5.& 11 - * · PDF fileseminar on Governance for Global ... to enclose our EADI Annual Report...

1EADI Newsletter 1-2008

E d i t o r i a lLooking at the realities of development co-operation of the European Union and to theglobal development arena, 2008 seems to bethe “year of betrayal and failed promises”. Therhetoric of increasing levels of developmentassistance to achieving the MillenniumDevelopment Goals by 2015 is contrasted bythe most recent OECD evaluation of donors'performance. The picture is grim as aid levelshave fallen in 2007. This needs to be turnedaround and countered by bold actions of donorsand developing countries alike.

The targets for levels of official developmentaid have been reaffirmed time and again atthe G8 and EU summits. The years 2010 and2015 have been fixed as milestones andthreshold years with clearly measurabledeliverables of international aid for and by alldonor countries. The 0.7 percent of gross nati-onal income remains the almost mythical targetand this shall be achieved by the year 2015. Sofar the international resolutions.

At the same time, developing countries areurged to increase their own efforts inmaintaining order, with governmentsrespecting human rights, the rule of law andgood governance, ending war and establishinglasting and robust peace arrangements. So-called developed countries must provideconducive framework conditions to supportthese endeavours and assist withcorresponding agreements and structures,including the provision of aid and trade regimestruly helpful for the developing countries. Thenew and old pledges need to becometranslated into action and converted into facts.This will need to be matched by drastic reformsof the traditional development aid architectureand systems as well.

As we cannot predict the future, we have togauge from the recently released documents

that the EC is on a very good path. “TheEuropean Consensus”, the overall policy paperof the Commission, the Council and theParliament for European Development Co-operation is a widely acclaimed milestonedocument, yet remains an obscure documentfor the general public. The communicationfrom March 2006: “EU Aid: delivering more,better and faster” clearly indicates how thepolicies will be implemented by the differentstakeholders. Here too, a lot more can be doneactionwise.

Moreover, there also is a clear message forEADI, that is the need for a more coherent(“unified”) European Development Researchcapacity. The articles by Can Akdeniz andCharlotta Heck on our flagship, or in lessmilitary terms “lighthouse project” EuropeanDevelopment Co-operation to the year 2020,EDC2020 in short, provide a more detailedbackground and description of these initiati-ves by EADI and calls the developmentresearch community into the picture.

Our special focus on EuropeanDevelopment Research Co-operation and theprospect of the workshops on “ManagingChange” by Simon Maxwell, Director of theOverseas Development Institute in London, asa contribution to the conference in Geneva,are at the core of this newsletter.

In addition, we provide a number of reportsfrom our Working Groups and the specialseminar on Governance for GlobalDevelopment, held in Budapest this April.

Important decisions were taken by theExecutive Committee at its annual meeting inHelsinki and will briefly be summarised in thisnewsletter.

Together with this newsletter, we are happyto enclose our EADI Annual Report 2007providing a detailed account of an importantyear.

The proposed work programme 2008-2010and the key points for the next presidency willbe circulated under separate cover to allmembers of EADI inviting you all to the nextGeneral Assembly.

We at EADI feel that also this year 2008 willbe an important year for the developmentresearch and training institutes associated withEADI in the pursuit of quality and relevance.

We are looking forward to seeing you inGeneva in June!

Thomas [email protected]

2 EADI Newsletter 1-2008

As this newsletter goes to print, preparationsfor the 12th General Conference and our Ge-neral Assembly of members in Geneva are infull swing. That prompted me to choose thisarticle format in our timely newsletter to presentthe key points of my report to the GeneralAssembly to all readers, be they members orinterested fellows of our association.

Managing and directing the secretariat ofEADI means first and foremost having to baseour work on the expectations of our membersand to acknowledge what by our leadershiphas been bundled into the official “Work Pro-gramme for EADI”. This programmatic outlineis usually presented by the incomingpresidential candidate together with his or herteam and has received endorsement by theGeneral Assemblies which represent theelection platform. It is thereafter further refinedand adopted by the newly elected ExecutiveCommittee as the ‘Leitmotiv’, or guidingtheme, for our future work.

In the current “Work Programme 2005-2008”, Jean-Luc Maurer and the ExecutiveCommittee went a step further and included alist of operational objectives [see box on thispage]. It is the duty and prerogative of thepresident to report on these objectives and onpast performances in his presentation at theGeneral Assembly.

It is clear that the Executive Secretary andthe supporting team at the secretariat in Bonnhave to take stock of all of this as a framework,guiding all our efforts. This does not mean thatwe are not to formulate new ideas and to create

our own dynamics. However, the overridingprinciple for EADI has to be the adequacy andquality of services as an association ofprofessionals in the development community,with a specific expertise and profile in the fieldof research and training.

Therefore, when looking both back andahead, I do see the following core activitieswhere we are to concentrate our efforts in orderto provide the necessary, high-quality servicesto EADI and our members:

1 . R e c r u i t i n g n e w s t a f f a n d t e a m -b u i l d i n g i n t h e s e c r e t a r i a t

After the relocation from Geneva to Bonn early2000, new professional staff had to be recruited.After a very modest beginning with one assistantand a part-time accountant, we were graduallyable to develop and scale-up our activities withthe help of interns and short-term studentassistants. Over the last eight years, we havehosted 40 young people from 12 differentcountries for an average three month interns-hip. These internships are of mutual benefitand I do consider our approach as providingan appropriate hands-on learning exercise andtraineeship to the future advantage of theseyoung professionals.

With the successful contracting of varioussmaller - and lately bigger - projects from 2005onwards, we were able to afford to hire newsupport staff. A project coordinator wasemployed on a full-time scale and additionalprofessional personnel (four project assistantsat present) recruited. I consider the current

team as presenting a kind of ideal size and mixof different skills, sufficient for the givenpackage of tasks and projects. In addition, somefixed-term consultancies have beencommissioned for projects where EADI is thelegal holder or coordinator. The very functionaloffice premises offered by the City of Bonn onfree-lease until 2024 and the location of theBonn secretariat are very conducive to teamwork and we are close to the colleagues of ourthree Bonn-based host institutions, DIE/GDI,InWEnt and ZEF, as well as to the Germanministry for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (BMZ).

2 . P r o v i d i n g e f f e c t i v e s e r v i c e s f o rt h e a s s o c i a t i o n

Members have to value their EADI-membershipand obtain an adequate return on investingtheir (premium) membership fees as well astheir time. A sense of co-ownership needs tobe generated and developed further. This ismainly done by means of the annual Directors'Meetings (re-started in Ljubljana, 2002), fromwhere we received a number of interestingsuggestions for joint action, such as the EDC2010programme and in a way also the EC-fundedEDC2020 project, the Accreditation of Institu-tes, Journal Ranking and Doctoral Network.

The lead questions for all these activities are:How can we ensure that EADI is an efficientnetwork of members, a platform for exchangeand candid debate; bridging academicresearch, development theory and practice withpolitical decision-making and action?Institutional and individual members of EADI

EAD I - R e v i ew & Ou t l o o k2 0 0 0 - 2 0 1 0A R epor t o f t he Secre tar i a t i n Bonn/ Germany

T h o m a s L a w o , E x e c u t i v e S e c r e t a r y


have to become the real stakeholders in theassociation. They can thus direct the action andfeel responsible for all activities. The best wayto achieve this seems to be the provision ofopportunities to participate in any of thecollaborative projects and the - at present 14 -topical Working Groups. In addition, occasionsand opportunities for members to associateand exchange need to be identified andoffered.

3 . A t t r a c t i n g m o r e m e m b e r s , b o t hi n s t i t u t i o n a l a n d i n d i v i d u a l

EADI had about 400 members in 1999/2000.Today, this number is down to 380. Thisis far below the targeted number of interestinginstitutions in the development community.According to a mapping done by the secretariatin 2005/2006, there are at least 850 institutesin Europe that can be considered eligible forEADI membership. What exactly are thedemands and needs of our existing and po-tential members? Why do members leave andwhat do those who join us expect?

We have identified this area to be of utmostimportance. A membership drive has beensuggested by a sub-committee during the2002-2005 triennium and we have moved intothe implementation phase in conjunction withthe General Conference in Bonn and the EADIJubilee (30 Years 1975-2005) - campaign. Thepresident and the secretariat have given thehighest priority to this challenging set of tasksduring the years 2005-2008, yet there seemsto be a long way to go.

4 . S t r e n g t h e n i n g l i n k a g e s a m o n gm e m b e r s

A General Assembly with a General Conferenceonce every three years, an annual seminar linkedto the meetings of the Executive Committeeplus the annual meeting of Directors are themeeting places that the association offers. Yet,this does not seem to be sufficient for strong,active collaboration and professional exchangeamong members. To help EADI develop into avibrant community of cutting-edge expertiseand knowledge, we need to create moreopportunities to actively collaborate on dynamicand flexible platforms. More thematic workshops,electronic conferences, joint projects and strategicalliances, like EDC2010/2020, the EADI Sum-

mer Schools or the Doctoral Network, shouldbe developed. Multi- disciplinary research isalready one of the strongest appeal factors ofEADI for potential members and thedevelopment community at large.

We are focusing on institutes but also wantto encourage individuals (and students) to seekmembership and participate. Lead questionshere are: What is our unique appeal? What isour comparative advantage? What do we haveto offer? Do we need more attractiveprogrammes to link and interest people in thework of EADI and its member institutes?

5 . S u p p o r t i n g t h e e f f o r t s o f t h eW o r k i n g G r o u p s ( W G ' s )

EADI is proud to provide a platform for 14 WG's.The broad coverage of current topics in thedevelopment debate by these WG's makes themthe flagship and major attraction of ourassociation. The annual meeting/ workshop ofconvenors and co-convenors connected to themeeting of the Executive Committee has becomea very useful tool to enhance participation andcreate more linkages across different actors inEADI.

The sharing of views after the GeneralConferences in Ljubljana (2002) and Bonn(2005) led to more structured interactionamong WG convenors and engagement withExCo members to thresh out the crucial pointsand develop a comprehensive supportstructure for the WG's in the upcoming Gen-eva conference.

The secretariat further wants to develop theelectronic communication tools in favour of amore dynamic community of EADI WG's. Leadquestions for our future discussion as I seethem are: How can we generate more interestamong EADI-members in these WG's? Howcan we obtain more dynamic WG's, getcolleagues to lead and (co-) chair one suchWG and encourage an active discussion andparticipation of the appropriate people in theirwork?

6 . D e v e l o p i n g a c o m p r e h e n s i v eW e b s i t e / I n t r a n e t s t r a t e g y

Communication to the electronic media hasshifted rapidly over the last 10-15 years. In Bonn,

we started from humble beginnings with prudentuse of e-mail facilities and the internet. Withan own website, first re-designed in 2000 andwith active links to other areas of our work andother networks, we had to rapidly place ourselvesin this virtual area of communication.

Fur ther - and in fact continuous -developments of our website and combiningwell-designed spaces and tools for the diffe-rent EADI users' groups, premium members,partners and donors, have greatly enhancedthe flow of information as well as supportexchange among members, office-holders andothers who are interested in our work and withwhom we want to maintain strong ties. Thesecretariat has just recently (March 2008) re-launched the website with a host of on-lineapplications, a portal to projects and servicesand smart links to different databases that aremaintained by us.

7 . F o s t e r i n g i n t e r n a t i o n a lc o - o p e r a t i o n w i t h i n I C C D A a n do t h e r n e t w o r k s

The collaboration within ICCDA and among itssix member associations (CLACSO, CODESRIA,OSSREA, AICARDES, APISA and EADI) has madesignificant progress over the last three years.This is due both to a renewed will of achievingmore together and because of funding receivedfrom SDC (CH). From 1999-2004, the reciprocalexchange visits and participation in generalassemblies and conferences have had littleimpact. The meetings in Bonn (2005), Brighton(2006) and The Hague (2007) have paved theway for more joint ventures. What do we findin the name: Inter-regional CoordinatingCommittee of Development Associations(ICCDA)? It should be describing what the actualand future focus should be: Definitely lots ofvisible attempts and concrete proof ofcoordination and clear commitments by allpartners. There is a lot of potential. It onlyrequires strong (joint) leadership to transformthis international body from “sleeping beauty”into a delivery mechanism of professionalexcellence.

EADI is an institutional member of theSociety for International Development, SID,Rome, the International Social Science Council,ISSC, Paris, the Academic Council of the Uni-

EADI Newsletter 1-20084

ted Nations System, ACUNS, Waterloo/ Canadaand Europe's Forum on International Co-operation, EUFORIC, Maastricht. Since January2006, EADI is also accredited with the Councilof Europe and has a participatory status as anInternational Non-Governmental Organisationwith the CoE. In addition, we have beenparticipating in conferences and activities of theGlobal Development Network, GDN, NewDelhi, from its starting phase in Bonn(December 1999) and should considerformalising our status of collaboration as a “re-gional partner” or “associate” representing theEuropean development research community.All these international organisations offer a hostof different and new avenues of internationalco-operation, coordination and exchange.

8 . C o n s o l i d a t i n g t h e f i n a n c i a l b a s eo f E A D I a n d o u r c o r e p r o g r a m m e s

Bonn had been selected as EADI's headquartersin 1999 because there was a binding offer andguarantee by the German side for monetarysupport over six years (2000-2005). After furt-her dialogue and negotiations in 2004/2005,we were assured of continued funding until2009 with the understanding that other donorswould come in to complement and graduallysubstitute, or that members would take up agreater share in financing the secretariats budgetin the long run. We are very grateful to theGerman authorities (BMZ, state of NRW andCity of Bonn) for their unwavering support andI would like to take this opportunity and putour thanks on record.

This present level of income from theGerman donors and members is sufficient forthe minimal core budget of the secretariat(around 250.000 Euro per annum). However,it is far too low to satisfy all demands frommembers and to really go into innovativeprojects and programmes that would ensure asustainable livelihood base for the association.

The Executive Committee and the Manage-ment Committee have given us the mandateto develop a strategy to seek funding frominstitutions like the EC and other donors. I donot want to report on the disappointing failures,especially when dealing with EU/ EC DGDevelopment and DG Europe Aid, as I thinkthat this is an experience other members can

share as well. In response to the mandatementioned above, we have actively pursuedthis policy and approached bilateral donorswith some degree of success. In this context,we want to thank the Research Council ofNorway for providing seed money over threeyears (2006-08) that allowed us to engage inthe pilot-mapping of ongoing research projectsof member institutes and to develop a largerand more comprehensive database project forwhich we could secure funding from the DutchMinistry of Foreign Affairs for three years (2007-2009) as well.

We have also been successful in getting aconsortium together for a joint research andcommunication project that is to be funded byEC/ DG Research from the 7th Framework Pro-gramme. More details on this EDC2020 projectare presented in the article by my colleagueson the following pages.

This review and outlook is meant to allowyou all to assess the work of the secretariatand to judge the degree of performanceachieved in delivering services for membersand the association at large.

Together with the president and the newly

elected leadership of EADI, we shall have totranslate the challenges sketched out aboveinto quite an ambitious plan of action for thecoming years. But, I think that less would notmeet with the high expectations generated overthe past 33 years, in which EADI has developedinto what it is today: a highly valued and well-respected group of research institutes, trainingcentres and think-tanks with a still bigger po-tential to be developed.

Opera t i ona l ob j ec t i ves1. Open up EADI / Networking / Partnerships

2. Transform the yearly EADI Director's Meeting3. Prepare the 2008 Geneva General Conference4. Boost membership drive5. Reach a formal recognition by EU of EADI6. Increase fundraising7. Widen and deepen databases and online services for our members8. Continue the efforts undertaken to improve the Working Group system9. Reinforce the editorial and management capacity of EJDR10. Reorganise the Book Series11. Continue to organise at least one EADI summer school each year12. Promote the involvement of the ExCo members in the scientific animation of

our association13. Preparing for the launch of a first EADI Master14. Establish a Development Studies accreditation system


Since 1 April 2008, the EADI Secretariat in Bonnhas been hosting a new research programmeentitled “European Development Co-operationto 2020” (EDC2020)1. Funded by the EuropeanCommission's 7th Framework Programme forsocial sciences and humanities, the consortiumproject combines both research andcommunication aspects. Its aim is to encourageclose collaboration between researchers andpolicy-makers, which is why it is not onlycooperating with reputable Europeandevelopment research institutes such as theInstitute of Development Studies, OverseasDevelopment Institute, Deutsches Institut fürEntwicklungspolitik and Fundación para lasRelaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior,but also with the Society for InternationalDevelopment2 as a dissemination partner inorder to reach practitioners directly throughvarious policy briefings and workshops.

After more than one year of intensivepreparations and negotiations with theEuropean Commission the project waslaunched in Brussels on 2 June 2008. The kick-off conference, held at Residence Palace,brought together researchers, policy-makersand other stakeholders active in Europeandevelopment co-operation.

B a c k g r o u n d

In Europe's relations with developing countries,new and interconnected issues of a global na-ture are emerging. These include new playersin international development, Europe's energysecurity and climate change. All these discussionsare taking place in times of wide-ranging glo-bal challenges and at a time when questionsof European identity are looming large in nati-onal debates. Key questions will remain: Howwill the above-mentioned emerging issues berelated to the EU's development policies? Howwill Member States approach the issue ofworking together on common problems?

It is crucial that decisions and policies onemerging matters are based on good research

and sound evidence.Moreover, the public debateneeds to be informed byresearch voices. EDC 2020therefore aims to improve EU policy-makers'and other societal actors' shared understandingof emerging challenges facing EU developmentpolicy and external action. EDC2020 willcontribute to this objective by promotinginteraction across the research and policyarenas to share perspectives, learn from eachother and strengthen working relationships.Inspite of the well-known difficulties ofcommunication between research, policy-making and practice, deliverables of EDC2020should be the basis for close networking andcontinued exchange. The project is organisedaround three major topics which form the basisfor the research working groups.

N e w a c t o r s i n i n t e r n a t i o n a ld e v e l o p m e n tRapidly growing developing countries such asChina, India and Brazil are not only gainingeconomic influence, they are also emerging asnew actors on the international developmentstage. These new actors have a distinct agendawhich often conflicts with OECD/DACagreements. Thus, their commitment in the leastdeveloped countries does not fulfil ODA criteriafor development assistance. Instead, new actorsuse specific funding instruments, trade relationsas well as investment in infrastructure whichare often paid “in kind” with exploitationconcessions for specific resources. Here theboundaries between profit-seeking privateinvestment and public policy are unclear, as isthe effectiveness of the instruments for thedevelopment of the recipient country. Researchinto the rationales, interest groups and policyprocesses of these new actors are vital in creatingnew tools and scenarios for European policy-makers. Only with such insights can new areasof convergence be found and strategicpartnerships for effective development co-

operation be formed. Open questions that arecrucial for the EU's policy response remain: -Is rich country policy on poverty reductiondriven by genuine concern or by self

interest? ·- What is the rationale of new actors in aid

provision, the choice of partners and thelevel of aid? ·

- Where are challenges in partners' positionsfor European external relations or wheremight points of convergence emerge?

E n e r g y s e c u r i t y , d e m o c r a c ya n d p o l i t i c a l d e v e l o p m e n tIn its 2006 Green Paper, the EuropeanCommission noted that an increased linkagebetween energy policy and development policyis necessary: “Europe has entered into a newenergy era”; the “increasing dependence onimports from unstable regions and supplierspresents a serious risk … [with] some majorproducers and consumers … using energypolicy as a political lever.”3 However, so farenergy security remains a subject that is studiedby energy (political) economists and that is notintegrated into the normal purview of work onforeign, security and development policies.EDC2020 therefore addresses this issue andaims to correct these shortcomings and createscenarios for the following questions:· What are possible combinations of energy,

development and Common ForeignSecurity Policy (CFSP)?

· What is the relationship between MemberStates' and EU interests regarding energypolicy?

· How can a practical balance betweenaccess to energy policies of poorcommunities and own supply concerns beachieved?

· Is the EU striking the right balance between

European Development Co - operat ion to 2020EADI manages new research programme

C h a r l o t t a H e c k


free market and geopolitical approaches?

E u r o p e a n d e v e l o p m e n tp o l i c y a n d c l i m a t e c h a n g eClimate change has become a considerable partof European policy-making. Much of the efforthas so far been focussing on dealing withemissions from European countries, getting theEU emissions trading system to work, settingambitious renewable energy policies, andnegotiating Europe's role in the internationalclimate regime. However, it is only relativelyrecently that the relationships between climatechange and development have begun to bediscussed in development policy circles. In its2007 Green Paper the Commission emphasisedthat it “is examining how to promote anenhanced dialogue and co-operation betweenthe EU and developing countries on climatechange.” EDC2020 will support Europeanpolicy-makers by concentrating on two policyfields:· What are the implications of domestic

policy processes (promotion of biofuels)which have links to developing countries?

· What are implications of policy processesdesigned specifically to supportdeveloping countries in dealing withclimate change (financing for adaptationand mitigation, technology transfer etc.)?

C o m m u n i c a t i o n a n dd i s s e m i n a t i o n o f r e s e a r c hCommunication and dissemination of researchresults is a strong part of the EDC2020 project.We believe that the exchange of ideas betweenresearchers, policy-makers and otherstakeholders has to be enhanced throughformats that allow us to bridge the well-knowngap between research and policy-making. Tothis end, research outcomes of the EDC2020project will be presented through three mainchannels: publications, the internet and events.

Publications, namely working and briefingpapers as well as policy briefs, will bedistributed in print and electronic format toensure optimal outreach, while working paperswith a volume of about 20 pages will providethe reader with background information onand in-depth analysis of the latest research andits relevance for policy-making. Short briefingpapers and policy briefs account for the tight

time schedule many policy-makers andpractitioners are faced with. They seek tosummarise the most essential information onthe progress of the project and to give adviceto policy-makers.

To allow for wider dissemination of theinformation, publications will be posted on ourproject website and distributed via a quarterlye-newsletter. Moreover, latest news,developments and other relevant informationwill be made public.

An important part of the project'scommunication work is the organisation ofregular project events such as panels,roundtables and presentations on projectoutcomes. They play a major role in bringingtogether researchers, policy-makers and otherstakeholders and will enhance a procreativeatmosphere for a policy-oriented analyticaldebate on questions related to emergingchallenges to European development co-operation. Target audiences will have thepossibility to exchange information and viewson the outcomes and to discuss their relevancefor policy-making and practice. During thecourse of the project, three briefings forparliamentarians will be organised in Brusselsin order to reach a large number of relevantactors. All these events should form the basisfor a close networking and a continuedexchange.

For further details please see: www.edc2020.euor write to [email protected]

1Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK (www.ids.ac.uk);

Overseas Development Institute, London, UK (www.odi.org.uk); Deut-

sches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, Bonn, Germany (www.die-gdi.de);

Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior,

Madrid, Spain (www.fride.org); Society for International Development,

The Hague, Netherlands (www.sid-nl.org)

2Commission of the European Communities (2006): Green Paper. A

European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy,

COM (2006) 105, 8 March 2006, p. 3

3Commission of the European Communities (2007): Green Paper.

Adapting to Climate Change in Europe -option for EU action, COM

(2007) 354, 29 June 2007, p. 23

EDC2020 - P eop le i ncharge

M a n a g e m e n t :

Organisations involved: EADICan Akdeniz is responsible for the overallmanagement of the project and contacts to theEuropean Commission. He is Project

Coordinator at EADI and has extensiveexperience in EU public affairs, projectdevelopment, management and administration.[[email protected]]

C o m m u n i c a t i o n :

Organisations involved: EADI and SIDCharlotta Heck is coordinating thecommunication and dissemination of researchresults from the EDC2020 project. She is ProjectAssistant at EADI. Her main areas of work includecommunication, project management and eventorganisation. [[email protected]]

N e w a c t o r s :

Organisations involved: DIE, IDS, ODI, FRIDESven Grimm is responsible for the work packageon new actors in international development. Hehas been a researcher on Europeandevelopment co-operation and governance atDIE since 2005. Current areas of research arecoherence and coordination in Europeandevelopment policy. [[email protected]]

E n e r g y s e c u r i t y :

Organisations involved: FRIDE, IDSRichard Youngs (PhD) is Director of theDemocratisation programme at FRIDE andlectures at the University of Warwick, UK. Amongothers, he has coordinated an EC researchprogramme on European democracy and hu-man rights policies in the Middle East. Several ofhis recent publications have focused on therelationship between security interests anddemocracy promotion. [[email protected]]

C l i m a t e c h a n g e :

Organisations involved: ODI, DIE, IDSLeo Peskett is a Research Officer focusing onclimate change mitigation and adaptation inrelation to developing countries and forestry indeveloping countries. He analyses impacts ofclimate change on agriculture in developingcountries, including the analysis of donoragricultural policies. A related area of work is onthe overlaps between biofuels, agriculture andpoverty reduction, assessing current evidenceand potential future impacts.[[email protected]]


International relations are constantly changing.And not all we label as new actually is. Mo-dern China has been active in Africa since atleast the 1960s; India looks back at a long historyof engagement along Africa's eastern shore -an ocean that has been called “Indian” afterall. So why bother?

T h e m a g n i t u d e o f t h ec h a l l e n g eSize matters when it comes to gaining theattention of Western media, policy-makers andresearchers. There is increased evidence thatdeveloping countries will have more power inglobal governance, be it via increasing foreigndirect investment, their weight in the internati-onal financial system or their increasingimportance in regional and global security, aswell as in international organisations by virtueof sheer size and international connectedness.The environment in which development co-operation is taking place is changing profoundly,and the overall volume of co-operation fundingreported by the emerging states is far fromnegligible. There is a new quality tors in inter-national development that are not organisedin the OECD Development AssistanceCommittee (DAC). The emergence of new actorsin the international aid system is unlikely to bea shor t-term phenomenon. And the“newcomers” are regarded sceptically or evensuspiciously by “Western” donors, as theyengage with states considered to be internati-onal pariah regimes.

China and India are the obvious candidatesto be looked at. Furthermore, Brazil hasintensified its engagement with lusophonecountries in Africa. And South Africa (to varyingdegrees in Sub-Saharan Africa), and Venezu-ela (to some extent in Latin America) areunlikely to lose interest in South-South co-operation anytime soon. If anything, theemerging players are gaining attention becausethey are new. This new quality - particularly,

but not exclusively to be observed in China'sengagement in Africa - has potentially radicaleffects on international development policy,and the European Union (EU) as a key donorwill have to react to these new challenges. Whateffects will the “new kids on the block” haveon European thinking about aid instruments,modalities and organisation of the Europeanaid system?

R e s e a r c h o n n e w a c t o r s i ni n t e r n a t i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t

More and more studies have emerged latelywhich discuss the effects of new donors in other

developing regions from the perspective ofbilateral donors, multilateral organisations orrecipient countries. Most interestinginformation on debates about policy contentand direction, however, is often only obtainedin direct contact with researchers andpractitioners from these new actors. Much ofthe debate is familiar from internationalrelations theory: Are actors driven by self-interest, or should we rather focus on howthese interests are formed? Which interestgroups are participating or can participate inthe formulation of policies? What is the ratio-nale of these new actors in aid provision, thechoice of partners and the level of aid? Answers

New - or Emerging - Actors in In ternat ionalDevelopmentS v e n G r i m m , D I E

T h e e x a m p l e o f C h i n a : W h a t i s d e v e l o p m e n t c o o p e r a t i o n a n d w h a ti s n o t ?

Take China as an example: it is by far the biggest of the emerging actors in international development. InNovember 2006, China pledged US$5 billion credits to Africa and its aid is estimated to totalUS$1.8billion. Yet, the co-operation of the emerging actors in international development takes very differentforms, and little comparative (or comparable!) data is available on ‘new donors’, even though the interestin these new actors is increasing. The absence of data is compounded by the problem of maintainingconsistent standards in measuring foreign aid across donor countries. Policy instruments used by newerdonors are not necessarily identified as development assistance, as the ODA criteria defined by the DACare not applied. The policy of emerging powers towards other developing countries is characterised as aclosely interwoven mix of specific funding instruments and trade relations, as well as investment ininfrastructure, often being paid “in kind” or with specific resource exploitation concessions. Chinese co-operation more often than not is linked to investments in Africa, hence its interests in countries arefollowing commercial interests (see map for 2005; Angola and DRC have since gained considerableimportance on the ‘Chinese map’ of Africa). Often, the distinction between profit-seeking private investmentand public policy is not clearly made. Therefore, we often compare very different things when comparingEuropean ODA with China or India's engagement mostly in Africa.While a lively debate about the effects of emerging powers on the international scene is ongoing, insightand knowledge about key elements, political drivers, factors influencing policy-formulation and aboutthe modes of delivery of these emerging powers' international co-operation policies are lacking. Muchof the media's finger-pointing at China overlooks India or other actors' engagement. For instance, whileit rejects conditional aid, India's own financial co-operation with other developing countries is highly tiedto the condition of involving Indian companies. The same could be said about most new donors.


to these open questions are crucial for the EU'spolicy response and will be a key aspect inthinking about the EU's development co-operation to the year 2020.

One of the policy responses to new inter-national actors by the EU is an increasingreference to strategic partnerships with statesidentified as key international actors. Thestrategic partnerships aim at framing globalgovernance, explicitly including internationaldevelopment issues (e.g. in the EU-ChinaStrategy of 2006 or the EU-South AfricaStrategic Partnership of 2007 and theirrespective predecessor agreements).

W h a t E D C 2 0 2 0 w i l l w o r k o n

This work package in EDC2020 will build oncurrent research on the effects of “new donors”in developing regions and will identify globalchanges with an impact on development policy.

It will do so by· identifying issues raised by the emergence

of new actors in tackling global challengesfor international development morebroadly, and region-specifically, as well as

· presenting profiles of new actors in inter-national development, based on theirpolicy-rationale, institutional setting,instruments at hand and drivers of thepolicy agenda.

Based on that, we will look into challengesfor European policy-making in internationaldevelopment. Which changes will the EU haveto prepare for and which changes should it aimfor with its policies? Questions to be lookedinto concern investments, governance andsecurity questions, and the impact on povertyreduction in these regions. Also relevant willbe the likely effects of emerging powers onthe global development architecture, i.e. onorganisations or fora in international

development (the UN system and the BrettonWoods Institutions).

We certainly cannot do work in isolation.An important element in this work will befostering research links and debates aboutresearch and policies with emerging countries.The project will make use of the internationalnetwork established by participatinginstitutions, for instance via DIE's work on glo-bal governance, joint IDS/DIE interest in Asiandrivers, ODI's work on the international aidarchitecture and FRIDE's work on aideffectiveness in Latin America.

Climate change is still relatively new todevelopment policy circles. As the pace of climatepolicy quickens over the next decade, bringingdevelopment perspectives into what has hithertobeen a highly technical agenda will be a crucial,if challenging task. This timeframe will witnessmany more of the impacts of climate changeand it offers the last chance to stabilisetemperature rise below the crucial 2 degreesthreshold where much more severe impactsare likely to be felt.

The ‘European climate change policy anddevelopment co-operation’ strand of theEDC2020 project will look specifically at theevolution of the climate change agenda withinthe context of development co-operation inEurope over the next 12 years. The key issuesthat will be addressed are:- What might climate change mean for

current and future policies in areas such asagriculture, trade, disasters and riskreduction and humanitarian assistance?

- Where are the connections and disconnectsbetween European climate change policyand its international development policyand how can the links between the two bestrengthened?

C l i m a t e c h a n g e a n d d e v e l o p m e n tp o l i c y i n E u r o p e

Climate change is now high on the Europeanpolicy agenda. Much of the effort is domesticallyfocussed, for example dealing with emissionsfrom European countries through settinggreenhouse gas targets and getting the EUemissions trading system to work. But climatechange issues are working their way intoEuropean development policies. An Action Planon climate change and development wasestablished in 2004, including activities suchas supporting developing countries to ‘integrateclimate risk management into planningprocesses’ and to ‘benefit from the diffusionof environmentally sound technologies’. Morerecently the Global Climate Change Alliance

(GCCA) has been launched, which will workwith least developed countries to integrateclimate change into poverty reduction strategies.

Much of the existing research ondevelopment co-operation and climate changein European policy relates to discussions aboutthe future of the international climate regimebeyond 2012. This includes the role thatdeveloping countries might play in futureagreements, making carbon markets workbetter for developing countries, and discussionsabout financing adaptation. A second strandof work looks at how to mainstream climatechange concerns within development policy.To date there has not been much work on thetensions and synergies between evolvingEuropean climate policies and developmentpolicies. And there is currently little work whichtakes a long-term perspective on the potentialevolution of the two policy agendas - workwhich is essential given the likely developmentof more ambitious climate change policies over

European Cl imate Change Pol icy and DevelopmentCo - operat ion to 2020: Converging Agendas?L eo P eske t t , OD I


the next decade and the growing importanceof external drivers such as the increasedpresence of China and India in both the climatechange and aid debates.

W h a t t h e E D C 2 0 2 0 c l i m a t e c h a n g ep a c k a g e w i l l w o r k o n

The EDC2020 climate change work packagewill try to address some of these issues bycombining practical policy analysis withstructured ‘blue skies’ thinking about futurescenarios. Key questions will include:

· Where is Europe currently situated in itsefforts to integrate its climate change anddevelopment agendas?

· What are some of the linkages and trade-offs that exist now and how are these beingapproached?

· How may these agendas evolve in Europeover the next 12 years given what we knowabout current projections and long-termpolicy processes?

· Where may climate change lie in relation

to other drivers of change in 2020?· How may climate change impacts in 2020

and knowledge of future impacts alter theway mitigation and adaptation areapproached and the politics ofdevelopment co-operation itself?

The work programme will be spread overthree years, allowing some time to track theevolution of certain policies. It will coverexamples of policies in both the adaptation andmitigation areas such as ‘reducing emissionsfrom deforestation’ (REDD), biofuels (See Box1) and adaptation financing. These are mainlyearly-stage policies where there has been much‘talk’ but little in the way of implementation asyet. They are also areas where there are likelyto be significant policy shifts in the next threeyears related to the international climatechange process, which could have significantimplications to 2020 and beyond. They havestrong links to both European domestic climatepolicies (e.g. the EU ETS) and developmentpolicies (e.g. forest governance; agricultural

trade). And there are also strong links to otherareas of the EDC2020 project, such as the roleof new actors (e.g. new aid flows from Chinaand/or changing patterns of investment, forexample in forest products) - drivers of changethat will be explored in scenarios studies.

The project includes researchers from ODI,IDS and DIE - three European researchinstitutes working across a range ofdevelopment policy and climate change issues.It will also involve southern research institutesin events in Europe and through brief countrycase studies, and will draw links with relatedinitiatives in European institutes.

For further information please contact:Leo Peskett, Overseas Development Institute(ODI): [email protected]

B o x 1 : B i o f u e l s , a v o i d e d d e f o r e s t a t i o n a n d p o v e r t y r e d u c t i o n : r e c o n c i l i n g a g e n d a s i n E u r o p e a nc l i m a t e a n d d e v e l o p m e n t p o l i c i e s

Development of biofuels and avoided deforestation are two strategies being supported by Europe in efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions. Ambitioustargets for 10% use of biofuels in transport fuel have been set for 2020 (though this is currently under review). Meanwhile, mechanisms to help reducedeforestation and degradation rates in developing countries are being supported through Europe's new Global Climate Change Alliance.

But there are complex interrelationships between these policies. Firstly, there are potential trade-offs between the policies themselves in developingcountries such as Indonesia, where expansion of land used for palm oil (partly driven by demand for biofuels) may be in direct competition with landused to meet emissions reductions targets through avoided deforestation. Secondly, and possibly more complex, are the linkages to poverty reduction.Implications for the poor will depend on domestic policies such as those on agriculture and trade, and development-related policy processes such asForest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT). For example, expansion of agricultural land used for biofuels production in developedcountries may increase global food prices, leading to increased food insecurity in developing countries (Figure 1) - an effect that may be compoundedby loss of productive land due to large-scale land-use-based carbon forestry projects.

How are these types of trade-offs being approached in European policy processes? Could they deepen as the pace of climate policy-making quickens?And what can we learn from current approaches about how they may be reconciled in European development co-operation?

Figure 1: Changes in world prices of feedstock crops and sugar by 2020 under two scenarios compared to baseline levels (%) Source: IFPRI


In its 2006 Green Paper, the EuropeanCommission concluded that, ‘Europe has ente-red into a new energy era’ and that the‘increasing dependence on imports fromunstable regions and suppliers presents a seriousrisk….[with] some major producers andconsumers…using energy as a political lever.1’This paper asserted that growing concerns overinternational energy security required a rethinkof some of the core aspects of European foreignpolicy in several areas of the world and lamentedthat hitherto European coordination on energy-related challenges had been negligible.

Also in 2006 the European Consensus onDevelopment posited a tighter relationshipbetween development policy and energysecurity.2 Since then a range of policydocuments and statements have asserted theEU's commitment to promoting mutuallyenhancing linkages between development,energy security and democratic governance.European Union policy commitments formallystate that the EU's approach to energy securitywill increasingly be based on efforts to improvegovernance standards in producer states andon the recognition that security requires moreeffective development co-operation.

For example, European diplomats stress thatenergy partnership with Africa is to beunderstood through the lens of developmentpolicy and governance issues. Andris Piebalgshas claimed that the EU's approach is distinctivein marrying European security of supplyconcerns with development policies, inparticular through a focus on broadeningaccess to energy within Africa itself.3 The newAfrica-EU Partnership on Energy that wasformally signed at the EU-Africa summit heldin December 2007 reiterates the supposedlydevelopment- and governance-orientedapproach to energy co-operation. Energy nowforms one section of the ‘action plan’ guidingEU-Africa relations.

However, serious doubts remain over thepolitical will to put into practice such an‘enlightened’ approach to energy security, orthat the EU has devised appropriate strategiesto advance such a governance-developmentoriented approach. The table shows how threegovernance indicators for each major energysupplier.

The work package of the EDC2020 projectled by the Madrid-based Fundación par alasRelaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior(FRIDE) will critically explore the extent towhich such linkages have been implementedin practice and how they can be improved.

L i m i t s t o e x i s t i n g r e s e a r c h

Crucially, the state-of-the-art exhibits a glaringdisconnect between work on energy securityon the one hand, and analysis of democraticgovernance and development policy on theother hand. Energy security remains a subjectstudied by energy (political) economists andis not integrated into the normal purview ofwork on foreign, security and developmentpolicies. This Work Package aims to correct theseshortcomings and better link the energy,development and foreign policy debates.

It has been suggested that debates amongstenergy experts can be structured around twoalternative ‘storylines’, that of ‘markets andinstitutions’ and that of ‘regions and empires.’Some argue that market-based solutionsincreasingly involve international co-operation,based on international good governancestandards and multilateral institutions. Incontrast, other analysts propose that thedefining change to energy security is - and willincreasingly be - its geopolitical dimension.Some critics argue that ‘energy security’continues to be understood in terms ofsecuring alliances with producer states, and thatthis militates fundamentally against economic

development and political reform. Anincreasing concern of many analysts is with‘energy poverty’ in the third world engende-ring resource-related conflict.

However, the ‘state-of-the-art’ on therelationship between governance questions,development policy and Western energysecurity remained underdeveloped. Thecommon view is that energy concerns areundermining the Western focus on humanrights and democracy. Received wisdom is thatoil and democracy do not mix. Not one of thetwenty-two countries whose economies aredominated by oil is a consolidated democracy,and all have levels of corruption that aredisproportionately high for their respectivelevels of development (see table). The standardcritical view is that any Western commitmentto support democracy and human rights inproducer states is entirely disingenuous.

A contrasting argument is that sustainableenergy security requires a greater, notdiminished, focus on political reform inproducer states. It is argued that over the longerterm, indeed, producer and consumercountries have a common interest in stable andpredictable international markets. Neither areconsumer counties quite so powerlessconcerning an encouragement of democraticreform in producer states: many point out thatleverage is more balanced between consumerand producer countries due to the latter'sincreasing search for ‘security of demand.’ Forsome experts, the kind of durable stabilityneeded for energy security would be bestguaranteed through greater politicalaccountability in the still largely autocraticproducer states, to the extent that conflict overthe distribution of oil revenues tends to begreater where governance systems wereweaker. Regimes' distribution of oil rent -invariably seen as the disincentive todemocratic change in oil-rich states - clearly

Development Pol icy, Energy Securi ty andDemocracyR i c h a r d Y o u n g s , F R I D E


has not sufficed to ‘buy off’ popular discontentin, for example, Middle Eastern producer states,where growing numbers of people agitate forpolitical liberalisation. In countries such as Iran,Venezuela, Nigeria and Algeria authoritarianpopulism has lead to spurts of public spendingthat have been the root of instability. Whateverthe uncertainties of democratic change, recenthistory shows that prioritising strategic bilate-ral relationships with autocratic regimes, to thedetriment of more open governance and mul-tilateral commitments, is no guarantor ofenergy security.

Still others doubt that political conditionscount for very much one way or the other: Oilis a cyclical product with high production costsand long maturity periods. Periods of over-investment are followed by periods of under-investment as dictated by market prices: pricesrose after 2002-2003 because of the lack ofinvestment in the 1990s, when prices were low.Some experts assert that the economic needsand interdependencies of producer statesmean that changes in governments or evenregimes have little impact on energy policies -whichever ‘side’ the West backs and whetherit has a military presence or not in oil producingregions.

O u r r e s e a r c h f o c u s

Much research and analytical work has beencarried out on the issue of energy security. Yet,the justification for this Work Package lies inthe fact that a number of key issues remainunder-studied and unresolved in debates overEU policies. Through a series of events andpublications this work package will examine thefollowing questions, across different producerregions:

· Is the EU striking the right balance betweenfree market and geopolitical approaches?

· Can member state interests be reconciledand streamlined within a commonEuropean energy policy?

· Is the energy security imperative driving aheightened focus on development orundermining the latter?

· Is the EU striking the right balance betweenthe ‘access to energy’ of poorcommunities, on the one hand, and itsown supply concerns, on the other hand?

· To what extent is the role of other powers,such as China, undermining the EU'sdevelopment policy model?

· Is external energy policy acting to thedetriment of democratic development?

· If so, how can EU policies, based on a po-sitive linkage between democracy,development and energy security be putin place?

Notes1 Commission of the European Communities, Green Paper: A European

Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy, COM(2006)

105, 8 March 2006, p. 3; and Commission of the European Communities,

An External Policy to Serve Europe’s Energy Interests, Paper from the

Commission/SG/HR for the European Council, 2006

2 The European Consensus on Development, 24 February 2006, 2006/

C 46/01, quotes from p. 4, p.7, p. 13 and p.14

3 Andris Piebalgs, ‘Energy and Development’, speech to the External

Energy Policy Conference, Brussels, 21 November 2006

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The freedomhouse survey 2007 rates political rights and civil libertiesand gives the scores free, partly free, not free. It does not rategovernments or government performance per se, but rather the real-world rights and social freedoms enjoyed by individuals. Seewww.freedomhouse.org.CPI Score 2007 relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption asseen by business people and country analysts, and ranges between10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). See www.transparency.orgBTI Score 2008 ranges from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest). 125 countrieshave been evaluated. See www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de

Some examp les o f po l i t i ca l t rends i n se lec tedproducing states


At the previous CERES Summer School inAmsterdam the focus was on the ‘many facesof poverty’. In discussions since then, povertystudies have emphasised the multi-dimensio-nal character of poverty, and the ways in whichinstitutions can reduce or increase theirvulnerability to becoming poor. A central conceptemerging in such discussions is that of resilience- defined as the opposite of vulnerability -namely, the ability to ‘bounce back’ from shocksand long-term stresses so that actors(households, individuals and socio-environmental systems) do not become pooreror change irrefutably for the worse, and/or toprevent their ill effects.

The concept of resilience has been utilisedmainly in research into the relationshipsbetween human society and the naturalenvironment. The main question is whetherand how people as a global community willadapt to live within the boundaries set by thewider natural and built environment. Theconcept of resilience describes the degree towhich complex socio-environmental systemscan adapt to change and disturbance withoutlosing their basic characteristics andadaptability. The question of how the adaptiveand learning capabilities of institutions in thecontext of natural and urban systems and thelivelihoods of their inhabitants can bestrengthened is of both scientific and societalrelevance. At the macro level of global andnational systems, the meso level of ecosystems,social networks and urban service-relatedinstitutions and organisations, and the microlevel of households and individual actors,resilience in the face of processes of changeand disturbance needs to be supportedthrough institutional adaptation that is oftenpath-dependent and unpredictable because ofour lack of knowledge in this area. The aim ofthe Summer School is to link recentdevelopments in the realm of resiliencethinking to the concepts, issues and paradigmsin the core work of the members of CERES(and the wider EADI network).

S e t - u p o f t h e S u m m e rS c h o o l 2 0 0 8

The Summer School 2008 has the followinggoals: Firstly, to bring together young researchersfrom a broad range of disciplines and researchinstitutions who can share their results and viewson issues related to the main conference theme,and the themes in their respective workingprogrammes; they will be given the opportunityto present recent PhD research taking place atthe various institutes attached to CERES andEADI. Secondly, to provide presentations byoutside speakers that revolve around the conceptof resilience in human/environment interactions,with the focus in particular on the institutionalinterface between humans and the environmentat various levels and in a variety of environments(urban and rural). As a research school in anincreasingly international research environment,we particularly invite junior and senior scholarsfrom our European sister institutes within theEADI network to take part.

We propose the following possible set ofthemes for panels:

1. Ecological systems, institutional interaction andadaptive l ivel ihoods

How can resilience-based institutions with theirfocus on system shift avoidance, redundancyof functional relationships and complex actorinteractions be designed so that they have apositive impact on household and communitystrategies for sustainable livelihoods?

2. Path dependency in managing complex urbandevelopment

How do (inter)national economic forces, ur-ban social networks and institutions, and ur-ban actors adapt to processes of change? Doesa path-dependent process of adaptation supportor prevent resilient urban development?

3. Education, human resources and enablinginst i tut ions

4. Resil ience methodology : integrating dynamic/evolut ionary methods in complex research

How can resilience be made operational,measured and studied in complex socio-ecological systems? How useful is the conceptin relation to strategies and policies forinfluencing institutional change and adaptation?

P r o g r a m m e a n d r e g i s t r a t i o n

For the programme and registration, please seethe Summer School website at: http://www. fmg .uva . n l / am id s t / c e r e s - ead i -summerschool2008.cfm.

Organising institution: Amsterdam Institute forMetropolitan and International DevelopmentStudies (AMIDSt).

For further information we refer to the addressbelow.

On behalf of the organising committee,Prof. Dr Isa [email protected]

Isa BaudFred ZaalTara van DijkLaura Smeets

AMIDStUniversity of AmsterdamNieuwe Prinsengracht 1301018 VZ AmsterdamT +31.20.525 4063F +31.20.525 4051http://www.fmg.uva.nl/amidst/home.cfm

C E R E S / E A D I S u m m e r S c h o o l 2 0 0 8

R es i l i en t Soc ie t i es : Comp lex Sys tems , Adap t i ve I ns t i t u t i ons and Sus ta i nab leL i ve l i hoods

9 - 1 2 J u n e , U n i v e r s i t y o f A m s t e r d a m , A m s t e r d a m


Look around the EADI community of researchinstitutes and centres, and most of them arerun by academics. Look through the in-tray ofthose individuals, or better the e-mail in-box,and most of what we deal with day-to-day isabout finance, people, relationship managementand institutional development. That's fine, ofcourse. It goes without saying that EADI memberinstitutions are admirably led, without exception,despite or because of the academic backgroundof most of those who end up as directors. Butthe range of challenges in the in-box can comeas a surprise; and, certainly, the learning curveis steep. Who do we talk to? How do we learn?

In working through my own in-box over thepast decade, my answer to those two questionshas often been to talk to people doing similarjobs in the EADI family, and learn from thosewith more experience. I think of Louk de laRive Box, at ECDPM and now at ISS; of Hans-Helmut Taake at the German DevelopmentInstitute; of Poul Engberg Pedersen at theCentre for Development Research inCopenhagen; of Helen O'Neill at the Centrefor Development Studies, University CollegeDublin; and of my former colleagues at IDS,Richard Jolly, Emmanuel de Kadt, Mike Faber,John Toye and Keith Bezanson. Of course, Iinclude Claude Auroi at EADI. There are manycurrent colleagues, too many to mention,whose experience, advice and encouragementhave proved invaluable.

It is precisely to capitalise on that reservoirof knowledge that we have set up the EADIproject on ‘Planning for the Future andManaging Change in Research Institutes andThink-Tanks’. The process is to bring directorstogether at the EADI General Conference inGeneva in June, each armed with a short paper.The outcome, if all goes well, will be a set ofcase studies forged in the crucible of real-worldleadership: inspiring, informative and practical.So far, 20 or so directors have agreed to

participate, from a dozen countries andrepresenting a variety of institutional settings.

The range of likely topics illuminates thescale of the leadership challenge. To illustrate:

· The irruption of security issues into thedevelopment space has changed theprogrammatic content of all our work, butin some countries has led to institutionalmergers - with all the managementchallenges that go with redeploying staffand integrating procedures. We will learnfrom the experience of Switzerland andDenmark.

· The rapid expansion in the number ofdevelopment centres in developingcountries has required new approaches topartnership. We have all learned lessonsabout power and accountability indesigning partnerships, and also about thepracticalities of managing funding, assuringquality and branding outputs. We will learnfrom Germany and the UK.

· Accountability is a theme which alsoinfluences our relationships with funders,especially in those (many) countries wherecore budgets are provided by governments.External evaluations have become morefrequent and have sometimes yielded moreor more untied money. Good managementof the process is key. The Netherlands andNorway provide examples.

· Policy relevance is another prominenttheme, challenging us to understand our‘market’ better and to improve the quality

and reach of our products. Think-tanks likeODI have found themselves very much

engaged both in trying better to understandinternational policy processes and inreshaping products to meet new needs.

At the time of writing, the list of topics is stilldeveloping. However, we expect to havecontributions on managing research qualityand on major programme shifts, alongsideother topics.

In many institutions, these kinds of questionssurface particularly when undertaking periodicstrategic reviews. At ODI, we have just finishedsuch a planning process, under the rubric ‘theinternational think-tank in the modern age’. Wehave examined the role of the think-tank; takenthe conclusions to the international level, wherepolicy on development is often shaped; andinterrogated the research and policy agendarequired in the ‘modern age’. Three sets ofchallenges have shaped our review. We callthese the ‘three Cs’.

The first ‘C’ is ‘coverage’. Any institutiondevelops strengths, and needs to nurture itscomparative advantage. At the same time, theworld is changing around us. Will we becredible in five years' time if we do not have,for example, a larger programme on urbandevelopment or climate change? Perhaps wewill, especially if we have strong partnershipswith other institutions who know about thosetopics. But perhaps we won't. In which case,do we grow to cover new or expanding areas?Or close down successful programmes in orderto make space for new ones?

The second ‘C’ is ‘capacities’. What, really, isrequired of an institution in Europe, takingaccount of the growth of capacity in developingcountries? Some institutions have a teachingmandate, in which case strong programmescan be justified in developing countries. Butshould non-teaching institutions have a ‘brassplate’ in developing countries? Should theyeven work on topics which can be managedlocally? Perhaps our mandate is to focus ondeveloped country policy - as, for example, theCentre for Global Development in Washing-ton. Perhaps not. In either case, what are the

1 2 t h E A D I G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e

P lanning for the F uture and Managing Change inResearch Inst i tu tes and Think- tanksS i m o n M a x w e l l


personal capacities or skills required to besuccessful policy entrepreneurs in our ownenvironment? How do we recruit, mentor, trainthe next generation?

The third ‘C’ is ‘communication’. Truthful,relevant, timely, easy to read - of course. Butcommunication is changing, thanks to theblogosphere, social networking, podcasting andthe spread of Web 2.0. What does this meanfor the allocation of resources and for qualityassessment? The challenge goes to the heartof academic peer review, and also to the heartof institutional budgets and incentives.

Answering these questions, and turning theanswers into strategy, is something that will playout in different ways in different institutions.

The answers affect: our primary focus; ourprogrammatic coverage; our size; ourpartnerships; our staffing; our business models;our internal systems; our management; andour governance.

Directors are not the only source of answers.Indeed, different institutions have shown howvaluable and necessary it is to work withexternal stakeholders, as well as with staff andgovernors. However, directors are well-placedto stand back from day-to-day pressures andengage with these kinds of issues. It is goodthat so many in the EADI family have agreedto find the time to do so. The June meeting isan experiment. If it works, we hope to enlargethe scope of work and include colleagues in

other institutions and in other parts of theworld. Developing country institutions face allthe problems that we do, and many more,especially in environments where the fundingis negligible and the political pressure intense.

One thing is certain. The developmentchallenge will not be the same in ten years'time, nor will the development sector look thesame as it does today. Successful institutionswill be those that plan for the future and ma-nage change effectively. We need to worktogether in managing that aspect of our in-box.

Simon Maxwell is Director of the OverseasDevelopment Institute (ODI) in London.

The idea of the Doctoral Network was launchedat the Director's Meeting in Brighton in No-vember 2006), and subsequently discussed atIEDES in Paris in October 2007 and at theDirector's Meeting in The Hague in October2007. The aim is to create a flexible network inwhich all EADI member institutes with a doctoralprogramme and/or junior research and teachingstaff members engaged in a PhD couldparticipate. Each year, one or several DoctoralWorkshops would be organised by memberinstitutes of the Doctoral Network on specificthemes which should both cover cutting-edgetopics in development studies and correspondto their own respective fields of current interestand specialisation.

As a consequence, an initial meeting washeld in Bonn on 6 March 2008, kindly hostedby the German Development Institute.

It was agreed to adopt a process approachto start with a first workshop, and thereafter todraw lessons learned from the experience andadapt future actions according to needs.

V o l u n t e e r sThe Institute of Social Studies in The Haguevolunteered to hold a first workshop in 2009;the Institute for Development Studies in Glasgowoffered to hold workshops after 2009.

P r e p a r a t i o n

In order to prepare a workshop series, it wasagreed to make an inventory on what is alreadyavailable within the EADI network before makinga decision on the final topics. Each participatinginstitute was asked to make an inventory ofthe subjects covered in the theses of the PhDcandidates supervised and of topics seniorresearch staff are working on. The aim was toget a picture of ongoing activities and to betteridentify the topics for a doctoral workshop, whichshould eventually aim to improve the levels ofPhD processes within EADI member institutes.In addition, a questionnaire will be sent to allEADI members asking for information abouttheir PhD programmes. The results will be madeavailable online in Devtrain, the EADI trainingdatabase.

Institutes wishing to participate in theDoctoral Network can write to Jean-Luc Mau-rer or Susanne von Itter at the EADI Secretariat([email protected]). A next meeting is to be heldfrom 19-20 September 2008 on the occasionof the 35th anniversary conference of theCentre for International Development Studiesin Nijmegen. Please write to [email protected] tobe included in the mailing list.

Announcemen t

E AD I Doc t o r a l Ne twork


News f r om Work i n g Groups

The UN Convention against Corruption(UNCAC) has now been ratified by 107 countriesand it is largely acknowledged that many ofthe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)cannot be achieved without seriously tacklingcorruption. Indeed, by diverting resources,biasing decision-making processes andundermining trust in politics and the economy,corruption is a major stumbling block for goodgovernance and thus for sustainabledevelopment.

The international community has also widelyacknowledged the importance of genderequality and the empowerment of women asa key to combating poverty. Numerous inter-national conventions - such as the Conventionon the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW), theMDGs, in particular MDG 3, the EU CouncilConclusions and G8 Commitments of 2007,as well as the World Bank's Gender Action Plan- highlight the importance of gender equalityas a goal in itself as well as in other sectors.

Fighting corruption and promoting genderequality are vital forces when it comes toeffectivity of development co-operation. 2008is the year of international political reviewprocesses concerning aid effectiveness andfinancing for development. In the light of that,how can aid be effective if differentstakeholders do not participate on an equalfooting and in a gender-balanced way?

Guiding questions are:What are the links between corruption and

gender policies? What are the lessons learntfrom practical experience in development co-operation? Can we find synergies in the fightagainst corruption and the efforts invested intopromoting gender equality? What are focalareas for development action (e.g. GenderBudgeting, Violence against Women)? What

are specific roles and responsibilities of womenAND men in the fight against corruptionespecially in developing and transformationcountries? To what extend (and how) can civilsociety actors contribute to achieving the goalsof enforcing equal and transparent socialsystems? What responsibilities and actions ofdifferent actors are to be taken in the processof restructuring the aid architecture forenforcing equal, transparent and accountableaid structures?

These and other questions related to theissue of corruption and gender will form thecore of discussions during the workshop, whichis being organised jointly by the Gesellschaftfür Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ, theGerman Agency for Technical Co-operation)and EADI. The aim of the workshop is to gobeyond the debate on whether women aremore affected by corruption then men, orwhether women might be less corrupt thanmen. Rather, the workshop aims to openavenues for effectively integrating gender-related aspects into anti-corruption efforts andvice versa. Results are expected to be fed backinto the practice of development co-operationand into relevant international processes suchas the UNCAC working groups.

We invite development researchers andpractitioners, policy-makers, actors of civilsociety organisations and the private sector topresent their results and experiences as wellas to share concepts, methodologies andapproaches during the workshop and toparticipate in the discussions and round-tables.

A special issue of the European Journal ofDevelopment Research may be published witha selection of papers from the workshop.

I m p o r t a n t d e a d l i n e s a n d i n f o r m a t i o n :

1. Submission of abstracts: 1 August 2008(abstracts should be no longer than 300words)

2. Acceptance of contributions: 18 August2008

3. Submission of papers: 5 October 2008 (fulllength of papers: no longer than 4,000words, including notes and references)

4. Workshop date: 10-11 November 20085. Venue: GTZ headquarters in Eschborn/

Germany (near Frankfurt am Main)6. Workshop language: English

C o n t a c t

For further information, including submissionguidelines and topic suggestions, please see/contact:

Mareike ZenkerPromoting Gender Equality and Women's [email protected]://www.gtz.de/gender

Frédéric BoehmGerman UNCAC [email protected]://www.gtz.de/anti-corruption

Christine MüllerConvenor of EADI Gender &Development Working [email protected]://www.eadi.org

C a l l f o r P a p e r s

Gender and Corrupt ion in Development Co -


F ocus on New Members

Continuing the tradition of holding a specialconference preceding the regular EADI ExecutiveCommittee meetings, King Sigismund Colle-ge, the host institution inBudapest, organised a one-daysession on the above topic as aprecursor to the next GeneralConference to be held in Gen-eva this June. The main themeof the conference was GlobalGovernance for SustainableDevelopment. Some of the best-known and most influentialHungarian experts in the fieldspoke at the conference. Thediscussions provided anappropriate occasion to gene-rate fresh thoughts and newideas on the close relationshipbetween globalisation anddevelopment in general andsustainable development inparticular. In his opening address entitled “Politicsof Globalisation and Eastern and CentralEurope”, Professor József Bayer, a member ofthe Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Rectorof King Sigismund College, gave acomprehensive overview of the social andpolitical transformations on the global and re-gional scene.

The key-note address was given by TamásSzentes, a member of the Hungarian Academy

of Sciences and Professor Emeritus of CorvinusUniversity in Budapest. In his paper on“Globalisation and Prospects of the World

Society”, he discussed the major theoretical andmethodological issues concerning world peace,sustainable development and interpreting glo-bal governance.

Péter Balázs, Professor at the CentralEuropean University, spoke about the currentquestions of European governance andreferred to several aspects of the institutionaltransformation of the European Union and itsfuture role in the global setting.

Ibolya Bárány, Managing Director of theHungarian International DevelopmentAssistance Non-profit Co., presented an overall

review of the challenges anddilemmas faced by Hungary as anew donor country in the field ofinternational development co-operation.

Imre Lévai, Associate Professorat King Sigismund College,analysed the interrelations ofglobalisation and sustainabilityfrom a complex systemperspective.

Tamás Fleischer, Senior Re-search Fellow of the Institute forWorld Economics of theHungarian Academy of Sciences,focused on the major topics of the12th General Conference of EADI,i.e. sustainable development,globalisation and governance.

Iván Gyulai, Director of the Ecological Insti-tute for Sustainable Development (Miskolc),addressed the historical perspectives ofglobalisation and sustainable development ona global scale.

András Takács Sánta, Research Fellow at theInstitute of Sociology of the HungarianAcademy of Sciences, contributed to thediscussion by raising the question ofsustainability without development.

At the end of the session, the latest volumein the EADI book series “EU DevelopmentPolicy in a Changing World: Challenges for the21st Century” was presented by its editor,Andrew Mold, Senior Economist of the OECDDevelopment Centre.

E A D I S e m i n a r o n

G lobal isat ion and Susta inable DevelopmentB u d a p e s t , 3 A p r i l 2 0 0 8 , K i n g S i g i s m u n d C o l l e g e

K ing S ig i smund Co l l egeBudapes t , HungaryOffering ten bachelor and four masterprogrammes, as well as numerous specialprofessional courses, King Sigismund Collegeis Hungary's most prominent private college.Its master courses focus on InternationalEconomy and Business, International Relations,

Political Science and Religious Studies. In thefuture, the master in International Relations willcover elements of development studies.Additionally, intensive language courses areoffered and the college is prepared to acceptinternational students.

h t t p : / / w w w . z s k f . h u /

Imre Lévai, József Bayer; Tamás Szentes

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