Project Title: Fostering the engagement of Civil Society in policy dialogue

Implementing Organisation: The National Platform of Maltese NGDOs renamed SKOP

Total Budget: 21 132 euros

Total request from Fund: 20 857 euros

Context at the Beginning of the Project:

Maltese society, politically, economically and socially was far removed from the ideals outlined in the EU Development Policy especially given that the National policy on development cooperation was not yet aligned to that of the EU.

Activities would be carried out to create awareness among the general public on current issues relevant to the debate within the EU on development cooperation to create a wide base of support for the activities of the NGDOs as well as to influence relevant development policies at national level.

Description of the project and Expectd Results:

Under the chairmanship of KOPIN SKOP applied for PF funding in call 3. In its proposal it stated that its main objective was to strengthen the Platform’s capacity to engage in effective policy dialogue on national and EU development policy. It focussed strongly on developing a collective approach to achieve its advocacy objectives vis-à-vis the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which already regarded the Platform as ‘a critical friend’ according to the applicant (it is currently officially recognised by the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs[1] ). In order to develop a better structured, transparent and accountable financial system SKOP organised some sessions with a financial accountant resulting in the setting up of a sound financial system

[1] See http://www.skopmalta.org/

[1] See http://www.skopmalta.org/

Results after Implementation:

In its final report SKOP indicated that it set up working groups on different issues, among them on EU-Africa relations. While the current SKOP website does include the heading ‘Working Groups’ (WG), the individual WG pages do not give any indication of activities developed in the past or to be organised in the future. This raises the question whether these Working Groups still exist/are active.

Within the context of the project SKOP organised two seminars and two workshops with expert support from the German, Italian and the Luxembourg NGDO Platforms. Complementary to this, but not funded by the PF, SKOP organised training sessions for its members with Trialog, Concord and DEEP. As a result of all these activities the membership of SKOP grew and currently consists of 15 members and 3 associate members. It contributes the growth of the membership to a large extend to the support it received from the PF, not only in the first project, but also in the second.