TRIALOG CENTRAL TRAINING The Lisbon Treaty and its Implications for Civil Society Krakow, June 7 and

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1 TRIALOG CENTRAL TRAINING The Lisbon Treaty and its Implications for Civil Society Krakow, June 7 and After the welcoming and introduction to TRIALOG and the background of the Central Training by Christine Bedoya and the introduction of the agenda by Andra Tanase the platform representatives reported on their activities and their situation since the last Central Training. WHAT IS GOING ON? UPDATES AND INFORMATION SHARING RELATED TO NMS NATIONAL PLATFORMS. POLAND GRUPA ZAGRANICA Zagranica group is still struggling to get Polish NGDOs involved in development education and to improve their work. Zagranica s mission rests on three pillars: advocacy; capacity/competence building; networking Issues at stake are: 1) Polish Law: they have been working on the law for three years and the political climate is good, there is a long term strategic planning of the Polish development cooperation, they work with the foreign ministry 2) Polish presidency 2011 and the strategic planning for it. The government doesn t have priorities for development cooperation. Zagranica is currently developing a strategy. There have been major personal changes in Zagranica, now there are 4 employees Zagranica wants to get more effective in working on the three pillars and attract interns Financial sustainability: There was no follow up after last years Central Training Currently it is funded by membership fees, SOROS foundation, Polish American Freedom foundation and one cross border partnership programme. Finances are guaranteed until August, it is therefore hard to develop financial sustainability. It must be clear to donors that Zagranica is an institution and not a project and therefore needs institutional funding. MALTA SKOP There have been several activities, all activities are small and interrelated, there is nothing on a grant scale. These were: A Fair Trade Worldfest Theatre STOPoverty, focussing on poverty in the Mediterranean Sea Global Action Schools educate on poverty issues A joint project between Greece, Cyprus, Malta under the NSA/LA framework on capacity building is funded by EC. Another aim is to provide Global Action material online at SKOP website Financially there has been the presidency fund which finished last year, they have project based funding, SKOP is based on volunteers. There is no funding for development as the Maltese government is more concerned with the issue of migration. SKOP is working on a financial strategy. CYPRUS CYINDEP There are two networks of NGOs the Greek Cypriot NGO Platform "The Development" in the South and the Turkish Cypriot "Cyprus NGO Network" in the North. CYINDEP combines the two platforms for South and North. In the Southern part NGOs work on development projects, but not all are involved in the platform. CyprusAid exists only for five years. Southern platform wants to create dialogue with the government 1

2 to become part of the policy process and influence the development of the government development policy. NGO Support Centre + The Management Centre in the Northern part developed the ENGAGE project for civil engagement, currently they work on their strategy for With regards to finances: Platforms in North and South have a few funds. CYINDEP has no funds and no employees because of the law. Some small grants for activities, but nothing to institutionalise. Priority is NGO law and networking. Christine adds that in her view the government of the Greek part is not very supportive; acknowledges only NGOs that are registered in the Greek Cypriot part. ROMANIA FOND As follow up of the 2009 Central Training there was capacity building for members (policy/advocacy training). FOND is establishing membership rules, currently it is quite flexible Financial resources: government grant, fund from UK embassy, in kind contributions of members like facilitation, moderation during events. Other sources of funding (private foundations, embassies, online donations) are still under exploration. 2009: Presidency fund, Youth in action funding, Membership fees Events in 2010: 3 sessions of strategic planning 2 events financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) (Romanian Moldavian NGO Forum and the Development Camp gathering major stakeholders and CSO representatives) North South Centre: National Seminar on Global/Development Education, July 2010 Black Sea Forum in September In partnership with the University of Bucharest: November Lectures Challenges: explore alternative financial sources still in progress, FOND will apply as partner in a project See CASE STUDY ROMANIA on the cooperation with the MFA BULGARIA BPID Financial strategy was discussed and outlined. The interpersonal relationship with MFA improved, but there is still no legal framework for cooperation with NGO Currently one person is employed the coordinator, the funding ended Funding attempts: application under NSA/LA in partnership with other platforms, sporadically business structures, BPID is beneficiary under other projects Main events in 2010 are the AidWatch Report; parliamentary requests; GCAP campaign Challenges: sources, activities of BPID are ad hoc due to lack of resources; as a result of the economic crisis there is a lack of interest by politicians in Development issues, lack of support ODA is not on the public agenda any more Strategic directions: advocacy in the context of the European parliamentary families; involvement of legislative powers in ODA scrutiny; political talking fitting into political context, identify the political powers to stream ODA in the political agenda. BPID has difficulties with membership fees members question role, platform should not be a NGO SLOVENIA SLOGA Is rethinking how to continue, there are currently two main areas of activity: 1) Information Centre for a) NGOs b) decision makers c) media Information is tailored for each of the groups, the challenge is now how to tackle the general public. 2

3 2) Research centre is focussing on advocacy and operated by 13 working groups of which 8 9 are very active Focussing on decision makers in MFA and Ministry of education, they are now building up a counterpart to better response to Sloga, Global education WG working on global education strategy and how to implement it into school curriculum Capacity building for NGOs through working groups There is good cooperation with CONCORD working groups, NGOs, universities and other institutions Training centre for capacity building for NGOs, there are 3 events per month (round table/ workshops) 5 permanent full time staff, one part time, one volunteer several changes in the upcoming months for personal reasons; in autumn change of director financial resources from MFA, project funds, membership fees Events: Presentation of AidWatch report with MFA support Africa week with big media support and public interest, the President attended with his wife. humanitarian football cup with African and Slovenian NGOs and good media coverage An MoU with MFA is in the making, but because of the crisis in Greece funding for Development Cooperation was cut, and the budget restructured Challenges: to work closer with decision makers LATVIA LAPAS Latvia faces huge budget cuts (10% in 2009, and 7% in 2010), therefore there s no bilateral ODA beyond legal contributions, the bilateral budget is reduced to 0. There are also big changes for the platform: 4 years ago there were 4 persons employed, now 1 person 4 days/week, one person 2 days/week Funding: membership fees, Co financing SOROS foundation Latvia LAPAS is heading into 4 directions: Advocacy: good relation with MFA information exchange, no money Development education: very important, Baltic seminar with 80 participants; Higher education Serve members that also struggling with cuts, provide information Channell information: Website, Focus, Research, World Talks in LV, World Talks in the Baltics Challenges: we are too dependent on Development education politics in the EU, members capacities, commissioner Piebalgs until 2012 Plans: to deal with the MDG summit and what to do next? Latvian Presidency in 2015, find alternative funding SLOVAKIA MVRO Currently MVRO has 29 members, its objectives are advocacy, networking, public awareness raising. An MoU with MFA was signed in May and MVRO is now an official partner for consultation of documents related to ODA, was involved in preparation of country strategy papers (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kenya) and the development education strategy. Currently 4 people are employed, one of them full time. Financial income: membership fees, projects (MFA, EuropeAid) General Elections in June, after this they will approach new MPs and write policy briefs. Other plans: Events for MDG summit; Development days 17 and 18 October. LITHUNANIA LITDEA There are 2 platforms, both doing similar work on education and awareness raising. Julius is representing LITDEA (Lithuanian Development Education and Awareness Raising). LITDEA has formalised recently. It faces financial constrains, has one development education project financed by 3

4 the MFA which is sufficient to sustain the office (work with municipalities in small units, first hand experience from grass root level). The big financial challenges are in relation with budget cuts: ODA in 2009 was the same as 2007 (30 million EUR), 0,11 %; 40% of ODA goes to Afghanistan. Lithuania is drafting a law on humanitarian aid and development cooperation, but there is only a minimum level of involvement of Lithuanian NGOs. An inter ministerial effort tries to establish consultation, LITDEA hopes to be invited. The different platforms in LT: There is a division of labour, but also a certain fragmentation, another big organisation doesn t want to be part of either platform. At the same time they also work together on certain issues, e.g. the Baltic Development education conference. ROMANIA CASE STUDY OF STRATEGIC PLANNING Olivia Baciu, member of the board of FOND (Romanian national platform) presented the process within the platform towards the new strategy. The institutional relationship with the MFA was the trigger for taking a more strategic approach. In ODA strategy, FOND is now seen as a partner for the MFA but this was only on paper to begin with. In 2009, FOND was supposed to get some funds for advocacy but they were redistributed to Moldova which resulted in anger and frustration that was then channeled into starting a conversation with the ministry about their relationship. This was a successful process as now the national platform is in the position of implementing 10 percent of ODA in Romania through two main events. A plan was made for the next five years in terms of the relationship with the MFA and this was designed through board meetings and the platform s general assembly. By the time of this year s summer camp (the end of June) there should be a finished plan. The process could be useful to other platforms to improve partnerships and think more long term about strategic relationships. Part of the strategic plan is managing the relationship with the MFA continuously, especially due to the continuous turnover within the ministry. A document will be produced with a procedural manual but the current relationship is very positive with information going both ways. Questions covered the level of engagement that the platform deal with (leadership within the ministry, where the decisions are taken) and the elements that are included in the document, since there are problems in other platforms agreeing anything other than information sharing and consultation (it is a strong document with rights and obligations including staying informed and being consulted but is also flexible enough for amendments later). NMS PRESIDENCIES. LESSONS FROM PAST AND PERSPCTIVES FOR THE FUTURE Participants shared experiences of past presidencies and plans for future ones: Slovenia (2008) Marjan spoke about the good practices and challenges from the Slovenian presidency of 2008 that were also shared in Latvia since the Latvians have already started thinking about their presidency, which will take place in 2015! When planning the presidency, the platform had only been in existence for one year. The NGDO platform of each country holding the presidency applies for a grant for the presidency period and although the EC has to reserve this funding, the project has to be planned very much in advance because drafts can be refused despite the lack of competition. Co financing for this project comes from the MFA. SLOGA, the Slovenian national platform started 18 months in advance because the platform was so young. The process of defining priorities was fairly painful since platform members started with 50 priority topics but managed to narrow these down to five. During the presidency CODEV meetings (Council meetings on development) are important targets (CONCORD is regularly invited but the delegation is usually chaired by someone representing the presidency). The agenda needs to be agreed with CODEV and during the Slovenian presidency, SLOGA focused on the role of NMS and aid effectiveness. Support was provided by CONCORD and 4

5 TRIALOG. The former GAERC (now FAC Foreign Affairs Council) also invites CONCORD to its meetings on development issues. It is important to work with development minister in advance to define meeting agendas. To introduce the presidency at the national level, it is advisable to have a conference showing the European level and its importance for the national level. Presidencies in the first half of the year have the EU ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly and those in the second half have the European Development Days. In the first case the EP should provide the venue for free. 20 or 30 percent of working time in the platform needs to be dedicated to unforeseen activities and it is increasingly difficult to be in touch with national officials in the couple of months leading up to the presidency. The other thing the presidency platform needs to think about is the troika the previous presidency and the following presidency. The platform should try to act like an orchestra conductor with NGOs and the government at the national level during the presidency. The EC needs to know that the relationship is being improved in a way that will help the situation following the presidency. The final important aspect is to plan the time after the presidency in Slovenia the presidency provided a lot of support to the platform s work for a full year including the preparation, implementation and reporting phases. Poland (2011) Wojciech told the group that the platform Grupa Zagranica is still currently defining priorities within the platform the consultation should be done within the next month or two. They will start talking to the EC at the end of June and although it is good in theory to act as an orchestra, it will be difficult as there are no official development cooperation priorities. In the platform, it is difficult to combine the interests of all members as those focusing on democracy and others covering different development topics are in a bit of conflict. The platform intends to use the presidency to tackle this but democracy and development is likely to be a priority as well as aid effectiveness since the high level forum will take place in Seoul during the presidency. Another challenge is provided by the European Development Days in July in Poznan. The platform would like a special space for Polish NGOs in EDD11. There will be a study visit to the Czech Republic next week with the Hungarians to discuss. Latvia (2015) Mara said that although the Latvian presidency is not until 2015, this is the year of the Millennium Development Goals so it is a big milestone. Other Baltic countries are in 2013 (Lithuania) and 2018 (Estonia) so they are nicely spread out. The Latvian platform is keen to be the sledgehammer that drives the Latvian commissioner for development to put some pressure on other countries. The governments need the NGOs, especially during the presidency, but the Latvian government did not even think about NGO involvement. Marjan was invited to give particular information about the presidency, and met with the MFA to share information as well as a group of NGOs who are not involved in development. Cyprus (2012) Mehmet said that in the North, because of the division of the island, they are slightly suspicious of the presidency. Mike added that for the moment there has been no planning for the presidency within the platform and that they are here to learn from other platforms dealing with the presidency before Cyprus. Comments from participants CONCORD s Policy Forum provides a good opportunity to share presidency information. At the last policy forum the Spanish platform gave some lessons learned. They said that they should have paid more attention to the mobilisation of members and focus less on events but more on advocacy. The other point was the fact that the presidency changes the relationship between the government and the national platform. There is also a presidency manual within CONCORD, which should be updated by each presidency. The political influence of the EC should be taken into consideration during the planning of the presidency priorities. The Swedish example was of one priority, democracy, becoming just one of four final priorities. The EC has also been very strong in outlining priorities for this year s EDD during the Belgian presidency. 5

6 Another tip from the Slovenian experience is to issue the platform s presidency manifesto before the government then they are caught out and likely to support the platform s ideas. Think also about small details like using part of the governmental stand at the airport for NGO information, asking for the small gifts from official meetings to also be provided to the platform for NGO events and putting banners and information at the hotels where governmental representatives will stay. TRIALOG s role could be in providing support in preparation at least a year beforehand, facilitate meetings etc.. PRESENTATION OF THE LISBON TREATY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CSOs WORKING IN DEVELOPMENT Elise Ford Powerpoint Presentation MODERATED WORKING GROUPS PLENARY SESSION REPORTING BACK FROM WORKING GROUPS Working Group 1: The quality of the current dialogue between institutions and national platforms Different platforms are at different stages in their dialogue with EU institutions, so short term goals are different and this affects the relationships. Most contact is with the European Parliament: the Romanian platform has positive direct contact with Corina Cretu, the vice chair of the Development committee in the EP (DEVE); the Slovakian platform also has good communication with an MEP in DEVE but in Cyprus, Malta and Poland the dialogue has yet to be initiated, although contact with Mr Buzek, the president of the European Parliament has been maintained by the Polish platform and he has been supportive regarding work on the law. Nationality is a big player because of ease of access and the direct elections make MEPs more responsive and reflective of their roles. This can be a problem though if a country has no MEPs linked to the development committee for example. In terms of the European Commission, Piebalgs appears to be open to some level of communication; he will attend the Romanian development camp at the end of June. This is due to personality rather than nationality. The conclusion was drawn that there is a need for diversification in contacts to new EU institutions and to institutionalise the relationships. The group also discovered a lack of awareness among several national platforms about certain policy developments like the Quadrilogue/Structured Dialogue process. Working Group 2: Lobby Strategies towards the High Representative and other central figures in the EEAS The group discussed direct vs. indirect lobbying in the context of whether it is worth aiming for dialogue with Catherine Ashton or if it might be more effective to go through national channels to reach that level. Using NGOs from the country of nationality of an official is one channel. It is important to not think that the best method is to go straight for the top, but to look at the middle level that could support your position vis à vis Ashton. This is especially true regarding her lack of willingness to meet people even Glenys Kinnock (who is from the same political party and has a distinguished record within the EP on development issues) was refused a meeting with Ashton. The group discussed the legal advice regarding the legality of the Ashton proposal based on the Lisbon 6

7 treaty. The CODEV agenda can be influenced by the presidency but they have less influence now on the FAC agenda. The discussion also covered the national level and working with parliaments the Slovenian platform has one directional communication with the national parliament; the Polish platform has done some work raising awareness about development issues; in Latvia, sometimes things happen by accident but this is better than them not happening at all; in Bulgaria, the MFA officials said they were too ashamed to come to the AidWatch launch; the Lithuanian parliament is quite influential but it is difficult to bring the position of NGDOs before them; the Romanian relationship with MFA and parliamentarians is fairly good. CONCLUSIONS FROM DAY ONE Day one was a successful day which went from sharing information this morning, through an enjoyable and informative presentation from Elise to intense working group discussions. DAY TWO, 8 June 2010 MODERATED WORKING GROUPS PLENARY SESSION REPORTING BACK FROM WORKING GROUPS Working Group 3: How CSOs can benefit from an increased role of the European Parliament and national parliaments The working group started by discussing the perceived increases and decreases in power in the two cases before moving onto the possible approaches to working with parliaments. There was some discussion about the importance of personal relationships with parliamentarians at national and European level. In some countries it is easier to engage the president than parliamentarians if national parliaments are weak such as in Slovenia and Bulgaria. Study visits to the global south were given as useful tools to sensitize parliamentarians to development issues. This also contributes to building up interpersonal relationships, and media involvement contributes to awareness raising in the population and with other policy makers. Most platforms have good relations with MEPs rather than national parliamentarian as development cooperation is more recognised at European level than national. The group discussed NMS platforms using links from the past such as those that existed before the 1990s in Africa. In Romania there is a stigma about links that existed before 1989 and in Bulgaria there are few people interested in rebuilding links as those based on agriculture are not there anymore, just students like in Romania. An important aspect to remember is the use of language and the relevance of different tactics with different political parties using talk of solidarity when communicating with the left vs. talk of opportunities when talking to the right. An Austrian example was given of all party events. The media involvement is relevant but platforms need to think about who is being targeted and how the message is being presented. The mass advocacy activities with the European Parliament that CONCORD organized in 2009 need to be followed up and form part of a longer term strategy to be effective. The experience of the different platforms involved in this varied. 7

8 In Bulgaria there are plans to channel advocacy through political parties at national and European level: using the European level to influence national policies and vice versa. Working Group 4 A Stronger voice for civil society how can and should civil society act upon this opportunity? What possibilities on national the level? The working group discussed three opportunities for CSO were discussed: National parliaments as watchdogs towards the European parliament; EU Delegations in southern countries; 1 million signatures petition. Especially the new European citizen s initiative where 1 million signatures of citizens from a certain number of member states can call directly on the Commission to bring forward new policy initiatives was discussed as an opportunity to a) raise awareness about the Lisbon treaty b) to influence EU policy. Concern was voiced that the 1 million signature campaign might be misused by a few. When only used as awareness raising without real effect it will add fuel to the general scepticism and mistrust towards the European governing institutions. Still, there are too many unclarities how the EU will handle this initiative and which mechanism will be applied. The question was also raised whether it is sensible at all to raise awareness about the Lisbon Treaty when we are actually trying to solve the problems of poverty eradication. Brainstorming of topics for petition revealed, poverty eradication, MDG commitments, Energy consumption, political will and decision towards saving energy. Seeking society support for European level decisions in saving energy. Searching for alternative energy sources. Climate change combined with development co operation, for example EU policies to clean energy provisions using agrofuels leading to an increase in Palm oil production, sanctions for not reaching MDG agenda, Campaign to influence parliament to fulfill point 7 of obligations PCD to be full field for reaching MDG. If we were the first to gather one million signatures with our topics it could be a benefit and create momentum. Another issue was the role of national parliaments. Still, it depends on personal commitments and contributions, a study visit could contribute to the understanding of EU structures, platforms should remain good relations with MEPs. We need to channel advocacy through political parties, involve national parliaments and EP. PANEL DISCUSSION:IDEAS FOR ACTION FOR THE NATIONAL PLATFORMS AND FOR CONCORD UNDER THE NEW FRAMEWORK: POLITICAL, FINANCIAL, IDEOLOGICAL Panellists: Meagan Baldwin (CONCORD), Marjan Huč (SLOGA), Wojciech Tworkowski (Zagraniza Group), facilitated by Christine Bedoya (TRIALOG). Meagan Baldwin identified CONCORD s priorities for 2010 apart from the ongoing work of the working groups: 1) institutional reform of the EU 2) Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) 3) Quadrilogue / Structured Dialogue 4) MDGs The main question in the course of the new framework with all the uncertainties for the development is how to make sure that poverty reduction as key issue of development is kept. CONCORD has published a position paper Recommendations for safeguarding development principles and objectives in the future EU institutional framework Meagan addressed key spaces for NMS within CONCORD Board of CONCORD, new election in June, until now there is no NMS representative for the board steering group of the Policy Forum 8

9 participate in core working groups like the Funding for Development and Relief (FDR), Policy Forum, still the active representation of NMS is really low However, experience showed that there is a lack of introduction and capacity building from the side of CONCORD/ the working groups in getting to know how they work. Sometimes this discouraged engagement and interest. Some kind of facilitation would be needed. For the FDR working group TRIALOG has organised a so called tea party the evening before the working group meeting in order to inform about the ongoing discussion and develop a joint strategy for this meeting. Generally there was a feeling that it is difficult to find an appropriate candidate with the necessary knowledge, expertise and experience to represent NMS in the board and in working groups. The current situation is unsatisfying. However, this is not unique to NMS but similar in countries like Portugal or Greece. With respect to engagement in working groups, the platforms should be clear about their priorities, and decide where participation would make most sense for them. Two leverage points for platforms could be Council Conclusions where commitments are made, and that national budgets will go through peer reviews this is a way of putting pressure on governments (force shame upon them). The development community can use the discussion of the peer review. Also, the financial perspectives of the EU that define the framework for the Community's budget priorities over a period of several years will come to an end in New discussions start already now. This is of importance also for NMS. On the question of What is happening on national level, what would you like to do and what would you need? Marjan Huč emphasised that he appreciates the work of CONCORD, but is critical about 1) information is not tailor made for NMS 2) board priorities are far away from realities of NMS 3) there are hidden agendas for example of British, French, Dutch platforms still he regards CONCORD as one of the best organised European networks, which provides space for all platforms, space for debate, and the secretariat is very open and responsive. The membership is a big asset. Generally, all platforms, but especially platforms in the NMS, have to face a changing political environment with a raise of rightwing actors in the political landscape and in the societies. This means also a changing environment for civil society actors, which do not have a long history in the NMS. The lack of capacities makes it necessary to cooperate with other NGOs or civil society actors with different agendas and focus. In Slovenia there was a successful cooperation between environmental groups and Sloga. The financial crisis is felt in all countries, development budgets are the first to be cut. New financial sources have to be found. At the same time it is debatable whether private sector sources are good or bad. Marjan gave the example of a Czech project in a Southern country which resulted in procurement contracts for a Czech private company. Wojciech Tworkowski continued saying that political changes are taking place simultaneously to the debate on the role of CSO in development cooperation. In the coming years the debate on our role will increase and we have to continue. He identified three areas for action/intervention 1) the new provision of the 1 million signatures as a tool for both awareness raising and influencing policy, especially when we are the first to do it 2) the role and responsibilities of national parliaments this is great in order to involve the national parliaments and can be used towards European institutions, it can be done in the Polish context. Also it shows our role in giving the necessary competence to officials /MPs 3) the EU delegations in the framework of the European External Action Service in terms of coordination and better relations with grassroots and local NGOs He disagreed with the opinion that the national institution will lose influence under the Lisbon Treaty. Rather, there are growing inter linkages with the European institutions, national institutions, 9

10 delegations. This means that you have to identify key persons in the parliament to become allies, and to alert, educate and influence them. Action steps can be the 1 million signatures campaign (especially when we are the first), sending coordinated messages to focal people. Towards CONCORD he formulated the expectation to coordinate these kinds of action, but also to provide more NMS tailored messages. He also believed that with more private sector interest in development cooperation the governments would give more official assistance because it would mean the promotion of the national economy. The governments would have a stronger role to monitor the private sector. POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND COMMITMENTS FOR NGDO PALTFORMS Action steps and strategies for the platforms In the afternoon participants gathered country/region wise to discuss action points related to the discussions of the past two days and looked into the next steps for the future. These were as follows: BALTICS Learned from the Central Training about the Polish law and the Romanian idea to get to the national parliament through contacts in the European Parliament. On the horizon they see the EDF and what implications it will have in the Baltic countries. They want to move away from neighbourhood. They will also monitor the fine line between security and development (Afghanistan). And follow the issue of blended loans. BULGARIA The main challenge is how to link priorities of the platform with priorities of CONCORD on EU level. Objectives: 1) enhance participation of Bulgarian MEPs in debates of European development cooperation 2) find ways to transfer knowledge / best practice on EU level to the Bulgarian context in order to get MPs to support the Bulgarian development cooperation Approaches: 1. directly approach Bulgarian MEPs, sensitise and involve them through meetings, letters, active involvement, mobilise the ones who are already committed 2. seek support of MEPs of other nationalities by using the support of other platforms (BOND UK; Austrian, Belgian and other partners), mobilise the ones committed, engage them and involve MEPs with different issues. POLAND Action steps: 1. strategy / action plan for Polish presidency 2. channel / tailor information from CONCORD 2.1. how to promote and link challenges in member countries 3. ideas for fundraising 4. employ and fund a policy officer for networking and gathering of information TRIALOG s role in supporting these activities could be to tailor the information to NMS and to provide the platforms with clear opinions/guidelines on how to act. The platforms do not have enough human resources and capacities to get through all the papers. There is a need for more digested papers and simplified information highlighting what is important and which action steps are suggested. This could happen in the general context of building capacity in policy. TRIALOG should serve as a guide as there are so many policy processes going on and it is difficult to identify what is important and what is not. There could be a policy brief one page/month, like the COPNCORD EU monitoring newsletter but tailored for NMS. TRIALOG has done this on an ad hoc basis. Meagan 10

11 points out that behind this one pager is a lot of work and it is really a question of capacities. There should also not be an duplication of work. A question would be what are the basics, where to begin with? TRIALOG could start to follow up with one topic which is relevant for NMS. ROMANIA Plans to work on mapping the power relations after Lisbon treaty. Want to approach permanent representatives in the EC and institutionalise these contacts. Improve contacts with MPs by approaching them, and organise a study visit. Approach Southern embassies in Romania. Follow up and get more involved in Structured Dialogue. Summer school will be first step, commissioner Piebalgs will be there, follow up on letter he has send to CONCORD. SLOVAKIA Inform platform about Central Training. Recommend other policy working groups to include them into the agenda. Political environment is unsure: general elections and new parliament, they will prepare a policy brief for future MPs, the main topic and focus of this policy brief is not defined. CYPRUS More information gathering is needed, need to digest and learn from other experiences with regards to the presidencies. They are interested in getting to know how to involve and engage the media. Follow up on report of central training. Learn from other platforms. They need a lot of work internally (organisational development). They will try to reform the working groups between the two Cypriot platforms, and streamline with CONCORD working groups and become more effective. They want to involve more external partners, improve the new media centre and use new tools to elaborate MDGs. They will arrange visit of Marjan and Wojciech with respect to the presidency. Priorities: reform of legal system, building up cooperation with CONCORD Northern Platform plans an activity on peace building in September, another focus will be the legal reform. SUMMARY The main action points focused on policies, watching/monitoring and follow up on this. This reflects a shift away from awareness raising towards policy and lobby within the platforms. NEXT CENTRAL TRAINING AND NEXT STEPS A few topics and suggestions for future Central Trainings were identified : presidencies aid effectiveness more sharing spontaneous issues/ open space follow up on new institutions: access and how they are set up politics behind ODA NMS Aidwatch what is our contribution Outcomes of the Structured Dialogue The winter school which was intended for organisational development of the platforms has to be planned soon. It is scheduled for ca. March As issue / need only the financial strategy was discussed. Currently, most of the platforms have only an ad hoc financial strategy, and many regard this as the only way to handle the situations. It has not been decided yet, whether the winter school will be one week long, include the weekend, or if it will be in combination with the central training. Christine Bedoya announced the Nicaragua Conference November and wrapped up. Although this Central Training represented only a small group it was an intensive training content wise. 11