Future of development cooperation discussed at the Slovenian Development Days

4. 10. 2017 | PR

The eighth Slovenian Development Days, organised by the igrationinistry of Foreign Affairs started today in Ljubljana. Two-day event was opened with a series of discussions on future implementation of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana.

This years’ Development Days were opened by Prof Dr Monika Kalin Golob, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Karl Erjavec, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and Sabina R. Stadler, Director General for Multilateral Affairs, Development Cooperation and International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. Representatives from the Ministry stressed the importance of the new Resolution on International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid of the Republic of Slovenia, which will serve as a basis for future strategies and laws leading to enhanced and more focus development and humanitarian aid projects.

Representatives of the Centre for European Perspective participated at the presentation of the new strategic and legal frameworks for international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance delivered by Andrej Logar, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and the presentation of the OECD DAC Peer Review conclusions on Slovenian development cooperation and humanitarian assistance by Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee at OECD. Petri Gornitzka congratulated Slovenia on successful cooperation with OECD through the Peer Review process. She stressed the importance of peer reviews for the future cooperation and direction of development aid, while the recommendations are to be used as a baseline for Slovenia’s future strategies on the topic. Petri Gornitzka presented 17 conclusions and recommendations resulting from the Peer Review. On one side she presented topics where Slovenia has showed progress, namely in reforming the institutional system, building development expertise, broadening stakeholders ownership, active advocacy, commitment to gender equality, as well as using comparative advantages. On the other side, Slovenia still has work to do in the field of defining strategic directions of approaching poverty reduction in the middle income countries, as well as working on thematic and geographical focus of its development aid; in reviewing business model to enhance impact of bilateral programme; Slovenia should consider the helpfulness of multilateral organisations in achieving strategic aims; make Framework Programme a comprehensive, whole-of-government tool; mainstreaming gender and environment across development co-operation; defining the nature of strategic partnerships with NGOs and private sector; improving transparency about international development; encouraging stakeholders to integrate evaluation and building knowledge and experience in fragile contexts.

Since the first Peer Review of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was carried out in Slovenia at the beginning of 2017 with the aim of reviewing the implementation of the development cooperation and humanitarian assistance commitments this year’s Slovenian Development Days hosted a panel discussion, moderated by Dr Boštjan Udovič of Faculty of Social Sciences. The panellists Andrej Logar, Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Marjeta Jager, DEVCO Deputy Director General at the European Commission, Lotta Karlsson, Director for Administrative and Legal Development Cooperation Matters, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Albin Keuc, Director of SLOGA Platform, addressed the opportunities and challenges of development cooperation, deriving from the recommendations of the Peer Review that provide orientations for future work, and indicates the priorities and challenges of Slovenia’s development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. Special emphasis was given on the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders, development agencies, ministries, NGOs and companies.

A project titled “Global for local – local for global” was presented, where students of Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Education, under the leadership of two mentors, prof. dr. Maja Bučar and Ms Adriana Aralica, SLOGA, were enhancing young people’s awareness about sustainable development through the prism of migration and disseminating sustainable development goals together with the Agenda for sustainable development 2030. A multidisciplinary group of students prepared 10 sets of contents on the objectives of sustainable development through the prism of migration and verified them with the implementation of workshops in Ljubljana. Prepared contents are intended for teaching staff to support them in addressing sustainable development and the migration in the classroom.

A special workshop, moderated by Dr Melita Gabrič, Acting Head of the Department for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance, was carried out on the topic of DAC Peer Review recommendations and their implementation, focusing on interministerial cooperation, improvements of the Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) and mainstreaming of the cross-cutting issues (gender equality and environment).

An insight of children and youngsters was contributed through the opening of the exhibition “Europe at School”. The exhibition presents the awarded works created for the competition ‘The World I Want to Live In’ by children and young people from elementary and secondary schools who participated in four categories: art, writing, photo and video.

The second day of the event will focus on the role of the Slovenian private sector in development cooperation, integration of Slovenian companies and investments.

CEP at the Conference marking the 20th Anniversary of Slovenia’s participation in the IOM

3. 10. 2017 | PR

Among a series of events marking the 20^th anniversary of Slovenia’s participation in international operations and missions (IOM) Centre for European Perspectives today participates at the inter-ministerial conference entitled 20 Years in the Service of Peace at the Brdo Congress Centre. CEP’s project manager Ivana Boštjančič Pulko addressed the panel entitled “Slovenian Police and 20 Years of Commitment to International Security”.

The two-day inter-ministerial conference organised by the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs started on 2 of October 2017. Today’s first panel entitled “Slovenian Police and 20 Years of Commitment to International Security” was opened by Vesna Györkös Žnidar, Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, and continued with a discussion moderated by Mr Vladimir Pocek, Head of International Police Operations Division, Service of the Director General of the Police.

Ivana Boštjančič Pulko contributed an insight into the importance of civilian contribution to peacekeeping and conflict prevention. She emphasized that it is necessary that civilians deployed to the missions are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge before their deployment and that training should be specifically emphasized in terms of improving the effectiveness of the missions. She explicitly thanked the Slovenian Police and the Armed Forces for offering extensive support in CEP training activities, preparing the international civilians to be deployed to the civilian peacekeeping missions.

CEP has been offering various types of certified trainings in the last decade and this field is gaining its importance especially through recognising the concept of ‘duty of care’ by the seconding authorities. She furthermore underlined that various countries follow different approaches related to secondments of civilians, for example Germany seconds approximately one civilian per seven military personnel, or Finland one to five, whereas this ratio in Slovenia stands for over 20 military secondments per one civilian, those being primarily police officers in EU missions.

CEP has been also researching the effectiveness of EU missions and operations in the last years, partnering with various think tanks and universities though various projects and plans to further strengthen its analytical part related to peacekeeping and conflict prevention.

The panel was addressed by panellists Anton Pozvek, Secretary General of Sever Association, Boris Kankaraš, Head of Port Security Department at Port of Koper, Ernest Salkič, President of the Association of Peacekeepers in Peacekeeping Missions, Edo Behlič, Senior Police Inspector at the Police Directorate Ljubljana, Robert Urek, Senior Police Inspector at the International Police Operations Division and Assist. Prof. Maja Garb from Faculty of Social Sciences as well. They focused on police perspective of peacekeeping and discussed the history of Slovenian contribution to civilian missions as well as development of the national civilian peacekeeping platform and its challenges.

This year Slovenia marks 20th anniversary of its first deployment to an international peacekeeping mission. That first secondment was to the Operation ALBA in Albania in 1997, under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – the first international organisation Slovenia joined as an independent state 25 years ago.

Republic of Slovenia has in the past 20 years continuously upgraded and enhanced its participation in the efforts for international peace and security with military and civilian capabilities, and has established itself as a reliable member of the international community committed to solidarity and international peace and ready to take on an active role in joint efforts to support security and stability in different crisis areas. The Republic of Slovenia has so far deployed over 5,300 members of the Slovenian Armed Forces and civilian functional experts to a total of 25 international operations and missions under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO and other international organisations, or within bilateral relations or coalitions. As part of international stabilisation efforts, 174 members of the Police have also participated in 16 international civilian missions, and three representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have taken part in three international missions. It should be noted that a considerable proportion of these participants were deployed several times, which is why the total number of deployments to international operations and missions exceeds 13,500. About 345 members of the Slovenian Armed Forces and civilian functional experts, 12 police officers and a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are currently active under the auspices of NATO, the EU and the UN, and within other frameworks.

Access for more information about the event here: https://www.20letmom.si/en/

Check out our Photo Gallery here: