COVID-19 implications

March 2020

With the outbreak of COVID-19, an increasing number of countries, populations and individuals are affected by this global pandemic. In these tumultuous times, the Task Team on the CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment stands in solidarity with its partners and affiliates across the globe. We express our support, comradery, as well as gratitude to those in the front lines who continue to battle the fight against COVID-19; from the brave individuals working in healthcare to those ensuring essential resources remain available across the globe, as well as the important research initiatives that are emerging. The Task Team continues its work in these difficult times and salutes its partners in their efforts to raise awareness on the implications, challenges, but also opportunities in the face of this global threat. We refer to the websites of some of our Task Team participants for more information: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); European Commission; CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE); International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL); ACT Alliance. For the full list of Task Team participants. Please visit our homepage.”

“Going Further, Together” Workshop – Uganda

March 2020

The Task Team Secretariat will visit Kampala, Uganda for a multi-stakeholder dialogue workshop taking place towards the end of Q2 of 2020 and focuses on the role of civil society in development. The Task Team co-organizes this event with the National Bureau for NGOs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uganda, the Embassy or Ireland in Kampala (TBC) and the Uganda National NGO Forum.

Second Task Team Studies Workshop

February 2020

The second Task Team Studies Workshop is taking place on Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February 2020, at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), in The Hague, The Netherlands and will be organized under the guidance of the Principle Researchers  Alan Fowler (emeritus professor at ISS) and Kees Biekart (Associate Professor at ISS).

10th meeting IAEG-SDGs

October 2019

The tenth meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, will be held from 21 to 24 October 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (IAEG-SDGs). The Plenary Session is taking place from 22 – 24 October. The Task Team will be monitoring the outcomes closely and is particularly interested in any discussions revolving around the absence of a SDG indicator measuring the inclusion and participation of CSOs in the development process (achievement of the SDGs). More information on the IAEG-SDGs meeting can be found on the UN website.

November 2019 Task Team Meeting

September 2019

The next Task Team Meeting will be held on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 November 2019 in Dublin, and will be hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade of Ireland. The meeting is scheduled back-to-back with the International Donor Group Meeting (Wednesday 27 November) as well as the first meeting of the OECD Community of Practice (Thursday 28 November).

Task Team’s First Country-level Workshop

June 2019

On 27-28 June 2019, the Task Team co-created its first country-level workshop in Nairobi (Kenya), together with the Government of Kenya’s National Treasury and Planning, Reality of Aid Africa, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The theme of the workshop was “Going Further Together”, and focused on civil society organisation (CSO) development effectiveness and the CSO enabling environment. Watch a summary video of the workshop here.

The overall objective of the workshop was to generate an understanding of the international commitments on CSO development effectiveness and enabling environment; what this means in practice for different development actors; and the benefits that can ensue through means of good practice examples from other countries. The workshop aimed to contribute to SDG 17 (multi-stakeholder partnerships) by providing a starting point for a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform, and more understanding of stakeholders’ varied roles in advancing CSO engagement to achieve the SDGs.

A key outcome of the workshop was agreement amongst participants to start drafting a partnership framework for Kenya towards more meaningful and frequent multi-stakeholder dialogue.