EU-CORD in 2022

EU-CORD’s activities in 2022 focused on efforts to connect our European members, their staff globally, and local partners in new and innovative ways through our wide range of activities.

At the heart of EU-CORD is a fundamental belief in the power of connection. We recognise that in order to truly make a positive impact in the world, we must work together in partnership and collaboration. By coming together, we are able to leverage our collective expertise, resources, and perspectives, and create a powerful force for transformative change. Whether it is through the establishment of new partnerships, the sharing of best practices, or the development of innovative solutions, our collaborative efforts are driven by a shared commitment to creating a more just and equal world, one that is of service to, and with, poor and vulnerable communities.

In our 2022+ strategy, we committed to being a network that would be agile and responsive to each others’ needs and capacity, and our 2022 achievements reflect that commitment.

• One of our proudest accomplishments in 2022 was the publication of our Nexus Study, which summarised EU-CORD members’ work and approach to the Peace-Humanitarian-Development nexus. This was taken further in three nexus-themed webinars in partnership with ActAlliance EU and Caritas Europa.
• It was insightful to learn from Parliamentarians from South Sudan, Uganda, the Netherlands, and the UK on their interactions with civil society and how we can leverage those lessons for effective advocacy.
• As a result of building connections with the European Parliament, Denis Semakula, Director for Sudan at LM International, spoke at a DEVE hearing on Education in Emergencies.
• We have worked to establish and build EU-CORD member connections in Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, enabling us to better support our work in these critical regions.
• We published the Members Values Toolkit, which furthered our commitment to showing how we outwork our values in our work.
• To support member capacity to navigate the institutional funding landscape, 15 Learning Space webinars were held, as well as the provision of guides and toolkits to help members and their national implementing partners better engage with DG INTPA. These included our Call for Proposal Analysis, Concept Note Evaluation Grid, and Guide to the Programming Documents.
• We also published the 2022 edition of our Unique Selling Points brochure – a tool to help members collaborate.
• In the humanitarian space, we activated a support group to help members liaise around their Ukraine response. Later in the year, we worked with members to feed into the ECHO consultation on working with local actors.

These initiatives have provided invaluable opportunities for our members to connect and collaborate, sharing best practices and building capacity for today’s humanitarian and development landscape challenges.

What were our five biggest learnings?

1. The activities hardest to realise were those that were the most vague – we need to make sure that objectives, activities and outputs are clear during the workplan design phase.
2. There could have been better synergies between some of our programme objectives and we can do more to identify areas of complementarity during the planning process and review throughout the year.
3. We need to consider, and better articulate how we engage with the national implementing partners of EU-CORD members.
4. To give the EU-CORD forums a chance of success, we need to invest more capacity to support their development while supporing local leadership.
5. Stay focussed and don’t be afraid to say no!