Our charter

1.   Who we are - where we come from

1.1      An informal Network of Practitioners

The Practitioners’ Network is an informal open-platform for exchange, coordination and harmonisation between practitioners in the field of European Development Cooperation.

We represent European Donor Agencies and Administrations who are directly involved in implementing European development aid. We share experiences, good practices and tools and aim at developing joint operations in order to deliver a specific European contribution to achieving higher levels of effectiveness in poverty reduction. Thereby, the EU, who is already the world major donor, will also be collectively a more efficient and innovative actor.

1.2      How it 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.

During the 2nd European Forum for the Exchange of Information Development Tools and Practices, held in Brussels on February 22nd and 23rd 2007, in which over 20 different European donor organisations participated, the idea to create an informal European network of practitioners was first presented. This meeting was followed by others, including the European Development Days in Lisbon in November 2007. All supported the strengthening of a network and therefore the creation of an environment for fruitful exchanges and useful co-operation between European Practitioners.

Looking into the need to find common answers to some of our practical questions at the institutional and operational levels, to respond to some of the issues brought up by the European agenda and, ultimately, to draw upon ways to facilitate the exchange of information and practices amongst all the European actors at the implementation level, the Network has created its first four working groups in 2007.

2.   What we want – the guiding principles we refer to

2.1    Our Vision - building an innovative European network

The European Development Aid community is composed by two European institutions (AidCo and the EIB) and more than thirty bilateral organisations from different European countries with very diverse characteristics, histories, competences, sizes, priorities.

With its high funding volume (about half of the world-wide ODA), coupled with the diverse comparative advantages of the European donor family, the EU has the potential to make a major contribution to worldwide poverty reduction.

Our goal is to achieve coherence within the EU donor community and, at the same time, benefit from the wide diversity of organisations, including the Commission and the EIB specific contributions, so as to make of plurality the mainspring of innovation.

We want to have an integrated and pluralistic approach to European Development Cooperation. We want to build an innovative European Development community where roles are distributed according to competencies. Our network is composed by Agencies and Administrations, driven by a common European development policy put forward by the EU.

2.2    Our Objectives

Our ultimate goal is to contribute to higher levels of effectiveness and efficiency in EU-Aid delivery for poverty reduction worldwide through enhanced co-operation between European practitioners.

Our aim is to improve and promote harmonised and joint activities between all the European actors on the implementation level within the political framework set by the EU.

Accordingly, our main objectives are the following:

• Enable a permanent forum between practitioners in the field of Development Cooperation and exchange experience between European donor organisations
• Define joint operational strategies and activities
• Improve complementary and operational effectiveness and efficiency by identifying best practices, best regional and sector competencies and by implementing modes of co-financing and delegated cooperation
• Establish a dialogue with political decision makers, publicise good practice and more generally bridge the gap between the political level and the field.
• Implement the principles of the Paris Declaration and of the EU Code of Conduct

The specific areas of co-operation will be determined by the participating donors in accordance with the needs identified.

The network aims to create an environment of mutual support for better proficiency development by sharing resources, exchanging experience and identifying and following up on useful areas of co-operation.

We want to provide a practitioner response adapted to specific needs identified by the European development cooperation policy and agreed upon with the partner countries.

2.3    Our Values

Network Members:

• acknowledge that concepts and programmes developed jointly have no commercial purpose. Intellectual ownership rests with the organisation contributing
• agree to not only benefit from the experience and opportunities offered by the Network but also to contribute their own experience
• have an open attitude to co-operation and are willing to communicate overtly and open up themselves to other members of the Network
• are committed to and follow the EU approach and principles of development cooperation
• believe in European values as agreed in the EU treaties, which include the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms and are based on the respect of the cultural diversity.

In its work, the Network and its members respect a strict political and religious impartiality and operate according to non-discrimination and transparency principles.

2.4    Our reference framework – the bases we build on

We appreciate that, following years of development co-operation work, the international donor community agreed on the need for increased aid effectiveness. Donors have become conscious that this can be done more effectively by pooling technical and financial resources through joint initiatives in this field. Sharing resources and experience helps to achieve a common understanding. Donor harmonisation and alignment with country policies and procedures is an essential part of this agenda.

We agree on the broad common policy framework which has been developed both at country level and internationally:

• the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs derived from it;
• the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development;
• the Rome Declaration on Harmonisation;
• the DAC Good Practice Paper, “Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery”; and most recently
• the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness
• the European Consensus
• EU Aid Effectiveness Package, including the Code of Conduct on Complementarity and Division of Labour in Development Policy

We are committed to this international development architecture and ready to tackle the according challenges and opportunities.

3.   What we do - how we work

3.1    How we work - common thematic priorities

We meet on an annual basis to work together in setting the guiding priorities and joint activities within the Network. In order to make our work more effective, we have created working groups (see 4.3 below) that reflect some of our common thematic priorities.

Within this framework, the Network activities are twofold:

• Firstly, organising productive dialogue and exchange of experiences on sector-related, regional and cross-cutting issues,
• Secondly, improving practical cooperation in joint operations

Through this structured approach, we intend to make a valuable contribution to the implementation and the consolidation of the European Aid Strategy.

3.2    How we communicate

A website (www.dev-practitioners.eu) serves as a common and a public platform for exchange of information and presentation of the Network to the interested public.

The website facilitates the ongoing communication between all members for information exchange and online interaction. Core Group members and working group leaders have overall access to all domains of the website. Working group members have access to an internal member area - the so called "Shared Workspace" – which allows mutual exchange and sharing of information and documents. The members of the working groups can use the virtual workspaces for the exchange of experience and documents.

3.3    Financial arrangement

Network activities will be financed jointly by participating members. These include as well financial contributions as contributions in kind like delivery of services or work rendered by staff. Efficient modalities for cooperation in the financial field are crucial and will be developed.

4.   How we are structured and organised

4.1    Membership and participation

The Network is open to all European Agencies and Administrations involved in the practical implementation of financial and technical cooperation, which are therefore officially mandated by one or several European member states and which agree with the principles of the Practitioners’ Network and are ready to contribute in an effective way to its activities.

Private companies and organisations with a purely commercial interest can neither participate in working groups nor become members. On a case by case basis, they can be invited to activities meant for the whole Network or for a broader audience.

Membership implies the following criteria:

• to subscribe to the overall objectives and values of the Network as mentioned above
• to endorse the international policy framework described above, including the underlying principles and especially agree upon the principles set out in the EU Code of Conduct on division of labour in Development Policy
• to nominate a contact person for the whole organisation and accept its name to be mentioned on official Network documents
• to participate in Annual Meetings and / or in working groups
• to be ready to contribute in an effective way to the Network’s activities defined by the annual meetings and to show interest in the Network area and set aside resources in order to contribute to the achievement of results

Members commit themselves to these principles.

Membership is agreed by the Core Group and approved by the Annual Meeting.

Practitioners who do not want or cannot be full members according to above-mentionned criteria may participate at and contribute to the Network activities without committing themselves to all a. m. principles. Becoming full member is then possible at any time.

4.2    The Annual Meeting

 We meet on an annual basis. At the Annual Meeting, we

• exchange on and share the results developed by the Working Groups
• work together in joint activities within the Network identify and endorse priority themes or areas to be tackled by the Network
• define policy and strategy making as well as agree on working programmes

The Core Group Troika plans the Annual Meeting which usually is hosted by the Core Group member holding the chair. It is expected that all participating members will once in a while agree to host the Annual Meeting.

4.3    The Working Groups

We have different working groups that meet more frequently. They reflect our common thematic priorities and deal with selected themes of cooperation.

The Working Groups work on priority themes identified and endorsed at the Annual Meeting. They define their respective Terms of References and agree upon their activities and programmes as well as on their outputs and outcomes . They independently choose the appropriate way of holding regular meetings and organise their exchanges. However, they will accept guidance from the Core Group.

The activities, results and findings developed by the Working Groups – including minutes - are reported at the Annual Meeting and shared with all members of the Network through appropriate ways.

Membership of a Working Group is on a voluntary basis and in accordance with the priority given to the particular theme covered by the Working Group. Members will nominate a contact person for each Working Group they want to participate in.

Members of a Working Group are automatically members of the Network.

Non-practitioners, like representatives of governments or policymakers may be invited or participate as observers in Working Group meetings working on issues they deal with. This should to ensure an open dialogue between the practitioners and the political level.

Each Working Group is headed by a leader, the respective member nominating an agent responsible for reporting back to the core group and the annual conference.

New working groups can be created on demand and interest of the network members. The creation of a Working Group is subject to agreement by the Core Group and approval by the Annual Meeting. The Core Group may also decide to reorient or even close down a Group. The criteria for setting up a new working group include:

• working theme and objectives being relevant on the EU development agenda and potential for catalysing various European practitioners
• commitment of a member to take over the responsibility of a Working Group leader and to invest the appropriate resources and staff
• at least three further members engaging themselves to actively contribute
• availability of Terms of References, work programmes and expected outputs

4.4    The Core Group

A Core Group, headed by a member fulfilling the role of the Presidency, is in charge of securing and coordinating the Network activities as well as the operational steering of the Network. The Core Group is composed by three members organised according to the troika principle (the former, the current and the future organiser of the annual forum)

The troika may co-opt any other member fulfilling a specific central task.

The representatives of the Working Group leaders are invited to participate to the debates of the Core group on an as-needed basis

The Core Group:

• monitors the working groups, giving guidance as and when requested or required
• supports the Presidency in organising the Annual Meeting
• ensures a proper communication with Network members and other partners
• may hire consultants for specific tasks

4.5    The Secretariat

The Core Group coordinates the fulfilment of the secretarial function which is assured by several members according to a pragmatic division of labour. This function includes:

• updating and maintaining membership lists
• website management
• logistical arrangements and preparation of Core Group meetings and the support of the Presidency to organise the Annual Meeting
• any other activities necessary to the functioning of the Network