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. In line with this, we unite to call on SSC actors to:

• Adhere to international laws and standards on environment and human rights as these apply to programs and projects in partner countries consistent with Bandung;
• Strengthen democratic country ownership of SSC and institutionalize support for people-to-people cooperation so that recipient countries’ own needs and priorities drive the development partnership, and that these priorities and policies are rooted in the participation of, and accountability to stakeholders and citizens; and
• Establish formal mechanisms with financial resources for Southern CSO engagement on SSC where sustained dialogues between CSOs, stakeholders and duty-bearers can happen, bringing in issues and concerns of the people/affected communities on SSC.

We are affixing the names of our organizations below with our corresponding signatures:

1. Africa Development Interchange Network (ADIN) – Cameroon
2. Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) – Nigeria
3. African Women Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) – Kenya
4. Amis des Étrangers au Togo (ADET) – Togo
5. ARCADE – Africa
6. Articulacao SUL (ASUL) – Brazil
7. Asabe Shehu Yar’Adua Foundation – USA, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon
8. Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
9. Association for Promotion Sustainable Development – India
10. Borneo Dayak Forum – Malaysia
11. BRICS Feminist Watch
12. CAFSO WRAG for Development – Nigeria
13. Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) – Philippines
14. Center for Research Advocacy Manipur – India
15. Coastal Development Partnership (CDP) – Bangladesh
16. CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE)
17. Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) – Philippines
18. Federation of Environmental and Ecological Diversity for Agricultural Revampment and Human Rights (FEEDAR & HR) – Cameroon
19. Forum of Women NGOs of Kyrgyzstan
20. Forum National sur la Dette et la Pauvreté (FNDP) – Cote d’Ivoire
21. Green Movement of Sri Lanka (GMSL)
22. IBON International
23. Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
24. Institute for National and Democracy Studies (INDIES) – Indonesia
25. Instituto Politécnico Tomas Katari – Bolivia
26. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
27. MONLAR – Sri Lanka
28. Nash Vek Foundation – Kyrgyzstan
29. National Campaign for Sustainable Development – Nepal
30. National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NCCSOL) – Liberia
31. Oxfam South Africa
32. Peoples’ Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)
33. Regional Centre for International Development Corporation (RCIDC) – Uganda
34. RESEAU PRODDES – Democratic Republic of Congo
35. Resistance and Alternatives to Globalization (RAG) – Indonesia
36. Rural Area Development Program – Nepal
37. Rural Enterprise Trust of Zimbabwe
38. SAHANIVASA – India
39. South American Network on Applied Economics / Red Sur (Red Sudamericana de Economía Aplicada / Red Sur) – Uruguay
40. Sustainable Rural Community Development Organisation – Malawi
41. The Reality of Aid – Africa
42. The Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific
43. The Reality of Aid Network
44. VIKALPANI – Sri Lanka
45. Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE) – Bangladesh
46. Women’s Rights and Health Project – Nigeria

(As of January 22, 2019)

Development Assistance Committee-Civil Society Organisation (DAC-CSO) Reference Group

Profile

The DAC-CSO Reference Group 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.

Ways of Working

The Group has light-touch coordination structures, including a secretariat function and lead coordination by The Reality of Aid Network. Information is shared across the whole group through a list serve, and through regular teleconferences. In line with the recognized principle of CSO self-regulation, the Group is responsible for organizing its engagement with the DAC, including the selection of CSO representatives for the DAC’s Senior and High Level meetings. The Group seeks to support CSOs’ engagement with the DAC, as well as with the OECD’s Development Cooperation Directorate (DCD), in the way that best fits CSOs priorities and overall capacity. The Group does not act as a gatekeeper, and does not prevent individual CSOs from interacting with the DAC as they see fit (and vice-versa).

Advocacy Priorities

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. To date, the Group engages in and has formed thematic working groups on commonly agreed priority issues around the ODA modernization process, with a particular attention to the reform of ODA rules on peace and security, in-donor refugee costs, the new code on ODA and migration, and private sector instruments, the DAC reform process, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD), the OECD’s work on blended finance, and on GPEDC and effective development cooperation principles. Beyond these, the Group has also recently engaged in discussions on the DAC’s instrument on Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and shrinking civic space.

To find out more or to join the thematic working groups, please get in touch with the thematic leads:

• DAC Reform: Myrna Manglahus, mmanglahus@realityofaid.org
• GPEDC and Development Effectiveness: Jiten Yumnam, jitnyumnam@yahoo.co.in
• In-donor Refugee Costs and Migration: Julie Seghers, jseghers@oxfamfrance.org
• Peace and Security: Sarah Torres, storres@realityofaid.org
• Private Sector Instruments: Nerea Craviotto, ncraviotto@eurodad.org
• TOSSD: Luca de Fraia, Luca.Defraia@actionaid.org

Membership

Over 80 organizations have joined the Reference Group to date. These include national CSO platforms from DAC countries, southern-based CSO networks, international and regional platforms, local CSOs and INGOs. Many people in the Group also sit in existing networks working on aid and development finance at the national and international level –e.g. the Civil Society FFD Group, the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness, and The Reality of Aid Network. This facilitates communication with all these groups and, enables the platform to build on existing expertise. The Group is undertaking efforts to broaden its outreach and ensure diverse representation. Particular attention is paid to reach out to CSOs from the Global South, with a view of increasing the Southern organisations’ engagement in the Group over time.

Contact

rdulay@realityofaid.org

Website

www.dac-csoreferencegroup.com 

Files

• Background Documents
• Framework for Dialogue between the DAC and Civil Society Organisations
• DAC Backgrounder (Webinar)

DAC-CSO

• DAC-CSO Reference Group Terms of Reference
• DAC-CSO Reference Group Directory 2019
• Action Plan of the Secretariat & Core Group
• Presentation of the DAC-CSO Reference Group for the DAC-CSO Dialogue June 2019
• Communication Plan and Outreach Strategies (Drafts)
• Key Takeaways from the 2017 Strategy Meeting
• Meetings with the DAC (to follow)

Thematic Working Groups

• DAC Reform
• GPEDC and Development Effectiveness
• In-donor Refugee Costs and Migration
• Peace and Security
• Private Sector Instruments
• TOSSD

Fundraising

• Funding Proposal for 2020-2022 
• Grant Proposal for SIDA + Budget (Nov 2018-Dec 2019)