CONCORD Europe held its 14th General Assembly on 31 May to 1 June in Brussels. Here is what you should take away from the debates, workshops, and more.
NEW BOARD MEMBERS: Johannes Trimmel (Globale Verantwortung) was reconducted as President for the next 3 years. Laura Sullivan (ActionAid International) was re-elected for a second mandate. She is being joined by Maurice Claassens (SOLIDAR), Alexandra Makaroff (PLAN EU Office) and Bruno Rivalan (Coordination SUD).
NEW MEMBER: The General Assembly approved the membership of GRDN (Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction) and the board agreed to sign a partnership agreement with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Welcome in the confederation!
ANNUAL REPORT 2017: On the first day of our General Assembly, the General Assembly adopted the CONCORD Annual Report 2016. There you can find an overview of CONCORD activities and successes over 2016, financial information, membership updates and statutory documents.
Discussions were held on the first day of the GA around the question “What is the Europe we want?” From the Brexit to welcoming migrants in Europe, panelists and the audience called for more solidarity, social justice and an over-arching sustainable approach. The debate brought together member representatives from ActionAid International, SOLIDAR, CROSOL, Coordinadora ONGD and our guests from Hart boven Hard and European Women’s Lobby, to ensure both the local and gender perspectives were at the heart of the discussion.
For the first time, CONCORD Europe suggested a debate on digitalisation and development. Moderated by Farah Nazeer from Bond, the discussion brought together Members of the European Parliament (Mady Delvaux-Stehers and Urmas Paet) and EU think-tanks CEPS and CCIA, challenging participants to question the usual way of doing things, by taking into account the dynamics at work around us: digitalisation can no longer be ignored. Whether it is full of opportunities or carries threats. To continue the debate, AKU NP, Member of CONCORD, invites you to join the debate on 11-12 September in Tallinn, Estonia.
The cherry on top
We ended the first day with a delicious Syrian dinner prepared for us by From Syria with Love. Food and drinks were accompanied by the presentations of the Tandem initiative and Safe Space project, both aimed at giving refugees and migrants the best welcome to Europe. Participants also had the ears treated with a wonderful performance by Syrian musician from Syria’s Got Talent.
