CONCORD

📢 We've opened a call for consultants! CONCORD is seeking a consultant to audit selected publications to ensure that our written outputs reflect our commitment to solidarity, equality, and decolonised practices. 🔗Are you nterested? Apply before the 24th of November! https://lnkd.in/dAQfbEZN

💶 In 2024, 1 in every 5 euro of EU ODA didn’t meet the fundamental ODA criteria, a serious credibility issue highlighted in the 2025 #AidWatch Report. 📉 ODA inflation has risen since 2018, deepening cuts to aid budgets and exposing EU Member States’ ongoing failure to meet their commitments. Germany, France, and Italy reported inflated ODA amounts that together exceed the total ODA of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and Finland combined. ➡️ Explore more findings and data: https://lnkd.in/d-k7T_pi

📣Join us at #BordeauxGSEF2025 tomorrow at 10:15–11:15 in Salle C2 – Abdou Salam Fall! We will talk about how Europe can better invest in cooperatives and the wider social economy worldwide. 🔗 Find the full program here: https://lnkd.in/eYh8HTam 👇 And more info below!

Tomorrow, our Senior Policy and Advocacy Adviser, Laura Guthrie, joins the Gender Budget Watchdog Network webinar on the EU’s new MFF, discussing how rising investments in security and defence could shape women’s security and the EU’s gender equality goals. Don't miss it!

🤔 Can the private sector contribute to tackling inequalities in partner countries? On the 9th of October our colleague Borja Arrue-Astrain adressed the question at a side event organised by Proparco, the French development finance institution. Here's our take: 🤝 Inequalities are huge, everyone's contribution is needed! The private sector can help close global investment gaps by collaborating with civil society to direct investments towards the greatest positive social impacts. 🤷 Private sector... what kind? We need to prioritise businesses that are sustainable and inclusive, like social economy enterprises and cooperatives. 🏛️ Grants and state responsibility at the core! Private sector involvement must not excuse states to give up on their commitments and legal obligations. Grants are vital, and increasing ODA must remain a key policy objective.  👉 We have talked about this in our recent AidWatch Report: https://lnkd.in/d-k7T_pi ⚠️ Complex financing with plenty of intermediaries weakens accountability.  When using ODA money, the EU must ensure its rules and commitments are respected, implemented and reported. This includes the NDICI regulation to the Inequality, Gender, and Disability markers, and the human rights–based approach toolbox. 🌎 The goal is sustainable development.  Self-interested agendas contradict the EU's own treaty obligations. Programmes on access to raw materials can harm partner countries more than they benefit them, while fragile contexts risk paying the higher price if grants become weaker or blended with debt-inducing financing. Genuinely committed teams within DFIs are pushing for inequality mainstreaming. Our hand is open to continue the dialogue!

💡 The 2025 #AidWatch Report reveals that only 3 out of 27 EU Member States - Luxembourg, Denmark, and Sweden - met the 0.7% ODA/GNI commitment in 2024. Despite the EU’s collective pledge since 2005 to reach the 0.7% target, the average contribution among EU DAC members remains far below it, with most countries clustering between 0.2% and 0.4% of their national income. This continues a long-term trend: over the past seven years, only 11%-15% of EU MS have reached the target. ➡️ Dive into the full report and explore our interactive data visualisation tools to learn more: https://lnkd.in/d-k7T_pi

🌍We are happy to share that CONCORD will be part of #BordeauxGSEF2025, co-hosting a session with our colleagues from Cooperatives Europe! The session will take place on 30 October (10:15–11:15), and will be titled “Profit with purpose: unlocking value through people-centred businesses in the EU’s international partnerships”. What will we explore? 💡 How the EU can support social economy entities and cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia; ⚙️ The extent to which initiatives like the #GlobalGateway can better support them; 🤝 How cooperatives and civil society can better advocate together for fairer global partnerships. Moderated by our Director Tanya Cox, with inspiring voices from across sectors, this conversation will spotlight how people-centred business models can drive sustainable and inclusive change. 🫵 If you’re at the Forum this year, join us in Bordeaux! Bordeaux GSEF 2025 will be a key space to connect and share global efforts towards a more just, sustainable economy!

👁️ Yesterday, we launched the #AidWatch 2025 report "Ending short-sightedness, restoring ODA's purpose" marking 20 years of holding the EU and its Member States accountable for the quality and quantity of their ODA. The launch event brought together policymakers, experts, and civil society voices for an insightful discussion on how to restore ODA’s true purpose. If you missed it, here are five key takeaways from the launch event: 1️⃣ ODA is losing focus and impact: Cuts, inflated figures, and the alignment of ODA with domestic interests risk undermining it's core mission. As CONCORD's Director Tanya Cox noted, the EU is “shooting itself in the foot” by prioritising short-term national goals over long-term human development. 2️⃣ Restoring ODA’s purpose: As Mafalda Infante from Plataforma Portuguesa das ONGD reminded us, ODA should serve to reduce inequalities, and invest in the sectors that drive real progress: health, education, and social protection. 3️⃣ Refocus on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and human development: Natividad Lorenzo, Cabinet Expert, DG INTPA, European Commission, stressed the need for more concessional ODA and investments that genuinely reach those furthest behind, not just financial instruments serving donor priorities. 4️⃣ ODA is not charity, it’s accountability: Gunjan Veda, Global Secretary of The Movement for Community-led Development reminded us that true reform means rethinking governance so that partner countries and civil society have a real say, shifting from dependency to partnership and shared power. 5️⃣ Courage and foresight are needed to reform ODA: As Mikel Iriso, CODEV delegate, Representación Permanente de España en la UE | Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU highlighted, public support for international cooperation remains strong, but it will take political courage, as moderator Ruth Faber, EU-CORD network, closed, “for the EU to make this change.” Thank you to all our inspiring speakers, panelists, and participants for this forward-looking discussion on the future of ODA. 👉 Discover the full #AidWatch 2025 report, including our 10 recommendations to restore ODA’s purpose and discover our data visualisation tools: https://lnkd.in/eFVwzSS6

🎥 Starting soon: the 2025 AidWatch Launch! Join us at 16:00 to explore how the EU and its Member States are performing on the quantity and quality of their ODA. To participate online, use this link 👇 https://lnkd.in/d8H_Z5eM