We decide, You "own"
An Assessment of the Programming of European Community aid to ACP countries under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF)
In 2005, Europe made major promises to the developing world. The European Union and its member states renewed their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals as well as to other international commitments such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women (December 1995) and the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action on Social Development (March 1995). These commitments have not only been perceived as very positive in both Europe and the rest of the world, but they have also raised expectations. It is now time for the European Union (EU) to deliver on its promises to actively work for more social justice and less inequality.
To this end, the European Union has been putting in place a new political and legal framework for its development policy. In December 2005, the European Consensus on Development was adopted. This was followed by an agreement to allocate €22.8 billion in aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). The financial instrument for Development Cooperation (DCI) that will be established in early 2007, will focus on the eradication of poverty in developing countries. It should ensure that Europe contributes significantly to the strengthening of the education and health sectors in developing countries.
This new political and legal framework for development policy is a step forward towards a more responsible Europe. However, the EU will only be able to deliver on its international commitments if it uses this framework responsibly.
Over the past two years the EU has been pursuing a process to plan its aid to all developing countries from 2007 for countries in Asia and latin America, and from 2008 for countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions. Eurostep has been working with civil society actors from different countries to assess the process and the results so far. It focuses on EU delivery on its numerous commitments made to developing countries, in the context of the programming process of European Community aid under the 10th EDF for ACP countries, and under the regular budget for countries in other regions.
Based on case studies written by civil society actors, Eurostep has produced a report that considers to what extent the programming is advancing the key principles of the EU partnership with developing countries, such as ownership, participation, transparency, human and social development and gender equality. European Community aid programmes will neither be credible nor legitimate if EU is not in a position to deliver on these principles. The report makes concrete recommendations how to ensure that the rhetoric is translated into the reality of the programming process.
The report is built on a number of case studies, the first four of which have been carried out in Africa. Additional studies will be added in the coming months:
We decide, you "own"!
- An assessment of the Programming of European Community aid to ACP countries under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) (en - fr)
- A Beninese Perspective by Aurélien Atidegla (en - fr)
- A Burundian Perspective by Déogratias Nzunogera (en - fr)
- A Cameroonian perspective by Christine Andela (en - fr)
- A Zambian perspective by Emmanuel Mali (en - fr)
