The 11th edition of the Romanian Development Camp took place between 26th-28th of June 2019, gathering over 100 participants for plenary sessions and workshops with experts in development and international cooperation. We had a wide variety of representatives – from governmental and EU institutions, national development platforms from the European Union, civil society organisations which are active in development and cooperation, young volunteers, journalists and the private sector.
This year’s edition was organised within the framework of the EU Presidency Project, ‘Towards open, fair and sustainable Europe in the world`, implemented in trio in the context of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, thus ensuring the involvement of civil society organisations for the next Presidencies. We marked this edition with several special sessions dedicated to our project and the overall thematic of the Presidency to the Council of the EU.
Not only did the Romanian Development Camp provide a networking space for stakeholders in the development and international cooperation sector, but it also marked a symbolic moment of passing the baton from the Romanian EU Presidency to the Finnish one! We had the pleasure to host the Closing Session with the participation of Ms. Katja Ahlfors, Director of Unit, General Development Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, who presented the official Presidency programme of Finland for the following 6 months, at the Council of the European Union.
These kind of events are really important, because is a reminder that EU and EU cooperation is about everyone in the EU, and civil society makes a really important part of it. Congratulations to the Romanian Presidency, that gives us a very good starting point!
An added value of this event was the fact that we could enjoy the presence of our project partners! Already drawing to an end the Romanian Presidency to the Council of the EU, we appealed to our partners from Finland and Croatia to explain the importance and uniqueness of the EU Presidency Project and the priorities of their national development platforms during the following 12 months.
See Rilli Lappalainen – Advocacy Director, Fingo (Finland) and Gordan Bosanac – Advocacy Expert, CROSOL (Croatia), perfectly complementing each other’s interventions during this interview carried out by Euractiv Romania!
You are also able to read all about the 11th edition of the Romanian Development Camp in our comprehensive report, that is available on our Resources page! For more photos from the event, check FOND Romania’s Facebook page.