Advancing Democracy, Human Rights and Gender Equality through NDICI-Global Europe

How can Team Europe and key stakeholders, including civil society, work better together to advance democracy, human rights and gender equality through NDICI-Global Europe and Team Europe Initiatives? This is the question that a seminar organised by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU in cooperation with ECDPM on 23 March in Brussels aimed to answer.

The event started with a video statement of Johan Forssell, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, who pointed out that democracy, human rights and gender equality are fundamental values of the European Union and a priority of the Swedish Presidency.

After Mr. Forssell’s speech, Amandine Sabourin, policy officer in ECDPM European Foreign and Development Policy and AU-EU relations teams, presented the new ECDPM study 'More than targets: How the EU promotes democracy, human rights and gender equality through Global Europe and beyond'.

The report looked at how the EU has integrated and mainstreamed democracy, human rights and gender equality into the planning and first stages of implementation of the EU’s financial instrument for neighbourhood, development and international cooperation: NDICI-Global Europe.

Alongside poverty eradication, promoting democracy, human rights and gender equality are key objectives of NDICI Global-Europe.

The study indicates that the EU is on track to achieve the NDICI-Global Europe targets. However, these figures need to be translated into concrete actions. Advancing democracy, human rights and gender equality goes beyond NDICI-Global Europe and is largely carried out in the context of the EU’s broader foreign and development policy. 

The study recommends that the EU works on systematic joint policy dialogues, strengthens the EU toolbox with a review of conditionality approaches which don’t prove efficient according to the report, and ensures flexible and accessible funding for local actors. Stronger involvement of private sector is also recommended. The EU should also ensure that relevant policies and tools – such as its action plans on gender and on human rights and democracy, as well as the Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) – work in harmony and are more systematically integrated into dialogues with partner countries. 

Besides that, the EU should strengthen the Team Europe approach to raise the EU’s profile on these topics. Country ownership and buy-in from all stakeholders are also essential.

The presentation of the study was followed by a panel discussion to reflect on ways to effectively implement the report’s recommendations. One of the pannellists, Chiara Adamo, Acting Director on Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace at DG INTPA, emphasised the relevance of the collaboration between EU institutions and Member States through the Team Europe Approach, the importance of improving the quality of consultations with civil society and of including innovative financing.

Marie Tempesta, Advocacy Advisor at IPPF European Network, stated that operationalisation of commitments is key to impact. For her it is vital to have transparency, to know what kind of programmes are being funded in partner countries under the TEIs, and to guarantee the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) as implementors and strategic advisers, co-programmers.

Rosie Ball, representative of the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, a feminist donor organisation, made an appeal for involving CSOs in policy dialogues and for NDICI funding to reach CSOs. “Women-led CSOs remain marginalised, they receive a small fraction of global financing”, said Ms. Ball.

Speaking online from Uganda, Ola Hällgren, Head of Development Cooperation Section at the Embassy of Sweden in Kampala, explained that democracy, human rights and gender equality mainstreaming must be complemented by dedicated programme in the partner countries.