Roadmaps - State of play

It is now more than one year ago that the exercise to develop EU Country Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society at country level was launched. More than 75 have been received to date with several more expected later in the year. Factors such as internal conflict and humanitarian crisis like the Ebola crisis have delayed the process in certain countries. 

When it comes to lessons learnt, it has become clear that the process of developing Roadmaps is at least as important as the end-product itself.  Many EU Delegations (EUDs) have used the Roadmaps as an entry point to reach out to a broader range of CSOs and to engage in a broader process of dialogue. Roadmaps furthermore have been instrumental in strengthening collaboration and coordination with Member States and other international players. 

The EU Country Roadmaps should be seen as a strategic framework for the EU's entire engagement with civil society, including knowledge, policy dialogue and operational support. Roadmaps are therefore expected to increase coherence and impact of existing initiatives by setting out overall strategic directions. These overall strategic orientations could then be translated into specific programme and project documents and in guidelines for calls for proposals to be prepared by the EU Delegations. Mainstreaming of CS support into the focal sectors of EU cooperation will also be paramount, when relevant, to implement the Roadmaps.

Public Roadmaps will gradually be made available via this Capacity4Dev platform, using the public group on civil society. In some cases it has been decided to restrict access to Roadmaps