2023 in words
Reflecting on EU-CORD’s Journey in 2023
January begins with the presentation of ‘the workplan’, our guiding document for the year. In 2023, this plan was ambitious, with 100 projects identified. By year’s end, we achieved completion of 62 items, representing a 67% completion rate. While we had to set aside 33 items and are continuing to work on 5, we are satisfied with the progress made noting that the true value of these efforts lies not just in the numbers, but in their impact.
Here are some of the highlights:
- We deepened our commitment to our climate cross-cutting priority, starting with a survey to better understand how climate change was impacting EU-CORD members at the the organisational level and culminating in the ‘Climate Champions’ campaign. This initiative allowed us to learn from our members about community adaptations to climate change. Partnering with Renew our World and Tearfund, we facilitated a two-part online series on the climate crisis, a step towards broadening our understanding and action in this vital area.
- Our In-Country Forums have grown, with 10 now in various stages of development. This year included mentoring for forum leaders, a comprehensive resource map on DG INTPA grants, and a training session in Nairobi.
- We made contributions to the EP DEVE Committee reports, aiming to enhance education access in developing countries and how to build an innovate humanitarian aid strategy.
- Our involvement in the Global Gateway and Team Europe Initiatives included disseminating information through infographics and webinars.
- We continued to explore the Africa-EU Partnership, particularly from the perspective of faith-based organisations.
- Ruth and Tabeth were panelists at the PaRD Annual Forum, contributing to discussions on faith, values, and development, and localisation.
- In collaboration with Caritas Europa and ACT Alliance Global, we organised informative online sessions on EU development funding and external funding.
- We published an EU-CORD Advocacy Guide and hosted webinars on service contracts and working with foundations, benefiting from the expertise of professionals like Nadege Lhariag.
- A webinar series with Esther Lehmann-Sow culminated in a publication about ‘Communicating Faith with our Donors’ – a values driven approach.
As we step into 2024, our involvement with VOICE, CONCORD, and PaRD really highlights how the conversation about aid and development is changing. We’re talking about everything from big-picture ideas to the real-deal details of managing risk and building fairer partnerships with different types of organisations. At EU-CORD, we’re calling this ‘re-framing partnerships’, and as ever we taking a down-to-earth approach. When we’re piecing together our workplan or just looking at how we do things day-to-day, we’re asking ourselves how we can get more voices from our EU-CORD network – both direct members and partners – involved and share all the great knowledge and experiences we’ve gathered. We’re putting a lot of focus on things like our Values Survey – it’s our way of checking in to see if we’re really walking our talk. And we’re also excited about putting together a new Partnerships Survey tool. This year is all about keeping those conversations going and turning them into real, meaningful action that lines up with what we stand for.”
Participation this Strategy Period
Financial Perspectives
The composition of EU-CORD’s budget does not alter significantly year on year. Taking our 2023 as an example, the €295,800 budget is broken down as follows:
- 75% of the budget is spent on human resources. EU-CORD supports two full-time and one intern position.
- 9.8% is related to the implementation of our programme portfolio.
- 3.9% comprises legal and administrative expenses.
- 3.8% office rent.
- 3.6% of the budget is allocated to membership fee payments for CONCORD, VOICE and IDDC.
- 1.7% on travel and 1.8% on communications and information technology.
The network is fully supported by its membership fees.
If you would like to know more, our 2021 Audited Accounts can be found here.