More than 80 representatives of 67 civil society organizations (CSO) representing national, regional and international platforms came together for a 2-day “Exploratory Meeting on CSO Effectiveness” last June 29-30, 2008 in Paris, France with the objective of establishing a process that is defined, led and managed by CSOs, on their own principles of development effectiveness.

The initiative sought to set in motion processes and mechanisms by which civil society organizations both in the North and South develop, agree on and promote common principles regarding the effectiveness of CSOs as development actors and to engage in political discussions on relevance and feasibility of peer/compliance mechanisms.

The Paris meeting is the outcome of earlier multi-stakeholder consultations that called for a strengthening of the role and voice of CSOs based on an understanding of the various relationships of CSOs to their constituencies, to donors and governments, and to each other on a North-South basis.

The meeting led to the formation of a Global Facilitation Group (GFG) from different national, regional and international platforms that will map out a work plan that will culminate in the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Beijing in 2010. Some of the organizations in the GFG are ACFID, AFRODAD, ALOP, Arab NGO Network on Development, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), CIVICUS, CONCORD, and IBON, among others. The GFG is set to meet on August 30th in Accra, Ghana where around 400 representatives from CSOs are expected to participate in the HLF3 and the CSO Parallel Forum.