About TRIALOG: Over 12 Years of Support for Development Cooperation

TRIALOG started in 2000 to support civil society organisations (CSOs) in the enlarged EU that were active or interested in development cooperation and development education. Over the last 12 years, TRIALOG has accompanied all 12 new EU member states (EU12) through the creation of national development CSO platforms. TRIALOG has supported the establishment of policy dialogue on development at national level and the engagement of EU12 CSOs at EU level.

TRIALOG V started on 1 October 2012 with a project duration of three years. Since the beginning of TRIALOG in 2000 a lot has changed within the scope, mandate and target group of the project. Most of the 12 countries that have joined the EU since then (EU12) were receiver countries of Official Development Assistance until they joined the EU and had to create development cooperation structures, policies and programmes from scratch. To support this process, TRIALOG has been leading activities in different fields including capacity building, information distribution, policy support, networking and advocacy on national and European level.

The situation is different now that all EU12 countries have national platforms that are members of CONCORD, but there are still huge challenges to face in all EU12 mainly related to financial and human resources, expertise in policy and advocacy and their role as “new” donors. TRIALOG’s role has changed towards an accompanying supporter by networking, giving advice, providing good examples, organising exchange and study visits and offering specialised capacity building. For the first time, all EU12 national platforms and a leading organisation of the platform building in Croatia are partners in the TRIALOG project.