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 1 101-06c Advocacy plan: Regional Alliances 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. 2 101-06c 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. 3 101-06c 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