Citizen Initatives in action: do differences in funding & support systems lead to differences in the dynamics of the CI sector? Workshop B – Round 1 Pierre DANIEL CALONNE Consultant

An European overview of Development microprojects A study commissioned by the Microprojects Agency (European Guild) Focused on 15 countries (France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland) What are the different funding and support systems in Europe?

The microprojects approach The microprojects approach refers to: -civil society initiatives in the field of international development -initiatives strongly relying on volunteering -it implies a small-sized budget (difficulties in reaching conventional NGO funds) and a strong local partnership -with an ambition of proximity (with donors and beneficiaries) and, sometimes, of innovation.

A converging political ambition The specific contribution of citizen initiatives to global development is widely shared -advantages (new ideas, strong partnership…) -limits (fragility in the project conception, lack of management skills…) Three main ambitions at the core of the government support to CIs: -to develop citizen involvment in development cooperation -to foster experimentations that could be replicable at a larger scale -to strenghthen actors’ capacities and skills

Heterogeneous funding schemes Dedicated funding lines directly managed by the government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Development Agency) Subgranting mechanisms via intermediary organisations Local authorities involvement (call for proposals…) Private funders (foundations, churches, NGOs…) Ex: Wilde Ganzen in the Netherlands Public fundraising: by far the first funding source Ex: in 2012, Welsch CIs collectively generated £1.5million against the £60,000 in small grants from Welsh government

Supporting mechanisms for CIs Funding and supporting partners (Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Netherlands…) NGO umbrella organisations supporting both large and small organisations Dedicated organisations or platforms to inform, train and advise CIs  A specific trend: networking and exchanges between CIs (Myworld, 1zu1, Together4Africa…)

A few questions… Do these different schemes have an impact in the dynamism of the CI sector? How does it affect their ability and/or willingness to gather, share information and develop networking? What are the best ways to identify innovative approaches and to help them scaling up?