Civil Society and the #EYD2015 Presentation of the proposal regarding a broad civil society alliance on #EYD2015 submitted by CONCORD to the European Commission

Role of civil society in #EYD2015  Broad and deep outreach directly to EU citizens  Broad and deep outreach directly to people living in EU partner countries under development  Providers of stories, evidence and sector expertise  Ability to engage EU citizens in critical debate on development issues  Ability to engage EU citizens as actors for development

Role of CONCORD in #EYD2015  Invited by EC to be the builder, convenor and coordinator of a broad alliance of CSOs, supported by EESC  CS alliance to include but also to go beyond own membership (1800+ development oriented NGOs in 28 EU MS, clustered in 28 national platforms and in 18 international networks)  ‘Sectors’ to include beyond CONCORD membership:  Environmental NGOs  Human rights NGOs  Peace & conflict oriented NGOs  Fair trade movement NGOs  Local authorities  Trade unions and their development oriented organisations  Etc.

Current state of play CS Alliance  Upon invitation by the EC, CONCORD has submitted to the EC a proposal for an action program (18 months, October 2014 – March 2016) in the context of #EYD2015  Proposal based on a logical framework of objectives and outcomes, with an overall budget of just under 1 million €.  Proposal is currently under review and consideration by the EC. It has not yet been approved for funding.  Disclaimer: Since the proposal has not yet been approved by the EC, all following information about the contents of the proposal is subject to this approval.

CONCORD’s vision for #EYD2015 Within the Civil Society Alliance for #EYD2015, CONCORD will seek to bring together an open network of European and national civil society organisations willing to promote :  Universality: Global challenges need global answers, in Europe and everywhere because we should think globally at local level.  Solidarity: we need to [continue to] act, not for others but with others.  Engagement: Join us on the march towards “Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future”  Support for real change: The EU supports change agents, and you can be one, too!  Responsibility: It is not about “what we give” but about “how we live”

Overall outcomes envisaged The broad Civil Society Alliance for #EYD2015 will:  contribute to breakthrough new awareness raising and policy initiatives leading to a new paradigm of development based on global justice.  strengthen existing and build new relationships, partnership and alliances with other NGOs and other major stakeholders working in related areas  implement common activities in the framework of #EYD2015.  showcase the expertise and diverse good practices in development cooperation from an equally diverse range of CSOs.  access additional and innovative resources for awareness raising and citizen engagement.  strengthen cooperation with decision makers working with development at national level and at EU level.

Overall objectives CONCORD proposal  To foster direct involvement, critical thinking and active interest of European citizens and stakeholders in global justice  To foster among Europeans and people in developing countries a sense of joint responsibility, solidarity and opportunity in a changing and increasingly interdependent world.  Citizens & media dialogue shifts from a development and charity frame to a global justice and social transformation frame

Specific objectives CONCORD proposal  SO1: to provide leadership, support and coordination to European civil society coalition/alliance to use the European Year for Development as an opportunity to foster critical discussions on and engagement for global justice among the European population, involving different stakeholders in the discussion to go beyond the usual development sector and actors.  SO2: to engage specific groups and citizens, including political actors and NGOs, well known and new constituencies/platforms gathering different CSOs active in different fields in critical discussions and public engagement at national and community level (related to sub-granting possibility)  SO3: to organise pan-European activities in dialogue with the European institutions  SO4: collect and cluster citizens’ input and propose policy recommendations to EU and national institutions

Expected results CONCORD proposal 1. An inclusive, pan-European, cross-sectorial civil society alliance is set up, including partners from beyond Europe, to implement and promote #EYD Civil society actors across Europe are supported in their role as primary actors in the implementation and promotion of #EYD2015 as part of a broad civil society campaign. 3. The sub-granting mechanism that is part of this proposal will specifically aim to facilitate the organisation of diverse activities aimed to involve and engage citizens, either at local, regional and national level in member states or transnational activities involving coordinated action in more than one member state 4. The public discourse in Europe on development shifts beyond aid and charity to address universality, solidarity, engagement and individual and collective responsibility. 5. Policy recommendations on a new development narrative have been formulated, thanks to all inputs collected in 2015 and presented to relevant public institutions and stakeholders.

Main activities in CONCORD proposal (1)  Establishment of a European Civil Society EYD Alliance secretariat for the EYD.  Coordination and joint action with European activities of the global & European Action/2015 campaign, including creation of interfaces for non-European voices.  Sub-granting mechanism to support national or regional civil society coalitions in the implementation of EYD activities that foster critical discussions on and engagement for global justice among the European population.  Advisory, animation and coaching support for shaping local, regional and national EYD activities in Europe to encourage and animate actions to be developed or actions that were planned anyway to be ‘labelled’ as EYD2015 activity.  Set-up and continuous update of the section of the EYD2015 website dedicated to the civil society alliance (in the big EC/Member States/ Civil society cross- sectorial platform) and social media interactions.

Main activities in CONCORD proposal (2)  Development/collection of new and existing campaigning communication tools and materials, to be used, adapted to local, regional, national contexts  Active participation and contribution in main EU-organised #EYD2015 events to influence the discourse on development towards universality, solidarity, engagement and individual and collective responsibility.  Organisation of some side events to these EU events  event Latvia (opening)  event Luxembourg (closing)  events Brussels  event Milan For Expo2015 (May 2015) with strong NGOs civil society side-events,  activities during the “EuDevDays” in June 2015  Organise 2 major “own” civil society events (one in partnership with EYCA2013 alliance). The final themes to be agreed among members and partners of the Civil Society Coalitions. Current proposal:  Event 1: Possible theme: “Changing behaviour” (proposed by Fair Trade)  Event 2: Possible theme: “Mobilising and Developing the Potential for Leadership/Influence”  Preparation of policy recommendations based on citizens input collected during the full EYD2015 project.

Sub-granting mechanism proposed  A Sub-Granting Scheme will be put in place as part of the CONCORD proposal to enhance participation of cross-sectorial projects proposed and/or implemented around the main objectives of the #EYD2015 by NGOs and other CSOs platforms and organisations.  An amount of € will be reserved for sub-granting. Sub-granting will be open to all registered partners in the broad civil society coalition that meet certain eligibility criteria, regardless of whether they are members of CONCORD or not.  Main aim of the sub-granting is to encourage cross sectorial cooperation (the communication aspect will be highly considered, social media, potential outreach).  Joint projects will be preferred especially the ones bringing together CONCORD national platforms and other European NGO/CSO networks.