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FOND launched the research paper "It's our turn to help - Development cooperation in Romania"

On the 6 th of November the Romanian NGDO Platfom (FOND) organised a conference to launch a research paper regarding development cooperation issues in Romania. The paper was prepared by Mirela Oprea (FOND Board Member/ World Vision Romania) and Rodica Novac (ADO SAH Romania). Among the guests invited at the event there were representatives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian Ministry of Interior and Administration, the European Parliament, FOND members, embassies in Bucharest, mass-media, private-sector, academia and students. The event was part of a project currently implemented by FOND and financed by Presidency Fund.

The research paper "It's our turn to help" not only reflects the present state of affairs, but it also considers the past, drawing out attention on Romania's pre -'89 policy towards the developing countries. Other issues taken into consideration revolve around the current Romanian institutional framework for development cooperation (local capacity building, the role of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the coordinator of this policy, the Romanian National Strategy on Development Cooperation) and the Romanian ODA projects and initiatives (including the creation of the Romanian NGDO Platform, cross-border co-operation and NGO awareness and development education campaigns).

The conference opened an interesting debate on Romania's past experience with international development matters; for the first time sources showing that before 1989 Romania "was by far one of the biggest donors of foreign assistance in Eastern Europe" were brought into a public debate. This new approach may help define better Romania's role as a "new" donor. Click here to download the report.

The Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND) is searching for Romanian experts working abroad in development cooperation

The Romanian NGDO Platform is currently implementing the project "Development cooperation in Romania: Building FOuNDation for Policy Work", financed by the Presidency FUND. The project aims to strenghten the capacity of the Romanian civil society to engage the Romanian public authorities on development cooperation in order to influence the national policies in the field, as well as to participate in policy debates on development at European level.

One of the results of this project will be the creation of sustainable sources of information on development cooperation available in Romanian language, which will allow for a better visibility for FOND and its members as a support of its advocacy and lobby activities.

Among the activities of the project is also the creation of a detabase with Romanian experts working in the field of development cooperation abroad, usually in other international organisations. If you have worked, known or heard of people collaborating with Romanian experts in this field, please send an e-mail at the following address: adela.rusu@fondromania.org with their contact details. 

Time to meet again: Black Sea NGO Forum 2009

Time to meet again has come for NGOs in the Black Sea Region, which are invited to attend the second edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum in Bucharest, Romania. This year's edition of the Forum is entitled "NGO's in Times of Crises" and will be held on October 29-31 2009.

The event was launched in 2008 by the FOND in co-operation with organisations from the wider Black Sea Region with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. NGOs from the Black Sea Region are invited to propose themes for the discussions of this Forum at forum@BlackSeaNGO.org. For more details, click here.

European Development Days, Stockholm, 22 - 24 October 2009

The European Development Days are a yearly event hosted by the European Commission and the EU Presidency. The event aims to make development aid more effective, to build a global coalition against poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals and it brings together all the actors in Europe working in the development cooperation field.

The main themes discussed were: democracy, adopting to climate change, promoting energy efficiency, global recession - no countries left behind. The Romania delegation included representatives of the Official Development Assistance Division (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and FOND. www.eudevdays.eu

Development Education Summer School 2009 (DESS), Cheile Gradistei, Romania

DESS is a yearly event organized by DEEEP (Development Education Exchange in Europe Project) in partnership with European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD). This year the Development Education Summer School took place in Romania, at Cheile Gradistei (near Brasov) and it was coordinated by PATRIR, with the support of the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND). Around 90 participants from all over the world came to Romania for this important event and attented different activities such as working groups, thematic sessions, open space and cultural evening. The title of the Summer School was "Recognizing, motivating, engaging young People as Actors in Development Education, Campaigning, Advocacy" and tackled for specific themes: migration and multiculturalism, environment and sustainable development, gender equality, media and development. Find more information from here.

The next Summer School will be held in Hungary and will be organized by the Hungarian Platform HAND.

FOND training Policy/Advocacy Strategy

The event organised by AUR took place on June 18, 2009 in Bucharest. This action was a good opportunity to strenghten the Platform Working Group (Policy/Advocacy) and to draft a Policy Paper which will help finalize an Advocacy Strategy for the Platform.

This activity is part of the Project "Development Cooperation in Romania: Building FOuNDation for Policy Work", financed by Presidency Fund and currently implemented by the Platform.

FOND celebrated Africa Day (25th May)

The Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND) and the Civil Society Development Foundation (FDSC) organised in partnership with the Refugee Women's Organisation in Romania (OFRR) and Save the Children Romania, with the support of the Department for European Affairs, Infoeurope Center, some events in order to celebrate the Africa Day.

FOND organised a Seminar on EU-Africa Relations as part of the Project "Development Cooperation in Romania: Building FOuNDation for Policy Work" financed by the Presidency Fund and currently implemented by the Platform.The Seminar was an opportunity to analyze our relations with the African continent and how they can be improved. The main aim was to present the Joint Africa-European Union Strategy and the opinions of both actors involved in this issue. Find more informations about Africa-EU Strategic Partnership from here.

Among the guests invited were: Sophie LeRue-DG Development, European Commission, H.E. Ambassador Abdelhamid Senouci Bereksi-Algerian Embassy in Bucharest, Mihail Dobre-Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Middle East and Africa Directorate, Ana Vasilache-Partners Foundation for Local Development (FPDL). Sophie LeRue emphasized the important role of the political dialogue and civil society. She also presented the new strategic framework, its principles and the institutional framework. Mr. Ambassador said that all the strategies should follow three steps:to establish the nationhood, the confidence and to have a national organisation. In order to establish a vision and a strategic framework for Africa's renewal it was created the NEPAD Programme (New Partnership for Africa's Development)-www.nepad.org.  The main goals of this programme are "to promote accelerated growth and sustainable development, to eradicate widspread and severe poverty and to halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalization process". Mihail Dobre launched the question "What is Africa for Romania?" and said that before 1989 the cooperation between Romania and Africa was very strong. "What remained after 1989?" A strong political will to cooperate with the African continent. The official development assistance (ODA) is an area in which the collaboration with the NGO's is possible. Ana Vasilache (FPDL) presented the experience of this organisation in Africa. Their main goal is to make governments to work in a more effective and efficient way. Since 1998 FPDL has developed a network of Trainers and training institution from more than 30 countries and 4 continents, including Africa. More than 120 trainers worked with local governments from West and East Africa (1999-2005) on different programs:leadership, strategic planning, gender equality.

Starting with 6 o'clock p.m the location of the events was changed to the Romanian Peasant Museum and the motto was "Africa is everywhere". Gabriela Alexandrescu (Save the Children Romania), Machiel Salomons(UNHCR), Ion Olteanu (CENTRAS), Mirela Iancu (UNDP), Marian Voicu (TVR) and OFRR representatives spoke about their experiences in Africa and Romania. Marian Voicu also launched a photo competition on Millenium Development Goals. Iuliana Rada (FDSC) presented the MEDIP project (Media Engagement Issues in Development and Promotion). The main objective of this project is to increase the contribution of the new EU member states to achieve the Millenium Development Goals. Adela Rusu (FOND) spoke about the development cooperation policy and the FOND contribution in this area. During the event there was an open fair with traditional African costumes and objects provided by the Refugee Women's Organisation in Romania. There was also a photo exhibition and a documentary screening. This day was also celebrated in other countries-in Belgium (Brussels).

Debate on development cooperation

FOND Romania and PRORise (Proffesionals in International Relations and European Studies) held on 20th May 2009 a debate on the theme "Romania Foreign Policy: What kind of European integration? The case of international development cooperation". The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP, NGO's and academic field and students. This debate took place in the context of launching the European Report Aid Watch "Lighten the load in a time of crisis, European aid has never been more important".

AIDWatch Report 2009-Lighten the load-In a time of crisis,

European aid has never been more important

AidWatch is an initiative of CONCORD-the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development. This report shows that the European Union is failing to deliver on its pledges on aid quantity and quality, at just the time when poor families need it most. Official figures show that in 2008, Europe allocated 0,40% of its gross national income (GNI) to aid.

Justin Kilcullen, President on CONCORD, said: "History will judge Europe according to its actions now. If Europe fails to act, we will be seen as having turned our back on the poorest in their time of need, and missed the opportunity to deliver a genuine EU development legacy".

AidWatch is calling European governments to meet 2010 and 2015 European aid quantity targets with genuine aid resources and ensure there are no further cuts to aid budgets in the face of the financial crisis, to end inflation of aid budgets with debt cancellation, refugee and student costs, to demonstrate the coherence of all the European policies.

The report also emphasized that Romanian aid in 2008 remained at its 2007 levels-0,7% of GNI. The current financial crisis is likely to have a dramatic impact on aid flows provided by the Romanian government. It has been announced that the ODA budget menaged directly by the Romanian MFA will be cut from 5 mil E last year to only 1, 9 mil. E in 2009. 

Read the Report from here.

Romanian CSOs express their concern on the situation in the Republic of Moldova

The Federation of the Romanian Development Nongovernmental Organizations (FOND) is deeply concerned about the situation in the Republic of Moldova.

In the context of the events following the national elections on April 5, 2009 in the Republic of Moldova we urge the international community and particularly the member states of the European Union to promptly react to the violations against human rights and democracy in this country from the European Neighborhood.

We request the European Commission and the governments of the European Union’s member states to grant a special attention with regard to human rights compliance in the Republic of Moldova.

Read the press release from here.

We invite you to visit the News Section-FOND website!

This is a great opportunity to find interesting informations about internal and external activities in development cooperation field.