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KARAT Coalition together with its members from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia is engaged in advocacy towards gender- sensitive and gender-responsive development cooperation policy and practice on national, European and global level by active participation in various foras and processes (like Open Forum for CSO development effectivness, aid effectiveness process, European Development Days and CONCORD via national platforms).

European Development Days 2010

The 5th edition of the European Development Days (EDD) took place in Brussels on 6th and 7th of December 2010. Organized by the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, EDD is the leading European forum where the questions and issues about international development cooperation are debated. KARAT Coalition, together with One World Action, Arci, UN CDF, Solidar and UN Women, took part in the panels focused on gender equality in development cooperation. Thanks to our participation in EDD we underlined the importance of gender issues during this high-level European meeting, among various actors such as representatives of governments, CSOs, Global South partners, European and international officials. During the EDD KARAT Coalition was represented by Secretariat staff and members from EU New Members States (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia).
The next edition of the EDD took place in Poland, 14-18 December 2011.

More information on: www.eudevdays.eu

 

Development Cooperation – consultation with civil society organizations in Poland

KARAT took part in the consultations with civil society organizations (CSOs) on the frame of the first multi-year program on Polish Development Cooperation for 2012-2016 which were initiated on the 8th of February 2011 by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). It was a beginning of the process which foreseed consultations of various actors working on development issue in Poland as well as study visits to the Polish aid’s recipient countries aimed at assessing the needs of the potential beneficiaries.

KARAT as a part of Polish Platform of Concord – Grupa Zagranica – is actively engaged in this process with the aim to contribute to elaboration of gender sensitive program of Polish development cooperation. The MFA’s initiative of wide consultations with CSOs is promising and appreciated especially in the context of giving up such good practices by the governmental bodies responsible for equality and counteraction of discrimination for the last four years.

 

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Bussan

The involvement of KARAT Coalition in the Bussan HLF4 included preparation for the event and the actual participation in the event. KARAT  participated in the preparation process on two levels:  international and national (Polish).

On the international level the representatives of KARAT Coalition and KARAT Secretariat took part in consultation meeting in June 2011 in Brussels, Belgium.

On national level – KARAT’s representative took part in consultation process on the road to Busan in Poland, which was particularly important because of Polish Presidency in EU Council in 2011. The representative of KARAT Secretariat took active part in consultation process between Zagranica Group  (Polish platform of CONCORD) and Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation Department. During the preparatory sessions KARAT was responsible for highlighting gender issues in development effectiveness agenda. As a consequence the representative of KARAT Secretariat was present on HLF4 as a member of governmental delegation.

The Busan HLF4 was attended by the KARAT members from the Forum of Women NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, Gender Education, Research and Technologies Foundation (Bulgaria) and representatives of KARAT Secretariat.

The CSOs’ demands and expectations towards HLF4 were formulated during the Busan Civil Society Forum (BSCF) which took place just before HLF4. There, the women’s organizations from across the world, including KARAT, signed the Busan Women’s Forum Political Statement. This common voice of women called on all governments and other development actors involved in the HLF4 to include the women’s rights and gender equality perspective in a new development cooperation framework. A position of the CSOs was clearly expressed by the sentence “Put Women’s Rights at the Center of Development” on the pink scarves worn by the BSCF participants. Unfortunately, the key players of the HLF4 (e.g. China) were not inclined to abandon their countries’ interests to the human and women’s rights commitments.

In 2012 KARAT will focus on follow up the Busan commitments and lobbying for implement them on national level (especially in EU NMS).