Over the last decade, starting at the 2008 Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, commitments have been made to support CSOs as independent development actors in their own right and to ensure that CSOs can maximize their contribution to development. 

Governments made the commitment to provide an environment that is supportive of CSOs (CSO enabling environment), while CSOs committed to enhance their own effectiveness, transparency and accountability (CSO development effectiveness). These commitments on the CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness were last reaffirmed by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) in 2016.

The core of the Task Team’s work is about raising awareness on these commitments and helping advance their implementation. 

The commitments on the role of CSOs in development originated in the international aid and development effectiveness dialogues. These dialogues culminated in the establishment of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) in 2011. Because of its roots in the aid and development effectiveness dialogues, the Task Team engages with the GPEDC.

The GPEDC is a global multi-stakeholder platform that brings together various types of development actors to better work together to contribute to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It supports the implementation of four principles of effective development cooperation. One of these is the principle of inclusive partnerships, under which the commitments on the CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness fall.

The Task Team monitors and engages in the work of the GPEDC in various ways, including through its Global Partnership Initiatives, involvement in the GPEDC’s High Level Meetings, participation in other GPEDC events, and continuous monitoring of and participation in GPEDC work streams amongst others.

http://effectivecooperation.org/

The globally agreed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a universal plan of action for people, planet, prosperity and peace. Its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), successor of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), constitute a driving force for international development cooperation in the years to come.

CSOs are included in the SDGs both as a means and an end of development. As an end, the existence of an independent and vibrant civil society can be viewed as a critical component of SDG 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies and accountable institutions. As a means, CSOs are envisaged to contribute to implementation of the SDGS, both individually and as part of the multi-stakeholder partnerships under SDG 17. In addition, they are envisaged to contribute to monitoring progress.

For CSOs to be able to act as implementers of the SDGs and watchdogs for accountability, they need a CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness. The Task Team monitored the SDGs as they were being developed. It made use of opportunities to provide input. In doing so, it highlighted the importance of CSO participation and the relevance of the commitments on the CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness. The Task Team continues to monitor the SDGs and opportunities for engagement, focusing in particular on SDGs 16 and 17. 

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld 

Over the last decade, the Task Team has worked hard to promote and raise awareness on the commitments on the CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness. At the global level, together with like-minded actors, the Task Team has generated attention for the commitments and contributed to their reaffirmation and further strengthening. Ultimately though, progress in implementing these commitments needs to be made on the ground. The Task Team therefore also explores how it can bridge the global and local in order to contribute to progress at country level. 

The Task Team developed an interactive and informational ‘Going Further Together’ workshop at the country-level on the international commitments in relation to CSO development effectiveness and the CSO enabling environment.

The first country-level workshop took place on 27-28 June 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Task Team co-created a 1½ day workshop together with the National Treasury and Planning, Reality of Aid Africa, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in Kenya.

A summary video of the workshop, including testimonials from workshop participants, is available here.

CSOs can meaningfully and effectively contribute to implementation and monitoring of the SDGs if there is an environment that supports their various operations, while CSOs simultaneously work on their own development effectiveness, transparency and accountability. This can be realized in four ways. The Task Team has developed a four-part framework that outlines steppingstones towards progress on the CSO enabling environment and CSO development effectiveness.

The underlying principle to this framework is that creating the right conditions for CSOs to maximize their contribution to development is a shared responsibility: development cooperation providers, partner country governments and CSOs all have a role to play. This four-part framework forms the underpinning framework to the Task Team’s activities and key messages, and is explained in more detail in our Guidance and Good Practice on CSO Development effectiveness and enabling environment.