Dr Philippe Augoyard
Organisation — History
History of the CHD
Coordination Humanitaire et Développement (Humanitarian & Development Coordination — CHD)
The Agen Forum, initiated by La Guilde: the first Agen Forum, held in 1983 on the initiative of La Guilde, brought together for the first time a new generation of humanitarian and development NGOs committed to international solidarity.
THE FIRST
Agen Forum was intended to bring field actors together to compare their experiences and build synergies. Early participants in the Forum included Sœur Emmanuelle (ASMAE), Paul Émile Victor (Honorary President of La Guilde), Bernard Kouchner (MDM), Jean-Baptiste Richardier (HI), Pierre Fyot (MDM) and others…
AT THE CLOSE
of this first Forum, Patrick EDEL, then Executive Director of La Guilde and founder of the Agen Forum, began by informally bringing together the main NGOs in attendance to create a lasting coordination: the Coordination d'Agen, founded — as its subtitle put it — “For emergency and voluntary cooperation missions”.
From the Agen Forum to the CHD…
A new group of humanitarian and development NGOs of all persuasions, characterised by a pragmatic, non-ideological approach to international solidarity.
Among the figures present at the first AGEN FORUM and the members of the jury of the Paris Match Voluntary Cooperation Award
Nicolas Béroff
Alain Boinet
Rony Brauman
Sœur Emmanuelle
Dr Pierre Fyot
Yves de Kermel
Dr Bernard Kouchner
Dr Lapeyssonie
Laurence Laumonier
Paul-Émile Victor
Dominique Wapler
Photo, Agen 1998 / Jean Christophe RUFIN (President of AICF - ACF) / Patrick EDEL (Secretary General of the Coordination d'Agen - Executive Director of La Guilde) / Rony BRAUMAN (MSF).
Initially informal, the Coordination was formally established in 1988 as a non-profit association (under the French law of 1901, based in Paris at the headquarters of La Guilde).
Its first President was André Récipon, President of Raoul Follereau and a staunch advocate of the tax deductions that are vital to French NGOs. In the early 1990s, the Coordination met other collectives of French NGOs within an inter-collective body (which would become CLOSI) and ultimately agreed to join it, with a view to a single voice representing French international solidarity NGOs. On behalf of the Coordination d'Agen, the following thus joined the Commission Coopération Développement, the first consultative body bringing together public authorities and NGOs in the field of international solidarity: - Rony BRAUMAN (MSF), with Patrick EDEL as alternate (La Guilde) - Nicolas BEROFF (CIDR), with Philippe CHABASSE as alternate (HI)
The origins
Governance of the Coordination
Successive Presidents of the Coordination d'Agen:
- André Récipon (President of Raoul Follereau)
- Nicolas Beroff (President of CIDR)
- Jean-Claude Buchet (Director of Aide et Action)
- Patrick Edel (Executive Director of La Guilde).