort. At the same time, the Paris Declaration encourages the European Commission and the EU Member States to re-examine these issues and enhance the effectiveness of EU aid. Read more...

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DPIR staff and their areas of expertise

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James Mackie: Programme Coordinator Andrew Sherriff: Senior Programme Officer expertise: EU-Africa relations, security-development nexus, EU peacebuilding, situations of fragility, evaluation Gwénaëlle Corre: Programme Officer expertise: EU development policy, EU aid effectiveness, Policy Coherence for Development, EU aid architecture, aid management and coordination, participatory development (NSAs, parliaments) Anje Jooya-Kruiter: Programme Officer expertise: capacity development, technical assistance, women and children in conflict areas, monitoring and evaluation Niels Keijzer: Programme Officer Expertise: Policy Coherence for Development, EU aid effectiveness, Support to decentralisation and local governance, Learning and communication for development Eleonora Köb: Programme Officer expertise: EU-Africa relations, African Peace and Security Architecture, Cotonou Partnership Agreement, EU institutional reform/ Lisbon Treaty, Policy coherence for development, security-development nexus, budget support and PFM reform, food security Faten Aggad: Programme Officer expertise: African Peer Review Mechanism, New Partnership for Africa's Development, African civil society organisations, African Union institutions Jeske van Seters: Programme Officer expertise: aid management and coordination, policy coherence for development, aid for trade, gender mainstreaming Melissa Julian: Knowledge Management Officer expertise: monitoring and reporting on activities and interactions between ACP and EU stakeholders and the ECDPM Veronika Tywuschik: Programme Assistant expertise: emerging actors in development cooperation, EU-ACP relations, Joint Africa-EU Strategy Henrike Hohmeister: Research Assistant expertise: EU development policy, Policy Coherence for Development Tilly Bogataj-De Coninck: Executive Assistant expertise: administration

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Programme news and events

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New publication from ECDPM: What next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy? Perspectives on revitalising an innovative framework The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) was conceived as an innovative and far-reaching new partnership, in Lisbon in December 2007, with the aim of transforming the relationship between the two continents. After 2 ˝ years of existence, the JAES is currently subjected to an in-depth reflection amongst the official stakeholders about its architecture and the contents of the next Action Plan. This review process could result in proposals for “significant changes” to be discussed at the next Africa-EU Ministerial Troika on the 27th of April 2010, which will come to some decisions to present to the Third EU-Africa Heads of State Summit scheduled for November 2010. ECDPM, as an independent non-partisan foundation that has followed the JAES since its inception, has sought to contribute to this process in the form of a paper scoping on what could be next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The paper seeks to refresh readers on the original commitments made in the JAES and to provide analysis on underlying successes and challenges, including upstream (political) bottlenecks. It also presents 3 possible reform scenarios for the future of the JAES as well as perspectives on how they might be achieved. Click to download the scoping paper SAIIA and ECDPM meeting - Taking Stock of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and Africa's International Relations, 11th March 2010 Towards a Joint Caribbean-EU Strategy As a small and vulnerable region, the Caribbean is likely to be even more affected by the international economic crisis and new global challenges. The Caribbean has had longstanding relations with the European Union since1975, but both are redefining their external relations priorities in the context of a rapidly evolving geopolitical scene. The challenge now it seems is to start a joint reflection process on a future partnership that enables both parties to better respond to global challenges. Caribbean integration and the future Caribbean-EU partnership is one area addressed under the recently established Memorandum of Understanding between ECDPM and the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. In the run up to the EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit of Heads of State in mid-May in Madrid, the current Spanish EU Presidency, with the support of ECDPM, will stimulate reflection on the future of the Caribbean-EU partnership. Click here to read more. Independent African monitoring report aimed at enhancing public engagement on peace and security in Africa presented to European Union officialsThe African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Protocol encourages non-governmental organisations to participate in efforts aimed at promoting peace, security and stability in Africa and feed information into the official decision-making processes of the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC). The Addis Ababa based Institute for Security Studies recently launched a monthly Peace and Security Council Report which seeks to provide independent, publicly available and informative analysis on the work of the PSC with a view to increasing capacities to be able to effectively engage with the PSC’s work. Peace and security issues in Africa are also of increasing relevance to Europe as recognised in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and EU-Africa Partnership on Peace and Security as well as in Europe’s support for the African Peace and Security Architecture. To gain access to African perspectives on peace and security, ECDPM and ISS organised a launch event for the report on 25 November in Brussels for key stakeholders. Read the report and watch the video of the opening statement "All of Government Conflict Assessment and Civil Society Consultation: Critical Reflections from Bosnia-Herzegovina” by Andrew Sherriff (2009), Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Vol. 5, No. 1. Drawing on work undertaken by Andrew Sherriff before he joined ECDPM this article reflects on the process of facilitating an "All of Government" approach to conflict assessment in Bosnia and Herzegovina including civil society engagement. It is designed to be of practical interest to those concerned with conflict assessment, conflict prevention and the engagement of civil society in donor led processes of analysis and strategising.Click here to read the report European Parliament debate on Policy Coherence for Development: An early test for the Lisbon Treaty? It has already been on a momentous journey, but the Lisbon Treaty’s entry into force on 1 December is likely to be marked by even more uncertainty, both for Europe’s internal cohesion and its place in the world. The traditional understanding of the relationship between development and other policy areas - including foreign relations and security policy - is shifting, which will necessitate further adaptation of the institutional changes that the treaty introduces. With the publication of its policy communication and second report on EU Policy Coherence for Development (PCD): Establishing the policy framework for a whole–of–the-Union approach, the European Commission acknowledges the need for political will to surmount real conflicts between domestic and developing countries' interests and that “aid alone is not sufficient” for reaching development objectives. The report calls on the EU to work on PCD as part of the ‘whole of the Union’ approach by establishing a policy framework to better harness other policies and non-ODA financial flows to development objectives. The European Parliament held a critical exchange of views on the EC’s papers in Brussels on 9 November 2009 just ahead of the European Council’s adoption of conclusions in this area. Click here to read an informal ECDPM summary of the meeting. Failed states or failed donors? In recent years the EU has demonstrated a greater commitment to respond to fragility, and has at its disposal an adequate policy ‘toolkit’ to help it apply lessons from experience, research and emerging international norms. The fundamental problem, as ECDPM’s Fernanda Faria and Andrew Sherriff argue in their recently published background paper for the European Report on Development 2009, is not better articulated policy, but better implementation. The EU has yet to overcome “the considerable political, financial and institutional challenges to implement these policies creatively in practice.” They note that the issue is political and systemic and relates as much to the nature of the EU, as a political and economic entity and as an international actor, as to the everyday realities of fragile states. The paper proposes four key priorities upon which the EU should focus its efforts: developing clear and well-informed specific and tailored political strategies; enhancing policy coherence and coordination on the ground; investing in the right capacities; and extending partnership and ownership beyond the state and to new actors. The full paper is available for download by clicking here ECDPM together with The Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) organised an informal high level seminar on the theme “Building the African Union institutional architecture: Progress achieved, new perspectives and possible support by the European Union” in Uppsala, Sweden on 21 October 2009. Click to download the summary of the meeting The full report of the meeting will be published on the website in due course. Workshop for ACP ambassadors on the Lisbon Treaty - 16 October 2009 The workshop, jointly organized by the ACP Secretariat and ECDPM on the 16th of October in the ACP House, aimed at providing ACP Ambassadors with a brief overview of the changes in the EU following from the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty as they are expected to affect EU-ACP relations. In addition the workshop offers a platform for discussion and jointly thinking through the implications of a possible ratification of the Lisbon Treaty for the ACP as a Group. Read more Not letting the immediate crowd out the important: Making the most of the upcoming AU – EU peace and security dialogue - Article by Andrew Sherriff and Eleonora Köb (ECDPM) in europafrica.net Strengthening EU development cooperation under the Lisbon Treaty The expected introduction of the European Union’s (EU) Lisbon Treaty in 2010 will fundamentally alter how EU external action is conducted. This presents both risks and opportunities for EU development cooperation. The general expectation of EU Member States’ Senior Officials attending an informal meeting on this issue, hosted by ECDPM on 16 September 2009, was that progress in EU integration and a stronger EU profile in the world would strengthen EU development cooperation and improve policy coherence for development This would also help to ensure better cooperation with partner countries in the South. But there were varying assessments on how these aspirations might best be achieved. Click here to read the full report of the meeting. The ECDPM background document prepared for the meeting is also available by clicking here. Following the recent publication of an article on Europe's global challenges by Simon Maxwell, Paul Engel, Dirk Messner and Pierre Schori, the magazine the Broker has created a special blog to stimulate further debate on how the decisions made over the next three months can shape Europe's international role in the future. The blog was launched on 22 September and features recent contributions by ODI's Michaela Gavas and ECDPM's Paul Engel. The European Commission has adopted a Communication (2009)458 on Policy Coherence for Development - Establishing the policy framework for a whole of the Union approach. The ECDPM has done two research studies that have informed these EC documents. The reports of these two studies are due to be published later in 2009. You can download the short report or the staff working document. ECDPM’s Andrew Sherriff participated in the European Report on Development (ERD) meeting of senior level experts from EU Member States and academia to discuss how to overcome state fragility held in Florence on 22 June 2009. On 24 April 2009, the ECDPM organised a seminar on division of labour in European development cooperation together with Fundación Carolina. The following webpage gives access to a short overview of the seminar, its main conclusions, presentations and background documents (all in Spanish). Visit the webpage

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Recent programme publications

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What next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy? Perspectives on revitalising an innovative framework The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) was conceived as an innovative and far-reaching new partnership, in Lisbon in December 2007, with the aim of transforming the relationship between the two continents. After 2 ˝ years of existence, the JAES is currently subjected to an in-depth reflection amongst the official stakeholders about its architecture and the contents of the next Action Plan. This review process could result in proposals for “significant changes” to be discussed at the next Africa-EU Ministerial Troika on the 27th of April 2010, which will come to some decisions to present to the Third EU-Africa Heads of State Summit scheduled for November 2010. ECDPM, as an independent non-partisan foundation that has followed the JAES since its inception, has sought to contribute to this process in the form of a paper scoping on what could be next for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The paper seeks to refresh readers on the original commitments made in the JAES and to provide analysis on underlying successes and challenges, including upstream (political) bottlenecks. It also presents 3 possible reform scenarios for the future of the JAES as well as perspectives on how they might be achieved. Click to download the scoping paper Whither EC Aid? Compendium This Compendium is the final element of the joint ECDPM-ActionAid project, ‘Whither EC Aid’ (WECA), a project initiated in mid-2007. This publication archives all the outputs generated through WECA – from the Initial Discussion Note issued in January 2008, to the reports of the dozen roundtables held and the thematic Briefing Notes. A year after the adoption of the Accra Agenda for Action in the 3rd High level Forum on aid Effectiveness, it is interesting to look back on the perceptions of various group of stakeholders about the aid effectiveness agenda, and to what extent the different point of views, trends and ideas shared during the WECA process find an echo in the international agenda. External Evaluation of the Policy Coherence Unit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Dutch Policy Coherence Unit (PCU) was first set up as a dedicated task force in May 2002 and is part of the Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS). In 2006, OECD peer review concludes that The Netherlands now has a “winning combination” of political commitment, a clear policy framework and the capacity to deliver through a dedicated PCU. How has it been achieved? This ECDPM PCU evaluation looks into its internal setup, but offers also concrete examples of unit's engagement in the areas of non-trade concerns, access to medicines in developing countries and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Land, T., Hauck, V. and H. Baser. 2009. Capacity Change and Performance: Capacity development: between planned interventions and emergent processes Implications for development cooperation (Policy Management Brief 22) Tywuschik, V. and A. Sherriff. 2009. Beyond Structures? Reflections on the Implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (Discussion Paper 87) Tywuschik, V. and A. Sherriff. 2009. A Estratégia Conjunta UE-África: Dez Desafios para o Sucesso (InBrief 23) To see full list of programme publications, click here