1. Categorie:
Government and municipality and public sector campaigns
Title of campaign:
Facilitating the Establishment of Developmental Co-operation Policies, Increasing
the Understanding of Involved Parties, and Establishment of Positive Attitudes
short common description of the campaign::
Developmental cooperation refers to the offering of assistance to poorer and less
developed countries so as to promote their sustainable socioeconomic
development. The Latvian national programme for EU integration speaks to the
taking over of EU obligations in the area of developmental cooperation as a
priority in foreign policy planning.
The Cabinet of Ministers plans and implements the policy. There are documents
and normative acts which define policy goals, strategies and available resources.
The increased amount of funding from the national budget, however, has not
ensured a satisfaction of requirements set out by the European Council of
Ministers-that funding for developmental cooperation be equal to at least 0.17% of
GDP by 2010. Latvia's government must understand why this is necessary, what
Latvia's responsibilities are,how this can affect the country's prestige, and what
influence the relevant projects have on socioeconomic and political processes in
Latvia and the world.

2. research work done during the campaign:
In order to determine the level of knowledge in the target audience, to find out
attitudes toward development cooperation and to identify problems in the
communications processes, there was analysis of existing research - a 2005 study
conducted by the EU's Developmental GD on the attitudes of EU residents
vis-à-vis developmental co-operation, also looking at public opinion about
the Millennium Development Goals; a study conducted in 2005 by a public
opinion survey company in Latvia - "Public Attitudes About Developmental
Cooperation".
There was a review of existing assistance projects from the governmental and
non-governmental sector, looking for the most successful project results and
surveying experts who could offer competent views and participation in
discussion.
Before the discussions, the experience of relevant government ministries was
studied, as was the potential of the various sectors to become involved in
developmental co-operation.
The research data and the analysis of policy documents and programmes in the
area of developmental cooperation showed that all in all, the target audience does

3. not know much about developmental cooperation or its meaning and importance in
terms of the development of Latvia, the European Union and the rest of the world.
In consultation with policy experts, arguments were prepared for ministry
representatives so that they could make convincing statements about the need for
developmental co-operation.
strategy:
The project involved roundtable discussions for officials from all government
ministries. During the discussions, people talked about the situation with
developmental co-operation at each ministry, also indentifying those problems
which could be resolved with the help of political support.
The target audience for the project was made up of senior officials at ministries -
ministerial advisors, state secretaries, deputy state secretaries and parliamentary
secretaries, or 51 officials in all. These officials are responsible for developmental
co-operation policy and the relevant planning and implementation of projects.
This cannot be done at an acceptable level of quality without in-depth understand
and positive views about developmental co-operation Knowledge and
understanding in this area will help officials to take proper decisions and to
increase the overall competence of governing institutions in areas related to
developmental co-operation. The target audience was selected because it plays a

4. decisive role in policy implementation.
The discussions on the subject were held in the autumn of 2007. Three officials
from each relevant ministry were invited to take part. Ministries were joined
together on the basis of joint projects and related areas of operations. During the
meetings, people talked about the existing situation in developmental co-operation
- are ministries involved, to what extent are they involved, what difficulties have
they encountered, what investment in developmental co-operation policies in their
sector of operations could they offer or might want to offer, etc.
In each discussion, the political scientist Visvaldis Valtenbergs offered an
educational presentation about the essence, goals and tendencies of developmental
co-operation. Also on hand was the deputy state secretary of the Foreign Ministry,
Maija Manika, along with NGO representatives. The events were chaired by the
popular journalist Ansis Bogustovs.
Officials were given information that will allow them to convince the public and
the media of the need for such policies on the basis of pragmatic considerations.
The discussions were closed to the media so as to avoid tension and so that
ministry employees might speak freely and learn answers to questions which were
perhaps unknown to them.

5. Results of the campaign and evaluation::
This was an innovative project in that for the first time developmental co-operation
issues were discussed with the involvement of all 17 of Latvia's government
ministries. Never before had the issue been discussed so broadly in Latvia. There
were four roundtable discussions with participation from all 17 ministries - 51
officials in all.
The information brochure "Latvia Helps", which speaks about developmental
co-operation and the results of the roundtable discussions, was published. The
brochure is used as a visual instrument to bring up the issues and to provide
information.
After the project, a spoken survey of discussion participants showed that ministry
officials had greater understanding of developmental co-operation policies, that
interministerial co-operation in this area had been enhanced, and that there was a
greater circulation of information. This has helped to deepen understanding and
create more positive attitudes vis-à-vis developmental co-operation, thus
allowing officials to take proper decisions and to enhance the overall competence
of institutions of government when it comes to developmental co-operation policy
issues. This, in turn, will ensure higher capacity in implementing the relevant
policies in the long term.

6. The project will be followed with educational program for journalists and, with
their help, the public at large.