====================== ECDPM WEEKLY COMPASS ======================
No. 19, 27 November 2009

Dear Reader,


The last thing I’ve slipped into the Weekly Compass-Extended Version before
pressing the send button is the just
agreed proposed portfolios for the new European Commission. EU High
Representative/EC Vice-President Ashton will face
the Parliament on Wednesday, but the rest of the team waits for hearings the
week of 11 January before they can formally
take up office.� Ashton will attend only the first day of next week’s WTO
Ministerial Conference with another
Commissioner filling in for the rest. As can be expected a slew of interesting
papers have been released this week in
anticipation of that meeting. Some EU legislation on standards with potentially
great impact for developing countries’
exports is also nearing completion at the same time some ACP countries are
questioning the value of partnerships with
Europe. Preparations also continue for the Climate Summit next month with this
week seeing the US and China announcing
greenhouse gas emissions targets while the UN’s top climate official calls on
the EU to further clarify its targets
and support to developing countries. See this week’s “Weekly
Compass-Extended Version” for all the details and
more of the latest news.



All the best,


Melissa


Melissa Julian


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:: Extended version in PDF
Find the extended version of this newsletter, as well as the
archive of previous newsletters
http://www.ecdpm.org/news

New at ECDPM:
---------------------

- Development Policy and International Relations

Africa unveils new Governance body

Africa has a new continental body, the African Governance Institute (AGI), based
in Dakar, Senegal. In a brief interview
with the Weekly Compass, AGI interim Director, Prof. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
explained that the main ‘added-value’
of the Institute is “to institutionalise African reflection on governance in
Africa […] because we think that it is
important that the people who live the realities of African societies and
African states are better placed to understand
what is going on and to propose solutions for a better future.” He announced
that AIG will convene a series of
Conferences in 2010, including one with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
on democracy and human rights “...to
make this added-value a reality.”�

The AGI’s programme of action was formally launched at an inaugural workshop
on 3-4 November in Dakar. On 24 November,
the AGI and ECDPM signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a strategic
partnership, which aims to enhance both
organisations’ work in supporting the African Governance Architecture and
enhancing the dialogue strategies and
development support of Africa’s European partners. Click
http://www.ecdpm.org/Web_ECDPM/Web/Content/Content.nsf/7732def81dddfa7ac1256c240\
034fe65/01c207a57a2dc360c125767a005ffdcd?OpenDocument#
to view the 5-minute video interview with Prof. Nzongola-Ntalaja, and
http://www.iag-agi.org/spip/index_en.html to visit
the AGI website.




- Economic and Trade Cooperation



- Governance




Policy News:
---------------------

- Development Policy and International Relations

First ACP salvo in the battle to ensure the ACP is not sliding from the EU
agenda. In a letter addressed to the heads of
European institutions, Mrs. Eunice Kazembe, President of the ACP Council of
Ministers, says that Europe has a unique
opportunity to allay or confirm ACP fears aroused by the disappearance of the
reference to the ACP Group from the EU’s
Lisbon Treaty depending on the response that the European Commission will give
to ACP demands in the current World Trade
Organisation’s discussions on bananas which are expected to be concluded next
month. The EU Lisbon Treaty, which
enters into force on Tuesday, clearly states that the primary objective of EU
development cooperation policy is the
reduction and, in the long term, the eradication of poverty. However, the
specific reference that safeguarded the
intergovernmental nature of EU-ACP relations in the previous EU Treaty is not
included in the new treaty. Click
http://www.acpsec.org/en/trade/acpstatementbanana09.html to read the ACP
Communique.


Aid for Trade Strategies and Agriculture: Towards a SADC agenda. This workshop
held in Windhoek from 9-11 November,
co-organised by ECDPM together with several of its partners, was attended by
nearly 40 southern participants from the
private sector, farmers associations and policy makers. Illustrative examples of
how to manage trade and production
adjustments in response to new market conditions emerging provided the
background to the discussion. Donors contributed
on how they were approaching their support. An important message was that
implementation will be mainly done at the
national level, hence, the need to get this debate integrated into national aid
programming processes which in turn
should feed regional strategies. A report of the meeting will be published on
this website in the coming weeks and
DGroups will be established to share information and stimulate regional
discussions and networking. Click
http://www.ecdpm.org/Web_ECDPM/Web/Content/Content.nsf/7732def81dddfa7ac1256c240\
034fe65/da6ff196323966aec125764800280561?OpenDocument#.


Democracy support in the EU’s external relations. Additional useful
information to the Council conclusions.Last week
we provided readers with the
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/App/NewsRoom/loadDocument.aspx?id=349&lang=EN&dir\
ectory=en/gena/&fileName=111250.pdf and
agenda for action on democracy support in the EU’s external relations. These
are intended to broaden the EU’s
approach and improve implementation through country-specific approaches,
dialogue and partnership and coherence and
coordination. The conclusions mention a
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st12/st12390.en09.pdf on this
issue. This paper includes additional useful information and references on this
issue. Click also
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st14/st14310.en09.pdf to read the
report referred to therein on the common
elements of democracy carried out by the Member States' human rights, democracy
and development experts.


Call for papers on eastern and southern African regional integration
processes.The Chief Executives of COMESA (Common
Market for East and Southern Africa), EAC (East African Community) and SADC
(Southern Africa Development Community)
meeting on 9 November agreed the legal documents and next steps required for the
Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) for
the 26 countries of these regional groupings planned for 2011. The FTA is
intended to ensure a fully integrated and
internationally competitive regional economic community with improved living
standards for people and to promote the
continental integration process. The documents have been transferred to the
Member States for consideration in preparing
for the next meeting of the Tripartite Summit to be held in April or May 2010.
This week, COMESA issued a call for
papers of about 5000 words that can be written on any of the key trade and
investment aspects of regional integration
which could be included in the Summit’s dossier. Click
http://www.comesa.int/lang-en/component/content/article/34-general-news/308-call\
-for-papers-on-comesa-integration-programs
for the details.


Africa4All. A new platform to bring citizens closer to parliaments. The
parliaments of Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Tanzania
and Uganda have set up this online platform to improve the quality of the
services they provide to citizens, increase
awareness of parliamentary activities and facilitate the work of members. Click
http://www.africa4all-project.eu/.


Community Capacity Building. Creating a Better Future Together. OECD. Community
capacity building (CCB) is a fairly new
term for an age-old good: enabling people to define their own destinies. This
book presents and analyses some of the
most interesting recent developments in the field of CCB, in a variety of OECD
and non-OECD countries. The focus is on
how CCB has effected change in social, local economic and environmental
policies. The book also outlines the common
conditions required for CCB to take hold and thrive, allowing for the political
voice of local communities to be clearly
heard. Click
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=842009091P1&LAN\
G=EN.


European Union-African Union Human Rights Dialogue. Joint Communiqu�. 20
November 2009.The two sides agreed on the
importance to further EU-AU cooperation in multilateral fora, particularly the
United Nations. They further agreed on
the need to take action to respond to the April 2009 Civil Society seminar
recommendations in view of the next seminar
due in spring 2010. They underlined the need of continuing the good interaction
with the mechanisms of the Africa-EU
Partnership on Democratic Governance and Human Rights, and called for the
Partnership to support concrete actions linked
to the EU-AU cooperation in multilateral fora. The next EU-AU dialogue should
take place before the end of May 2010.
Click
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/er/111379.pdf.


European Think Tanks. Regional and Trans-Atlantic Trends. The Think Tanks and
Civil Societies Program of the University
of Pennsylvania. November 2009.

The findings of the report are intended to bring into sharp focus the challenges
facing European policymakers and think
tanks and the research and analysis these organisations can contribute to the
policy making process throughout Europe.
The report explores how the political culture and systems have a profound impact
on the role of think tanks in Europe
and the US. They hope the report will lead to policies and strategies to
increase the performance and impact of European
think tanks. Click
http://drop.io/melissajulian3/asset/european-think-tanks-regional-and-trans-atla\
ntic-trends-university-of-pennsylvania-1109-pdf.




- Economic and Trade Cooperation



- Governance




Off the track:
---------------------

Interim Institutions and the Development Process: Opening Spaces for Reform in
Cambodia and Indonesia

How can donors facilitate the development of better governance institutions in
developing countries? This paper from the
Brooks World Poverty Institute analyses current development practice in
institution-building through two case studies in
Cambodia and Indonesia. It argues that traditional, linear, technically-driven
approaches are unproductive due to the
inherent unpredictability of socio-political processes. Donors should instead
embrace the concept of ‘interim
institutions’ as a means of promoting equitable political contestation and
facilitating positive and sustainable
change. Click http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3643&source=rss
to read the paper.



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