Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

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the implementation. Unfortunately, in many countries this popular involvement
is only for show and without any serious wish to create a dialogue and
a co-operation. The initiative from WFDD mentioned above is thus very
important.
Civil society organisations have a crucial role to play in strengthening
the ability of citizens and disadvantaged groups to participate fully in
their societies. They also have an important role to play in helping governments
to become more responsive. An open and continuous dialogue
is necessary to achieve a common understanding and to generate common
goals. Ensuring fuller and more consistent participation in the development
analysis, in the policy dialogue and in development programmes
must be a critical objective for governments and other actors in
the development arena.
Always dialogue
I have tried to show how important dialogue is in every human relationship
and that it is essential at every stage of development co-operation. Others
are covering the topic of dialogue in project or programme planning, implementation
and evaluation that has not been dealt with here. However, I
want to remind us of the often forgotten need for a long-term and frank
dialogue also when there are plans for phasing out development cooperation
and support. It has been of great interest during the 1990s to
many development organisations and agencies to plan for concentration
and focus and reduce the number of partners and projects. There are many
good reasons for this. There are also good reasons for co-ordination
between different donors. However, my experience is that decisions of that
kind are often taken without proper dialogue. Instead of real communication
about that kind of plan partners have often only been informed about
the decisions when they were almost taken.
A relevant test of every human relationship is the golden rule to treat
everybody in the same way, as you want to be treated. If we remembered
that simple but extremely difficult rule, many things would certainly be
different in our life together in this world.
Let me end with a didactic poem about the necessary conditions for a
true dialogue.
We have to learn how to listen to each other
We have to learn to understand each other’s dreams about a better world
We have to learn to reveal our dreams about the world in which we live
We have to learn to make our dreams a reality
We have to learn that together we have power
We have to learn that each and every one of us has a responsibility.