The Practitioners’ Network gathers in Vilnius for its Annual Meeting of the General Assembly

- 15 years Practitioners’ Network - A joint journey to be continued -

Brussels/ Vilnius, 11 May 2022

European development cooperation organisations gathered at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius on 11-12 May at the Annual Meeting of the General Assembly of the Practitioners’ Network for European Development Cooperation (PN). This year’s meeting marked the 15th anniversary of the network and the end of the PN co-Presidency by the Lithuanian Central Project Management Agency (CPMA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Celebrating 15 years of the network

Founded in 2007, the PN has served as a platform for exchange, coordination and harmonisation between European development cooperation organisations and the European Commission. In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the PN, Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships, conveyed her well wishes to the network at its annual meeting in a video message: “You [the PN] embody the Team Europe spirit and you have lived up to your motto ‘Stronger
Together’. Together, we have responded to the needs of people around the world and worked towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.“

Highlights of the CPMA-GIZ co-Presidency 2021-2022

In keeping with its year-long priorities, the co-Presidency emphasised “inclusiveness” as a guiding principle and approach within the network by fostering exchanges in its Working Groups, as well as ensuring agile participation opportunities for all PN Members in the network’s activities. This
also applied to (online) meetings of the PN CEOs that focused on the importance of Public Sector Expertise (PSE) as a form of technical cooperation and the future ambitions of the network. The latter resulted in an overarching strategic framework that was officially endorsed in Vilnius and will guide the network for the next eight years.

Passing on the baton

At the AMGA, CPMA and GIZ passed on the PN Presidency to the next co-Presidents: the Spanish Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas (FIIAPP) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation.

About the Practitioners’ Network

The PN is an open platform for exchange, coordination and harmonisation between 17 European development cooperation organisations with a public service mission (Members), 5 Associates (e.g. Ministry) and the European Commission (Observer). Via its Working Groups and Task Force, the network fosters horizontal and sectoral exchanges – well in line with priority topics for the European Commission and partner countries. For example, it covers areas such as financial and contractual issues, effective partnerships and implementation, collaboration with the private sector, mainstreaming gender equality, climate or cooperating under the Team Europe approach. Members take over the Presidency on a voluntary rotating basis and define respective priorities for their term to guide the work of the network.

Practitioners Network for development - European Cooperation (dev-practitioners.eu)

The Annual Meeting of the General Assembly

As the main body of the PN, the General Assembly marks the one time in the year when all 23 Members gather to discuss and take strategic decisions and formally endorse future “offices”. In a well-established tradition, the first day is dedicated to a strategic exchange among the CEOs and the European Commission, while the second day focuses on the more operational decisions of the network with the PN focal persons and co-leads of the Working Groups and Task Force discussing their achievements.