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Composition and Mandate • BetterAid is the successor to the CSO Parallel Forum of the Accra High Level Forum organized since January 2007. It is designed as an open platform with the participation of over 900 development organisations from civil society. • In implementation of the Accra Action Agenda, the CSOs through BA has become an official and active member of the WP-EFF and contributes to the full breadth of work being undertaken by the WP-EFF. • It sits in the Executive Committee of the WP EFF representing the cluster of CSOs, parliamentarians and local government Composition and Mandate (contn) The BetterAid Platform is coordinated by the BetterAid Coordinating Group (BACG). It is currently made up of 32 CSO networks and international NGOs and CSOs that coordinate CSO engagement on the deepening of the Paris Declaration & the AAA commitments towards the HLF-4. Role in the WP-Eff and ExCom BetterAid is coordinating many of the civil society activities including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring, in the lead up to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in 2011. BA has undertaken regional and country work to contribute to a meaningful implementation of some of the commitments of PD and the AAA and to influence the aid effectiveness agenda to address development effectiveness. It is a process of awareness raising, policyand opinion work from national and regional levels to the international. Regional and Country Works Part of the country outreach work is linking global and regional processes to the CSO process at country level to ensure CSO involvement at all levels and arenas. Thus, relevant information on the global activities of the OECD, UN and international NGOs were disseminated to the country CSOs. Regional and Country Works In 2010, BA: • Reached out to 800 CSOs • Conducted CSO consultations in 12 countries • Produced 3 case studies demonstrating CSO involvement and impact • Provided advocacy planning support for 6 countries • Advised CSOs in 7 countries in drafting country plans on aid effectiveness engagement • Facilitated linkages to regional and inter-national arenas, most notably the participation of CSOs in 4 regional workshops on the PD Monitoring Survey Role in DCF The BACG is actively engaged with the United Nations Development Cooperation Forum (UN DCF) in terms of mobilizing civil society participation and influencing the policy debates. BACG regularly communicates with the DCF secretariat to discuss ways to engage and ensure how best to incorporate civil society perspectives into the discussions and activities. More generally the BACG participates in all related DCF organized activities to influence the debate. Role with DAC A secondary priority for the BACG are the DAC and bodies of the DAC, including the Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET), the Network on Gender Equality (GENDERNET) and the Network on Governance (GOVNET). Participation in the past has included in plenary meetings, workshops, and task teams. Thematic Consultations Part of the BA Program is conducting thematic consultations that will produce outcome documents which will sharpen policy positions on the specific topics. • Peoples Coalition on Food Sovereignty organized a CSO Conference on Aid and Development Effectiveness in Agriculture and Rural Development in Sri Lanka and next month a bigger conference in Tanzania cosponsored by the government of Tanzania and the Global Donor Platform on Agriculture and Rural Development • March 8-10, Paris, France, BetterAid/Trade Union Consultation, “An enabling environment for achieving sustainable and just development” Thematic Consultations (contn) • June 8-9, Brussels, Belgium, Women´s Groups at BACG –Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Coordinadora de la Mujer/Bolivia, the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), WIDE Advocacy Work BA has developed a series of realistic CSO policy proposals that promotes global policy changes from aid effectiveness to development effectiveness. To date, BA has come-up with the following policy papers that has informed its advocacy work: • Making development cooperation just: Governance principles and pillars • Development effectiveness in development cooperation: a rights-based perspective • South South Development Cooperation • Development Cooperation: Not Just Aid • An assessment of the Accra Agenda for Action from a civil society perspective • BetterAid statement to the UN-DCF in New York • BetterAid comments to Bogota statement Communications Work BA aims to achieve results and impacts in ensuring that key aid effectiveness actors (donor and recipient countries, parliamentarians, CSOs, etc.) are fully exposed to CSO positions and policy recommendations. Aside from the country outreach work being done by BA and engagements in various events around development agenda, communication tools were developed to reach out to different stake-holders through: • BA listserve • BA website • BA Newsletter • Use of social media (Twitter)