(Plus a strategy session on Rio+20 on 17 August 2011) Reality of Aid Asia-Pacific (ROA-AP), IBON International and the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) are pleased to announce the dates for the Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Development Models: Promoting a Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development in Busan and Beyond, to be held 15-16 August 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference aims to achieve the following: Increase the awareness and understanding of CSOs and peoples’

Lomé – CSOs cited highly technical discussions, unsystematic CSO participation and limited resources as main challenges for CSOs to participate in official dialogue mechanisms on aid and development effectiveness.  In her welcome remarks, Mme Ama Elise Esso, President of Groupe d’Action et de Réflexion pour l’Environnement et le Développement (GARED), emphasized the need to create spaces for CSO participation and reinforce human rights as the focus of development programs. CSOs shared that the highly technical

Niamey – On 8-9 August 2011, representatives of the civil society organizations of Niger, UNDP and the Ministry of Planning met in Niamey for an open dialogue on the effective participation of CSOs in the national process on aid and development effectiveness. The activity resulted in a Declaration signed by all participants acknowledging development effectiveness as the way forward and called for strengthened support from the state and development partners on the broad representation of

The Feminist League has contributed to the upcoming 2011 Reality of Aid Country Monitoring Report which seeks to gather evidence of the Paris Declaration (PD) and Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) implementation at the country-level from a CSO perspective. The report will be out sometime in October 2011.

Makati City – Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from all over the Philippines gathered on Friday, April 29 in a strategy meeting tagged as “In Busan and beyond: Claiming the People’s Right to Development” which aimed to identify key issues to be forwarded in the 4th High Level Forum (HLF4) on Aid effectiveness in November this year. Moreover, the meeting also merged aid effectiveness and its parallel process CSO development effectiveness in the country. This initiative

Lahore – Over 25 leading farmers’ organization and support NGOs from four provinces in Pakistan – Sindh, Punjab, Islamabad and the Northwest Frontier Province – gathered in Lahore on June 12 and 13 to converge in the National Consultation on Aid Effectiveness and Food Sovereignty, with the aim of formally establishing a nationwide network of CSOs working for Food Sovereignty in the country. The event was organized by the Roots for Equity in cooperation with