European Year for Development (2015)

The Commission presented a report on the implementation, results and overall assessment of the European Year for Development 2015 (EYD2015).

The EYD2015 Decision established three key objectives for the Year:

• inform citizens about the work of the EU and the Member States on development cooperation;
• foster direct involvement and critical thinking about development policy;
• raise awareness about the benefits of development cooperation and its global dimension among citizens in partner countries and in the EU.

Main conclusions of the report: in drawing up its conclusions, the report based itself on an independent evaluation which, on the whole, considered that the EYD2015 had put in place an efficient and effective campaign, combining EU and Member State input to ensure an appropriately pitched campaign that helped to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the EU’s development policy among the general public and young people in particular.

As a reminder, the financial resources mobilised for the campaign totalled EUR 10.6 million.

In general, the evaluation noted that the EYD2015:

• contributed to improve public and political support for development cooperation;
• promoted online and social media strategy to project the EU as a global player and inform citizens about the development activities of the EU;
• promoted an efficient way to reach the development community as multipliers, the general public, and notably young people even though more human and financial resources could have been allocated to the EYD2015;
• implemented activities with high added-value in terms of sustainability through the implementation of new forms of engagement, in particular through the use of narrative communication techniques, the use of new tools or communication with a new audience. In this regard, the evaluation stated that additional resources should have been made available.

Lastly, in general, the Commission report stated that thanks to the EYD2015, the EU has significantly improved its capacity to communicate with European citizens on development.