Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness is a global process led by civil society organizations to bring the collective vision of organized people's groups into the international aid and international development policy and practice.
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Historical background
The Open Forum is part of the international aid effectiveness process, which started in the early 2000s to address the ways to improve aid performance. To date, four High Level Forums on Aid Effectiveness have taken place in Rome, Italy (2003), Paris, France (2005), Accra, Ghana (2008) and Busan, Republic of Korea (2011). At first, discussions on aid effectiveness were mostly led by donors and partner governments. But at the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2008, civil society achieved recognition of independent development actor. Civil society is an important partner in the International Health Partnership (IHP+), which puts international principles for effective aid and development cooperation into practice in the health sector. Open Forum was created in June 2008 with the aim to build a global civil society consensus on the role and effectiveness of CSOs in development.
Worldwide consultations
To achieve its objective, Open Forum facilitated numerous national, regional, global and thematic consultations with CSOs around the world regarding the standards that guide their work.
International framework
The agreement coming out of the Open Forum consultations is titled the Siem Reap Consensus on the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness. It is a collective statement by CSOs from different countries and regions on the common standards guiding their development work. The International Framework is notable in that it consolidates inputs of a multitude of civil society actors from across the world in one statement. It was finalized at the Open Forum Global Assembly in Siem Reap, Cambodia (June 2011).
Istanbul Principles
The eight Istanbul Principles for CSO Development Effectiveness are part of the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness. They came out of the Open Forum consultations as the guiding values for the development work of CSOs. The Istanbul Principles were endorsed at the Global Assembly of the Open Forum Istanbul, Turkey (September 2010) and include:
- Respect and promote human rights and social justice;
- Embody gender equality and equity while promoting women and girls' rights;
- Focus on people's empowerment, democratic ownership and participation;
- Promote environmental sustainability;
- Practice transparency and accountability;
- Pursue equitable partnerships and solidarity;
- Create and share knowledge and commit to mutual learning;
- Commit to realizing positive sustainable change
Global Partnership
The 4th High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Busan, Republic of Korea, 2011), or HLF4, was the first time that civil society officially took part in negotiations on aid effectiveness on an equal basis with partner governments and donors. The outcome agreement of HLF4 – the Global Partnership for Effective Development – includes both the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness and the Istanbul Principles in its Article 22
In conjunction with HLF4, the Istanbul Principles have received recognition from individual development stakeholders including the United States and the European Union.
Talaat Abdel-Malek, who formerly chaired the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, explains the structure of the new Global Partnership in an interview in the magazine D+C Development and Cooperation.