Development Aid? Currently under review - CONCORD Bimonthly Newsletter 23 October 2018

Every two weeks - News, Events, Jobs, Calls for Proposals 23 October 2018 Development Aid? Currently under review! Dear readers, Last days were marked by important milestones for our sector. Several conferences were looking into the future of development cooperation (the ETTG conference), the upcoming EU budget (the MFF conference) and the current state of development aid (AidWatch report 2018). On top, the European Council scrutinised the current migration policy. From all sides, the purpose of development is under review. We know that development aid will no longer be what it used to and sadly this means less and less resources from the EU are dedicated to poverty eradication and global sustainable development. Therefore, CONCORD will keep on reminding EU leaders and EU institutions that the rights of people living in poverty, the quality of aid and the principles of effective development cooperation should stand at the centre of EU development priorities. We hope you join us in that call so that we can collectively ensure a just, fair and sustainable wealth distribution around the globe. In solidarity, CONCORD Secretariat CONCORD's NEWS OF THE MONTH AidWatch Report 2018 For the first time since 2012, the EU's aid spending decreased in 2017. This means, at the current rate of growth, the EU would need another 40 years to meet the 0.7% ODA/GNI target, reveals CONCORD AidWatch Report 2018 "EU aid: A broken ladder". While the EU remains the world's largest aid donor, EU aid decreased by 4% compared to 2016 and inflated aid still represented 19% of the total EU aid budget in 2017. The decline in EU aid is highly correlated to the decrease of in-donor refugee costs and debt relief reported as ODA, respectively dropping off 10% and 82% compared to last year. The full report & figures   EU SDG multi-stakeholder platform proposals 30 high-level members from the EU's Multi-stakeholder Platform on SDGs adopted common proposals from civil society, public and private to move towards a Sustainable EU by 2030. Despite coming all from very different backgrounds, representing very diverse constituencies, we managed to find common ground and strongly push together in the same direction. This paper will now feed into the upcoming European Commission reflection paper 'Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030'. The paper EU Council on migration Last week, EU leaders met at the European Council to talk about migration. We sent a letter ahead of the meeting to Heads of State via our National Platforms to ensure the EU delivers results for the world's poorest and people most in need. On top, CONCORD also sent a letter to editors to POLITICO in reaction to a piece entitled How Europe can stop migration. Even from the title, migration was presented as a problem to be managed or a threat to be contained. That's why we exposed our position on migration in a short text that was published on Friday 19th in Politico webpage under the headline Migration is not a problem to be "managed". Read the EUCO letter Share Tweet Forward to Friend UPDATES FROM OUR NETWORK IFP - FIP becomes Forus During the celebration of its 10 years of existence, and to create more impact and gain visibility, IFP-FIP became Forus. The new name and brand aim to better reflect the purpose and ambition of the network and its members, strengthening the role of Civil Society for real social change.  More info CONCORD signed the Civic Charter CONCORD recently signed the civic charter "because the right of people to shape their own societies, in Europe and in the world, should not be taken for granted", says Seamus Jeffreson, CONCORD Director. "With more restrictions on civil society organisations, less press freedom, tampering in elections, we need to fight for these rights more than ever. We want European governments and European Union Institutions to uphold civic rights at home and in our cooperation around the world". More info on the Charter CIVICUS paper on Regulating Political Activity of Civil Society CIVICUS published the paper "Regulating Political Activity of Civil Society - A look at 4 EU countries". This report provides a comparative assessment of how the "political activities" of civil society organisations are regulated in Ireland, Netherlands, Germany and Finland. It focuses particularly on organisations which carry out public advocacy activities and rely on international sources for a substantial portion of their funding. The publication ENLARGE Gamebook is Ready Our member ALDA is a partner of the ENLARGE project funded by the European research programme Horizon 2020. ENLARGE built an online gamebook to guide readers through a participatory process. The "Choose Your Own Collaborative Adventure in Sustainable Energy Book" is the hypothetical - yet realistic - story of a community embarking on collaborative processes in sustainable energy. Play with the gamebook! EU Governments take aim at funding to 'Political' NGO Increasingly, public figures across Europe are twisting the meaning of "political activity" by claiming that NGOs overstep the mark when they campaign publicly for social or policy change. With this argument, a growing number of EU countries with right-leaning governments are suggesting about cutting funding to NGO's in some sectors. Read more EVENTS Can drones revolutionise demining? Organiser: Handicap International When: 26 October Where: Brussels AidEx Brussels on Digitalisation Organiser: AidEx When: 14 - 15 November Where: Brussels JOB OPPORTUNITIES Finance/Program Support Manager Organisation: CARE International Deadline: 24 October Project Controller – International Organisation: CARE International Deadline: 28 October EU Partnership Manager Organisation: Plan International EU Office Deadline: 29 October Policy & Advocacy Manager Organisation: World Vision Deadline: 4 November Policy & Advocacy Manager Organisation: Eurodad Deadline: 11 November Admin and Finance Assistant Organisation: Eurodad Deadline: 11 November CALLS FOR PROPOSALS Calls for proposals from ALDA From 23 October to 31 December 2018 The latest open calls for proposals from DEVCO From 9 October to 23 October 2018 Call for tenders from Humanity & Inclusion [FR] Add your news concordeurope.org You are receiving this email because you are a CONCORD member or you subscribed to the list. 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