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Calls for Proposals
The Calls on the following budget lines are usually open
for organisations and projects interested in SRHR. For further details on
any of these Calls or corrigenda see the EuropeAid website:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome
Thematic program of cooperation with third countries in the
areas of migration and asylum
In: all countries, until: 01/12/2011,
budget: 74,000,000 EUR. min grant size: 500,000 EUR max grant size:
2,000,000 EUR
Asia & Central Asia - Supporting Prison
Reform
In: Kyrgyzstan, until: 28/10/2011, budget: 400,000 EUR. min
grant size: 100,000 EUR max grant size: 200,000 EUR
European
Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Country-based support
scheme 2011
In: Moldova, until: 24/02/2012, budget: 1,012,130 EUR.
min grant size: 100,000 EUR max grant size: 300,000 EUR
In:
Honduras, until: 21/11/2011, budget: 900,000 EUR, min grant size: 200,000
EUR, max grant size: 300,000 EUR
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EU News: MEP Mikael Gustafsson becomes the first man
to be elected chair of the European Parliament’s Women's Rights and Gender
Equality Committee
3 October
MEP Mikael Gustafsson from the European
United Left Nordic Green Left Parliamentary Group (GUE/NGL) was elected to
be the first man to chair the European Parliament’s Women's Rights and
Gender Equality Committee (FEMM) since its establishment in 1984. After
his election, by acclamation, the Swedish member of the European
Parliament stated: "I feel overwhelmed and honoured. The committee has put
their trust in me, and I will do my utmost to live up to that trust".
Succeeding fellow countrywoman and partisan, Eva-Britt Svensson, MEP
Gustafsson expressed his desire to carry on Ms Svensson’s work on
promoting women’s rights and to dedicate extra efforts to challenges such
as EU legislation to counter violence against women, strengthen women’s
economic independence and boost their influence in politics. Moreover,
being a member of GUE/NGL, Mr Gustafsson will most likely be an equally
passionate advocate for reproductive rights, family planning and sexual
education as his predecess or.
To read more, please see: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/20111003IPR28094/html/New-chairs-for-Budgetary-Control-and-Women%27s-Rights-committees
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EU News: Countdown 2015 Europe and the European
Parliament Working Group on Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Development
(EPWG) hold panel debate on the EU’s role in addressing the unmet need for
family planning in developing countries
4 October 2011
Every one dollar spent on family
planning saves at least four dollar of money that would otherwise be spent
on treating complications from unintended pregnancies – a finding
emphasised by a European Parliament debate organised by Countdown 2015
Europe and the European Parliament Working Group on Reproductive Health,
HIV/AIDS and Development (EPWG). Accordingly, MEP Norbert Neuser pointed
out that family planning is the most effective way to protect women and
children as well as to raise women’s status. The strong Danish support for
SRHR was highlighted by Thea Lund Christiansen from the Danish Permanent
Representation to the EU who also assured that Denmark will continue to
push these issues when taking over the EU presidency in January 2012. The
importance of country ownership was highlighted by Walter Seidel, DG
Development Cooperation and EuropeAid, although he admitted that this
presupposes political commitment towards family planning at country level.
It is therefore cru cial to show partner countries that apart from
immediate effects on maternal and newborn child health, there are also
broader societal gains from investing in family planning. NGOs were
recommended to try to increase social sector spending as a whole, since
Family Planning/Reproductive Health services are dependent on a well
functioning health sector. For more information on the work of the EPWG,
please see: http://www.epwg.org/
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EU News: European Parliament's Budget Committee
protects health funding under EU budget 2012
5 October
Health funding under the EU's thematic
programme "Investing in People" for 2012 had been seriously under threat
after the Council of the EU had suggested severe cuts of 5 million EUR in
its draft position on the budget in July. Following joint advocacy efforts
of NGOs from all over Europe, the European Parliament's Budget Committee
firmly rejected those cuts and adopted an amendment that would
re-establish the initial draft budget of 38 million EUR in commitments, as
proposed by the European Commission in April, and added further remarks in
favour of maternal health and ICPD funding. Moreover, the Committee
rejected an amendment tabled by a member of the conservative EPP group
that would have cut all funding for the Global Fund to fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, and secured the proposed 50 million EUR in
commitments for 2012. Following close collaboration between MEP Michael
Cashman, DSW and MSI, a pilot project worth 2 million EUR establishing a
regional CSO network of MDG 5 organisations in East Africa was also
adopted by the Committee. As the final steps in the budget cycle, the
European Parliament's Plenary is expected to vote on the final EP position
on 26 October, and the conciliation phase between EP and Council - the two
arms of the EU's budgetary authority - is scheduled for 1-21 November. For
more information on the EU budget procedure, please see DSW's practical
guide for SRH advocates: http://www.euroresources.org/fast_facts/euadvocacy.html
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EU News: EU leaders congratulate the 2011 Nobel
Peace Prize Winners
7 October
Herman Van Rompuy, President of the
European Council, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European
Commission and Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission,
applauded the decision of the Nobel committee to award this year’s Nobel
Peace Prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman.
The European Union representatives paid their respect to the three
laureates for their personal commitment shown in their fight for peace,
democracy and the improvement of women's rights. Awarding the Nobel Peace
Prize to those three women - the president of Liberia, a Liberian peace
activist, a Yemini journalist and human rights activist – is said to be a
strong signal of support for the women’s right movement and gender
equality and all leaders worldwide are urged to improve women's rights. To
read the full message of congratulation of Herman Van Rompuy and Manuel
Barroso, please see:< a
href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/676&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/676&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
To
read the full statement by Lady Catherine Ashton, please see: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/124980.pdf
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EU News: EU environment ministers adopt common
position ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Rio+20
10 October
Following a European Commission
Communication from June and the European Parliament’s Resolution from
September, the Council of Environment ministers published its conclusions
on the EU’s position for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development Rio+20, which will take place in Brazil on 4-6 June 2012 and
will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The Conference is
ought to deal with the global development challenges that arise from a
fast growing world population such as providing food security, securing
peace and stability and find alternative energy solutions in the face of
natural resource scarcity. The Council conclusions emphasise among others
the importance of health services and education and underline the
importance of gender equality and the vital role that women have in
achieving sustainable development. To read the Council document, please
see: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/envir/125027.pdf
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EU News: EU Commissioner for Development presents
the ‘Agenda for Change’ of EU Development Policy and a communication on
budget support
13 October
During a press conference, Andris
Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development, outlined the revised priorities
for the EU’s Development Policy contained in the so-called 12-point
‘Agenda for Change’ communication. Aimed at increasing the impact of its
development aid, the EU will concentrate its aid efforts on sectors
assumed to be pivotal for achieving long-term and inclusive growth and
will differentiate between developing countries according to their need
for external support and positive frame conditions for aid effectiveness.
Besides good governance, supporting a favourable business environment and
deeper regional integration, and promoting sustainable agriculture and
clean energy, one of the key sectors identified is social protection,
health and education. Furthermore, innovative ways of financing
development, like the blending of grants and loans, and more joint
programming as well as a better division of labour between the EU and its
member states are envisaged in the communication. The second communication
on the future of the EU’s financial support to the overall state budget of
developing countries seeks to introduce new contractual bases of budget
support. Partner countries which respect fundamental values such as human
rights and democracy are ought to sign so-called ‘Good governance and
Development contracts’ and will continue receive general budget support.
Other countries which fall short of satisfying the aforementioned
conditions will receive financial support earmarked to certain policy
sectors under ‘Sector reform contracts’. And finally fragile countries can
sign ‘State Building contracts’ under which they are entitled to budget
support based on a case by case evaluation. For more information, please
see: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/news/agenda_for_change_en.htm
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Resources: The European Parliamentary Forum on
Population and Development (EPF) and DSW (Deutsche Stiftung
Weltbevoelkerung) release Euromapping report 2011
12 October 2011
The Euromapping report 2011 which
is written by the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and
Development (EPF) and DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung) with
assistance from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute
(NIDI) and Countdown 2015 documents the financial support of European
countries to developing countries’ population efforts. It ranks the
European donors according to their financial expenditures as a percentage
of Official Development Assistance (ODA) towards each of the four
categories identified by the International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) in 1994, namely family planning, reproductive health,
sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/Aids, and basic research. In addition,
the report shows how the population assistance of each donor is
geographically disbursed and how overall ODA changed over the past year.
An alarming finding of the report is that the European share of ODA
relating to population assistance has decreased, while the US acquired a
new leadership role in global health and population assistance. This
represents a mismatch with European development policy language and puts
Europe at risk of taking a back seat in eradicating global poverty and
achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. To read the full
report, please see: http://www.euroresources.org/euromapping.html
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Resources: Commonwealth Medical Trust launches
website on the 20-year performance review of the Action Programme of the
ICPD and the future of the ICPD beyond 2014
17 October
The website which is run by the
Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) addresses NGOs interested in the
developments surrounding the 20-year performance review of the Action
programme of the International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) and the future of the ICPD beyond 2014. The website features
articles, timelines of upcoming events, news updates, links and resources
material surrounding the NGOs are invited to contribute to the website by
sharing information and other contributions to be posted on the website
via email. Please find the website here: http://ngosbeyond2014.org/
If you
would like to link to the website or provide information for posting,
please send an email to: beyond2014@commat.org
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