101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

Regional Alliances - Advocacy Strategy 2020-2022 Please note: this strategy is a living document and needs further elaboration and thought. It will also need to be updated based on political opportunities that arise in the upcoming months and years until the end of 2022.

1. Advocacy issue 1.1. Definition of the problem: what is the problem? What are the root causes? Who is affected? What are the implications? In a world filled with new threats and opportunities, the European Union, as an actor on the world stage, needs to consolidate relations with its closest partners. The EU is a power that seeks to safeguard its interests vis-à-vis other big players in international relations in full respect of international law and its own values. Ursula von der Leyen, presenting for the first time her College of Commissioners said “My Commission will be a geopolitical Commission committed to sustainable policies. And I want the European Union to be the guardian of multilateralism. Because we know that we are stronger by doing together what we cannot do alone". A significant change in the new EC set up is the replacement of the ‘Development’ Commissioner with a Commissioner for ‘International Partnerships’, and it is unclear whether this marks a linguistic or substantive change. The emphasis on ‘partnerships’ rather than ‘development’ potentially signals a shift away from traditional donor/recipient relations and in this context CONCORD (with its members) must influence the EC interpretation of “international partnership” making sure that it won’t be exclusively focused on business, trade, growth, investment relations but that instead it will prioritise the wellbeing of people and planet and the fight against inequalities, promoting clear commitments towards a fairer and more sustainable world.

In recent years CONCORD's policy and advocacy work has been partially "euro-centric" because it often followed the approach of the European institutions in the external action of the European Union and in particular in its Development Cooperation. The experience and the extensive network of the NGOs that CONCORD represents, however, allow for a much broader vision of how the strategic work on the EU external action policies should be carried on. The fundamental issue that ‘Regional Alliances’ working structure would like to tackle is expanding the vision and incorporating the point of view of stakeholders, in particular Civil Society Organisations, NGOs, grassroots organisations (partners of CONCORD and its member organisations) operating in other regions of the world where those policies have the greatest effect and are implemented.

- Africa: Africa is of growing importance to the EU, both in its own right, for example as a continent for investment, a source of migration and as a strategic partner in international fora, but also owing to the geopolitical competition unfolding in the region and the EU’s desire to retain its historical influence. Important changes both in Africa and in the EU are forcing the EU (institutions and MS) to review their geopolitical relations: interests have shifted between the two

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continents and should move on from the donor-beneficiary approach, overcoming a still quite prominent neo-colonial perspective. The relation between the EU and Africa should become more balanced and must be premised on equal participation and representation. Human rights need to be prioritised within the scope of an increasing business interest and focus on investment in Africa by the EU.

CONCORD will focus on advocating for a fair partnership between the EU and Africa and will influence key EU processes like the future of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) -EU partnership agreement, the elaboration of a new Comprehensive Strategy with Africa and related policies that will be implemented after its adoption. The future strategy needs to be based on a broad development agenda, which does not only focus on investment and creation of jobs, but includes the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achieving the SDGs – including tackling the rising inequalities in the different regions of the African continent. The post-Cotonou agreement (which includes 51 of the 54 African states) is an opportunity to build together with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partners an ambitious agenda to put people’s rights and the respect of the planetary boundaries at the core. Civil Society’s engagement must be preserved through effective mechanisms that can ensure a meaningful participation of those actors on the ground whose involvement is key to achieve sustainable development. CONCORD will advocate for a "fair partnership" realised not only in language but in the substance and content of policies, funding and programmes, and reflecting policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD) commitments.

- Latin America: The EU is an important economic and political partner for Latin America; it is the leading donor in the region, and an important foreign investor and partner in trade. European Union Member States and the Latin American countries committed themselves to reinforcing the existing strategic partnership between the European Union and Latin America. The EU and Latin America share a common history and culture, and are thus well placed to boost their potential for joint action considerably. In Latin America, in some countries, positive developments have been achieved such as the reduction of poverty through economic reforms and social policies, a greater redistribution of wealth, improved access to education, health and housing and consolidation of democratic principles and rule of law. However, after a decade of high economic growth, the subsequent stagnation in many countries is putting at risk much of the progress made and is threatening to lead to huge numbers of people slipping back into poverty. At the same time, there are increasing public demands for greater democracy and participation and for sustainable economic policies. The 2019 EC Joint Communication “European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: joining forces for a common future“ sets stronger EU-LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) cooperation in multilateral and international fora and an effective partnership to advance multilateral policies on sustainable development and climate change, as fundamental goals.

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

CONCORD will focus on advocating for an increased involvement of European and Latin American CSOs in the strategic partnership development and in the official policy processes that are impacting on the region with the aim of prioritising people-centred policies, promoting policy coherence for sustainable development and human rights. CONCORD will also promote effective exchange and know-how sharing between European and Latin American CSOs networks with the aim of empowering local CSOs, sharing lessons learned, tools and support.

SMART Objective By 2022, the European Union and its Member States will engage with partner regions in human-rights based partnerships that prioritise sustainable development and the fight against inequalities with an increased space and role for civil society.

This objective will be worked out in three ways:

1) Through maintaining structured and effective dialogue and promoting CONCORD advocacy positions with the EU policy-makers responsible for developing, negotiating and coordinating the implementation of the EU regional partnerships and strategies.

2) Through building working relations and alliances with civil society networks and organisations in Europe and in the different regions. The aim will be to share information on political processes, to identify who is working on similar issues to CONCORD, to ensure that we understand what local civil society are calling for (their priorities and recommendations) in these areas and to make sure that these organisations are involved in a meaningful way in the consultations and CS Forums organised in the framework of the regional partnerships. We will try to gather stories, examples and evidence to support our positions in each work area. We will work closely with members in this endeavour and will make all information gathered available to the membership.

3) Through Mainstreaming actions as the work on EU regional partnerships covers the whole range of EU relations with partner countries and will cut across all other work streams and structures. CONCORD will focus on:

• understanding the impacts of policy proposals and influencing EU policies and funding on partner countries or regions - advocating for CONCORD’s overarching objective of creating greater equality between people and countries and respecting PCSD.

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

• analysing the degree to which civil society is consulted in these policies and funding processes and ensuring that stakeholder consultation processes occur, including both European and global civil society.

To this end, focal points are established for all three main work streams to ensure that there is constant reporting and a regular information flow that allows the Regional Alliances group to contribute when the other structures in CONCORD are elaborating policy and advocacy documents to incorporate in a timely manner the positions/point of view of the group and of non-European partners and vice-versa.

More concretely it will be translated in the following indicative list of activities:

2 approaches: - A. Targeted Africa • CONCORD EU-ACP/Africa group advocacy to influence the last round of EU-ACP negotiations on the basis of its positions and recommendations adopted in 2018 and 2019 • CONCORD EU-ACP/Africa group policy and advocacy work on the new comprehensive Africa strategy and in the run-up to the EU-AU Summit • CONCORD will take active part in the JAES (Civil Society informal group on EU-Africa) group and its steering group especially in the preparation and follow-up of the 2020 EU-AU Summit o In particular, in both processes, CONCORD will advocate for a meaningful role for civil society and will promote CONCORD’s overarching objective of increasing economic, social and political equalities between people and countries and the “leave no one behind” principle • CONCORD EU-ACP/Africa group contribution to JAES SG for the organisation of a civil society forum ahead of the AU-EU Summit (e.g. “Africa Week”) • CONCORD will develop an Africa contacts network & database of CSOs and NGOs in order to share information and support our advocacy efforts

Latin America - CONCORD will support the EU-LAC Civil society working group to activate an effective dialogue and to tailor advocacy towards the policy-makers responsible for implementing the actions mentioned in the Joint Communication “European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: joining forces for a common future” (2019) to influence the building of the EU new action plan/s.

- B. Mainstreaming (via focal points in the Gender and MFF groups – to be supplemented by enhancing work with the inequalities and PCSD groups)

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

Africa • Joint analysis of the new EC/EEAS communication on a comprehensive Africa strategy - inputs by other workstreams (e.g. Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, Inequalities, Gender Reference Group, GCE) on their issues of expertise. • Advocacy to influence European Council Conclusions on the Joint Communication “Towards a Comprehensive strategy with Africa”. • Influence the report on the Joint Communication working with the rapporteur and some shadow rapporteurs in the European Parliament. • Joint work with the MFF and NDICI groups to monitor and analyse how the new Africa strategy will influence decisions on the budgetisation of the EDF, the budget for Sub-Saharan and neighbourhood programmes, the EFSD+ and the geographic programming in Africa. Similarly, analysing how EDF budgetisation will impact on future EU cooperation with the Africa, including on the support to civil society. • Joint assessment of civil society space, role and access to funding in the new context of EU-ACP and EU-Africa cooperation (taking all elements into account: EU-ACP agreement, EU-African partnership, NDICI regulation and programming guidelines). o On the basis of that assessment, identifying the best ways and means to secure a proper civil society role at implementation stage and adapting the new advocacy strategy accordingly. • Provide strategic input into CONCORD policy and advocacy actions related to the EU Delegations and their work with local CSOs (FFSD work-stream).

Latin America - CONCORD will work on the relationship between the EU and LAC (taking into account our limited capacity). One priority will be (with the EU-LAC working group) to focus on inequalities in the middle-income countries (MICs).

2. Target audiences Who has the authority to make the change? Analysis of their position and what might win their support

The European Commission ensures that the EU is represented internationally in development policy ● European Commission - in particular DG DEVCO matters and in negotiating agreements on international development issues. The current EC, since the elections of Ursula Von Der Leyen and her College of Commissioners, has a strong focus to work on and

reinforce geopolitical relations with other regions on the world and to build “international partnerships” in the area of development cooperation. ● European Council

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

European Council Multiple Member States of the EU will vote in the council and in the different related working parties. Many MS are defining their bilateral regional strategies (in particular with Africa). ● European Parliament (Joint Parliamentary Assembly) European Parliament The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) brings together Members of the European Parliament and representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states that have signed the Cotonou Agreement, which is the basis for ACP-EU cooperation and development work.

Who has influence?

European Commission Commissioner Urpilainen: During her introductory speech, Jutta Urpilainen said that the 2030 agenda ● Commissioner Urpilainen for sustainable development goals is “a golden opportunity for the European Union” to continue to play ● Director General (DEVCO) Koen Doens a leadership role in supporting partner countries to eradicate poverty worldwide, whilst also “promoting values, including empowering women and girls as a precondition for inclusive societies”. Gender For Post-Cotonou agreement: Commissioner equality should be a top priority and mainstreamed in all policies and programmes. During an interview Jutta Urpilainen as EU Chief negotiator for the she said that “the partnership between Europe and Africa will become more important in coming years, post Cotonou agreement and her cabinet and said it must go beyond aid spending”. (Members of the Cabinet: Sandra Bartelt - Lora Borissova- Renaud Sauvignat for CS relations). HR Borrell: On his first visit to Africa as the EU's High Representative, Josep Borrell advocates that the EU abandon its largely pacifist diplomatic posture in favour of recognising that a fist can only be DG DEVCO - Director General Koen Doens answered with a fist, and that self-defence is unavoidable on the path to peace. He recognises the limits of the EU's “traditional” approach. Post-Cotonou task force led by Koen Doens is the second key target (+ at technical level, unit In general in DG DEVCO and EEAS there is a clear distinction between technical level and high DEVCO D3 Unit - Domenico Rosa) Technical level: hierarchies. The thematic Units in particular (for example pan-African units) are often quite in line with Simona Montanari (International the vision/with the positions of civil society but when it comes to climbing the hierarchical line, Aid/Cooperation Officer) difficulties arise in passing these messages which appear clear at the technical level but that sometimes they don't reach the decision making tables. It is therefore important to work "bottom up" (through the - Fabio Di Stefano (Team Leader – Pan-African technical level and with formal and informal regular consultations) but also to send clear "top down"

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

Programme), Marco Sioli messages to the Cabinet level of the Commissioners and to Directors general to reinforce the messages both ways and ensure the impact of the advocacy action. - For EU-Africa Strategy Piera Calcinaghi (Team Leader - AU Delegation, JAES Support Mechanism, Communication, Statistics/AEO)

EEAS HRVP Josep Borrell Christian Leffler - Deputy Secretary General

Alexander Baum - Expert negotiator

EEAS: HR Mr. Jopsep Borell for the joint communication with Urpilainen on a new comprehensive Africa strategy. - Koen Vervaeke as managing director for Africa - Ms. Markussen Director of the African division.

The pan-African Unit (5) led by Jonas Jonsson who is also part of the post-Cotonou task force and Alexander Baum, adviser to the Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Global Issues who is taking part in EU-ACP technical negotiations.

Stefano Sannino TBC

Member States:

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

ACP and EDF committees, COAFR, FAC, Croatian, German, Portuguese and Slovenian presidencies – + a few perm reps that are particularly interested in the issue: , , France, Austria, Finland, Denmark.

European Parliament: Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly / DEVE, AFET, INTA Committees / EP Monitoring task force on EU-ACP negotiations (tbc)

DEVE Committee: ● Chair: Mr. Tomas Tobe [email protected] Vice-Chairs Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana pierrette.herzberger- [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Other key MEPs ● ● Catherine Chabaud

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

● ● Michele Rivasi ● ● Miguel Urban Crespo ● ●

AFET Committee Chair + MEP Shadow rapporteur for EP Report on the EU Africa strategy + other rapporteurs

INTA Committee

Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) List of members

EP Monitoring Task Force: ● Tomas Tobe ● Norbert Neuser ● Carlos Zorrinho ● Chrysoula Zacharopoulou ● Jadwiga Wisniewska ● Maryia Soraya Rodriguez Ramos ● ...

EP staff/DEVE Secretariat: Rok Koželj (Dir B,

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Unit ACP) and colleagues

ACP side Secretary General of the ACP group: Ambassador Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Republic of Angola Chief negotiator is the Foreign Minister of Togo, Mr Dussey. Central Negotiating team composed of 12 representatives, 2 per ACP region (+ substitutes) Negotiating teams for the 3 regional protocols: for Africa it is Eswantini, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Cameroun.

African Union (AU) side - Mr. Moussa Faki from Chad is the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. - Chair of the AU: Feb 2020 to Feb 2021 - Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa - Parliamentary President: Roger Nkodo Dang High Representative of the African Union for AU- EU Relations Post 2020: Carlos Lopes, Guinea Bissau AU Representation in Brussels https://au.int/en

3. Advocacy Partners 3.1. Who can help boost your credibility? Next steps?

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

External NGO/CSOs coalitions / alliances in CONCORD will establish stable relationships with those stakeholders to: Europe and outside Europe - include relevant inputs in its positions - JAES steering group - multiply the external outreach of advocacy positions and documents to maximise impact - EU-LAC working group - NGO partners in partner countries - National Platforms Ps of CONCORD and CONCORD NW members who are part of global families with African branches 3.2. Who can help you with your political Next steps? knowledge or clout? - Permanent Representations. especially the CONCORD will establish stable relationships with those stakeholders to: ones with Presidency - include relevant inputs in its positions - Think tanks (for example ECDPM) - multiply the external outreach of advocacy positions and documents - ACP partners / ACP secretariat in Brussels (if renewed) - Latin American partners (MESA) 3.3. Who can help you with having a constituency? - CONCORD members - National Platforms of CONCORD 4. Advocacy Messages Message #1: To who and how/ entry points?

Civil society space: ● The EU must secure adequate conditions for an All targets in EU and in the regions open civil society space in the regional strategies, in the official agreements, roadmaps

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

and related policies according to “principled partnerships”* (with Africa, with Latin America)

● The EU must put in place stable and formal mechanisms of dialogue between Civil Society and the institutions of the EU and other regions

● The EU must put in place adequate conditions for Civil Society action and participation (by mainstreaming cross-cutting issues such as accountability, transparency, access to information and civil society rights in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and projects). An empowered civil society is a crucial component of any democratic system and an asset in itself. Civil Society represents and fosters pluralism and can contribute to more effective policies, inclusive and sustainable development

*Principled partnerships:

The EU regional partnerships and strategies must be based on joint values, principles and commitments in the respect of the engagements taken by all parties through international conventions, charters and agreements that are subject to jointly agreed accountability

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

mechanisms. On top of these principles and commitments are the respect and promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all people without discrimination, the rule of law and effective and equal access to justice for all along with commitments to implement the development effectiveness principles and policy coherence for sustainable development and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. These elements must act as an overarching framework for all regional partnerships or strategies.

Message #2: To who and how/entry points? EU institutions and NGOs in Europe and in the region EU-Africa CONCORD 10 points + additional thematic messages to be identified in the upcoming months Message #3: To who and how? EU-Latin America: TBD in the upcoming months EU institutions and NGOs in Europe and in the region

5. Action Plan Research and policy development What, by when, by who? - analysis of the EC/EEAS communication on the comprehensive Africa strategy - Secretariat + members of the Regional Alliances working structure - assessment of the Post Cotonou final agreement and its impact on CS - assessment of the impact of the EDF budgetisation (if it is confirmed)

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

- CONCORD position/recommendations on the EU position for the AU-EU summit (based on analysis of the communication)

5.1. Messages, communication and materials What, by when, by who? - CONCORD 10 points on EU-Africa Strategy - press release Members of the group + Secretariat (Policy and Advocacy team and Comms) - Participation inAfrica Week (organisation of events / panel discussions / possible campaign) - Toolkit on Post-cotonou agreement (explaining the agreement and its implications for CSOs ) in 2021 [ Presidency Project]

5.2. Partner outreach What, by when, by who? Forus : - Director Secretariat + members of the group - Head of Advocacy - members in the region

For Africa: REPAOC, REPONGAC

For Latin America: MESA DE ARTICULACIÓN

For Asia: IBON, Piango, APRN

5.3. Resources - What, by when, by who? 2020: Focus on Africa

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

- advocacy on new Cotonou agreement - participation of Civil Society to Africa Week + EU-AU Summit 2020 - Resources needed for invitation of ACP partners to assess the new agreement (possible seminar in 2021.. ?) - CONCORD AidWatch report will focus on Africa and LDC in 2020

2021: Focus on Latin America, Summit participation for CSOs and related follow-up

5.4. Timeline / 2020 draft work plan

Link here “Regional Alliances activities/key moments / deliverables”

NOT TO BE FILLED Advocacy monitoring and evaluation worksheet a) On the matrix, map where your target audiences currently are and where you are trying to move them

INT Acti ERI on

M

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101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances

OUT CO MES Will

Awa ren

ess

Public Influencers Decision makers AUDIENCES

b) For each audience identify at least one interim outcome c) Identify at least 1-2 that would show you are making progress in moving that indicators for each interim audience over the next year outcome Audiences Interim Outcome Indicator

Public

Influencers

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Decision makers

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