Can Civil Society make 2006 a year of more and better coherence, coordination and communication?
Release Date: 17 January 2006
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General
Happy New Year! In this, the first issue of the year, we have a bold suggestion that we work to make 2006 the year where we improve communication within civil society, from the local to the international levels, with the goal of facilitating greater coherence and coordination without sacrificing diversity and autonomy.
All of us here at CIVICUS feel that the incredible alliances, coalitions and joint efforts made by civil society during 2005 - whether around the global fight against poverty, climate change, or how civil society needs to respond to the specific challenges of its own legitimacy and transparency - must all be built upon and strengthened. To do this effectively, we need to focus on the considerable areas of agreement that exist between many civil society organisations working for a just, secure and equitable planet, and to respectfully agree to disagree around the finer points of strategic, tactical and even possibly ideological differences.
We hope to play our part by giving voice to civil society organisations through our website (www.civicus.org), our blog (www.civicus.org), http://civicus.civiblog.org) and, of course, through e-CIVICUS, whose subscription topped 50 000 at the end of last year. As such, you are encouraged to contribute news or other items and send in your comments to e-CIVICUS dialogues if there was something you particularly liked or if you disagree with an analysis or perspective of one of the stories in e-CIVICUS (email editor@civicus.org). As well, colleagues both within and outside of CIVICUS are encouraged to write guest columns, and if you have a perspective that you think would be of interest to e-CIVICUS subscribers and would like to share it, please let us know. The e-CIVICUS network is a diverse and growing community and we would very much like to enlist your active participation, whether in helping us to improve the content of e-CIVICUS, increase its language diversity, increase the number of subscribers or assist with the resourcing needs of producing e-CIVICUS.
We also hope that you will consider attending the next CIVICUS World Assembly which takes place from 21-25 June 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland (www.civicusassembly.org). Consider coming to reflect collectively with people from around the world on the theme, Acting Together for A Just World.
Once again, on behalf of the board and staff of CIVICUS, I hope 2006 proves to be a year of great progress, peace and justice and wish you well in the important work you are doing to make the world a more humane and better place for current and future generations.
