Dear colleagues,

A small group of members of the DAC-CSO Reference Group met last week and agreed to launch this initiative that we hope will get your interest and furthermore the support of your CSOs and members.

On Tuesday 13th April at 3PM Paris team the OECD-DAC will release the 2020 ODA data, which we can already anticipate whatever the final ODA figure will be it will be insufficient, given the current Covid-19 pandemic and interconnected crisis. The group agreed that as DAC-CSO RG we could disseminate a short press release with simple messages around the new ODA figures and calling for the donor community to step up their ambition. What would make this press release strong is having many of us signing it with our logos - we are aiming at a minimum of 50 organisations to release it, 100 would be fantastic ! 

You can find the press release here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T8v2GSRmZbTYi5XM2TlY8XNqAVG58B8U0ulFW2bU0KY/edit and attached.

To simplify sign off procedures and be ready on time, the press release is not anymore opened for comments or suggestions, but for signatures only until  Monday 12th April 1PM Paris time. Please, send your support and logo by individual email to ncraviotto[a]eurodad.org. 

In terms of process to reach this press release, a few weeks ago I asked members of the DAC-CSO RG who would be interested in further discussing the possibility of a collective action as DAC-CSO RG around the ODA 2020 data release, the following organisations manifested interested and have been in touch by email / meeting: CNCD, CONCORD, CONCORD Sweden, Cooperation Canada, Eurodad, JANIC, Oxfam International, Reality of Aid and Reality of Aid - Asia and the Pacific. These are the organisations that agreed on launching this initiative and that have worked the text - many thanks to all of them.

I hope we can get the support of many of you, we believe having a number of CSOs signing could really get the attention of the media on Tuesday. Please, do not hesitate to share this press release with your members / networks, the more the merrier ! 

Thank you in advance,

Kind regards,

Nerea