DFID consulting on future vision
As the Department for International Development (DFID) launches a consultation on its Institutional Strategy Paper for Europe, Romina Vegro, BOND EU Policy Officer, examines the importance of the Paper for NGOs and explains how BOND will be monitoring its progress.
The Institutional Strategy Paper for Europe outlines DFID's vision for working with the other EU Member States, the European Commission, European Parliamentarians and with civil society on international development policies.
Institutional Strategy Papers (ISPs) are prepared for the main multilateral development institutions with which DFID works, and set out how DFID aims to contribute to achieving its White Paper objectives in partnerships with each of the institutions concerned.
DFID channels around 20% of its multilateral aid through the European Commission and the paper highlights DFID’s three main priorities for its work with the EU in the next two years:
- Improved wider policies for development: for the EU to ensure coherence between policies on areas such as climate change, trade and security with the EU’s development policies. In the next two years DFID will be focusing on four main policy areas: climate change, trade, security and migration.
- More and better aid: the need to improve the quality and quantity of the EU’s development and humanitarian assistance, through institutional reforms, increased aid volume and cooperation with the European Commission and other EU Member States to improve the poverty focus, impact and effectiveness of EC aid.
- Political leverage for development: the need for the EU to take the lead on an ambitious plan of action for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting in May and the EU Council meeting in June as an opportunity to discuss progress and to set the standard for international action ahead of the UN meeting on the MDGs in September 2008.
The BOND European Policy Group has been working on the issues highlighted in the DFID ISP for many years and welcomes DFID’s new strategy as the beginning of a process. BOND, together with members and partner networks, will be monitoring the implementation of the ISP and calling DFID to account on it. In particular BOND will be putting pressure on DFID to ensure that the UK uses its political leverage effectively within the EU, so that it makes a far more significant contribution towards achieving the MDGs and delivers on its international commitments to eradicate poverty, ensure economic justice, address climate change, and realise peace and universal human rights. The vital role of civil society as a development actor in its own right working for the eradication of poverty must also be recognised.
More specifically
On more and better aid: the UK should push for the EU to agree a strong position at the GAERC meeting in May and the Council meeting in June to be presented at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in September, to ensure that there is a significant improvement in aid structures including targets, monitoring and implementation.
On trade: the UK should ensure that the EU does not force liberalisation on developing countries, but allows them to maintain the policy space to protect vulnerable agricultural, industrial and services sectors. The EU should also agree reforms that would end dumping of agricultural products by agreeing to cut trade distorting farm subsidies.
On human security: EU-wide preventative approaches to conflict, and efforts to resolve conflict where it does break out, are required if development is to flourish.
On climate change: unprecedented action is required nationally, regionally, and internationally. The urgency and extent of the EU's action on climate change has to match the scale of the problem and be commensurate to the EU's values, influence and wealth.
On migration: the UK should put pressure on other EU member states so that development money is not used to resolve migration issues nor be contingent on migration policy.
The BOND European Policy Group is coordinating the BOND response to the consultation, which runs to 13 June. An initial meeting with BOND members was held on 30 April and BOND’s response to the DFID ISP will be posted on the BOND website after submission. If you would like to contribute to the consultation, email Romina Vegra.
More information about the European Policy Group