Activity 1. Kick off meeting providing consultations leading to a detailed plan for the development of a knowledge network, capacity building activities and organization of roundtable meetings. It will be organized in Warsaw. The meeting of all partners and associates will allow to make decisions on issues such as:
•    identification of crucial steps in creating a knowledge network (e.g. planning, verifying the need for the network, deciding on  the rationale and scope for the network, appointing the key roles, assessing the expectations in terms of partners’ time commitment, setting a "code of conduct")
•    agreeing on capacity building initiatives that will be undertaken during the project
•    designing the communication strategy both for the purpose of the project and for dissemination of the project outcomes
•    deciding on the exact topic and location of each roundtable meeting (relying on inception survey results)

Activity 2. Inception survey, which will be designed and carried out among Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGDOs) from the four New Member States (NMS) involved in the project in order to identify specific thematic and process area needs. A survey tool - surveymonkey.com will be used to facilitate the participation of a wide range of stakeholders. The survey will help ensure that the specific content of project activities caters to the real needs of the NGDOs. The outcomes will be especially valuable when it comes to designing the detail of the thematic and process aspect of roundtables. The survey will also help to assess the starting level of knowledge of NGDOs in terms of substantive knowledge on the one hand and familiarity with knowledge management and communications tools on the other. The survey findings will in turn be used at the end of the project for measuring the impact of the project. This mechanism was already successfully used among a smaller number of Polish NGDOs before submitting the concept note answering to this call for proposals.

Activity 3. A series of eight roundtable meetings for NGDOs will be organized over 30 months. The roundtables will be organized in different locations, as follows: Seven roundtables will take place in NMS capitals (Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest) and one will take place in one of the local partner country (Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan). Each roundtable will last 2 working days and will be devoted to a specific development policy issue and also include specific training modules on process issues identified through the needs audit survey (inception survey). Each roundtable will involve 20-25 participants, and will be dedicated to a different topic:

Roundtable 1.   
Theme: Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction policies, particularly Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and Poverty Impact Analysis (PSIA).
Process: Developing a communication strategy. Monitoring effectiveness of communication.

Roundtable 2.   
Theme: Aid, especially initiatives to improve aid architecture and aid effectiveness and donor harmonization International Finance, debt crises and financing for development
Process: Formulating and designing policy research. Using/assessing qualitative research methods. Using/assessing participatory research methods. Using/assessing quantitative research methods.

Roundtable 3.   
Theme: Budget processes, public finance, including budget support and participatory budget analysis and monitoring methodologies.
Process: Policy brief writing. Writing for peer-reviewed journals. Report writing.

Roundtable 4.   
Theme: The environment and climate change.
Process: Blogging. Using an email strategy. Using websites.

Roundtable 5.    
Theme: EU positions on and approaches to global efforts to support developing countries.
Process: Lobbying.

Roundtable 6.   
Theme: Human Rights, Gender mainstreaming.
Process: Network Development, Knowledge Management.

Roundtable 7.   
Theme: International migration and its social and economic development impact and refugees.
Process: Media engagement TV and Radio dissemination

Roundtable 8.   
Theme: Governance and its role in civil society.
Process: Evaluation of the project: lessons learned.

Activity 4. Establishing/ maintaining a project website serving as a resource tool, knowledge database, and interactive platform that will become a clearinghouse for development issues in NMS.
Participants will be invited to uplift relevant materials on development issues to the website. Space will be provided for hot news topics on key development issues, especially related to upcoming roundtable topics, to encourage greater interest and debate on the issue when meeting face to face. Internet is a very effective tool of communication and the project website should ensure easy access to all project-related information and development related resources to all partners (from diverse geographical locations – NMS, EU-15, Central Asian, South/South-East Asian, African and Latin American countries) and magnification of project impact via its influence on other interested parties from the countries involved in the project and potentially also those that are not involved.

Activity 5. Eight publications - policy briefs on key topics related to the project will be produced. Their aim will be to present objective information on development issues covered during the roundtables in a concise way using non-technical language to serve as a resource for the NGDOs or other target groups (journalists, educators). The form of the policy briefs will be similar to the ODI briefing papers, which enjoy a broad and diverse audience. The work on the policy briefs will be initiated during roundtables (“write-shops” on a second day of each roundtable). As a quality control measure, each policy brief will be edited by an established authority in its respective field. Policy briefs will not serve as training materials but rather will provide background information on specific issues with annexes containing information of where further information could be found. These will provide a bridge between research, practice and policy issues and will serve as  useful background materials for developing NGDOs’ own materials for public outreach.

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of CASE and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.