Project Title: “The right for all not to be poor”: European social policy for a global agenda

Implementing Organisation: MiTi Foundation, Latvia

Total Budget: 56 700 euros

Total Request from the Fund: 45 000 euros

Description of the Project and Expected Results:

The Presidency Fund saw its role in providing NGOs in the EU-10 with opportunities to work with international networks that offered them structures that best suited their unique approach to development cooperation and placed this in the global context. From this perspective a unique project from a Latvian NGDO proposes linking NGDOs in the NMS with the Social Watch Network.

The main objective for the PF project cited by the MiTi Foundation in its proposal was to increase the visible accountability of EU Member States and the EU as a whole for the implementation of international commitments on social and human development, including the MDGs, made at international conferences over the past decade. They intended to do this, among others, by contributing to the Social Watch 2007 report, annually published by a group of NG(D)Os from developing and developed countries,  draft a national analysis report following the Social Watch guidelines, monitor the review of the EU budget and follow the national budget with a special focus on social and gender issues and build coalitions with NG(D)O (platforms) in other countries such as HAND, KOPIN and Italian, Dutch and German partners already active in the Social Watch partnership. As an additional target the MiTi Foundation hoped to contribute, and get others to contribute,  to a special Social Watch Europe edition (the first of which was in fact only published in November 2009). It needs to be pointed out that the MiTi Foundation had in fact already been involved in contributing to the international Social Watch reports prior to the PF project, but that was done under the then still fledgling wings of the NG(D)O platform LAPAS, of which MiTi was one of the founders.

Results after Implementation:

In its midterm report MiTi reported that six new Member State NG(D)Os had contributed national reports to the 2008 Social Watch report, instead of the 2007 one (due to the time consuming consultation procedures within the Social Watch group and a lack of funding in 2007 for face-to-face meetings with partner organisations which would have speeded up the procedures). So far no end-of term report for the PF has been made available, as the MiTi Foundation in Latvia had to fold due to lack of funding, according to MiTi partly due to the long-time postponement of funding disbursements committed to the MiTi Foundation by the Latvian government and partly due to fact that the main staff member responsible for the implementation of the PF moved abroad. This is therefore a clear case where the risk taken by the PF did not pay off.