Welcome back! A new year … a new decade… And of course New Year’s resolutions – because, unlike many of my (perhaps more realistic) colleagues, I did make a couple this year.

Welcome back! A new year … a new decade… And of course New Year’s resolutions – because, unlike many of my (perhaps more realistic) colleagues, I did make a couple this year.
In the wake of the European Commission’s newly launched Reflection Paper on Sustainable Development, CONCORD asks current and future EU leaders to adopt an overarching SDG strategy.
In some parting reflections, Seamus Jeffreson, CONCORD’s outgoing director, looks back on five eventful years in the NGO world. Despite current political pressure on CSOs, his outlook for civil society is one of solidarity, humanity, and resilience.
Romania, Finland and Croatia recently published the Trio Programme for their upcoming EU Council Presidencies. The Trio Programme sets the joint political priorities for the presidencies and does not suggest radical changes, but puts emphasis on jobs and growth. European NGOs would like to see human rights based policies aiming at well-being within planetary boundaries.
CONCORD members gathered in Prague this November to explore possibilities of a cultural shift in NGOs sector. As Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are challenged, criminalised and losing support from their governments and the citizens, the aim of Learning & Exchange Forum 2018 was to explore how CSOs can change their culture to sharpen their values and remain relevant.
The Cotonou Partnership Agreement is coming to an end in 2020. To ensure a fair ground leading to a “partnership of equals”, CONCORD has developed a list of recommendations, serving as a contribution from civil society to the ongoing EU-ACP negotiations to ensure mutually beneficial priorities.
30 high-level members from the EU’s Multi-stakeholder Platform on SDGs adopted common proposals from civil society to move towards a Sustainable EU by 2030. Amongst a variety of backgrounds and constituencies, we found common ground to push forward together.
Digitalisation is becoming a vital part of our world, and by extension of development cooperation. It represents new challenges and opportunities for our sector. This report, commissioned by FOND Romania and CONCORD Europe, analyses key digital trends and impacts of digitalisation on the development agenda as well as explores the opportunities for civil society organisations.
Many EU and its Member States are implementing the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in an innovative way. Therefore, CONCORD shares these good practices from across Europe to inspire each other on how to implement the SDGs.
Policy coherence for sustainable development is finally starting to break through both in political documents and speeches. This blogpost presents Rilli Lappalainen’s feedback on the High-Level Political Forum 2018 to provide insight on the progress done in policy coherence for sustainable development.