 The Joint Africa-EU Strategy
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...
Addressing the effectiveness of EU external assistance
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...
DPIR staff and their areas of expertise
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
|  |
Programme news and events
 | 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 officials |
The 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
Recent programme publications
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).
To see full list of programme publications, click here
|