2020 Survey
In April and May 2020, the Policy Forum on Development conducted a survey among its 75 members (civil society organisations, networks of local authorities as well as business and professional associations) and their constituencies. The survey covered the three main areas of EU development policy:
- the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
- Multi-stakeholder Partnerships (MSP)
- Enabling Environment (EE)
The social, economic and political effects of the health crisis may well have been unpredictable, but they cannot be considered as unexpected. On the contrary, the rise in inequalities, the overly centralised decision-making, the excessive restrictions of personal freedoms or the asymmetric burden on women and girls are longstanding trends that the COVID-19 situation has just exacerbated. This makes the three areas hereby addressed even more relevant and urgent, especially now that the EU development system is programming its support for the coming seven years.
The survey is part of an overall capitalisation exercise to understand the main messages from the past years of dialogue amongst the PFD members. This research aims to understand how development cooperation, specifically its work in support of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is seen by the PFD constituencies and how it has been affected by COVID-19. Without a better understanding of what is happening to development partners in the field, adequate policy, social and economic support cannot be properly put in place.
Of the more than 360 total respondents to the survey, roughly 28% came from Europe, 21% from Africa, 17% from the Neighbourhood, 14% from global networks, 10% from Latin America and 10% from Asia and the Pacific.
The results are summarised in this paper available in English, French and Spanish.