About Dialogue Facility
The Dialogue Facility has been established to support political dialogue and cooperation in bilateral, regional, African and global matters between the Government of South Africa and the European Union (and its Member States).
Political dialogue and cooperation has already been stepped up through increased and regular high level political dialogue meetings – e.g. Ministerial meetings and annual summits. Furthermore, and in order to fully implement the SA-EU Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) and the SA-EU Strategic Partnership Action Plan (SPAP), a number of functional dialogue forums have been or are in the process of being established. The Dialogue Facility will help contribute to activities directly associated with the process of establishment and development of functional dialogue forums.
The TDCA and the Strategic Partnership Action Plan foresee cooperation between equal partners in a number of areas in the economic, social and cultural fields. The list of areas is open-ended and new ones, whether mentioned or not in the TDCA and the Strategic Partnership Action Plan, can be added through agreement between the parties based on them concurring that the area of cooperation is consistent with the objectives of the TDCA and the Strategic Partnership Action Plan. The Dialogue Facility is designed to support the various dialogues that are in operation or in the process of being established through the provision of technical assistance resources i.e. expertise and resources for related support costs.
The overall objective of the programme to which the Dialogue Facility will contribute is to strengthen relations between the European Union and South Africa. The purpose of the Dialogue Facility is to facilitate the implementation of priority aspects of the Strategic Partnership Action Plan and raise awareness on the special relationship between the EU and South Africa.
Jon Burns is the Chief Technical Adviser and Team leader of the Dialogue Facility. He is an Economist with a Masters in Economic Management and a Doctorate in Behavioural Economics and Management. He is a specialist on private sector and trade policy and has worked on policy development, policy and sectoral dialogue, private and public sector advocacy, trade facilitation, private sector development, national banking, grants management and large and complex institutional reform programmes in over 80 countries during the last 25 years. He has led teams working on economic policy issues in 16 African Countries. He also led the team which supported the development and implementation of 12 business and technology incubation / diffusion centres in South Africa from 2000 to 2004 and he has provided high level policy advice on private sector and institutional issues to the governments of UK, Hungary, Russia, India, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. 
Jennifer Tangney has an academic background in the political sciences and development policy with a BA in European Studies and Languages, an MA in Peace and Development Studies and a PhD that focused on the role of civil society in post-conflict peacebuilding.
Gerry McDonald is a member of the Dialogue Facility team. He holds a degree in economics. Prior to joining the Dialogue Facility he was working in South Africa from 2004 leading the EU funded Gijima KZN LED Support Programme in KwaZulu-Natal.
