Advocacy
The EPD aims at integrating the experiences from local partners in the field and the associated organizations more closely into the policy making process of the official EU institutions under its Advocacy Instrument. The information gathered in the context of the Knowledge Hub function should harness the efforts of the EPD which aim at strengthening the voice of democracy assistance organizations in Brussels. Compared to the well-established networks of Development, Human Rights and Peace Building organizations, the Democracy Assistance organizations have only recently begun organizing themselves at the European level. The EPD aims to facilitate the process of democracy promoters becoming better organized in Brussels, alongside other existing initiatives, with the ultimate goal of underlining democracy assistance as one of the core pillars for EU external policies.
Sustained security and development depend on democratic political systems. Democracy is Europe's core value on which our prosperity and peace is built. Could this, therefore, not become a more visible and operational pillar of EU foreign policy? Democracy assistance can be a strategic element of Europe's soft power approach, understanding that democracy can not be exported but it can be supported. And Europe has much to offer in this complex matter. Within the EU there are 27 different democratic political systems. Europeans know that democracy has to grow from within. Europe has valuable experience in combining democracy with social justice, with the enforcement of universally recognized human rights, and with peaceful transitions from authoritarian regimes. For fifty years, Europe has been creating a ‘community of democracy' and using its market size and the promise of engagement to reshape societies from the inside. The challenge currently is to expand the success with which the EU has set democratic standards for accession countries, by means of the Kopenhagen criteria, to other countries, which don't have the prospect of acceding the EU.
Although the EU has well-developed modalities for democracy assistance, like the European Development Funds (EDF) governance incentive, the attention for democracy assistance in the regional instruments and the thematic European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), and most prominently the attention for democracy standards in its agreements with third countries. Whereas the EU instruments are in place already, it's on the implementation part where the EPD Advocacy Instrument aims to contribute. EPD aims to foster and facilitate the ‘unity of purpose' amongst democracy assistance organizations to advocate strong reinforcement mechanisms in this area, complementary to existing efforts on the part of the EU, individual member states and civil society organizations, the EPD. There is much advocacy and educational work to be done on the disconnections between programme designers, practitioners, and assessors, and between the very different actors who are involved in democracy promotion. EPD Advocacy will look for opportunities to show-case the value added of civil society organizations next to the efforts of the EU and its Member States in democracy assistance.
EPD secretariat and the associated organizations will come up with the advocacy initiatives which should be executed by the future EPD Secretariat's Executive Director, in cooperation with members of the Board of Directors or specialists from associated organizations. Tools for advocacy can vary from organizing and participating in meetings and lectures to disseminating policy papers, joint statements, the full communications strategy and participating in consultation processes with EU institutions. In all activities it is very important for the EPD to explicitly define the constituency of a particular Advocacy act, which can consist of varying consortia of organizations. The Advocacy instrument within EPD is connected to the Knowledge Hub by means of information exchange on EU policies, calls for proposals and training in dealing with EU requirements for project management, based on the demands amongst associated organizations.