| European Network on Debt and Development | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | Eurodad |
| Formation | 1990 |
| Type | Coalition of NGOs |
| Headquarters | Rue d’Edimbourg, 18 – 26, |
| Location | Brussels |
| Director | Núria Molina |
| Website | www.eurodad.org |
Eurodad (European Network on Debt and Development) is a network of 58 non-governmental organisations from 19 European countries.[1] Eurodad and its members make up a network, this network researches and works on issues that are related to debt, development finance and poverty reduction.
Recently this network has focussed on issues such as tracking the aid spent by European countries, multilateral debt cancellation, debt sustainability, aid quality, conditionality and harmonisation, illegitimate debt, and export credit debts.
Eurodad's main targets are organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, however it also targets European governments themselves.
Eurodad’s stated aims are to:
Eurodad coordinates the work of non-governmental organisations working on these issues, and collaborates actively with civil society in the North and South to attain these goals. Eurodad has existed since 1990 and is registered as a non-profit organisation in both the Netherlands and Belgium. It is funded by its members (about one-third of its budget) and by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and UK Department for International Development.
The members in the UK include CAFOD, Oxfam, Christian Aid, Tearfund and the World Development Movement.
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Approximately US$300 billion flows from Southern countries to Northern ones each year. Official Development Assistance is an important part of trying to ensure more money flows the other way. Rich country governments have pledged to increase aid to 0.7% of their Gross National Income. They have also agreed to improve the delivery of aid to ensure that more of it reaches the world’s poorest people. European governments have always been major aid contributors, and the proportion of aid provided by Europeans is growing ever larger.
Unfortunately too much official aid simply never reaches impoverished people; too much is channelled for geo-political ends, spent on northern consultancy services or weighed down by donor demands. Uncoordinated donor activities burden developing country bureaucracies with multiple missions, reporting demands and strategies. Some initiatives have been started to enable Southern governments and civil society groups to determine how aid money should be spent. But foreign agencies with money still wield significant power over national governments with cash flow problems. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of participation and openness in defining public policies, there is still little room for public debate of what are often presented as the “right policies” for development. Intrusive and unrealistic conditions on aid are still straight-jacketing developing countries.
Eurodad’s aid-watching work focuses on the following areas:
1. Advocating for an improvement in the delivery of European bilateral aid including:
a. the fulfilment of commitments by European bilateral donors to increase real aid flows and advocating for change in rules in aid accounting and; b. improved aid effectiveness to ensure better allocation and quality of aid for developing countries,
2. Eurodad exposes the imposition of economic policy conditionality on southern countries and works to increase the policy space for southern governments and civil society groups to decide their own futures,
3. Tracking how poverty reduction analysis and strategies are contributing to more transparent and democratic decision-making that benefits the poor,
4. Monitoring and contributing to debates on relationship between aid and governance in developing countries and the role of donors in this area,
5. Analysing the policies and practices of International Financial Institutions, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and calling for a reform of their unrepresentative governance structures.
Eurodad has focused a lot of attention on the issue of illicit capital flight (or illicit financial flows) in their campaign to promote economic development in the developing world[2]. As such, they've become a coordinating committee member of the Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic Development, a coalition of NGOs and governments working to promote transparency in the international financial system[3].