After a year’s pilot phase, the Europe in the World (EitW) project will be launched at the 2004 EFC Annual Conference on 30 May – 1 June 2004 in Athens. EitW advocates for and mobilizes more leadership, collaboration and resources for global development by building on and stimulating foundations’ collaboration and knowledge-generating efforts. Some 50 partners – foundations, corporate funders, multilateral institutions, governmental organizations, NGOs, media and individual donors – have already joined, and 40 more are in the pipeline.

EitW aims to persuade a growing group of foundations to increase their expenditure on initiatives outside Europe by 1 per cent a year for five years – 30 EFC members already spend more than 5 per cent of their annual expenditure internationally. EiTW uses a ‘Matrix of Involvement’ to coalesce partners around topics by issue and geography. Groups act autonomously in terms of constituency, purpose and operation, making expertise and funds available where appropriate.

EiTW’s preliminary focus is on governance and addressing post-Madrid and 9/11 challenges. It can no longer be said that we are separate from the developing world. The need to work together to find solutions, shape new ideas to address the root causes of despair, and give people hope for the future has never been greater. That’s what EitW is all about.

In a message to EitW in March 2004, Javier Solana, EU Foreign Policy Chief and President of the Madariaga Foundation, said: ‘This is a juncture in time that brings an opportunity for Europe and the European foundations to:
· Create its distinctive voice and to make it heard.
· Cooperate not only with each other, but with other sectors of society, and also complementarily and in cooperation with regional partners all over the world, and in particular with their American and Russian counterparts. In short, get better organized together.
· Leverage and increase private and public resources.

‘Together, we can make a difference.’

For more information about EiTW or to join, visit http://www.europeintheworld.info
or contact Sevdalina Rukanova at international@efc.be

EFC
51 rue de la Concorde, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Tel +32 2 512 8938
Fax +32 2 512 3265
Email efc@efc.be
Website http://www.efc.be