Civil Society Participation in Policy Dialogue: European Union Policy and Practice

INTRAC conducted a joint study with the British Overseas NGOs for Development, which acts as the UK Platform for NGOs in their relationship with the European Union. The study assessed the implementation of European Union Policy concerning the involvement of civil society in discussions about the general development policy as well as EU development assistance programmes.

The study examined the experiences of drawing up the current European Commission (EC) County Strategies in four countries: Bolivia, India, Kenya and Senegal. Two of these countries, Kenya and Senegal, are in the African, Caribbean and Pacific block. It also, being the development directorate, has responsibility for development policy for all EC development policy. The other two countries, both from the Asia and Latin America block, were included in order to determine any differences in approach. The four country studies were supplemented by desk research and interviews in Brussels with EC officials and members of NGO consortia.