Our Work
The Reality of Aid Network (RoA) is the only major North/South international non-government initiative focusing exclusively on analysis and advocacy for poverty eradication policies and practices in the international aid regime.
It brings together hundreds of regional and global organizations, including civil society networks, working in the field of international development cooperation in the 31 donor countries of the OECD and partner countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The Reality of Aid builds on its decades of experience of independent assessment of aid policies and practices, accompanied by constructive dialogue with policy makers at national and international levels, since its founding in 1993.
The Network has two independent Southern regional hubs, the Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific (RoA-AP) and the Reality of Aid – Africa (RoA Africa).These regional hubs support the global network in providing reports on aid performance, influencing policy makers through lobbying and policy dialogue, and facilitating collaboration among civil society organizations (CSOs) to enhance their capacities toward building effective development cooperation.
Regions
The Reality of Aid Africa Network is a Pan-African initiative focusing on analysis and lobbying and advocating for poverty eradication policies in the international aid system and development cooperation. It seeks to strengthen the involvement of African civil society organisations in the policy reform on the international aid architecture as well as development cooperation. The mission of RoA Africa is to contribute to more effective international aid and development cooperation strategies to eliminate poverty based on principles of solidarity and equity. Vitalice Meja is the current Executive Director of RoA Africa.
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.roaafrica.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ROAAfrica
Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific (RoA-AP) is one of the regional arms of RoA with primary focus on issues related to Peace, Security, and Militarism within the Asia Pacific. RoA-AP supports the global network in providing reliable and well-researched reports on aid performance, in influencing national and regional policy makers through lobbying and policy dialogue, and in facilitating collaboration among Asia Pacific CSOs to enhance their capacities toward building effective development cooperation. Sarah Isabelle Torres is the Coordinator of RoA-AP.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ROAasiapacific
The Latin America arm of Reality of Aid is currently being coordinated by the Latin American Network for Economic and Social Justice (LATINDADD) and represented by Henry Morales of Movimiento Tzuk Kim-Pop Guatemala.
Reality of Aid in Europe comprises 26 civil society organizations, networks and national NGO platforms from 15 countries. Their work is coordinated by the European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD). The main role of the Reality of Aid in Europe is to monitor, analyze and influence the development cooperation of European bilateral donors and the European Commission.
Twelve organizations from six (6) non-European OECD countries are coordinated by the Cooperation Canada, which unites civil society organizations dedicated to international development and humanitarian action.
Programs and Activities
The Reality of Aid Report
The Reality of Aid Report is a thematic report that assesses aid effectiveness for poverty reduction, with an emphasis on qualitative analysis of the national and multilateral aid regime. The Reports analyze and advocate key messages relating to the performance of aid donors from a unique perspective of civil society in both donor and recipient developing countries.The Reports have developed a reputation in many donor countries as an independent comparative reference for accountability and public awareness of development issues.
Regional Reports
RoA also facilitates the production of regional reports in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which draw on the common analysis of the global Report with additional regionally-generated chapters. These are distributed widely within the region and are shared within the Network. National reports in the North are also drawn from the global Report, with extended national chapters, in languages appropriate to the country/region concerned.
Reality Check
The Reality Check is the official newsletter of the Reality of Aid. It is designed to highlight current issues in the aid regime written from a regional perspective but with global significance, edited in rotation by members from the different global regions.
Lobbying and Policy Dialogue
The Reality of Aid Network actively engages in several policy arenas such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC), Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), South-South Cooperation (SSC), and the different United Nations (UN) processes.
Capacity Development
RoA members, by means of independent or coordinated endeavor, initiate various multi-stakeholder consultations, seminars, researches, and other activities toward the promotion of CSO positions on aid and development effectiveness.
Platforms
CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness
The CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) is an open platform that unites CSOs from around the world on the issue of effective development cooperation (EDC). It strives to make development more effective by reshaping the global aid architecture and empowering CSOs working on the ground.
Website: www.csopartnership.org
Southern CSO Alliance on South-South Cooperation (SSC)
The Southern CSO Alliance on South–South Cooperation is an independent group that brings together CSOs working on SSC and related issues. The aim is to facilitate and strengthen CSO involvement and participation in various SSC arenas and push for the upholding of the principle of horizontal development cooperation – including solidarity, mutuality, human rights, respect for sovereignty, and non-conditionality.
DAC-CSO Reference Group
The DAC-CSO Reference Group (RG) is the only civil society platform whose express purpose is to be an interlocutor with the OECD Development Assistance Committee. It brings together diverse CSOs from the Global South and the Global North to share information, and amplify CSO voices at the OECD-DAC. The primary objective of the Reference Group is to facilitate and coordinate engagement with the DAC by CSOs, especially from the South, and to carry CSO positions in these spaces with the ultimate goal of promoting more and more effective aid and development finance.
Website: www.dac-csoreferencegroup.com
The International Coordinating Committee
Georgina Muñoz
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
Director, Fundación Red Nicaragüense de Comercio Comunitario (RENICC)
Managua, Nicaragua
Email: [email protected]
Matt Simonds
Vice-Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
Senior Policy Officer, EURODAD
Brussels, Belgium
Email:[email protected]
Darron Seller-Peritz
Policy Analyst and Program Officer, Cooperation Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
Email: [email protected]
Vitalice Meja
Executive Director, The Reality of Aid – Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
Email: [email protected]
Henry Morales
Executive Director, Movimiento Tzuk-Kim Pop
Reality of Aid – Latin America and the Caribbean
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Email: [email protected]
Sarah Isabelle Torres
Coordinator, The Reality of Aid Network – Asia Pacific
Manila, Philippines
Email: [email protected]