ACROPOLIS Governance For Development Workshop

On the Road to the Green Paper   

Building key principles, indicators and steps for implementing a more comprehensive approach  for Belgian development cooperation.

CONCEPT NOTE

On the 14th of June 2018 you are kindly invited for the G4D workshop entitled “On the Road to the Green Paper: Building key principles, indicators and steps for implementing a more comprehensive approach for the Belgian development cooperation”

The Governance for Development – G4D – research project has been commissioned by the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) to help them reflect on a more comprehensive and integrated approach for the Belgian development cooperation. Its final objective is to publish, by October 2018, a green paper including principles, indicators and major steps towards building and implementing such an approach. To reinforce relevance and ownership by the stakeholders, the green paper is thought of as a co-production exercise. The event is a crucial step towards this end.

After a survey on the perceptions and practices of Belgian stakeholders and the publication of three evidence papers on the Comprehensive Approach, Integrated Country Policy and Governance Networks, the research team investigated three case studies. In November 2017, a field mission took place in Uganda to investigate the governance of the response to the refugee crisis. In February 2018, a second mission was organised in Burkina Faso to research the governance of local security. In each of these countries were also organised workshops to assess the governance networks of Belgian actors in the country, constituting our third case study. This picture was completed by follow-up workshops in Brussels in March and May 2018.

The workshop will be divided into two parts. In the morning the results of the three case studies will be presented, with a focus on the reflections from the “Belgian” case. In the afternoon, three parallel sessions will be organised to provide input towards the drafting of the green paper. Each of the sessions will discuss the comprehensive approach from a specific angle. However, all sessions will be built around a similar methodology and towards a similar outcome: come up with key principles, indicators and steps to be taken towards the implementation of a more comprehensive approach for Belgian cooperation.

The aggregation of the output of the three sessions will form the skeleton of the green paper. We therefore strongly encourage the participation of all stakeholders to the discussions. The focus on the development cooperation “side” of the comprehensive approach within the Green Paper does not only call for the participation of Belgian bilateral development actors. Indeed, the report will also involve, as the definition of a comprehensive approach requires, elements regarding the relations with other actors and towards other actors.

PARALLEL SESSIONS

Parallel session 1: The implications of the comprehensive approach for development cooperation practices: modalities, channels and stages. This first session will tackle the “everyday” operations and activities of Belgian development actors. What does adopting a more comprehensive approach mean for the context / risk analysis, identification, formulation, implementation, evaluation and the feedback loop towards a rolling programme? What does it involve for the political dialogue with the partner country and its (national and local) authorities? How can we find a common language and common beacons for the ways we work? What kind of stimuli would facilitate the actors’ involvement and appropriation? 

Parallel session 2: Balancing autonomy and synergy: the comprehensive approach and NGAs, Humanitarian action and other development actors (co)financed by Belgium. The second session will focus on building principles, indicators and steps to be taken regarding the potential tensions as well as potential opportunities that arise from adopting a more comprehensive approach by Belgian cooperation. This autonomy vs. synergy discussion can stem from the nature of the actors (e.g. Enabel, BIO, NGAs, INGAs, multilateral agencies, private sector companies, development banks) or the nature of their activities (e.g. humanitarian or development action). How can development actors collectively achieve greater outcomes than the sum of their parts?

Parallel session 3: Beyond Development cooperation: promoting a comprehensive approach for all Belgian foreign action stakeholders. The third session will question the implications of a more comprehensive approach of Belgian cooperation for the relations with other Belgian actors on the foreign scene (foreign affairs, defence, trade, migration, police, justice, etc.). While some of these actors have already engaged in a reflection on “their” comprehensive approach, it is essential that principles, indicators and steps to be taken can be discussed and shared. How can we foster common analysis and common objectives? What documents, strategies or policies should be drafted in order for Belgian cooperation to reach a more comprehensive approach with its governmental counterparts?