Agenda setting: Consultations on the new policy framework ‘Strengthening Civil Society’ by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

What have we done already?

The current policy framework for strengthening civil society by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is set to conclude in 2025. Over the past years, Partos, in collaboration with its members and international experts, has collected insights and developed recommendations to make the new policy framework for 2026 and beyond more inclusive, flexible, and, above all, effective.

These insights include:

1. General consultation by Partos among its members on the policy framework (2023).
2. Policy paper with concrete recommendations from the Partos Shift the Power Lab to make the policy framework more inclusive and flexible (2022/2023).
3. Voices on Power – interviews with recommendations from the Partos Shift the Power Lab by Southern leaders (2023).
4. Dreampaper from the Partos Shift the Power Lab highlighting key issues from the ‘Power of Voices’ policy framework (2021/2022)

Consultation on ‘agenda setting’

The consultations will cover four themes widely supported by civil society and Southern partners: Agenda setting, Risk management, Accountability, Feminist PMEL. We will further specify the recommendations that were sourced from the ‘Bright Ideas Contest’.

This consultation will focus on ‘agenda setting’: From agenda and priority setting dominated by the North to ‘Starting from the South’.

Come prepared

It’s important for participants to come prepared. Recommended materials:

1. Policy paper with concrete recommendations from the Partos Shift the Power Lab to make the policy framework more inclusive and flexible (2022/2023).
2. Voices on Power – interviews with recommendations from the Partos Shift the Power Lab by Southern leaders (2023).

In this video, both the ‘policy paper’ and ‘voices on power’ report are presented.

Participation

Participation is open to those who meet the following criteria:

• Partos member + Global South Representative (participants are invited to come in pairs to avoid overrepresentation risks)
• Individual representatives from the Global South are also welcome to join by themselves