The EU and the global development framework

Conference organised in the framework of the review of the EU Global Strategy by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in cooperation with the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Compagnia di San Paolo, with the contribution of Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM)

In the wake of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which took place in Addis Ababa in July, the United Nations Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Paris, as well as the European Year for Development, the EU is now called upon to develop a strategic approach to development cooperation. Alongside other regional and international actors, the EU should be ready to address both universal challenges - such as hunger, poverty, diseases and climate change - and opportunities to manage global public goods, thus turning the Sustainable Development Goals into reality and making the humanitarian-development nexus work.
A deep reflection is needed on two main issues:
- How can the EU reorganize and rationalize the global system for development cooperation, involving diversified local, national, regional and international actors in order to improve its efficiency and get it closer to the needs of the beneficiaries, even through more effective mechanisms of financing, monitoring and evaluation;
- How can the EU establish new ties with the private sector and with civil society organizations, key actors to implement a well-grounded and effective development cooperation. This process also implies to set up more controls and mechanisms to ensure transparency and responsibility.