ECHO partners' annual conference on victims of humanitarian crises

On 6 and 7 November 2003 ECHO, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office, is holding its annual partners' conference in Brussels. The event brings together EU non-governmental organisations involved in implementing ECHO-funded humanitarian operations. This year's conference will see the signing of a new framework partnership contract with 130 NGOs. The main purpose of the new agreement is to improve the quality of aid given to victims of humanitarian crises, while promoting more transparent and effective management of European public funding for humanitarian aid. This year, for the first time, NGOs from the countries about to join the EU will be amongst the signatories. The contract will be signed by four NGOs from Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

"The signing of the framework partnership contract with our humanitarian partners is the culmination of three years' joint effort to raise the quality of European humanitarian aid. I am pleased to be able to say that, from today onwards, ECHO will have amongst its partners NGOs from the EU Member-States-to-be, which will be full participants in Europe's humanitarian mission to come to the aid of people in need in non-member countries", said Poul Nielson, the Commissioner with responsibility for development and humanitarian aid.

ECHO's annual partners' conference is a forum for exchanging views and experiences on humanitarian aid in practice. This year, the discussions will centre on themes linked to future challenges for humanitarian aid work, such as the need for neutrality and independence and the role of the army in humanitarian projects, and the safety of aid workers. The debate will take place against the somewhat special institutional backdrop of an intergovernmental conference and the enlargement process.

The signing of the new framework partnership contract with 130 partner NGOs will be one of the highlights of the conference. The contract will govern ECHO's relations with the humanitarian organisations involved in carrying out humanitarian operations. The new agreement satisfies two requirements: first and foremost, the need for high-quality humanitarian assistance and also the need for transparency in the spending of European public funds. It also responds to aid workers' wish to be recognised as professionals. The signing of the contract is the culmination of a rigorous selection procedure, which scrutinised what experience the organisations had in the field of humanitarian aid, whether they were administratively and financially capable of managing funding from the Commission for humanitarian operations, whether they behaved responsibly towards aid recipients and aid-workers, and whether they complied with strict professional standards both ethically and operationally.

While leaving the choice of methods up to the partner organisations, the contract sets objectives and specifies what indicators are to be used to measure the impact of humanitarian operations. This amounts to a form of ECHO "certification", a "stamp of quality". In 2002, almost 60% of humanitarian operations, funded by ECHO to the tune of €315 million, were implemented by NGOs, most of which had signed the framework partnership contract.

This year, for the first time, four organisations from the accession countries will be amongst the NGOs signing the framework partnership contract, alongside 126 existing ECHO partner-organisations. The four new NGOs are Hungarian Interchurch Aid, the Polish Humanitarian Organisation and, the Czech Caritas and People In Need. The new contract will enter into force on 1 January 2004. However, the NGOs from the Member-States-to-be will not receive Community funding until 1 May 2004, when those countries formally accede to the EU. By that date, six other NGOs from the accession countries may be ready to sign the contract.

Practical information for journalists

The conference and the signing of the framework partnership contract will take place in room S-03 of the European Commission's Charlemagne building. The event will be open to the press.

Photos of the conference will be available 7 November at 16hrs on :

http://europa.eu.int/comm.mediatheque/photo/new_fr.html

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• Commissioner Nielson's Speech at the Annual ECHO Partners Conference (7/11/2003)