ABOUT US
BACKGROUND
Hungary's accession to the European Union and OECD membership have made urgent the development of the institutions, structures and mechanisms of an effective international development co-operation policy. While the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has won Cabinet approval for a concept paper to develop an ODA mechanism, Hungarian NGOs working abroad on humanitarian and development issues have recognised the need of setting up a Hungarian NGDO Association.
Since September 2002 CIDA-ODACE has been supporting and assisting the consolidation of a representative body for Hungarian NGDOs. From December 2002 several NGOs kept on meeting regularly as an informal association and worked together on issues of common interest. They finally signed an MOU confirming their commitment to cooperate within the Hungarian NGDO Association. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Hungarian Interchurch Aid played a considerable role in initiating and supporting the setting up of the Association. HIA and other NGOs laid the groundwork for mapping the interested NGDOs, for assessing the different approaches of the organisations and for shaping the various views into an agreement on the future work of the platform.
The initially informally established Association focused on conceptual issues, such as the definition of the Association's basic principles, the ethical charter, the articulation of a representative strategy for the sector, details regarding the Association's functioning etc.
The Founding Assembly of the Platform was held in Budapest on the 24th of June 2003. The Assembly has unanimously accepted the Statute and elected for one year the members of the Board and the Chairman. The Association was established by 12 ordinary members and 5 observers who have clearly defined a membership fee system as well proportional to their budget. The Association was legally registered on the 7th November 2003. Since November 2003 the number of the member organisations has increased to 20.
According to the Statutes of the Platform it operates in the form of an association and is open at any time to all civil organisations and foundations fulfilling certain well-defined conditions.
MISSION, OBJECTIVES AND BASIC PRINCIPLES
The principal mission of the Association is to contribute to the formulation of an effective, transparent and sustainable development cooperation policy, based on years of professional experience of the member organisations. In this process the Association aims at becoming a co-operative partner of the Hungarian governmental bodies.
The Association has the following set of objectives:
ˇ it aims at consolidating the new Hungarian NGDO Association as a valuable stakeholder in the national ODA system.
• the Association intends to promote common interests, active cooperation, communication and partnership with governmental bodies, the European Union or international and foreign institutions involved in the area of development cooperation and humanitarian aid.
• it aims at raising public awareness on humanitarian issues, sustainable development and on the promotion of volunteer participation in the civil society.
• it has the objective of partnership assistance (intermediation) and of ensuring an appropriate flow of information.
On the basis of the following principles, the Association intends to put the accent on the necessity of social dialog in the field of cooperation for development policy:
• The development cooperation concept should underline and enhance the promotion of democratic institutions and the civil society at a local level, with respect in particular to the protection of peace, human rights and social justice.
• The development cooperation concept should stress on the development of educational and health care systems at local level, through the involvement of the NGOs.
• The development cooperation concept must redefine the role of such organizations that were operating in the fields of scientific and technical cooperation during the 60's and 70's, in order to avoid the reformulation of the old mechanisms.
• Cooperation for development should not be instrumented to serve foreign trade and economic interests.
• With a view not to contribute to the deterioration of the environment, development should be sustainable in both ecological and social approach.
• A new debate involving civil society actors is needed in order to define the target territories and activities.
• Efforts should be concentrated on public awareness raising at all levels of society towards development, humanitarian issues and voluntary participation in the civil society.
• The United Nation's Millennium goals should appear in the concrete concepts.
HAND ACTIVITIES
1. Representation of the NGDO sector
1.1 Liaison and communication with the Hungarian MFA and other Hungarian governmental bodies.
1.2 Liaison and communication with international stakeholders of development cooperation (CONCORD, CIDA-ODACE, TRIALOG, European institutions).
1.3 Initiation/preparation of discussion and policy papers.
2. Awareness Raising Campaign
2.1 Development of a public awareness campaign and a communication strategy for HAND.
2.2 Creation of a website, basic identity materials introducing HAND's aims, organization and structure. Also preparation and diffusion of materials presenting the member organisations, their successful work and projects in developing countries, which may include the publication and divulgation of reports on the activities, some public educational and advertising material.
2.3 Preparation of funding proposals, implementation of programmes, based on success of funding possibilities.
3. Services to member organisations
3.1 Connection and intermediation between members and ensuring a transparent and collaborative flow of information.
3.2 Development and management of services for members, such as training opportunities, research missions, study visits to other NGOs and donors, etc. Concretely:
• Promotion of CIDA-ODACE activities, selection of participants, ensuring the collectivisation of their mission reports
• Identification of training needs of HAND members, and collaboration with ODACE and TRIALOG in developing a regional training programme to address these needs.
3.3 Preparing proposals for future HU-MFA capacity building programs; preparation of a pilot mechanism for program and project implementation.
Board
Mr. László Adányi - Caritas Hungarica
Mr. Péter Reicher - Hungarian Volunteersending Foundation
Mr. Gábor Bálint - Hungarian Interchurch Aid
Mr. Balázs Lerner - Anthropolis Anthropological Public Benefit Association
Mr. Balázs Sátor - Civil Society Development Foundation
The President:
Mr. Balázs Sátor - Civil Society Development Foundation
Board of supervision
