Dear friend,

As we prepare to take a summer break, we would like to share the latest organisational news from Eurodad with you.

It was fantastic to see so many members and allies at Eurodad's first international conference for three years (read more about this below!). We have also been making the most of the return to in-person advocacy, with recent events at the European Parliament and the European Development Days (EDDs), and at the UN in New York for the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development.

Following our General Assembly, we have two new board members. Jeroen Kwakkenbos (Oxfam International) and David Archer (ActionAid International) bring many years of experience and expertise to the board of directors, and we are glad to welcome them.

We wish you a restful and re-energising summer, and we look ahead to an autumn of action.

Jean Saldanha

Director

2021 was another extraordinary year for Eurodad. All countries faced the same challenge last year: raising the finance to deal with the intersecting crises of the pandemic and climate change. However, most countries in the global south did not have access to such finance. Many spent more to service their debt than on climate, health and other essential sectors. Our work in 2021 sought to address countries’ unequal access to financing for development, targeting the IMF’s decision to issue Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the new Common Framework for debt treatments of the G20, the ability for developing countries to participate in rule-making on global tax issues on an equal footing, and to coordinate and build capacity throughout the network, with members at COP26 and through the popular Debt Wednesdays webinar series.

Read our full Annual Report here.

Curious to know what our debt and development finance teams are working on? You can read the latest thematic updates for members on the Eurodad KMP for development finance here and debt justice here.

These updates cover key upcoming events in the policy calendar, the latest on advocacy from Eurodad and its partners, and a review of recent news you may have missed.

The return of Eurodad’s biennial conference was a much-needed opportunity for members, allies and partners to form joint strategies and connections in person, after the interruption of the pandemic. Postponed from 2021, the conference, which took place in Brussels, brought together almost 150 participants from across Europe and beyond, as well as remote participants through a live stream.

The conference opened with keynote speeches from the economic anthropologist Jason Hickel and Emilia Reyes from Equidad de Género. A series of cross-cutting, thematic workshops was supplemented with plenary sessions featuring expert civil society voices from Eurodad sister networks AFRODAD and Latindadd, as well as the UN Independent Expert on debt and human rights, and representation from trade unions and the European Commission.

You can read more about the conference on our website, including a highlights video featuring interviews with participants.

In each members newsletter we shine a spotlight on recent and relevant material uploaded to the Eurodad's Knowledge Management Platform (KMP) for network members and allies. You can sign up for KMP access here. Here are some of the current highlights:

• As part of their action around the German presidency of the G7, erlassjahr.de have produced a series of videos explaining the potential of legislation on private creditors.

• Framing Feminist Taxation Vol. 2 was recently released by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ)’s Tax and Gender Working Group, together with partner organisations.

• Recourse, together with a range of partner organisations including Bretton Woods Project released 10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach, a report on the IFC’s approach, with an accompanying video explainer ‘What is Green Equity?’.

At the General Assembly, we noted the departures of two highly valued members of the Board of Directors - Hannah Brejnholt (Oxfam IBIS) and Lars Koch (ActionAid). In their place, two new board members were elected.

Jeroen Kwakkenbos (Oxfam International) was previously Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at Eurodad, and is now Deputy Head of the Oxfam EU office in Brussels and Senior Aid Policy and Development Finance Advisor.

David Archer (ActionAid) has over 30 years of experience in supporting struggles for public services, economic justice and human rights in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He is now Senior Lead, Economic Justice and Public Services at ActionAid International.

Eurodad said goodbye to two members of staff in recent months. Cécilia Gondard left her role as Senior Network Outreach Coordinator, and Daniel Munevar left the debt justice team, in which he was Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer. Eurodad would like to thank Cécilia and Daniel for their vital work over recent years, and wish them all the best in their new adventures.