About us⁰¹

Concordia21 is a not-for-profit organization which has dedicated its efforts to support a set of organizations funded by the philanthropist Diego Hidalgo more than a decade ago. Although each of these organizations has an independent governance, they are united by their own funder and by the values that they represent worldwide. The role of Concordia21 started gradually as an element of coordination and support functions that build an economy of scale among the sister organizations and evolved at a later stage towards an added value project for national and international foundations and associations.

The set of sister organizations is the following:

Fride

FRIDE is a think tank based in Madrid that aims to provide the best and most innovative thinking on Europe’s role in the international arena. It strives to break new ground in its core research interests of peace and security, human rights, democracy promotion, and development and humanitarian aid, and mould debate in governmental and non-governmental bodies through rigorous analysis, rooted in the values of justice, equality and democracy.

FRIDE seeks to provide fresh and innovative thinking on Europe’s role on the international stage. As a prominent European think tank, FRIDE benefits from political independence, diversity of views and the intellectual background of its international staff.

FRIDE concentrates its work in the following areas:

• Development Cooperation
• Security and Conflict
• Europe and the International System
• Democracy and Human Rights Policies

DARA

DARA – Development Assistance Research Associates – is an independent, international, non-for-profit organisation, which works to improve the quality and impact of development and humanitarian interventions.

Evaluations & initiatives

Within the humanitarian and development sector, DARA has carried out evaluations in more than 40 countries across five continents for a variety of organisations, including United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) agencies. The organization also produces its own self-promoted independent initiatives, such as the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI), the world’s first independent instrument for measuring the individual performance of humanitarian donors, and the Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (DRRI), which seeks to forge partnerships for risk mitigation and adaptation.

CITpax

The Toledo International Centre for Peace (CITpax) is an independent, non-for-profit Spanish foundation, geared toward contributing to the prevention and resolution of conflicts, the management of crises and the consolidation of peace within a framework of respect and promotion of basic human rights and democratic values. In addition, CITpax aims to bring an end to violence or preventing it from taking place, and recognises that the search for lasting peace involves the implementation of actions concerned with social change, development and the strengthening of institutions.

Therefore, CITpax seeks to solve national and international conflicts through mediation, and the facilitation and elaboration of bridging-proposals. It employs second track diplomacy, also known as parallel diplomacy, which turns to civil society actors who have the capacity to influence decision-makers.

CITpax is a singular and unique institution in Spain. It is more than a traditional think tank, because its activities are not limited to diagnosis and research, but are also action-oriented - action tank – thus aiming to modify the reality of conflicts by seeking to achieve peace.

EFE

The Education for Employment Foundation (EFE) was founded on the belief that when young people have satisfying jobs and the hope of building a future for themselves, they help lay the foundation for secure and peaceful societies.

EFE currently operates in the Middle East and North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen), the region with the world's highest youth unemployment rate. There, it is transforming the lives of young people by giving them the opportunity to work and the tools to create productive, independent livelihoods.

Through powerful and unique partnerships with business, government, education, and civic leaders in our countries of operation, EFE designs tailor-made training programs that give unemployed young people the specific skills to get and keep a job. At the end of its training programs, EFE’s graduates are placed in jobs that its partners commit before training begins. Graduates receive ongoing support through EFE mentoring and alumni networks.

European Council on Foreign Relations

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007, its objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent and effective European values based foreign policy.

ECFR has developed a strategy with three distinctive elements that define its activities:

• A pan-European Council which members provide ECFR staff with advice and feedback on policy ideas and help with ECFR's activities within their own countries.
• A physical presence in the main EU member states through offices that have the role of platforms for research, debate, advocacy and communications.
• A distinctive research and policy development process. ECFR's activities include primary research, publication of policy reports, private meetings and public debates, ‘friends of ECFR' gatherings in EU capitals and outreach to strategic media outlets.