Civil society plays a fundamental role in development as the HLF IV is confirming.

For the first time CSO  have been part of the negotiations in the HLF in Busan as an equal partner together with governments and multilateral agencies. More than 1700 CSOs are represented in Busan and 300 participants actually made it to Korea flooding happily the endless corridors of the BEXCO conference center with their colorful pink scarves, their trademark for these three days.

Together with partner countries, parlamentarians, the private sector, foundations and non OECD donors, CSOs are indeed helping to to make the HLF a truly open, inclusive space for moving forword.Their pledges in these days have been particularly concentrated on reaffirming the centrality of human rights, promoting a rights based approach to development, and on the role of the private sector in development, which according to CSOs is valuable but should be held accountable for its contribution to development.

Making their voice, sometimes critical, heard to the Forum and beyond CSOs reaffirmed their key role in helping state building, in developing capacities at grassroot level, in complementing service delivery and in offering a precious oversight function.

As underlined by European Commissioner Piebalgs in his speech during the closing ceremony, CSOs are an essential player in ensuring democratic ownership, one of the fundamental principles emerging and being reaffirmed here in Busan.

A new and multistakeholders aid architecture is really taking shape these days.