How we started

European practitioners get together

Following the 2004 EU enlargement, some European national donors invited all European Agencies and Aid Administrations, including the Commission and the EIB, in November 2005, for an informal meeting, in order to establish first contacts, share needs and expectations from an enlarged EU donor community perspective. And ultimately, to draw upon ways to facilitate the exchange of information and practices amongst all the European actors, at the implementation level.

At our second meeting, in February 2007, to which over 20 different European donor organisations participated, we decided to create an informal European network of practitioners.

At the same time, looking into the need to find common answers to some of our practical questions at the institutional and operational levels, and to respond to some of the issues brought up by the European agenda, the network has created its first four thematic groups.