The EC Forest Platform is a FERN' initiative that links peoples in the South and the European Community on aid and forest issues.

25 April 2003

Re: NGO involvement in the evaluation of the Country Strategy Papers

Dear all

As you might be aware FERN published a report (“Forests at the Edge”) in November 2002 evaluating the quality of EC aid in relation to forests and forest peoples. The report looked in detail at the European Community (EC) Country Strategy Papers, which document how EC aid will be spent over the next five years in a particular country. All Country Strategy Papers are available from the following website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/sp/index.htm or from FERN. A summary of the FERN report is attached.[i] Our report shows that the quality was in most cases not good, making us fear that there could be a negative impact of EC aid on forest peoples, forests and the environment in general.

We believe that one of the main reasons for the bad quality of the Country Strategy Papers is the lack of participation of environmental and social NGOs in the development of these documents. This is despite repeated statements by EC Institutions that civil society actors should be consulted in the development, implementation and evaluation of these Country Strategy Papers.

The Country Strategy Papers will be evaluated in 2004. We hope there will be active participation by different civil society groups in this evaluation to ensure that the next round of Country Strategy Papers will be of better quality and have a positive impact on forests, forest peoples and the environment.

We therefore hope many NGOs will play an active role in the evaluation of the existing Country Strategy Papers as well as in the development of the next round of Country Strategy Papers.

If you are interested in participating in the evaluation and/or the development of the next Country Strategy Paper, it is important to take note of the following:

EC delegations are often understaffed (or at least they feel they have not sufficient staff) and often have a lack of expertise and experience in how to organize a proper consultation processes. They might therefore feel consultation with civil society groups is an ‘extra burden’;
The EC delegation should have designated a contact point for relations with non-state actors. Attached is a list of these contact points in different countries in Asia and Latin America;
A recent EC evaluation on the involvement of non-state actors pointed out that some governments were fearful for civil society participation as that could undermine their ‘good performance’ for the mid-term review of the Country Strategy Paper;
The EC delegation may have already organized some sort of civil society consultation of which you have not been informed. Therefore check carefully with the delegation what the status of the process is.

Taking on board these potential constraints it is important to point out that the EC Institutions have repeatedly stressed the importance of consultation with civil society. See paper attached. The requirements for consultation and participation of indigenous peoples (‘right-holders’ rather than stakeholders as they have rights under international law) are different to environmental and social NGOs (stakeholders).

If you are interested in following EC aid policies and activities in your country, please contact the EC Delegation in your country and

1) Ask when the evaluation of the Country Strategy Paper is planned;

2) Ask who the NGO liaison person at the Delegation is;

3) Ask what sort of consultation is foreseen for the evaluation of the Country Strategy Paper;

4) Express your interest to be involved in the evaluation of the existing Country Strategy Paper.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. We are more than glad to provide more information, support and work with you from the Brussels level.

With best wishes

Berenice Muraille

EC Forest Platform Co-ordinator

' FERN, 20 Avenue des Celtes,1040 Brussels, Belgium; tel:+32 2 733 36 53; fax: +32-2-736 80 54 ; berenice@fern.org

Visit our website: www.fern.org