News
CATEGORY: Information dissemination, Organisation of Events
LOCATION: Belgium
START/END: 2016
CONSULTANCY BUDGET: 447 547,00
CLIENT: European Commission
ORIGIN OF FUNDING: European Commission, EuropeAid
LDK’s BUDGET SHARE: 100%
STAFF PROVIDED: 6
Type of Services
The services provided by the Consultant included the following:
- Overall preparation, coordination and follow up of the event
- Production and distribution of invitations
- Travel arrangements (booking, purchasing and delivery of tickets) for 129 participants
- Assistance to obtain a Visa for 11 participants
- Hotel reservations and payments for 129 participants for 758 room nights at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (4 stars)
- Booking and hiring of appropriate conference room for plenary sessions and break out rooms for parallel sessions
- Provision of audiovisual equipment (sound and projection equipment) in the a.m. rooms
- Catering services, 10 coffee breaks and 5 lunches and one welcome dinner, and one cocktail dinner was organised for all participants
- Preparing name badges and conference kits, photocopies
- Production of publications
- Hiring 2 experts for the EIDHR projects database updates
Description
The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR1) was renewed and strengthened for 2014-2020. This thematic instrument is the European Union's main financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights in its external relations.
The general objectives of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights are to contribute to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law as well as to the respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, within the framework of the European Union’s policy on development cooperation with third countries and consistently with the EU’s foreign policy as a whole.
The EIDHR is designed to help civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defense of human rights. Building on its key strength, which is the ability to operate without the need for host government consent, the EIDHR is able to focus on sensitive political issues and innovative approaches and to cooperate directly with local civil society organisations which need to preserve independence from public authorities, providing for great flexibility and increased capacity to respond to changing circumstances.
In addition, the Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO/LA) programme under the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) encourages civil society (i.e. non-state actors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and citizens’ organisations) and local authorities to play a greater role in development strategies.
In this context, the European Commission organised a forum that brought together the EIDHR and CSO/LA focal points from EU Delegation in third countries, in charge of implementing the instrument in the field. It focused on bringing qualitative support to on-going work related to EIDHR and CSO/LA implementation.
The objective of this assignment was to assist the European Commission with the preparation, organisation and follow-up of the Forum of Delegations' EIDHR and CSO/LA Focal Points to take place in Brussels on 1-5 February 2016. This forum was organised by the European Commission in the interest of the EIDHR and CSO/LA grant beneficiaries and provided a platform for an interactive exchange of between EIDHR and CSO/LA HQ staff and Delegation staff on the implementation of EIDHR and CSO/LA-related operations in the ground, such as the EIDHR Country Based Support Scheme (CBSS). The forum lasted for five days and was divided into plenary sessions with keynote speakers and several parallel workshops. The forum brought together a maximum of 258 participants, 129 of them were sponsored participants, i.e. their travel and accommodation costs were covered by the project for them.
