ANNUAL REPORT 2004 - WG ON AID POLICY AND PERFORMANCE
1. The Convenorship
Robrecht Renard and Paul Hoebink act as convenors.
2. The Project PERSPECTIVES ON EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT ASSSISTANCE
After long delays, partly due to the fact that EADI is now working with a new commercial editor, the first, voluminous book of the planned series since the Ljubljana conference will be published at the end of 2004 or beginning of 2005. The title is: Perspectives on European Development Co-operation.
3. EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION TO 2010
This is an ambitious initiative by ODI, ECDPM, and EADI to foster debate and research on aid by the Europe Union (http://www.eadi.org/edc2010/). The steering committee met for the first time in The Hague on September 29th 2004. Both convenors gave presentations at the SID/EADI Conference in September on European development cooperation. Robrecht Renard attended in his capacity of convenor of the WG. The Working Group is planning to come with a special initiative for the General Conference in Bonn in 2005 (proposal to be sent around in November) to stimulate European researchers to come with papers on European development cooperation. It will try to address in particular young researcher to present their research on European development cooperation and related subjects. This initiative also bears the hope to produce a new book on the present and future European development cooperation.
4. Future activities of the WG
Meetings of two special workshops the Working Groups is trying to organize were postponed. First in light of the delays mentioned under 2, and second because of a temporary closure of the special budget line for this type of research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands in 2004.
The WG put - at the last EADI General Conference in Ljubljana - forward an ambitious programme that included four workshops with the aim of producing as many volumes in the EADI Book Series:
* one on the development co-operation and broader policies and performances of individual European countries (governments) and the EU towards developing countries (the one to be published soon),
* a second concentrating on some functional themes - concepts, forms and instruments of development co-operation and policy areas (like 'good governance', PRSPs, Sector Wide Approaches etc.),
* a third one with a focus on the development co-operation policy of European countries (governments) and the EU via multilateral agencies and NGOs,
* and a fourth with perspectives on European policies towards developing countries as perceived from developing countries themselves.
One book is finally to be published after long delays partly outside the power of the two convenors. Two workshop/two books projects are now in the pipeline, to be organised in Autumn 2005 or Spring 2006 in Nijmegen, and in Autumn 2006 pr Spring 2007 in Antwerp. For the fourth book project the two convenors will try to organise and get subsidy in the second half of 2005.
The 'in-between' book project, as mentioned under 3, will be on EDC 2010, on the present and future of European development cooperation.
