Seminars & conferences

For the first half of 2009, the Czech Republic holds its first Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). FoRS – Czech Forum for Development Co-operation – together with its members, Czech non-governmental development organisations (NGOs), take this opportunity to highlight the work of Czech non-governmental development actors and development cooperation in Czech politics and at the EU level. FoRS and its organisations identified their thematic priorities for the Czech EU Presidency and prepared a joint programme and activities targeted at other civil society organisations, state institutions, policy and decision makers, media as well as the wider public.

The Czech NGDO platform FoRS in close cooperation with the European confederation CONCORD organized an international conference “Civil Society Organizations Development Effectiveness” in Prague on June 23 – 24, 2009 as the final and closing event of the FoRS program and official accompanying event of the Czech EU Presidency.

The conference was held in Prague on 28-29 May and organised within the EU Presidency of the Czech Republic by FoRS, the Czech NGDO platform, and People in Need (PIN), a Czech NGDO, in cooperation with the Development Education Forum (CONCORD).

During the 17th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Prague from 4 to 9 April 2009, FoRS and CONCORD were present and engaged in dialogue with the parliamentarians, both of EU and ACP parliaments.

Democracy is “Europe’s core value“ not only internally, but also in its external relations. Europe has set in its foreign and security policy the objective to develop and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. How can the European Consensus on Democracy, a long term EU strategy for democracy assistance, be reached among Member States?

On 24 February 2009 a seminar was held at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic whose aim it was to discuss the issue of remittances sent from the Czech Republic. The seminar was co-organized by the Multicultural Center Prague and the Ministry of Finance. The issue of remittances - money earned by migrants and sent back to their country of origin - involves a large number of discilines and stakeholders. The seminar was therefore valuable in bringing together representatives of diverse institutions which all approach the issue from a different perspective.

The aim of the seminar is to facilitate a discussion between policy makers, donors and civil society/NGOs on effectiveness of aid to agriculture, based on sharing of best practice both in terms of policies and field work, and to indentify ways ahead for donors and practitioners to deliver and monitor aid effectiveness. The outcome should help to identify Czech contribution to the international CSOs Development Effectiveness process.

FoRS members and their partners searched for answers related to effectiveness of their activities in developing countries, the roles of civil society organizations in development. More information and the complete publication can be found here.