Right in front of the European Council Building in Brussels where the European Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation meet today, May 18 2009, in the so-called General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), Concord organized the first ever Eurovision Aid Contest to illustrate the different degrees in which European countries keep their commitment to provide good quality development aid at levels they agreed upon.

The audience witnessed poor performances by Italy, bringing the evergreen ‘Parole, Parole, Parole’  – also sung in other parts of Europe –  and Austria performing  ‘Geld oder Leben’.  But it also saw encouraging features by Spain with their well known  summer hit ‘No tengo dinero’.  The contest was won by Sweden who sang good old Abba classic ‘Money, money’. Sweden was awarded ten (10) out of twelve (12) points by jury member Noerine Kaleeba, President of ActionAid International.

Concord’s masters of ceremonies concluded that some  EU countries had performed well and some had not.  “In a climate of crisis, high quality genuine aid has never been more important. When aid is cut or of bad quality the big losers are people in the developing world whose daily health care, education and sometimes pure survival depend on that aid. Aid is far from dead. People living in poverty are already battling with the effects of the food crisis, the climate crisis and most recently the financial crisis. It is time that European governments lightened their load by sticking to their development aid commitments.”

The European Aid Contest was part of Concord’s 10days4development campaign.  As part of this campaign which involves activities in all 27 EU member countries, the Concord AidWatch initiative published its fourth consecutive report on trends and practices in European development cooperation.

Concord urges the European ministers meeting today to reaffirm commitments and set targets individual targets for the volume of development cooperation that will allow Europe to reach the level of 0,7% of GNI by 2015.

For information on the 10days4development campaign and the AidWatch 2009 report see also earlier posts on this blog.

Download the AidWatch 2009 report. Check out the Concord press release.

See also Euforic’s newsfeeds on Concord and on the European elections 2009

The growth in the volume of development cooperation lagged behind targets in 2008 in several European Union members countries. What is worse, several countries announced cuts in development cooperation for 2009: Ireland, Austria, Italy but also Lithuania and Estonia. Is this how the financial crisis is going to impact development cooperation? Is development cooperation no longer affordable for European governments? Are cuts in development budgets based on a changing public opinion and decreasing public support for development aid?

These are some of the questions that came up during the launch of the Concord AidWatch report 2009 and the discussions in the roundtable that followed. Listen to the opening statements of the roundtable:

Fanny Nkhoma-Mbawa of Oxfam International in Malawi illustrated with some concrete examples how the crisis affects developing countries. Cuts in development aid are reversing the successful results achieved in Malawi to retain trained medical workers, over the last few months Zambia lost 25% of jobs in copper mining, in Eritrea remittances – representing 21% of GDP – went down with 31%. The results are fewer jobs, less income and cuts in budgets of key programs.

According Andrea Maximovic of Solidar, the question is not whether Europe can afford development cooperation, it is whether Europe can afford NOT to honor its commitments to increase aid. The crisis that is originating in the developed world is hitting developing countries hard. While there is still a chance to meet the MDG’s, we cannot fail the aid targets we set ourselves.

Noerina Kaleeba, President of ActionAid International reaffirms this. The world is a village – if Europe does not show leadership now it will backfire and we will regret this 5 – 10 years later. Listen to Ms. Kaleeba

Unconditional and untied aid works, stresses Kabeela. As an example she refers to the struggle against HIV/AIDs in her country Uganda where the percentage of new infections has dropped spectacularly through an intense struggle led by people living with AIDS and supported by development aid. In Zambia development aid generated a tenfold increase of treatment of HIV/AIDS since 2003. Kabeela acknowledges that aid has its problems. It needs fixing but her experience shows that as long as aid is not tied to goods and services from the donor, and as long as it is not a political tool of the donor or the recipient, aid can work.

The AidWatch report concludes Europe is not delivering on its commitments in terms of volume and quality of aid. Italy was one of the countries announcing a cutback in aid late last year. This concerns only a minor budget category, clarified Filippo Alessi of the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU, and Italy remains committed to achieve its targets. Listen to his words:

He raised the issue of the influence of the public opinion regarding development cooperation. Does a crisis at home reduce public solidarity? It may not be as simple as that. Oxfam International recently conducted a survey in Italy and found that 72% of the people interviewed felt that 0,7% GNI was a reasonable target for the volume of development aid and 85% of the people felt that current levels of Italian aid should be increased or maintained.

Ms. Renata Hahlen of the European Commission (DG Development) stated that aid remains very important in combating poverty and complementing economic growth processes. She also observed that the current crisis profoundly affects all financial flows towards developing countries: remittances are dropping, direct foreign investment is pulling out. “But aid is back” she observed, “we have been accused of coming in slowly, but the crisis shows it also goes slowly”. Listen to her words:

Concord emphasizes that at the upcoming General Affairs and External Relations Meeting of the European Council, this Monday 18 May 2009, it is imperative that the EU shows leadership and ensures a sufficient volume of good aid is available to support the achievement of the MDGs. Concord wants all EU countries to commit to individual targets for aid volumes and not hide behind a collective target. A timetable to achieve the targets would have to be established for each country.

Jasmine Burley of Concord warned of all kinds of practices that inflate the aid volume while no “fresh” transfers are being made. Debt cancellation is a good thing, without doubt but should the cancellation of export credits given to companies in the donor countries be counted as aid? And what about future interests over credits that still have a grace period? Undoubtedly this is a complicated technical accounting issue. But it is also a political issue that according to many participants in the debate needed further thought.

If only because the debate on what is aid and what is not-aid seems endless. The so-called “whole-country” approach that Italy is promoting acknowledges all the forms of support a country may give to development should be taken into account, with ODA being only one component besides support in terms of opportunities for trade, private investment flows etc. The concept does not aim to water down the definition of ODA, Filippo Allessi reassured the roundtable audience. But Jasmine Burley of Concord wondered whether in the “whole-country” approach trade barriers and subsidies would also count as a negative contribution. Andrea Maximovic warned that all the priority given to climate change may lead to aid being re-directed from other priorities towards activities that do not necessarily target the poor or help achieving the MDG’s.

Regarding the question where such fresh money should come from two types of answers dominated. Maximovic, Mbawa and Kaleeba all flagged the insignificance of the volume of annual development aid transfers compared with the billions that are freed instantly to address the economic and financial crisis in Europe and the USA.

Another option mentioned were the taxes that developing countries lose themselves because of tax havens and evasion and avoidance of tax by multinational companies. As a result, ActionAid estimates Africa loses some 50 billion US$ by the end 2009. The fact that the G20 in London recently called for action on this is encouraging according to a participant representing ActionAid but the G-20 needs to be closely monitored to ensure practices do actually change.

See also Euforic’s newsfeeds on Concord and on the European elections 2009

Today 14 May 2009, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development Concord has presented in Brussels the fourth consecutive AidWatch report 2009 on the quantity and quality of European development aid. In twenty-seven countries national NGO platforms analyzed data on their governments’ development cooperation expenditures and assessed policy practices using the same methodology and criteria for each country.

The main conclusion of this unique report is that in terms of quantity of development aid, Europe is not going to achieve the target it has set itself. In 2002 the European Union member states promised that by 2015 they would spend – on average – 0.7% of their Gross National Income on development aid. Now in 2009 we are nearly half way but spending is lagging. By 2010 spending should be at 0.56% of GNI to achieve the 2015 target. According to the Concord study spending amounted only to 0.34% of GNI in 2008. The country per country analysis shows that only seven (7) countries are likely to reach their 2010 target and ten (10) will almost certainly not reach it. Among the latter Bulgaria and the Slovak Republic, but also Italy, France and Germany.

The AidWatch study critically analyzes government data on development spending. Many governments inflate the volume. They include debt relief – important as it is, it is accounting not a financial transfer for development cooperation, according to Concord. Many governments also included spending on refugees and money transfers to national academia in connection with foreign students. In 2008 of the official aid recorded by EU governments, almost 10% related to debt cancellation, 4% to foreign students and 2% was spend on costs related to refugees.

But it is not all about quantity. EU governments are committed to reforms to improve quality and transparency of aid, commitments that were re-affirmed last year during the Accra-summit. According to the AidWatch criteria six (6) countries score ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ with little access to information on policies and conditions, and no data on activities and finances and lacking mechanisms for disclosure of information.

Listen to Javier Pereira, one of the authors of the report, talk about the findings regarding the quantity and quality of aid.

The Concord report also concludes that nearly 30 years after the UN adopted the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, only very few European countries have well-developed gender strategies and gender assessment practices in development cooperation, and even fewer actually back-up such policies with financial resources.

Download the AidWatch report 2009.

The launch of the report is part of a series of activities that Concord and Concord members undertake during the 10days4development campaign in relation to the EU elections in June. On this blog you will find more information about activities all over Europe.

See also Euforic’s newsfeeds on Concord and on the European elections 2009

In 2010 the European Union aims to have increased its development aid to 0,56% of the overall EU Gross National Income. But it will not achieve to do so.

And there is more, says the Report compiled by Concord’s AidWatch Initiative. Alongside falling aid levels, many countries continue to play a game of creative accounting by inflating their aid figures to include other expenditures. The definition of official development aid is ever widening, to take in categories such as climate finance and security missions.

Besides staying behind in terms of quantity, European governments also fail to deliver on their commitments to ensure aid effectiveness: with many conditions attached to its provision and little transparency, aid remains very much donor-driven. Profiles per country in the AidWatch report provide details on practices in each country.

The AidWatch report makes the argument that in a time of crisis, good quality, genuine aid has never been more important. Concord proposes European governments to adopt a binding timetable to reach their targets, to show serious progress in implementing the Accra Agenda for Action and to deliver on commitments to put gender equality and women’s empowerment at the centre of development cooperation. Listen to Jasmine Burnley, coordinator of the Aid Watch Initiatitive, talk about the purpose and goals of the report.

The AidWatch report entitled ‘Lighten the load – In a time of crisis, European aid has never been more important‘ was presented as of the Concord 10days4development campaign and discussed at a roundtable with four panelist: Fanny Nkhoma-Mbawa, Aid Policy Advisor with Oxfam International, Andrea Maksimovic of Solidar, Noerine Kaleeba, President of ActionAid International and Javier Pereira of Concord, one of the authors of the report.

See also Euforic’s newsfeeds on Concord and on the European elections 2009

Each year, CONCORD monitors the quality and quantity of the aid delivered to developing countries by the European Commission and its Member States.  How much is pledged and how much is really delivered?

Discover its AidWatch report 2009 on 14 May at 10 am. at Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Bruxelles, Belgium‎. The launch of the report will consist of a press conference, followed by a round table discussion with aid experts.

On 18 May at 11 am, join  a campaigning stunt called the “Eurovision Aid Contest” outside the Council building of the European Union in Brussels. Just two days after the final of the real Eurovision Song contest, this stunt will be a Eurovision aid contest amongst four key EU governments competing for places and points awarded by a “panel” of expert judges. Countries will be judged on the basis of their performance on aid quantity and quality.

The stunt will take place rue Belliard (close from Schuman square in Brussels)/ It should be a blast :-).

About the Aid Watch campaign

AidWatch is a campaign which was born out of the intention of European civil society organisations to keep the European Union to account on the quality and quantity of its aid to developing countries. In concrete terms, this sees CONCORD and its members calling on EU Member States to keep their promise to give 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to developing countries by 2015 and 0.56% by 2010. The twelve countries that joined the European Union after 2002 have committed to reach 0.17% in 2010 and 0.33% in 2015.

At the same time, the aid they provide should be genuine i.e. it should represent a real transfer of resources from Europe to the South.  It should also be quality aid which works for the poor.

The main focus of the campaign is the annual AidWatch report, which comes out in May and features information on aid quality and quantity from all 27 Member States and the European Commission.

More

Trade Justice Movement taking action against the EU’s free trade agenda

The Trade Justice Movement (TJM) and its members are targeting the EU Commissioner for Trade, Catherine Ashton, and all prospective MEPs in a new campaign which aims to bring about a full scale re-think of the EU’s trade policy. TJM states that new free trade deals being negotiated by Europe will harm the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, destroying jobs, livelihoods and local industries, and increasing environmental exploitation. Developing countries, they say, must be given the flexibility to use economic policies that benefit people and the environment, not big business.

Please follow this link to learn more about the campaign and to take part in TJM’s e-action to Commissioner Ashton, asking her to turn European Trade policy around.

The TJM has also put together a lobby pack outlining how you can call on candidates in the upcoming EU elections to act to stop unfair trade deals.

 

 Since autumn 2008, Christian Aid has been running a campaign targeting Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate change summit in December 2009. Christian Aid has identified that the EU, as the world’s largest economic bloc, will have a major impact at the Copenhagen summit.

The Copenhagen summit is a key campaigning moment as the deal struck at Copenhagen will replace the Kyoto treaty as the world’s principal weapon against global warming.

EU climate package is an unwanted gift.

The European Union has failed to adopt a powerful plan to tackle climate change – leaving campaigners’ task in 2009 feeling as big as ever.

Join our call for a fair international climate deal – take our Copenhagen pledge.

Missed opportunity
The package – a collection of measures designed to cut Europe’s greenhouse emissions – was meant to pave the way for a sound global deal at next December’s UN climate summit in Copenhagen. It fell way short of this, however.

Christian Aid supporters sent more than 10,000 emails to their MEPs in October, calling for the package to acknowledge the need for 40% carbon cuts by 2020 and assistance for poor countries as they continue to face the realities of climate change.

However, in the wake of pressure from industry lobbyists and the current economic crisis – and despite our campaigners’ last-minute efforts – the final package is disappointing in the extreme.

French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is calling the package ‘historic’ – but if this is supposed to be the EU’s Christmas gift to the world, we hope they kept the receipt.

So what next?
Weakness on the European stage and the lack of progress at UN climate talks in Poznan are not cues for us to sit back. This is only the start. As 2009 begins the size of our task couldn’t be clearer.

Join our call for a climate deal that is effective and fair by taking our pledge for action in Copenhagen in 2009.

To learn more about the campaign, please follow this link to the Christian Aid climate change campaign targeting MEPs.

The Finnish NGDO platform to the European Union – Kehys – has set up a special EU 2009 elections web page.

A series of activities are planned, with the aim of:

• Asking candidate MEPs to sign a charter for a globally more equal European Union;
• Informing about the “10 Days 4 Development” campaign via its newsletter and its contact list;
• Organizing happenings with candidate MEPs running for the European elections .

12 May: Panel on immigration: Candidates with immigrant background discuss about EU´s immigration policy. Co-organised with The Refugee Advice Center & Multicultural Association Familia Club.

14 May: Press release on the launch of the report Aid Watch. Coverage  from Demari newspaper and STT press agency.

15 May: Panel on EU’s global future. Young candidates discuss about EU´s future and role as a global actor.  Mr. Alexander Stubb who was a member of the European Parliament will take the floor. Co-organised with REC.

 8-18 May: Collect of candidates’ signatures to the commitment for more globally just proposed by the Finnish national association.  72  Finnish candidates have signed the commitment.

23 – 24 May: World Village Festival,Kaisaniemi Park – Helsinki: The main topic of the 2009 festival is climate. Program includes performances, art installations and special climate theme village. Factual program offers speakers, panel discussions and literature.

• Kehys hosts a panel for candidates in co-ordination with DEMO (Political Parties of Finland for Democracy).
• Football tournament with players consisting of candidates and activists.
• Information Stand about EU and Development for festival visitors during the festival weekend.

 25 May: Panel: Health & Social Rights. Co-organised with The Family Federation.

 More: http://www.kehys.fi/etusivu

For more information, contact the national platform:

Kehys:  Töölöntorinkatu 2 B, 00260 Helsinki – Tel. + 358 9 2315 0560. –  Website :  www.kehys.fi

Mobilization for the European elections: “Let’s vote for a fair and responsible Europe in the world! ” Coordination SUD is targeting primarily candidates and political parties in the context of the coming European elections. Candidates are asked to sign a Charter for a fair and responsible Europe based on Manifesto, fully in line with the CONCORD Manifesto. Through this mobilization, candidates rally in promoting North-South solidarity in the European institutions. The Charter will be used to engage with candidates after the elections and throughout the 2009-2014 term of the European Parliament. Coordination SUD, the French national NGDO platform, is currently meeting the main French political parties. Local groups and activists are part of the mobilization to get candidate MEPs to sign the charter. News (May 7th 2009):

• More than 150 candidates have already signed the Charter, mostly from the Socialist and Green groups.

7 May: “Everything about the training of Bioforce, the school’s commitment to humanitarian” – Lyon.  An information meeting to learn about training Bioforce (Logistician, Director, Project Management, Water Sanitation Technician, Humanitarian Program Management, General Services Officer Humanitarian Logistics, pedagogical approach, opportunities and employment opportunities. All questions are welcome!
Thursday 14 May at 18h15 at the Institut Bioforce Développement 41 avenue du 8 mai 1945 69694 cedex Venissieux. Contact: formation@bioforce.asso.fr. More: www.bioforce.asso.fr

9 -24 May: The “Fair Trade Fortnight” is the key period during which many events are organized to raise awareness about fair trade in France.The activities proposed during the Fortnight take diverse forms: advocacy campaigns, films, debates and tastings in shops and supermarkets, meetings, exhibitions, launching of new products. These activities help to meet the public, consumers and policy makers and economic policies to promote responsible, respectful Southern producers and the environment. Contact: formation@bioforce.asso.fr – www.quinzaine-commerce-equitable.fr

12 May (from 9am to 18pm): Seminar on “European Policies in Euro-Mediterranean region: current and future challenges“ – Paris: The Euromed Network France (REF), the French section of the platform Non Governmental Euromed (PFNGE) is organizing a working seminar at the representation of the European Parliament and the European Commission in Paris, 288 bvd St Germain des Prés. This event is part of the campaign “10 days 4 Development”. It will bring together some sixty people involved in various capacities in co-operation, solidarity, cultural and sporting exchanges. Will be present, among others, Michel Tubiana, Secretary General of the PFNGE and Honorary President of the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, Research Director at CNRS, Paul Balta, University and author of numerous books on the Euromed region, Giovanna Tanzarella, Delegate General of the Fondation René Seydoux, among others … The Committee for the Partnership with Continental Europe will join the seminar to bring dimension of the European Neighborhood Policy. At the end of this seminar later in the day, an invitation will be launched in the candidate / es in the European elections on national and regional level to express their views on this important area s and what they would do if they were elected to the European Parliament. Program.

12 May: Coordination SUD  a letter to Prime Minister, to alert the government about the importance of France duty of international solidarity as the countries most affected by the economic consequences of the financial crisis are the poorest countries. However, the effort of France in terms of official development assistance does not meet its pledge.  The preparation of the budget bill for 2010 is an opportunity for France to fulfil its promises.

14 May: Diffusion to the journalists of CONCORD Aid Watch report on the reality of the aid delivered by the European Union and its Member States to developing countries.

15 May: Coordination SUD organised a debate on the the role of Europe in the World with 5 list leaders on May 15th. See Press release.

You can watch the debate which was recorded lived from the French Senate.

Vodpod videos no longer available.
More on the mobilisation; Contact: Gipsy BELEY, beley@coordinationsud.org , +33 (0)1 44 72 84 55

 

May:A few weeks of the European elections, RFI and Coordination SUD publish the book “Regards du Monde sur l’Europe”, published by Karthala following the conference, 30 October 2008, this book brings together the thoughts and expectations of academics, designers, journalists, trade unionists, NGOs, parliamentarians, politicians around the world vis a vis of Europe.  More: http://coordinationsud.org/spip.php?article14167
Contact : Florent Sebban, sebban@coordinationsud.org

 

The campaigns of members of Coordination SUD
Several members of Coordination SUD have launched campaigns around the European elections on specific issues, enhancing the mobilization of the national platform Coordination SUD.

The CFSI (French committee for international solidarity), in cooperation with other European organizations, is calling for coherent policies for the fight against hunger and for sustainable farming in the South.

The collective “Des ponts pas des murs” launches a campaign to raise awareness and ask the candidates to agree on policies that respects the rights of migrants. It is time to face the impact of the immigration policies imposed by the European Union,

CCFD – Terre Solidaire – Oxfam France – Agir ici launches a campaign called “Hold up international – For  a Europe that regulates its multinationals”. The campaign seeks a reform of the European legal framework to limit the negative impact of multinationals and encourage their actions to contribute to the development of Southern countries.

Peuples Solidaires launches an awareness campaign challenging the candidates for European elections in June 2009 about “access to land, a North – South issue for Europe.” The idea is to put on the EU agenda the right to land, which is the basic condition to reach food sovereignty.

17 – 19 June: Fair of the sustainable development & Crafts – Paris:  this fair gathers of public and private decision makers in search of environmental solutions with high added value. It proposes sustainable eco-innovative solutions in 8 sectors (construction, Transport, Energy, Waste, Water, Agriculture, Chemicals and Services), and a series of conferences. More about it: www.semd.fr

8 – 10 July:  Monitoring by the French NGOs of the G8 Summit 2009, Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy)
The French NGOs, together with their counterparts from the G8 countries in particular, the platform of the Italian NGO will monitor the issues on the agenda of the G8 and provide their view to the French government.  More: http://www.coordinationsud.org/spip.php?article12141

2 – 4 October: European Fair Trade Fair. Equi’Sol, association for the promotion of fair trade, and its national and European partners, launched the 2nd edition of the Fair Trade Fair in Europe. More: http://www.coordinationsud.org/spip.php?article12700

For more information, contact the national platform:

Coordination SUD: 14, passage Dubail, 75010 Paris –  Tel.: 33 1 44 72 87 13 – Website: www.coordinationsud.org

ActionAid and its partners are planning a number of activities around the European elections 2009.

MS in Denmark
Based on the ActionAid manifesto, MS (Danish Association for International Co-operation) is producing a survey for MEP candidates to find out more about their positions and intentions with regard to the fight against poverty in the next parliamentary mandate (2009-2014). The answers to the questions will be shared with the public and the media. Once in their seats, MS will also be monitoring the actions of the elected parliamentarians to ensure that they keep their promises.

MS are also doing an opinion poll of 1200 Danish people on their opinions of issues on the debate around the European elections. You can find out more about both these actions on the MS elections website (in Danish) which is soon to go live, or contact Nils Brogger Jakobsen.

Peuples Solidaires, France
In France, Peuples Solidaires (PSO) organised a forum on access to land for women on April 18 and 19 in Montreuil.

Candidates for the 2009 elections joined the debate, as well as experts on land access and the right to food. A photo exhibition on women and action around access to land in the South ran alongside the event in Montreuil.

Our affiliates and partners in Italy, Greece, the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden will be adding their plans here in the coming weeks. Watch this space!