The UN and UNDP in Brussels

Recent Events

15-17 November 2008
European Development Days 2008 The European Development Days will take place in Strasbourg, 15-17 November 2008. The main theme will be local governance in its political, economic and social dimension. The issue of climate change and food security will also be discussed in specific round tables or side events. For more information visit www.eudevdays.eu .

1-5 December 2008
EC-UNDP-IDEA Training on effective electoral assistance The next Joint Training will be held in Brussels, 1-5 December, within the premises of the European Commission. The course will follow the already developed five days structure on how to provide an effective electoral assistance. Further information is available on www.ec-undp-electoralassistance.org .

2-4 December 2008
A "Migration for Development Knowledge Fair", organised by the EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative, will showcase ongoing Migration and Development initiatives from around the world, on 2-4 December in Brussels. Civil society actors will be present to share their knowledge and discuss how they have made migration work for development. The Joint Migration and Development Initiative is currently mapping existing initiatives in the critical area of Migration and Development. This new global programme, implemented by UNDP under a partnership with IOM, UNHCR, ILO and UNFPA, is focusing on four areas: remittances, migrants' capacities and skills, migrants' communities and networks, and rights. To support the efforts of civil society organisations in Migration and Development a Call for Proposals will be launched in December 2008 to provide €11 million in the form of small grants to initiatives in sixteen target countries. Further information is available on www.migration4development.org .


4 December 2008
Latin America workshop with the European Commission On 4 December, in the framework of the annual strategic partnership consultation between the European Commission and UNDP RBLAC, a workshop on Latin America will take place in Brussels.

23-28 June 2008 - EC-UNDP-IDEA Training on effective electoral assistance in Maputo, Mozambique

The latest EC-UNDP-IDEA Training on effective electoral assistance was held on 23-28 June 2008 in the city of Maputo, Mozambique. The training is an activity in the context of the "Global Platform on Effective Electoral Assistance" and of the relative subgroup on Effective Electoral Assistance that the EC-UNDP Joint Task Force coordinates within the Train 4 DEV initiative. The course was therefore not just opened to selected EC-UNDP staff, but also staff of other interested development partners, staff of other international organizations dealing with electoral assistance, electoral management bodies, national authorities and civil society organizations.

24 – 25 April 2008 - UN-EC Desk-to-desk dialogue on conflict prevention

On 24 – 25 April 2008, the EU (Commission and Council) and the UN (Department of Political Affairs, with participation from the UN/UNDP Brussels office and UNDP headquarters) held the 7th Desk-to-desk dialogue on conflict prevention by videoconference. The meetings focused on Northern Uganda and Central Asia, including UN mediation activities in Northern Uganda, the Juba peace process and its implications for the region; for Central Asia they focused on the new UN Regional Centre for preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat and the respective cooperation of the EU and the UN with regional organizations in border management.

21 April 2008 - Annual Consultations between the Belgian Government and UNDP

Annual consultations with the Government of Belgium were held on 21 April 2008, led on UNDP’s side by Bruce Jenks, Director of the Partnership Bureau. The Belgian government continues to be a proactive supporter of multilateralism and the UN which absorb some 40% of its Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget. As part of its policy of concentration of partners, Belgium has cut back to 21 (from 28) the number of UN organizations to be supported. It prioritizes UNDP within its dual function of coordination of the UN development system. Belgium has rationalised its priority areas; its specific interests of immediate relevance to UNDP’s work include: governance and anti-corruption, crisis prevention and recovery, climate change and an emphasis on Central Africa. Belgium will continue supporting the Global Programme on Parliamentary Strengthening. The indications are that Belgium will maintain a core contribution to UNDP of just over €14m for 2008, rising to some €15.5m in 2009 and subsequent years. Particularly important is its leadership in making multi-year commitments to the UNDP core budget.

13 March 2008 - Director level dialogue between the European Commission and UNDP on Africa

On 13 March 2008, the first ever Director level dialogue on Africa between UNDP and the EC was held in Brussels, in follow-up to the December 2007 High level review of the Strategic Partnership Agreement between UNDP and the EC. The UNDP team comprised of Regional Bureau for Africa’s Deputy Director for Policy and Strategy, and that of West and Central Africa, the Director and Senior Advisors of UNDP Brussels, the Resident Coordinators/Resident Representatives of Kenya and Nigeria, and the Country Director for Sierra Leone.

31 January & 1 February 2008 - EU-UN Steering Committee on crisis management

The 8th EU-UN Steering Committee on Crisis Management, co-chaired by Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Council of the EU, met in Brussels on 31 January and 1 February, 2008 to discuss the situation in Kosovo, Sudan/Darfur, Chad/Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic of Congo /Kibu and their respective programmes of support to the African Union. A segment of the meeting reviewed the themes of elections in a crisis management perspective and security sector reform - both topics likely to be the subject of further dialogue between the EU and the UN. On the UN side, Department of Peacekeeping Operations(DPKO) was accompanied by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UNDP, while the Council of the EU was accompanied by the European Commission.

31 January & 1 February 2008 - Visit of Ad Melkert, Associate Administrator, in Brussels for meetings with EU

Ad Melkert, UNDP Associate Administrator, visited Brussels on 31 January and 1 February 2008 for meetings with the European Council and Commission. Discussions with the Deputy Director-General of the European Council focused on coordinating UN and EU development activities in Kosovo.

7-9 November 2007 - UN presence at 2nd European Development Days in Lisbon

The second annual European Development Day took place in Lisbon, 7-9 November 2007, with a focus on Climate Change. The Days are organized by the European Commission to raise public awareness about development cooperation. The UN presence included a joint UN stand, and high level officials who took part in debates and roundtables, namely: DERVIS Kemal, (Chairperson of UN Development Group and UNDP Administrator) BÅGE Lennart (International Fund for Agricultural Development President), DAVIDSON Ogunlade (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change), DE BOER Yvo (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary), JARRAUD Michel (World Meteorological Organization Secretary General), STEINER Achim (United Nations Environmental Programme Executive Director), SHEERAN Josette (World Food Programme Executive Director), SIERRA Katherine (World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development and Climate Change), TIBAIJUKA Anna (UN-HABITAT Executive Director).

6 December 2007 - Strategic Partnership Agreement review between the European Commission (EC) and UNDP

The first high-level review of the EC-UNDP Strategic Partnership Agreement took place on 6 December 2007, UNDP was represented by Administrator Kemal Dervis, who was accompanied from New York by the Regional Director for Africa, Gilbert Houngbo, and the Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), Kathleen Cravero. The Agreement, signed in 2004, defined governance, conflict prevention and recovery as priority areas for cooperation between the two institutions. The high-level review of the Agreement was undertaken with the four principal EC Directorate Generals for UNDP – Development, External Affairs, Enlargement and European Cooperation Office. It provided an important opportunity to take stock of the intensified cooperation that has developed, including through EC-UNDP programmatic cooperation in over 70 countries. The joint task force-approach to cooperation around electoral assistance was highlighted by both parties as a best practice of the partnership that should be replicated in other areas. The EC and UNDP agreed to work more closely together in other governance areas, including possibly strengthening of parliamentary systems, justice and security sector reform and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR). Both sides stressed the importance of finding appropriate ways to work more closely together on climate change and development.

4-6 December 2007 - Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator, in Brussels for meetings with EU

Kemal Derviş, UNDP Administrator, visited Brussels, 4-6 December 2007. During his visit, he launched the UN-World Bank-Friends of Europe Development Policy Forum, speaking on the issue of “Should climate change alter development policy thinking?” Together with the Commissioner for External Trade, he also participated in a Policy Network High Level Seminar on “Globalization, Risk and Inequality: Towards a Dynamic Approach to Sustainable Growth”.

Mr. Derviş had a series of meetings with European institutions, including leading the first High-Level Review of the UNDP-EC Strategic Partnership Agreement, and bilateral meetings with the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Council; the European Commissioners for External relations and for the Environment. He met the President of the European Parliament and also addressed the Committee on Development of the European Parliament, presenting the UNDP Human Development Report and the EC-UN Partnership Report on the results in 2006 of EC-UN cooperation.

19-20 November 2007 - Visit of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) to UN Headquarters

A delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs visited the UN Headquarters, 19-20 November 2007. The MEP’s programme focused on four subjects: peace and security, promotion of democracy, counter-terrorism and UN reform, where EU/UN cooperation was an overarching theme. The delegation concluded that it was important to explore new ways of strengthening the existing cooperation and complementarities between the UN and the EU at headquarters and in the field (in terms of assistance, Special Envoys and Special Representatives). A list of proposals has been raised in a Recommendation of the European Parliament to the Council for the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations.

12 - 13 November 2007 - From Early Warning to Early Action Conference

From 12 to 13 November 2007, the European Commission, EU Presidency and the Council of the EU organized a conference titled ‘From Early Warning to Early Action’ to review priorities in crisis response and linkages to the EU’s long-term conflict prevention and peace-building efforts and to evaluate how to improve tools to assess, plan and respond to crises. During the conference, the European Commission launched the Peace-building Partnership – established under the crisis-preparedness component of the Instrument for Stability –which aims at mobilizing civilian expertise for peace-building through closer co-operation with civil society, think-tanks and national authorities. A number of UNDP panellists from UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery participated in the event.

12-13 November 2007 - UN-EC Desk-to-desk dialogue on conflict prevention

On 12-13 November 2007, the European Union (European Commission and Council) and the United Nations (Department of Political Affairs, with participation from the UN/UNDP Brussels office) held the 6th desk-to-desk dialogue on conflict prevention. The meetings focused on West Africa, Chad, Somalia, the Great Lakes region, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The European Commission updated the United Nations on recent policy developments such as: the EC Communication on situations of fragility, the Joint paper of the European Commission and the Council on security and development and the Stability Instrument. The United Nations updated the European Commission on the restructuring of the Department of Political Affairs which was set in motion by the United Nations Secretary-General.