European governments reinforced commitment to strengthen development education and awareness raising (DEAR) in Conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council, which met on 15 October 2012 in Luxembourg.
The conclusions state that
15. The EU will continue to promote a strategic approach to increase the level and quality of Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) as well as the capacity of CSO networks in that regard.
[..]
“19. The Council calls on European CSOs to partner with organisations from partner countries with long-term and equitable partnerships based on local demand, which should include monitoring and promoting Policy Coherence for Development, awareness raising and education on development-related issues, mentoring, coaching and peer learning, networking, and building linkages from the local to the global level.
With these conclusions, the Council reacts to a Communication by the European Commission on the role of civil society in development (“The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with civil society in external relations“), which unfortunately doesn’t address the role of civil society in DEAR at all.
“The Communication missed to tackle the question of citizens engagement through DEAR in Europe and beyond in a strategic manner”, writes CONCORD, the European confederation of Development NGOs in a reaction to the European Commissions publication. Consequently, the confederation welcomes that the member states acknowledged the importance of DEAR in the Council conclusions.
This reinforced commitment of the Council to engaging citizens with development comes only a few months after a strong call by the European Parliament to strengthen development education in Europe, through the adoption of a written declaration on development education and active global citizenship.
Written by Tobias Troll
Taken from: deeep.org