EPD and its partners from the EU-funded INSPIRED project invite practitioners in the field of democracy assistance to contribute to the development of a Practitioners Handbook on facilitating inclusive dialogue on policy reform.
About INSPIRED:
INSPIRED is a multi-partner multi-country programme funded by the European Union under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). It is implemented by a consortium of seven organisations: EPD (lead), Club de Madrid, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana; East Europe Foundation (EEF), Moldova; Centre des Etudes Méditerranéennes et Internationales (CEMI), Tunisia; and Institute of Constitutional Policy (ICP), Kyrgyzstan.
The programme operates at two levels of intervention: In Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tunisia, national projects promote a culture of dialogue and trust by facilitating cooperation between the key stakeholders on a collectively identified policy issue. At the global level, INSPIRED aggregates and coordinates the outcomes of these four projects with a view to developing an operational model for facilitating inclusive policy dialogue processes in contexts of democratic transition. This operational model will take the form of a Handbook for practitioners.
To learn more about the INSPIRED approach to facilitating inclusive policy dialogue, please visit the Methodology page on the INSPIRED website.
Target groups of this call for contributions:
This call for contributions is addressed to independent experts as well as representatives of international organisations, NGOs or think tanks with practical knowledge and experience in the following three fields:
- Policy dialogue
- Mediation and peace building
- Institution building
Objective:
The objective is to gather input for the development of the INSPIRED handbook on facilitating “Inclusive Dialogue on Policy Reform” in contexts of democratic transition.
In the last decade, Policy Dialogue has become a key tool to promote substantial changes in developing countries, but one of its main downfalls is that it is too donor driven. Here at INSPIRED we feel that it is time to revert this top-down approach, in which donors discuss with governments the measures to be undertaken in a given policy area. Decisions need to be collectively agreed through a locally-driven dialogue process in which the key stakeholders are involved.
In this respect, we believe that donors should provide a space for dialogue at local level. Thus, there is a need to put in place facilitation mechanisms that may help to build trust amongst otherwise confronted stakeholders.
Finally, for the sake of ownership and long-term sustainability of policy reform, these dialogue processes should help local stakeholder to jointly identify priorities for institution building that could feed the programming cycle of donors, ensuring the pertinence and consistency of the technical assistance provided to partner countries.
How to participate:
We invite practitioners to take part in the lessons learned process with a view to broadening the practical base of the INSPIRED handbook by jointly analysing good and best practices in the fields of policy dialogue, mediation and institution building. Contributions can take the form of “cases” or other, less structured, postings on the INSPIRED website.
Participants need to register first to create a public user profile on the INSPIRED website. Click here for registration. Registered users can create a “case” on the cases page of the website. A case provides general information about a policy dialogue process. It includes a short executive summary and a description of objectives, results, the policy context and lessons learned.
A case should be described in a concise way, as the aim is to give a snapshot of a policy dialogue project or initiative, that can serve as a basis for discussion among the users of the website.
The authors of cases that are most interesting and useful for the purpose of writing the INSPIRED Handbook will be asked to elaborate longer “Best practice” papers that will be included in the handbook.
Why participate
INSPIRED offers an opportunity for practitioners to exchange ideas and experiences through an easy-to-use website. Moreover, EPD will select the most relevant contributions for inclusion in the upcoming INSPIRED Handbook, clearly mentioning their authors.
Other ways to participate:
Next to sharing cases on the INSPIRED website, there are three consecutive steps for taking part in the INSPIRED lessons learned process:
1) Send us information about cases on policy dialogue that you have come across during your career and that you think that might illustrate key findings about how things should – or should not – be done to promote the inclusiveness and pluralism of policy dialogue. Contact: [email protected].
2) Share your experiences with us in a phone or Skype call.
3) (By invitation only) Take part in a workshop that we will be organising in Madrid on 2-4 July 2014 and which will gather representatives from relevant organisations/institutions as well as individual practitioners and experts around the INSPIRED lessons learned process.
Participants can contribute to the INSPIRED lessons learned process and the Handbook according to their availability and interests.
Additional information and questions:
Please contact [email protected].
