The European Partnership for Democracy is a network of not for profit organisations whose Secretariat is based in Brussels, and working on supporting democracy worldwide. EPD is the most important European network of specialised civil and political society organisations actively involved in democracy support in European Union partner countries. This multi-specialised European community of practitioners is composed of fourteen European organisations from eleven EU Member States present in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.. The organisations composing EPD have a global presence and together they implemented over the past five years 200 democracy assistance projects around the world in roughly 140 countries for a total of 100 million in funding, mostly coming from the EU and/or EU Member States. EPD presidency is held by the European Association for Local Democracy. The vice-presidency is held by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and the treasury is held by the Club de Madrid.
Mission
EPD was created in 2008 with the aim of reinforcing the impact of European democracy assistance across the world. As a result of the extensive EPD members' experience, the network has the possibility to provide a wide range of support activities in favour of all democracy assistance beneficiaries, such Civil Society organisations, faith-based organisations, medias, Election Management Bodies, private sector, political parties, elected institutions at national and local level, security and justice sector, etc.… Acting as a platform, EPD has the capacity to build bridges among these stakeholders as to encourage interaction between them for the benefit of consolidating democracy.
Activities and objectives
EPD is considered as one of the main advocators of democracy assistance at the European Union level. Combining the experience and expertise of its member organisations and as a result of the lessons learned through the implementation of EU funded projects in partner countries, the network has placed itself as an important source of knowledge in democratic and electoral assistance. In fact, since EPD’s creation in 2008, a number of changes took place in the context of European development assistance. In the light of these shifts, EPD developed a comprehensive strategy for 2016–2019 to react, influence and develop democracy support activities in the European context. EPD works in accordance with the trends and shifts in the democracy assistance field and this, for example, in regards to the reluctance of donors to be involved in national politics and therefore adopting rather a technical approach, focusing on governance rather than on democracy support. In line with this sensitivity and the reticence of donors when carrying out democratic assistance activities, the EPD strategy focuses on the importance of using several political analysis tools when designing and implementing programmes, while giving a particular attention to the local dimension and to civil society organisations to represent the voice of the people and ensure check and balances to State policies. EPD activities aim at contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals N. 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions by 2030. This goal is considered as the pillar stone of the democracy assistance activities as it aims to “Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels” and “ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels”. In this particular context, EPD’s activities focus on three interlinked objectives:
To produce and share knowledge: EPD serves as a platform for knowledge exchange, joint advocacy initiatives and as an interface for implementing EU funded projects in third countries;
To advocate for a stronger presence of democracy assistance in the EU agenda;
To coordinate between members in implementing EU funded democracy assistance projects.
EPD’s added value emanates from the 200 projects that the members of the network implemented since its creation, and from the multi-specialisation of the EPD members, working together through a holistic comprehensive approach.
Internal organisation
EPD’s organisational structure is composed of: a general assembly composed of all members, a board of directors and a secretariat. EPD is managed by a board of directors composed of 6 members elected among the organisations composing EPD. The board is composed of a president, currently Antonella Valmorbida, the Secretary General of the European Association for Local Democracy, a vice-president, currently Wouter Dol, the Head of the Knowledge & Strategic Relations of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracyand a treasurer, currently Ricardo Hidalgo, the chief financial officer of the Club de Madrid. The EPD secretariat is based in Brussels and is in charge of coordinating the 14 members and to further reinforce the cooperation between them.
Members
The European Association for Local Democracy : President
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy : Vice President
