On November 10-11, TRIALOG organized an Expert Seminar on The Future of Civil Society Development Organisations in Vienna. On behalf of ECNL, Ms. Nilda Bullain attended the seminar and delivered a keynote speech on the Processes and factors that help or hinder the development of the role of CSOs. The objectives of the Expert Seminar were the following:
- Establish the "status quo" of the debate on the role of CSOs;
- Reflect on the roles of CSOs - in the ”Global South“, the New Member States of the EU (NMS) and the Old Member States of the EU (OMS);
- Synthesise recent reviews and analyses on the status of CSOs;
- Discuss the necessity of a global Code of Conduct for CSOs;
- Prepare/focus the content of the Managua conference: South/East/North;
- Identify themes and speakers for the 2010 Managua conference;
- Prepare a first draft of the ”Managua Declaration on CSO Participation in Development“.
For some time, a central debate within the CONCORD family has focused on various aspects affecting the future work of non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) and civil society development organisations (CSOs). Several events have challenged current development approaches and the role of CSOs in development. Furthermore, CONCORD is currently preparing for a consultation process between the European Union and civil society to define the future role of CSOs in shaping, monitoring and implementing European development policies (Quadrilogue “Palermo II”). A 2008 conference on Paradigm Review was initiated by TRIALOG and co-organised by the Ecumenical Academy Prague, the Czech platform FoRS and CONCORD, for whom it represented a first milestone in its strategic planning. The event evaluation was very positive, and participants felt that the debate should be taken forward, with more focused contributions on practical steps for the CSO community in the South, East and North. Therefore a second conference was agreed on, which is now planned for November 2010 in Managua, Nicaragua. The enormous amount of written material, including studies and evaluation reports, as well as attempts to achieve a widely shared code of conduct led the TRIALOG Advisory Group to plan an Expert Seminar in November 2009 in Vienna. To make sure that the Managua Conference has optimum impact it was felt that a document with the working title “Managua Declaration on CSO participation in Development” should be proposed.The Expert Seminar collated the elements for a first draft, which will then be shared with organisations worldwide for comments.