Lars Koch IBIS

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Lars KochIBIS
Making influence real New opportunities for
influencing education policy
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Outline of the Presentation

• The Paris Declaration and achievements from Accra
• New opportunities for Civil Society participation
  in policy, plans and implementation The Accra
  Agenda for Action
• Making the Voice of Civil Society Heard
• How to engage in in policy dialogue and influence
  policy, planning and implementation

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The Paris Declaration

• The Paris Declaration from 2005 is guiding donor
  and recipient countries aid relationship
• It is in implementation and both donors and
  recipient countries increasingly subscribe to
  Paris
• 5 important principles
• Ownership
• Alignment
• Harmonisation
• Managing for results
• Mutual accountability
• Ownership is the key principle opening new
  policy spaces
• aid should take point of departure in
  developing countries own strategies and plans

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Accra Agenda for Action

• Accra Agenda for Action (AAA)
• Adopted in September 2008
• Building on and Supplementing the Paris
  Declaration
• Civil Society is acknowledged as an important
  partner in development
• AAA is setting new standards for CSO
  participation and dialogue with governments and
  donors
• Ownership should now be national (opposed to
  Ministry of Finance) and Democratic with
  parliaments and CSO on board
• All important donors and recipient countries have
  signed this declaration

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Accra Agenda for Action

• Country ownership is key. Developing country
  governments will take stronger leadership of
  their own development policies, and will engage
  with their parliaments and citizens in shaping
  those policies. AAA 8
• We will engage in open and inclusive dialogue on
  development policies. We acknowledge the critical
  role and responsibility of parliaments in
  ensuring country ownership of development
  processes. To further this objective we will take
  the following actions
• a) Developing country governments will work more
  closely with parliaments and local authorities in
  preparing, implementing and monitoring national
  development policies and plans. They will also
  engage with civil society organisations (CSOs).
• b) Donors will support efforts to increase the
  capacity of all development actorsparliaments,
  central and local governments, CSOs, research
  institutes, media and the private sectorto take
  an active role in dialogue on development policy
  and on the role of aid in contributing to
  countries development objectives. AAA 13

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Accra Agenda for Action

• 20. We will deepen our engagement with CSOs as
  independent development actors in their own right
  whose efforts complement those of governments and
  the private sector. To this end

• a) We invite CSOs to reflect on how they can
  apply the Paris principles of aid effectiveness
  from a CSO perspective.
• b) As part of that process, we will seek to i)
  improve co-ordination of CSO efforts with
  government programmes, ii) enhance CSO
  accountability for results, and iii) improve
  information on CSO activities.
• c) We will work with CSOs to provide an enabling
  environment that maximises their contributions to
  development.
• AAA 20

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New Policy Spaces and Challenges

• The AAA opens new policy spaces for CSO
• Governments commit to engage in policy dialogue
  with CSO (and parliaments and local authorities)
• Governments and donors commit to an enabling
  environment for CSO (legal, political, funding)
  and to be more transparent
• Donors commit to support (fund) CSOs, research
  institutions, etc.

• CSOs are challenged to
• Engage in policy dialogue
• Improve coordination with government
• CSO are also challenged to
• Be more accountable and transparent
• Reflect on how they can apply the Paris Principles

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New Policy Dialogue Spaces
Donors Bilateral/multilateral
Dialog spaces
Budget support
Voice
Recipient government
National Poverty Reduction Strategy
Sector/Ministry Agriculture
Sector support
Sector/Ministry Inffrastructure
Sector/Ministry Decentral.
Sector Strategy
Sector/Ministry health
Sector/Ministry Education
Voice
Civil Society Natioanl, Networks, local
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Influencing policy spaces

• Increasingly sector policies will be the most
  important space for CSO
• National level plans (PRSPs etc) are often
  general, less operational
• Sector level (e.g. Education) is where most CSOs
  have their capacity, knowledge and experiences
• Donors are in many cases pushing for CSO to get
  engaged they will in many cases be an ally
• Especially at the consultative level, not
  necessarily in details
• Governments in general more reluctant to accept
  the role of CSO and engage in dialogue
• But governments have signed the AAA, are pushed
  by donors and need the capacity of civil society
  to reach results
• CSO have to develop capacity to engage in
  dialogue and advocacy based on experiences,
  knowledge and research to influence politics
• It is no longer sufficient just to doing good
  locally!
• CSOs ability to network with other CSOs, with
  government, with donors

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Decision Making Cycle
Flagging problems Girls, Poor regions,
Bilingual challenges
Alliances Networks Building strong education
networks for influence
Analysing necessities
Evaluating Monitoring

• Participation and consultation in
  decision-making
• Official consultations, Lobby, conferences, etc

International NGOs
Analysing Monitoring results - legislation,
reforms, outcomes
Civil Society
Govern- ment
Policies Strategies
Donors
Dialogue space
Presenting Demands based on experiences and
research more teachers, New curriculums
Implementing
Planning
CSO coordinating with Government Showcasing
innovative approaches to education curriculum,
bilingual, etc.
Budgeting
Budgets transparency and participation, also at
district and school level
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Influence Through Strong Advocacy

• Practice/Project
• Experiences
• Best practises
• Implementation

The Advocacy Triangle

• Advocacy
• Based on practical experiences and best practises
  proposals for educational reform
• Strong networks build with other CSOs
• Negotiation with government
• Using media local and nationally

• CSO Capacity Building Organisational
  Development
• Assessing needs and challenges
• Build constituency and legitimacy
• Leadership and communication

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Summary

• Paris and Accra is opening new spaces for CSO
  influencing policy
• CSO are challenged to make use of these new
  opportunities especially at sector level -
  Education
• CSOs will have to improve advocacy and networking
  skills
• Profound mapping of other actors and processes
  among government, donors and CSOs
• Networks for policy dialogue and lobbying
• Continued follow up in stead of one-off events
• Engaging in the entire decision making circle
• Evidence based advocacy based on own practise and
  research
• Develop strong and legitimate organisations and
  networks

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• Thank you!