ICA Asia and Pacific office was invited to the 10th Anniversary event of the Policy Forum on Development (PFD) in Brussels from 27 to 29 September, 2023. This was part of its consultations to capture the views of the multiple PFD stakeholders, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Local Authorities (LAs). Representatives from the ICA global and regional offices along with Ms. Mirai Chatterjee, Chairperson, Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India and Nicolas Dimarco, Cooperator, FACTTIC, Argentina attended the event.
The theme of the PFD was “Multistakeholder partnerships for building a better future: The quest for equality and opening up civic space.” Under the overarching themes, topics of discussion included informality, climate change and climate justice, and resilience to the multiple current crises. Migration, urban development, education and culture, and digitalisation were discussed, with clear links to increasing inequalities. The importance of gender and youth was addressed as transversal dimensions. While these topics were approached in general terms, the debate was linked to Global Gateway as a central framework for international cooperation and partnerships and assessed the role civil society and local authorities can play to support its successful rollout.
ICA-AP actively participated in the discussions, requesting CSO consultation and involvement in all future geographic programmes. The EU Delegations should consider cooperatives as partners across all programmes and advocate for dedicated CSO allocations towards cooperatives. ICA-AP reiterated that the EU should invest in local businesses, cooperatives, smallholder producers and family farmers in rural areas to help rural communities become catalysts of an inclusive and equitable rural transformation that, in turn, can support sustainable urbanization. ICA-AP also suggested that the EU should simplify the design and delivery of EU external assistance by lifting administrative and financial barriers for CSOs that cannot carry high risks and costs related to programming. This will allow CSOs and cooperatives to be better represented at the EU partner country level.
PFD Asia Pacific also had a regional meeting on the sidelines of the event, led by Julia Puno from APRN and Bernadia Tjandradewi from UCLG-Asia Pacific. It was useful to make introductions for new members of the team and develop key messages to be shared from the region. ICA-AP remarked that the EU should promote and strengthen the development of alternative digital platforms – platform cooperatives, that promote the democratisation of data, redistribution of wealth and ensure decent jobs and social protection for workers in the platform economy. Also, the EU should acknowledge community ownership through cooperatives and the role of citizens as consumers, workers and investors as a pathway to achieving the green transition.
The meeting was a good opportunity to connect with fellow participants, gain insights, and contribute to shaping the future of our partnership with the European Commission. As a follow-up, ICA-AP has also responded positively to the call for expression of interest for the selection of members of the Global Gateway (GG) Civil Society and Local Authorities Dialogue Platform.
