Pfd meeting

Getting Stronger, Moving Bolder through Partnerships

Middle East and Neighborhood South Multi-stakeholder Meeting, the Changing Nature of Partnerships: Impacts in the Region and in EU Development Policy, Dead Sea, Jordan, 3-4 October 2017.

STRONG collaboration is essential in keeping relevant and related stakeholders to move at the same pace and rhythm in order to achieve common goal. The European Union (EU) has been fully aware of this and therefore took further action to strengthen its engagement with its members, particularly in Middle East region. This was the foundation for the EU, through its Policy Forum on Development (PFD), to hold the “Middle East and Neighborhood South Multi-stakeholder Meeting, the Changing Nature of Partnerships: Impacts in the Region and in EU Development Policy,� at Dead Sea, Jordan, 3-4 October 2017. The Multi-stakeholder meeting was successfully held as it brought a number and variety of actors in the Middle East sub-region which has been experiencing challenges.

This meeting refreshed attendees on the relevance of PFD: its rationale, objectives, and also milestones. Providing comprehensive information, this PFD multi stakeholder meeting also highlighted updates on regional and global policy, as well as brief review of the status of EU roadmaps for engagement with civil society for the region and future plans. As the name

suggests, this PFD meeting did not miss to address regional factors that must be prioritized in addressing SDGs. Moreover, becoming a platform that encourages collaboration and partnership, the Multi-stakeholder PFD meeting ensured a slot to rise up discussion relating to regional specific challenges in implementing the 2030 agenda.

In conjunction with the Multi-stakeholder Meeting, the Task Team members held a meeting on 5 October 2017, to discuss the PFD Strategic Planning and products as well as the upcoming activities. Regional proposals including the one from Asia and the Pacific region were discussed which would then be elaborated for further details and submitted to EU. The Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC has served as a PDF Task Team member for the period of 2017-2019 and joined the meeting. Participation of UCLG ASPAC in bringing the voice of local governments to the global level has been counted not only to enrich the forum, but also shaped the policy formulation of suitable partnership to reach common goal.

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