Background

In December 2011, following the conclusion of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (BPd), members of BetterAid and the Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness agreed to explore the possibilities of building one single future platform working on the implementation of the BPd and the CSO Key Asks. From a series of meetings and global consultations, the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) was founded with a CPDE Paper that acts as the platform constitution detailing our analysis of the development environment, our vision, mission, values and desired outcomes.

To support the desired outcomes of the open platform, CPDE operates a three-year programme, entitled “Civil Society Continuing Campaign for Effective Development.” It is a coordinated national-regional-global and sectoral campaign that seeks to contribute to national and global development by promoting development effectiveness in all areas of work, among CSOs and with key development actors. It has two (2) immediate objectives:
(1) Contribute to favorable outcomes in development cooperation policy and enabling environment for CSOs, from national to global levels, where CSOs can influence and advance the development effectiveness agenda (Policy and Advocacy Engagement); and
(2) Contribute to development of capacity and effectiveness of CSOs, particularly at the national level and amongst the most marginalized groups, to practice and advocate for development effectiveness through the Istanbul Principles (Outreach and Capacity Development).

As CPDE commences its second year of programme implementation in the eve of the Post-2015 Summit, CPDE mobilizes its members CSOs in claiming their rights in multi-stakeholder development policy arenas and in working on their own effectiveness. Through different thematic working groups and other formations, CPDE actively engages policy arenas at different levels to influence global development and development cooperation policies with CSO advocacy positions through participatory processes. CPDE also participates in multi-stakeholder initiatives at relevant national, sub-regional, regional and global policy arenas advancing enabling environment for CSOs. All these, while its members continue to come to terms with the unique ways of working in an open platform that is CPDE.

CPDE now has a membership of approximately 947 CSOs across regions and sectors, with 63 seats in the GC and 22 seats in the CC. For 2015, CPDE plans to reach out to the diaspora sector and explore ways of working with other thematic sectors that have expressed interest in engaging with CPDE as it consolidates its current membership through policy advocacy engagements and capacity development initiatives.

Our Vision

We envisage a world where respect for human rights, participatory democracy, social and environmental justice and sustainability, gender equality and equity, and decent work and sustainable change are achieved.

Our Mission

To promote development effectiveness in all areas of work, both our own and the work of others, including through active engagement with the GPEDC, we will be guided by a human rights based approach.

In order to develop a strong basis for CSO participation in the creation and realization of our vision, mission and goals for development, the CPDE will work with a strong focus to support country, sub-regional and regional, and sectoral civil society, combining this with the coordinated regional and global work on development effectiveness.

To achieve this vision, we need to also address exclusion, oppression and removing structures of power that perpetuate injustice.

Therefore, we are committed to social justice approaches and mechanisms, to challenge unequal power structures, especially for women (such as by working towards a feminist approach), in order to achieve emancipation of excluded communities and people.

Our Values and Principles

To achieve this, in our work together we will adhere to the following values: mutual respect, equity and gender equality; accountability to our members and peers; and transparency in all our decision-making and actions.

We will adhere to the Istanbul Principles for CSO Development Effectiveness and our CSO Key Asks on the Road to Busan.

Our goals – what we hope to achieve and why

To realise our shared vision, we commit to work together in partnership on a global-scale in relation to development effectiveness and the GPEDC to realize the following goals:

to pursue and advocate for a transformative agenda for development and development cooperation, informed by our guiding principles and a human rights-based approach to development that prioritizes gender equality, decent work, environmental sustainability as well as dignity, justice and improved livelihoods for all people living in poverty, including the most marginalized, victims of violence, and those with disabilities, and the full realisation of human rights for all;to protect and deepen policy gains made in Paris, Accra and Busan, and reverse any of the harmful provisions that continue to guide those three agendas;?to continue to advocate for development effectiveness in development cooperation policy and practice, in particular as it relates to the accountability of governments to the broader development effectiveness agenda, the IADGs and to people;to continuously work to improve our own effectiveness and the realisation of an enabling environment for civil society as independent development actors in our own right.

These goals are informed by our CSO Key Asks on the Road to Busan, including those raised by women’s organizations and the trade unions, and faith-based organisations, the Istanbul Principles and Siem Reap International Framework, and prior assessments of the Paris, Accra and Busan commitments.

The management and governance structure of the CSO Partnership reflects its work at the global, regional and national levels and supports connections between levels.

- The Global Council represents the ultimate decision-making body of the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness.
- The Coordination Committee, in collaboration with the Global Council, oversees the work of the CSO Partnership.
- CPDE is currently led by five (5) Co-Chairs each tasked with managing the platform’s policy, finance, communications and outreach concerns.
- The Global Secretariat supports the daily management and finances of the CSO Partnership.
- The Independent Accountability Committee ensures that evaluation and audit mechanisms and other accountability measures are in place and functioning.
- Regional, Sub-regional, and National coordination bodies convene existing platforms, development CSOs and sectoral networks/groups from the region to form a collective lobbying and advocacy work plan and implement the activities of the partnership.