International Development
06/06/2012
Enhancing aid effectiveness: Tackling private sector challenges
With many donor governments implementing austerity measures in response to the economic crisis, the focus is increasingly on ensuring the effectiveness of scarce donor resources and getting more bang for each euro spent on development assistance.  In this context, this roundtable debate will look at the role of international financial institutions in facilitating and supporting private sector investment in risk environments.
International Development, Global Europe
24/04/2012
Investing in Afghanistan's future
Ensuring stability in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 draw-down in NATO’s presence in the country requires urgent action on an array of fronts. Currently, a lack of commitment to the rule of law, coupled with widespread corruption and heightened insecurity, hinder human and economic development. This Policy Insight will discuss how the international community can best assist in developing human, institutional and regulatory capacities in the country.
International Development
15/12/2011
Democracy 3.0: Re-casting media development in response to a changing environment
With social media emerging as a strong tool for achieving growth and development, the time is ripe for the international development community, including the European Union, to redefine its media development strategies.How can media development practitioners, donors and developing countries forge a dialogue on media development to bolster democracy and good governance? Can development assistance be made more effective in supporting the role of media in promoting democracy and good governance?
International Development, Global Europe, Competitive Europe
21/11/2011
Latin America's new dynamic
Latin America has leapt to centre stage of late. Brazil’s growing political self-confidence and economic muscle is being repeated in various degrees throughout Latin America by an assertive new spirit of industrial innovation and social progress. What are the global implications of a more dynamic Latin America in areas ranging from the battle against climate change to the G20’s search for a fairer international rulebook? How could greater interregional cooperation reinforce digital agendas throughout Latin America? Can the EU and Latin America together create shared a working space where research, technology and innovation can contribute to sustainable development and social inclusion?
International Development
08/11/2011
Policies for promoting the private sector's role in development
Europe’s development cooperation landscape is changing. Official development assistance (ODA) from donor countries to the developing world is increasingly being outpaced by private sector investment, money from philanthropy and remittances from emigrants working abroad. How is the growing role of private actors in development cooperation being seen?
International Development
19/10/2011
Partner Event - AidEx Conference and Exhibition

The AidEx conference and exhibition, which takes place at the Heysel in Brussels between 19 and 20 October, is the only European event bringing together the humanitarian aid, disaster relief and development communities. AidEx provides a unique forum for all stakeholders, from policymakers to professionals, to work together to share solutions on how to improve the efficiency of humanitarian aid.
International Development
27/06/2011
Africa: Building on growth
This new century is seeing a dramatic economic turnaround in Africa’s fortunes, with six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies today in sub-Saharan Africa. If Africa is to remain a growth region, what policies should its governments and private sector investors pursue? Is Trade a mechanism for regional integration – are developing countries’ companies regional enough? What is the role of business and industry in development efforts?
International Development
08/06/2011
Millenium international documentary film festival
Friends of Europe is supporting the third edition of the Millenium International Documentary Film Festival which will take place in Brussels on 8 – 14 June. At the turn of the new millenium, heads of states and governments made a pledge to achieve the 8 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. These goals deal with issues concerning extreme poverty, illiteracy, women rights and climate change. As the target date of 2015 is swiftly approaching, it is of paramount importance that these goals are urgently tackled and supported and action reinvigorated.
International Development
26/05/2011
Development at crossroads - Kapuscinski Lectures
The Development Policy Forum led by Friends of Europe is supporting the Kapuscinski Lecture "Development at crossroads" as part of a series of lectures on development policy delivered by experts on various issues. This lecture looks at current challenges for development policy and how aid can be more effective.
International Development
17/05/2011
Europe’s development policy comes of age
The focus of development policy thinking is shifting away from aid to wider economic cooperation and to policies that promote regional integration and investment. Trade will more than ever be at the heart of the development debate, so the impact of trade and investment on developing countries must be looked at against a background of financial market instability, commodity price volatility and climate change.
International Development
05/04/2011
What can the world expect of the new EU-U.S. development cooperation?
The opening decade of this century saw European and American development policies pursuing parallel paths, with little attempt on either side to coordinate actions. But spurred by growing global challenges, including climate change and food security, and the necessity to do more with less in a time of tight budgets and shrinking resources, the U.S.-EU Lisbon Summit last year tasked the EU-U.S. Dialogue on Development to ensure that the world’s two largest aid donors intensify cooperation.
International Development
14/03/2011
Combating global poverty: How climate and financing policies can help
The world’s rich nations will need to invest $100 bn every year if they are to help developing countries mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to them. How can these investments best be directed so that they also reduce poverty?
International Development
06/12/2010
Can new technology feed a hungry world?
Nobody can say for sure what the world’s population will be by mid-century, but demographers now warn that runaway birth rates in Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America could lift it to nearer 11bn than the forecasted 9bn. In a world already out-consuming its natural resources by a factor of three or more, the strain on food supplies could be disastrous, with widespread famine sparking mass migrations and bitter conflict.
International Development
27/09/2010
Partnership Africa: New horizons for EU- and inter-African cooperation
The Friends of Europe annual international policy summit Partnership Africa: New Horizons for EU and Inter-African Cooperation highlighted the strong return to economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, this year, and the opportunities to enhance that through greater regional and international cooperation.
International Development
28/06/2010
Is this least known but largest development project key to the MDGs?
The Development Policy Forum ‘Future World’ Evening Debate on 28 June examined the unparalleled success of the Foundation Vicente Ferrer’s development project in India’s Anantapur region in the context of redoubled global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
International Development
02/06/2010
Foundations and development aid: Creating a new dynamic
The Development Policy Forum (DPF) met on 2 June as part of European Foundation Week to discuss the impact and role of philanthropic foundations in the world of development aid. Though often limited in focus to a specific sector or geographical area, foundations are poised to be a positive force in development aid, the roundtable heard.
International Development
27/04/2010
After Lisbon: Streamlining EU development cooperation

The Lisbon Treaty and the advent of the EU's ambitious new EEAS and European diplomatic service offer an opportunity to reinvigorate Europe’s international development efforts. Most recently, HR Ashton has presented her outline of the EEAS. It already appears that jurisdiction over development policy will be split between the EEAS, the Commission, and the Parliament, in a complex power-sharing arrangement.

International Development
13/04/2010
Where is Europe's aid policy headed?

Discussants at the Development Policy Forum (DPF)’s roundtable debate called for more coordination and concurrence between stakeholders in the field of development, as well as integrating other policy areas into a more comprehensive approach to development policy.

International Development
23/03/2010
Africa's billions: The global players of tomorrow
Will Africa be able to harness the power of its increasing population to boost its economic performance? If so, do the EU and the US acknowledge this? Are they preparing to adjust their relationships with the continent that for so long was a recipient of aid, not an emerging economic force? What is Africa’s place in the new multi-polar world, where North-South is no longer the only axis?
International Development
09/03/2010
Human security in the Arab world: Defining a role for Europe

The Development Policy Forum (DPF) ‘Future World’ debate on 9 March examined the interplay between state and human security in the Arab World. The issue of human security is crucial to the development of stability in the region, the participants heard, but the change must come primarily from within.

International Development
01/12/2009
Development and security: Two sides of the same coin
The Development Policy Forum (DPF) met on December 1 to discuss the security-development nexus. The roundtable, entitled “Development and security: Two sides of the same coin”, examined the relationship between development and security with the goal of moving beyond civilian-military cooperation to a more holistic approach to the issue.
International Development
05/11/2009
Innovative financial techniques for the developing world
A staggering 2.7 billion people in developing countries still lack access to formal financial services despite the plethora of services available in the developed world, Antonique Koning, of the CGAP EU/ACP Microfinance Framework Programme told the Development Policy Forum (DPF).
International Development
22/10/2009
Beyond aid: Is our aid focus too narrow?
The effects of the global economic crisis and climate change on the developing world loomed over this Development Policy Forum (DPF) roundtable on aid effectiveness. All panellists and the large number of participants agreed that the EU's aid focus is too narrow and suggested various ways to improve the situation.
International Development
29/05/2009
A climate change protection plan for the world's poor
As negotiators, diplomats, politicians and others prepare for the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, there is a growing awareness that those who have least contributed to climate change will in many cases be the most affected. It is a tragic paradox that the world’s most vulnerable in the developing world will bear the brunt of what several discussants referred to as the developed world’s “irrational and uncontrollable addiction” to fossil fuels.
International Development
29/04/2009
Outlook Africa: Investing in Africa's growth and health
Africa is poised to play a great role in the new world order that has been created by the global financial crisis, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel told the international policy summit “Outlook Africa: Investing in Africa’s growth and health”, and it is in Europe´s interests to help it to do so.
International Development
03/03/2009
Saving the MDGs from global recession
As bourses plummet across the globe and developed countries throw trillions of dollars at their ailing banks and economies, a full house of participants representing the spectrum of the development community attended the Development Policy Forum (DPF) roundtable on 3 March 2009. They debated whether the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be met, considering the framework of today’s global aid architecture.
International Development
05/02/2009
Africa: Sustaining successes in the face of global turmoil
In the face of the global economic crisis, what are the options and realities facing policymakers in Africa? The Development Policy Forum (DPF) discussed the role of African policymakers and the international community in sustaining recent success in African development amidst declining growth, falling commodity prices, and emerging economic pressures.
International Development
16/11/2008
Development: Does the media help or hinder?
At the Friends of Europe Development Policy Forum (DPF), held in Strasbourg in conjunction with the European Commission’s third edition of European Development Days, journalists, media representatives and development aid officials, along with numerous participants, debated whether the media helps or hinders development. The event was preceded by the release of a Friends of Europe DPF background report, 'How Reporters See the Aid World', which argued that aid agencies frequently misunderstand both the role of and constraints on media when covering development aid stories.
International Development
16/09/2008
Outlook Africa: Investing in Africa's Growth and Health
Following last year’s successful summit – “Africa Unbound: Development, Health and Investment Strategies 2010-2020” – attended by some 350 participants, we at Friends of Europe together with the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are making this summit an annual event in Brussels to provide a solid platform for discussing EU-Africa relations.
International Development
12/06/2008
Does today's international aid architecture help or hinder aid effectiveness?
Participants at the third Development Policy Forum (DPF) tackled the question of whether international aid architecture actually gets in the way of aid effectiveness. Today’s growing plethora of aid actors have a wide range of instruments at their disposal, but their much-welcomed additional resources are making the coordination of aid efforts more difficult – and putting an unwieldy burden on recipient countries.
International Development, Social Europe
06/05/2008
Are sustainable development and economic growth mutually exclusive?
A Café Crossfire evening debate organised on the occasion of the general assembly of Vinyl 2010.
International Development
03/04/2008
How best can business contribute to Europe's aid efforts?
The public and private sectors must show leadership, imagination and social responsibility, and must form true partnerships in order to alleviate poverty in developing countries.  Those were the key messages from speakers and participants at the second Development Policy Forum (DPF) Roundtable on 3 April, which focussed on ways that business can contribute to Europe’s aid efforts.
International Development
31/03/2008
Lunch Debate with Gareth Thomas MP
On Monday 31 March, Friends of Europe, in partnership with the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), presented a Policy Spotlight lunch debate with Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DFID.
International Development
26/02/2008
Is EU development aid entering a new era in the wake of the Lisbon Treaty?
Following the successful launch debate of the Development Policy Forum (DPF), Friends of Europe organised a roundtable on 26 February entitled “Is EU development aid entering a new era in the wake of the Lisbon Treaty?”. The debate addressed two main questions: whether beefing up the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) will risk sidelining development aid; and whether European NGOs are right to be concerned over key aspects of the Lisbon Treaty.
International Development
04/12/2007
Development Policy Forum Launch Debate "Should climate change alter development policy thinking?"
Climate change is increasingly seen as the biggest environmental challenge facing the world. And while the problem springs from industrialisation and the transport revolution, developing countries are among the the most vulnerable to climate change. They will be the first to experience flooding, drought and crop failures.
International Development
18/09/2007
Africa Unbound: Development, Health and Investment Strategies 2010-2020
The Lisbon summit on African development in December has raised expectations. João Gomes Cravinho, Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that EU and African relations were at a “turning point” and that a new “post post-colonial” relationship was being forged between the two continents in which there would be equal ownership of a joint strategy.
Greening Europe, International Development
20/02/2007
What should be the EU's stance in the global debate on GMOs?
Should Europe encourage or discourage the world’s poorest farmers to grow genetically modified crops, or should it try to remain neutral in the increasingly heated worldwide debate over GMO’s? The runaway speed with which disease-resistant transgenic crops like soybeans, maize, cotton and now rice are being planted in developing countries is pushing the EU’s trade and development policy stance on GMOs rapidly up the external relations agenda.
International Development
09/02/2007
The World Poverty Agenda: how the IMF sees it
Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Giles Merritt, Secretary General, Friends of Europe hosted a roundtable debate entitled The World Poverty Agenda: How the IMF sees it on Friday 9 February in the European Parliament.
International Development
16/11/2006
Europe hosts the African Presidential Roundtable: Responding to common challenges
“Europe and Africa are bound together by history, by geography, and by a shared vision of a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future for all their peoples.” This declaration by last December’s European Council marked a further step towards the EU’s efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals and to promote sustainable development, peace, security, good governance, and especially the building of strong and efficient institutions along with the establishment of the rule of law, adherence to democratic principles and human rights. With its Africa Strategy, the European Union has underlined its special relationship with Africa and its emphasis on building up a strong partnership with the African Union.
International Development, Global Europe
20/06/2006
The World's Water Crisis: Turning the Tide - Policies for the Future
The lack of access to safe water and sanitation faced by billions of people worldwide is one of the key challenges facing sustainable development. How can we ensure that access to safe water across Europe is extended as far as possible, without compromising water quality? Can policy be effective in changing people’s attitudes and behaviour to help to reduce the overwhelming demand for water at home and at work?
International Development
24/04/2006
Europe hosts the African Presidential RoundtableResponding to Common Challenges
Friends of Europe, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and Boston University jointly held this high-level roundtable for former African heads of state and the European community to debate the common challenges facing Europe and Africa. The two-day conference discussed such issues as good governance, relations with failing states and the strengthening of economic links.
International Development
22/09/2005
Are the developed countries hitting the Millennium Development Goals?
Achieving the Millenium Development Goals, signed now five years ago by almost 200 countries, is a key objective for the EU and the wider international community.
International Development, Global Europe
01/12/2003
Getting Down to Detail in the Globalisation Debate
The Fairer World Forum brings together some 40 senior figures involved in globalisation issues for in-depth discussions of concrete case studies. By taking the debate on globalisation beyond the confrontational exchanges that have characterised it so far, the Fairer World Forum aims to establish genuine communication and debate between all the major actors.
International Development
17/06/2002
Can Europe be proud of its aid policies?
At the recent Monterrey conference, the EU’s progressive stance on development aid contrasted very favourably with that of the US. Yet criticisms abound of the way that EU aid is allocated and administered, and there are fresh doubts about the value of the Cotonou Agreement that replaces the longstanding Lome aid-and-trade pacts with developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Has the Commission’s overhauling of aid to create EuropeAid yet yielded any concrete benefits?
International Development, Social Europe
24/09/2001
Meet Europe's Policymakers: Jacobus Richelle
Featuring: Jacobus Richelle, Director General for Development
International Development, Social Europe
04/04/2001
Meet Europe's Policymakers : Martti Ahtisaari
Featuring: Martti Ahtisaari, Former President of Finland
in a debate entitled "The EU's emerging civilian crisis management capacity: How to make it credible?
International Development, Social Europe
22/01/2001
Meeting Europe's Policymakers: Margot Wallström Sustainable Development
Featuring: Margot Wallström, EU Commissioner for Environment.
Introduced by: Emily von Sydow, Aftonbladet
"Sustainable development - a new vision for Europe?
International Development
22/05/2000
Poul Nielson, EU commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Affairs
Featuring: Poul Nielson, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Affairs.
"Globalisation and Solidarity - EU and the developing world"