"Guaranteed Irish?"
A conference examining what Irish organisations bring to international development
05 May 2011, Wood Quay venue, Dublin
New Voices in Development, Dóchas' annual conference 2010 demonstrated that despite their different approaches, diverse Irish actors currently working in international development share one common goal - the eradication of poverty, inequality and injustice.
2011, however, was set to see another matter become a common concern for those same actors: the duty to ensure that their efforts brought about the maximum impact in achieving that goal.
Through the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and the CSO Development Effectiveness Agenda; Irish development actors will increasingly come under pressure to prove their worth and identify what added value they bring to development.
On 5 May, through this half-day conference, Dóchas wanted to encourage Irish development actors to reflect on what it was that made them effective development actors by examining the following issues:
- Do Irish development actors subscribe to and/or adhere to the Istanbul Principles on CSO Development Effectiveness?
- What do we understand by ‘quality’ when referring to the work of Irish NGOs?
- What role should Irish development actors play beyond the borders of developing countries?
- How can the North/South NGO partnership evolve to become more effective?
Presentations
- VIDEO KEY NOTE: Netsanet Belay, Director of policy and research, Civicus – World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Speech by Jan O’Sullivan, Minister of State for Trade and Development
- Presentation by Lorna Gold, Advocacy Manager, Trócaire
- Presentation by David Lewis, Professor of Social Policy and Development, LSE and advisor to Reality Check Approach Bangladesh
- Presentation by Rachel Manton, Senior Manager, Accenture Development Partnerships
- VIDEO: Antonio Tujan on Busan and Development Effectiveness
- Orla Barry, Newstalk presenter and documentary film-maker
- Anne Maguire, Operations Director, Haven Partnerships
- Nicolas Marcoux, Head of International Services at the Irish Institute of Public Administration and PhD Candidate on the development effectiveness of Irish philanthropies
- José Antonio Gutiérrez D., Research and Development Officer, Latin American Solidarity Centre (LASC)
- Ed Rice, Visual Media Producer and developer of Givers Atlas
- Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy, Focus Ireland
- Siobhán O’Donoghue, Director of Migrant Rights Centre Ireland and member of the Claiming our Future initiative
PRESS RELEASE: Aid agencies step up for greater effectiveness in the fight against global poverty and injustice
Light hearted look at some of the issues facing the development NGO sector
- VIDEO: Hans Zomer on the background to the conference
- VIDEO: Michael McManus on the programme of the conference
Key background documents
- Conference Background Paper
- The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action
- Istanbul CSO Development Effectiveness Principles
- Irish Aid’s civil society policy and development effectiveness (January 2010)
- Irish Aid Plan of Action to Implement Commitments under the Accra Agenda for Action (2009)
- Reforming government funding of development NGOs
Other relevant resources
- Leading Edge 2020 - Critical thinking on the future of international development (Trócaire)
- What will aid look like in 2031? (Poverty Matters Blog)
- Routes of funding, roots of trust? Northern NGOs, Southern NGOs, donors, and the rise of direct funding
- Partnership in Practice – A Kenyan perspective on the nature of Relationships with Irish NGOs
- A Wave of Change: How Irish NGOs Will Sink Or Swim
- NGOs in a Global Future: Marrying local delivery to worldwide leverage
- The NGOs of the future
Other AGM Conference Themes
In recent years, Dóchas has hosted AGM conferences on various topical themes:
- 2014: "Protecting Public Trust - Preparing the NGO sector for changing times": focus was placed on the importance of regulation, transparency and accountability and on recent initiatives to help NGOs re-think their public engagement strategies in the face of evidence of shifting public attitudes.
- 2013: “Transparency In Action” aimed specifically at an NGO audience, this conference was attended by some 60 NGO representatives interested in tools to enhance NGO reporting methodologies.
- 2012: “Creatively Communicating Complex Ideas About Development”. Attended by the Minister of State for Development and some 95 senior representatives from Irish Aid, NGOs and communications companies.
- 2010: “New Voices in Development". This conference, attended by the Minister of State for Development and some 120 representatives from NGOs, corporates and academia, was aimed at many of the initiatives outside the Development NGO sector.