We have become a member of CONCORD!

June 13, 2019
|In Sustainable development, Women's rights in Agenda2030, Gender equality, Advocacy, News, European policy, Europe
|By adminWECF

We are taking our development cooperation to the next level, by joining the leading membership network working with EU institutions on development policy.

We are proudly announcing, that as of yesterday, we have been elected as a new member of CONCORD, the European confederation of Relief and Development NGOs. At its General Assembly the membership was supported unanimously with only one abstention.

CONCORD has 28 national associations, 24 international networks and 3 associate members that represent over 2,600 NGOs, supported by millions of citizens across Europe. They are a member-led organisation which means that the members give the strategic direction of the confederation. Current members include ActionAid, CARE international, Plan international, WWF, Oxfam – to name a few.

Their vision is a world where people enjoy their right to live free of poverty and exploitation as well as their right to enjoy wellbeing and equality. They believe that this must be achieved by a citizen-led transformative agenda based on social justice and gender equality and respecting diversity and the limits of our planetary capacity.

Our Dutch office director, Kirsten Meijer, presented our organisation to the confederation: “The European Union as a global player has a responsibility to take the lead in ensuring all its policies are promoting gender equality and sustainable development, especially now we are witnessing a conservative backlash and climate crisis at the same time.”

The coming period CONCORD will focus on fighting inequalities and policy advocacy for development with the new European Parliament and European Commission. This includes contributing to a review of the Gender Action Plan and delivering input for the Multiannual Financial Framework.

“By becoming a member of CONCORD we aim to make the ecofeminist voice heard even stronger on the EU level. We need to stand together with other civil society organisations to make sure the new European Commission will prioritise sustainable development and gender equality, including policy coherence” says Kirsten Meijer.

As a network with a Framework Partnership Agreement with the European Commission, we have been involved in European policy discussions on development cooperation over the past years. By becoming a member of CONCORD we aim to take this effort to a next level.