European Development Days: The "Off"

The European Commission has been encouraging stakeholders like Humanis to enhance the impact of the EDD

by organising parallel events. As a result, Humanis is organising a European Meeting of development

cooperation platforms on Saturday 15 November 2008, right before the Opening Ceremony of the third edition of the European Development Days.

Structure

3 parallel workshops will seek to showcase the role of civil society networks and to put into question the identity issues of such a diverse network of platforms within the European Union. What are their specificities and how do those specificities influence their choices in terms of activities and partnetship? We believe that this meeting can help participants expand their pool of experiences and lead to new partnerships.

Background

The European civil society is involved in international development projects mainly through Non State Actors and local authorities. In several EU Member States, platforms and regional networks were created to bring a methodological support to the international development initiatives of the local and national civil society.

The meeting is aimed at the NGOs and multi-actors platforms from old and new EU Member States and will give a concrete representation and understanding of the work of the platforms of development cooperation in the EU, which contribute to the global effort to promote international solidarity.

Objectives

To strengthen the cooperation between the civil society platforms located in Europe:

• To link the platforms and facilitate the communication, exchange and partnership.
• To develop a pool of experiences, practices, beliefs and opinions.
• To create shared tools and resources (institutional and operational).

Location

The parallel events on Saturday 15 November 2008 will take place at the European Youth Centre, which is located near to the European Parliament and the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès, the EDD's Convention Centre.

This meeting will be followed by a restitution roundtable on Sunday 16 November: European NGO Platforms, Key Actors for Development Cooperation.

These events are organised in partnership with TRIALOG – a program for development NGOs in the enlarged

European Union.

For more informations : www.trialog.org.at