CSO Development Effectiveness

Objective

Ensure business accountability in the context of development cooperation programmes, to guarantee positive and significant development results

What we want to achieve

Elaboration of criteria to assess the interventions of the private sector in development cooperation at the country level, in order to evaluate their compliance with development effectiveness principles

Indicators

Development of CSO indicators to assess the adequacy of effective development cooperation principles of targeted private sector interventions in developing countries

Target Arenas

Multinational and Social Businesses, Development banks, FFD, HLPF, DCF, GPEDC

Key Messages

Private sector interventions, particularly Multinational businesses, must be held to account. Governments must set standards for aid effectiveness, measuring impacts and results of private sector intervention in development cooperation.

The involvement of private sector in development cooperation should be matched in the same proportion by the involvement of civil society and trade unions.

ODA should be solidarity-based and focused on the poor and the vulnerable. Often private sector interventions result in increased indebtedness of developing countries, and partial privatisation of basic public services and common goods.

Governments must support SMEs and the social economy, and must and promote sustainable and decent work.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Civil society organisations, including CSO communities at FFD, HLPF/DCF, Media

Objective

Influence the development of a global accountability framework for SouthSouth cooperation that is consistent with the principles of horizontal development cooperation, i.e. solidarity, mutuality, equality, respect for sovereignty, human rights, non-interference, and non-conditionality.

What we want to achieve

Development of a framework for horizontal development cooperation that can be used by civil society and non-traditional Southern partners in assessing the quality and impact of SSC.

Adoption of rights-based approaches and principles for effective development cooperation in global accountability frameworks for South-South cooperation

Indicators

Completed framework document on horizontal development cooperation Extent to which rights-based approaches and principles for effective development cooperation are integrated into SSC monitoring and evaluation tools, and global SSC accountability framework/s

Target Arenas

BRICS Forum, UN Development Cooperation Forum, Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, OECD measurement framework on TOSSD, UN Conference on South-South Cooperation, IBSA Dialogue Forum, G20 Summit

Key Messages

The principles of horizontal development cooperation – including solidarity, mutuality, human rights, respect for sovereignty, non-conditionality – should be used in assessing the effectiveness of South-South partnerships, particularly with respect to unequal conditions of partnership that often prevail even between South-South cooperating countries.

Southern aid providers should work towards ensuring that their policies and operations adhere to international law and standards on environment and human rights as these apply to programs and projects in partner countries. This is consistent with Bandung, which declared the fundamental principles of human rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations.

Democratic country ownership of SSC should be enhanced so that recipient countries’ own needs and priorities drive the development partnership, and that these priorities and policies are rooted in the participation of, and accountability to, stakeholders and citizens.

The relevance and importance of the principles for effective development cooperation in enhancing accountability and development impact of SSC should be recognised and upheld.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Southern think tanks and non-traditional Southern providers

In promoting development effectiveness in all areas of work, both within and outside the platform, we push for a human rightsbased approach. We work with a strong focus to support country, regional, and sectoral civil society organisations and people’s organisations, combining this with the coordinated regional and global work on development effectiveness.

Effective development cooperation entails a new form of governance and accountability. It necessitates the creation of various engagement mechanisms for different stakeholders, as well as the strengthening of capacities of all actors to enable them to participate on a level playing field. Entry point of stakeholders to these mechanisms should be found at the national level.

As such, CPDE focuses on outreach, capacity development, and delivering results at the country level. To uphold development effectiveness, CSOs continuously work on their own effectiveness as independent development actors. CPDE acts as a platform for involved CSOs to share good practices, lessons learned, and tools used for the implementation of the Istanbul Principles at the country level and beyond.

Objective

Expand CSO accountability frameworks to include effectiveness compacts applicable at the country and sectoral levels.

What we want to achieve

In three year’s time, country-level CSO effectiveness compacts will be developed or identified in a defined number of countries.

The effectiveness compact will include the Istanbul Principles and will be applicable at the country level and the sectoral level.

Indicators

The number of countries that have achieved effectiveness compacts that include the Istanbul Principles.

The number of countries that apply and interpret CSO effectiveness through the lens of the Istanbul Principles.

Target Arenas

Donors, national governments, and intergovernmental organisations

Key Messages

All accountability frameworks should be developed and applied with the Istanbul Principles, and therefore development effectiveness, at the heart. Appropriate mechanisms for CSO accountability are those that are based on their commitment to the people they serve rather than merely complying with requirements. Frameworks that include the Istanbul Principles will strengthen CSO accountability and maximize their contribution to development effectiveness. CSOs are independent development actors and should be key players in their own accountability. As independent development actors in their own right, CSOs should demonstrate their effectiveness through an effectiveness compact and play a key role in developing the compact. The obligation of demonstrating CSO accountability includes a commitment to upholding democracy and the rights of the people to organise themselves around common advocacy and multi-stakeholder dialogue. As representatives from the ground, CSOs possess pertinent knowledge and experience that will be central to an effectiveness compact.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Donors, INGOs, CSOs, governments, and other stakeholders.

Objective

Promote the reform of legal and regulatory frameworks based on human rights standards, to facilitate CSO space in policy and practice in compliance with the Istanbul Principles.

What we want to achieve

Permanent multi-stakeholder structures that can monitor and create legal and regulatory reforms in a defined number of countries.

Indicators

National governments in a defined number of countries will have permanent MSH structures that will include CSOs at a regular basis.

National governments in a defined number of countries will review their laws and policies to enable the free operations of CSOs in the country.

Target Arenas

National governments, GPEDC, relevant UN agencies, regional-level development effectiveness facilities, TT on CSO DE and EE.

Key Messages

Respect and uphold the stakeholders commitments to provide an enabling environment for CSOs, including recognizing their independence, supporting their operations through enabling financing, and strengthening their capacities.

Reverse trends of shrinking and closing civic spaces, and assert the people’s fundamental freedoms of association, of expression, of the press, and political participation, and their rights to peaceful assembly, and information.

Uphold the rights of human rights defenders, social activists, and civil society actors, against the culture of impunity, and harassments perpetrated by both public and private actors.

Retract restrictive laws hindering the full operation of CSOs, review disabling conditions for CSO formation, registration and operations, including arbitrary policies, duplicating processes and requirements, especially for those working on human rights in critically sensitive environments.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Other CSO platforms working on enabling environment (global and regional); key actors including UN Special Rapporteurs.

Objective

Ensure that Effective Development Cooperation approaches deliver peace and security for people in situations of conflict and fragility.

What we want to achieve

Inclusive, accountable partnerships using HRBA (human rights based-approach) to development in dealing with situations of conflict and states in post- conflict and fragile situations.

Foreign and security policies more aligned to development cooperation and human rights principles and commitments.

Development effectiveness principles are applied or referred to effectiveness in fragile, conflict affected states, situations of marginalisation of people.

Indicators

Participation, and articulation of principles of effective development cooperation and human rights principles in target arenas.

Civil society stakeholders from these settings participate fairly and equitably in securing effective development cooperation.

Target Arenas

Global, regional and domestic inter-governmental human rights & peace / state-building mechanisms; National human rights institutions and legislative bodies; CSO, national movements, and affected communities; Mainstream and social media.

Key Messages

Uphold principles of human rights and international humanitarian laws.

Inclusion and participation of social or mass movements, people’s organizations and communities, civil society in peace-building processes.

States should reduce and realign militarism and military spending to support basic and fundamental human rights such as on health, education, and housing.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

International and national NGOs, ‘peace- building’ platforms and human rights formations, particularly the Civil Society Platform for Peace building and State building (part of the International Dialogue for Peace- building and State-building); Regional and national human rights institutions; UN and other intergovernmental human rights mechanisms; Donors private sector that support CSO; Religious groups and diaspora.

Private Sector Accountability

Objective

Ensure business accountability in the context of development cooperation programmes, to guarantee positive and significant development results

What we want to achieve

Elaboration of criteria to assess the interventions of the private sector in development cooperation at the country level, in order to evaluate their compliance with development effectiveness principles

Indicators

Development of CSO indicators to assess the adequacy of effective development cooperation principles of targeted private sector interventions in developing countries

Target Arenas

Multinational and Social Businesses, Development banks, FFD, HLPF, DCF, GPEDC

Key Messages

Private sector interventions, particularly Multinational businesses, must be held to account. Governments must set standards for aid effectiveness, measuring impacts and results of private sector intervention in development cooperation.

The involvement of private sector in development cooperation should be matched in the same proportion by the involvement of civil society and trade unions.

ODA should be solidarity-based and focused on the poor and the vulnerable. Often private sector interventions result in increased indebtedness of developing countries, and partial privatisation of basic public services and common goods.

Governments must support SMEs and the social economy, and must and promote sustainable and decent work.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Civil society organisations, including CSO communities at FFD, HLPF/DCF, Media

South-South Cooperation

Objective

Influence the development of a global accountability framework for SouthSouth cooperation that is consistent with the principles of horizontal development cooperation, i.e. solidarity, mutuality, equality, respect for sovereignty, human rights, non-interference, and non-conditionality.

What we want to achieve

Development of a framework for horizontal development cooperation that can be used by civil society and non-traditional Southern partners in assessing the quality and impact of SSC.

Adoption of rights-based approaches and principles for effective development cooperation in global accountability frameworks for South-South cooperation

Indicators

Completed framework document on horizontal development cooperation Extent to which rights-based approaches and principles for effective development cooperation are integrated into SSC monitoring and evaluation tools, and global SSC accountability framework/s

Target Arenas

BRICS Forum, UN Development Cooperation Forum, Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, OECD measurement framework on TOSSD, UN Conference on South-South Cooperation, IBSA Dialogue Forum, G20 Summit

Key Messages

The principles of horizontal development cooperation – including solidarity, mutuality, human rights, respect for sovereignty, non-conditionality – should be used in assessing the effectiveness of South-South partnerships, particularly with respect to unequal conditions of partnership that often prevail even between South-South cooperating countries.

Southern aid providers should work towards ensuring that their policies and operations adhere to international law and standards on environment and human rights as these apply to programs and projects in partner countries. This is consistent with Bandung, which declared the fundamental principles of human rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations.

Democratic country ownership of SSC should be enhanced so that recipient countries’ own needs and priorities drive the development partnership, and that these priorities and policies are rooted in the participation of, and accountability to, stakeholders and citizens.

The relevance and importance of the principles for effective development cooperation in enhancing accountability and development impact of SSC should be recognised and upheld.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Southern think tanks and non-traditional Southern providers

CSO Development Cooperation

In promoting development effectiveness in all areas of work, both within and outside the platform, we push for a human rightsbased approach. We work with a strong focus to support country, regional, and sectoral civil society organisations and people’s organisations, combining this with the coordinated regional and global work on development effectiveness.

Effective development cooperation entails a new form of governance and accountability. It necessitates the creation of various engagement mechanisms for different stakeholders, as well as the strengthening of capacities of all actors to enable them to participate on a level playing field. Entry point of stakeholders to these mechanisms should be found at the national level.

As such, CPDE focuses on outreach, capacity development, and delivering results at the country level. To uphold development effectiveness, CSOs continuously work on their own effectiveness as independent development actors. CPDE acts as a platform for involved CSOs to share good practices, lessons learned, and tools used for the implementation of the Istanbul Principles at the country level and beyond.

Objective

Expand CSO accountability frameworks to include effectiveness compacts applicable at the country and sectoral levels.

What we want to achieve

In three year’s time, country-level CSO effectiveness compacts will be developed or identified in a defined number of countries.

The effectiveness compact will include the Istanbul Principles and will be applicable at the country level and the sectoral level.

Indicators

The number of countries that have achieved effectiveness compacts that include the Istanbul Principles.

The number of countries that apply and interpret CSO effectiveness through the lens of the Istanbul Principles.

Target Arenas

Donors, national governments, and intergovernmental organisations

Key Messages

All accountability frameworks should be developed and applied with the Istanbul Principles, and therefore development effectiveness, at the heart. Appropriate mechanisms for CSO accountability are those that are based on their commitment to the people they serve rather than merely complying with requirements. Frameworks that include the Istanbul Principles will strengthen CSO accountability and maximize their contribution to development effectiveness. CSOs are independent development actors and should be key players in their own accountability. As independent development actors in their own right, CSOs should demonstrate their effectiveness through an effectiveness compact and play a key role in developing the compact. The obligation of demonstrating CSO accountability includes a commitment to upholding democracy and the rights of the people to organise themselves around common advocacy and multi-stakeholder dialogue. As representatives from the ground, CSOs possess pertinent knowledge and experience that will be central to an effectiveness compact.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Donors, INGOs, CSOs, governments, and other stakeholders.

CSO Enabling Environment

Objective

Promote the reform of legal and regulatory frameworks based on human rights standards, to facilitate CSO space in policy and practice in compliance with the Istanbul Principles.

What we want to achieve

Permanent multi-stakeholder structures that can monitor and create legal and regulatory reforms in a defined number of countries.

Indicators

National governments in a defined number of countries will have permanent MSH structures that will include CSOs at a regular basis.

National governments in a defined number of countries will review their laws and policies to enable the free operations of CSOs in the country.

Target Arenas

National governments, GPEDC, relevant UN agencies, regional-level development effectiveness facilities, TT on CSO DE and EE.

Key Messages

Respect and uphold the stakeholders commitments to provide an enabling environment for CSOs, including recognizing their independence, supporting their operations through enabling financing, and strengthening their capacities.

Reverse trends of shrinking and closing civic spaces, and assert the people’s fundamental freedoms of association, of expression, of the press, and political participation, and their rights to peaceful assembly, and information.

Uphold the rights of human rights defenders, social activists, and civil society actors, against the culture of impunity, and harassments perpetrated by both public and private actors.

Retract restrictive laws hindering the full operation of CSOs, review disabling conditions for CSO formation, registration and operations, including arbitrary policies, duplicating processes and requirements, especially for those working on human rights in critically sensitive environments.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

Other CSO platforms working on enabling environment (global and regional); key actors including UN Special Rapporteurs.

Conflict and Fragility

Objective

Ensure that Effective Development Cooperation approaches deliver peace and security for people in situations of conflict and fragility.

What we want to achieve

Inclusive, accountable partnerships using HRBA (human rights based-approach) to development in dealing with situations of conflict and states in post- conflict and fragile situations.

Foreign and security policies more aligned to development cooperation and human rights principles and commitments.

Development effectiveness principles are applied or referred to effectiveness in fragile, conflict affected states, situations of marginalisation of people.

Indicators

Participation, and articulation of principles of effective development cooperation and human rights principles in target arenas.

Civil society stakeholders from these settings participate fairly and equitably in securing effective development cooperation.

Target Arenas

Global, regional and domestic inter-governmental human rights & peace / state-building mechanisms; National human rights institutions and legislative bodies; CSO, national movements, and affected communities; Mainstream and social media.

Key Messages

Uphold principles of human rights and international humanitarian laws.

Inclusion and participation of social or mass movements, people’s organizations and communities, civil society in peace-building processes.

States should reduce and realign militarism and military spending to support basic and fundamental human rights such as on health, education, and housing.

Other Actors and Alliances/ Partnership Plan

International and national NGOs, ‘peace- building’ platforms and human rights formations, particularly the Civil Society Platform for Peace building and State building (part of the International Dialogue for Peace- building and State-building); Regional and national human rights institutions; UN and other intergovernmental human rights mechanisms; Donors private sector that support CSO; Religious groups and diaspora.

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