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Development Policy Review Network

Development Policy28 Nov 2007The Broker

This autumn the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN) held several meetings aimed at encouraging debate between academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field of development in the Netherlands and Flanders. To overcome the ‘difficult-to-bridge gap’ between these groups, every year the Network organizes meetings about 13 selected regions in the developing world. Each regional meeting focuses on a specific issue, and the DPRN publishes reports with policy recommendations online.

The DPRN began as an initiative of the Netherlands Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES) in 2003. Apart from organizing meetings, DPRN also compiles so-called ‘expertise inventories’ – lists of ‘who’s who’ in academia and policy making about the different regions, as well as on specific themes. For this purpose, the nework has created a new web portal, Global Connections, where experts can create their own profile for inclusion in a database of experts on all kinds of themes and regions.

Every year DPRN also organizes a thematic meeting. This year’s, in Maastricht, was organized by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN). At this meeting, entitled ‘European development cooperation: Does more mean better?’ representatives of the European Commission made presentations explaining various aspects of the Commission’s development policy. In an intriguing presentation, Koos Richelle, Director-General of the EuropeAid coordination office, showed how knowledge is (or too often is not) used in the formulation of European development policies. Francoise Moreau, head of unit the Forward Looking Studies and Policy Coherence for Development of the DG Development, introduced the recently adopted EU Report on Policy Coherence for Development, the writing and compiling of which she directed. Several speakers in Maastricht commented on the report, which describes the efforts and challenges ahead. Although steps have been made, there is still a long way to go.

References

European Commission (2007) EU Report on Policy Coherence for Development, DE139. Brussels: DG Development.
ECDPM (2007) European development cooperation: Does more mean better? DPRN thematic meeting report 2007.