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 #EYD2015.
2.
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 crosssectorial 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







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 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
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 650.000 € 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.