World Alliance for Citizen Participation

e-CIVICUS World Assembly Reflection A Free Weekly Newsletter Promoting Civic Existence, Expression & Engagement Please send contributions, comments and questions to editor@civicus.org.

21 June 2008 ISSUE No. 394 PUBLISHER CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kumi Naidoo EDITORS Katsuji Imata COPY EDITOR Nastasya Tay MANAGING EDITOR Eric Muragana OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTORS Anabel Cruz Carol Baloyi CIVICUS staff Henri Valot Julia Sestier Martin Sime Natalia Kiryttopoulou Tracy September Rajiv Joshi Rakesh Rajani Raya Ubenova Vicente García-Delgado, Esq ABOUT e-CIVICUS  The CIVICUS weekly electronic publication is keeping tens of thousands of people informed of the developments taking place in civil society, the factors that are affecting them and the impact they are having on creating an informed and knowledgeable civil society.  e-CIVICUS WELCOMES CONTRIBUTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY NEWS e-CIVICUS offers a useful channel through which you and your organisation can share your news, publicise your events and articulate the issues you face. Please send us your contributions no later than Tuesday for publication in the coming week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must focus on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. To read the contribution guidelines, please visit www.civicus.org/new/media/ e-civicuseditorialguidelines-finalDraft.doc REPRODUCTION OF e-CIVICUS Readers are welcome to reproduce, in part or in full, all sections of this newsletter, however please request permission to do so first. When reproducing or retransmitting content, please credit sources and authors. The content of this newsletter can be translated into another language and reproduced in other publications, as long as due acknowledgment is made to CIVICUS.  e-CIVICUS DISCLAIMER Although CIVICUS makes all reasonable efforts to obtain prima-facie reliable content for e-CIVICUS , CIVICUS cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reports, views or opinions of third-party content providers, nor does CIVICUS necessarily endorse the views reflected therein. Similarly, links provided in e-CIVICUS may point to Internet sites that may be of interest to our readers; however CIVICUS does not take responsibility for, nor necessarily endorse their content. Stories are provided for information purposes only, and readers who intend to rely on information provided through such stories are strongly recommended to double-check its accuracy by reference to other sources first. Opinions expressed by contributors to e-CIVICUS are solely those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CIVICUS, its Board of Directors, managers or staff, or any CIVICUS members or partners. Please do send your comments and suggestions to editor@civicus.org.  CONTACT US P.O. Box 933 Southdale, 2135  South Africa  Tel: +27 11 833 5959 Fax:+27 11 833 7997 1112 16th Street NW, Suite 540  Washington D.C.  20036 USA Tel: +202 331-8518 Fax: +202 331-8774 Websites: www.civicus.org www.civilsocietywatch.org www.civicusassembly.org To subscribe or unsubscribe: email subscriptions@civicus.org TELL A FRIEND Do you have a friend who works for a more just world? Would you like to share this newsletter with them? Please forward their e-mail address to subscriptions@civicus.org We value your comments, suggestions and contributions. Speak to us at editor@civicus.org Support CIVICUS You can make an on-line donation at www.civicus.org/new/donatev2.html Join CIVICUS Join or renew your CIVICUS Membership on-line now at www.civicus.org/new/joinv2.html 2008 CIVICUS World Assembly  The World Assembly will take place between 18-21 June 2008, Glasgow , Scotland . Building on and continuing the success of past World Assemblies, the overall theme for this event is Acting Together for a Just World. This overall theme will be explored through the focus theme of People, Participation and Power. Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin The CIVICUS e-newsletter Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin  is an action-oriented newsletter distributed to over 7,400 people around the world, featuring insightful interviews, updates on threats to civil society, and analyses of current situations. Read more at www.civilsocietywatch.org CIVICUS blog What do you think? Have your say on the CIVICUS Blog! CIVICUS seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people and give expression to the enormous creative energy within civil society. Our recently launched blog gives you the opportunity to use your voice and engage with the rest of civil society. Have your say by visiting http://civicus.civiblog.org

FROM THE DESK OF CIVICUS' SECRETARY-GENERAL Send your comments and contributions to editor@civicus.org. Rethinking the role of the Corporate Sector: Trade, Development and Human Rights By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General On 20 June, we opened our first full day at the World Assembly with a very interesting and challenging discussion around the relationship between the media and civil society organisations, and how we can make sure our voices are heard, and amplified by the mass media. Through the expansion of new and alternative media, opportunities present themselves, and fostering a sense of social responsibility should remain a priority. I was extremely pleased by the launch of the joint CIVICUS-United Nations Volunteers-International Association for Volunteer Effort publication “Volunteering and Social Activism: Pathways for Participation in Human Development”. Apart from resonating with my personal experience as a volunteer and an activist, the publication is an important step in understanding the connection of volunteering and social activism and their equal importance. We also had an important consultative session on legitimacy, transparency and accountability. As civil society, we rightly demand that governmental structures demonstrate their accountability and transparency - and it is only fitting that we develop structures of our own, moving beyond the ability to talk the talk to walk the walk. On 21 June, we seek to rethink the role of the corporate sector. It has been argued that the corporate sector has a role to play in supporting fair international trade practices promoting and defending human rights and supporting international development. The plenary will make attempts to determine if the rethinking of the corporate sector is a myth or a reality. Participants involved in the panel discussion include representatives from national governments, NGOs and donors. The questions for deliberation are: how can business contribute meaningfully to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and the protection of human rights? What kind of practices should the corporate sector adopt including new kinds of partnerships with local communities and local government? How can business and civil society organisations build partnerships towards better trade, human rights and development practices? To read more on society perspectives on the corporate sector: trade, development and human rights, click here. Tough talk on reaching development goals at 2008 CIVICUS Assembly Salil Shetty, director of the Millennium Campaign tells TerraViva of his concerns in reaching Millennium Development Goals as they approach the midway mark The director of the Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty, is an angry man. Last year he was confronted with the climate change issue and now it is the global food crisis. “Last year people used to say that climate change will hamper the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and now people say that the food crisis will impact MDGs. But my take is that if the governments had invested in the MDGs, we would not be confronted with these problems.” He feels that the world is concentrating on finding high tech solutions to low tech problems and that is one reason why a global food crisis is staring governments in the face. “Experts had predicted that such a situation will crop up. For more information, click here. Borren call for forcing the issue on poverty at CIVICUS Assembly Joyce Maluma of Terra Viva spoke to Sylvia Borren, newly elected co-chair World leaders are being urged to take the initiative in combating poverty and put effective policies into practice. The pledge to end poverty should be honored if the huge divide been rich and poor nations is to be reduced, according to the newly elected co-chairs of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP). Elected this week, Adelaide Sosseh and Sylvia Borren are urging world leaders to honour their pledge to end poverty. In particular, they want rich nations to deliver on their commitment of spending 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Income (GNI) to help enhance the growth of poor nations. “When the developed nations gather in meetings, they come out with strong words. In reality, they do not deliver,” Borren told TerraViva. For more information, click here. CIVICUS Poll Question This week’s question: Do you think that civil society has done enough to strengthen its relationship with the mainstream media? To answer the question, click here. Previous question: Do you think that civil society organisations are currently sufficiently accountable to their beneficiaries? Results: Yes - 35%, No - 60%, Don’t Know - 5% TELL A FRIEND ABOUT e-CIVICUS The e-CIVICUS newsletter keeps tens of thousands of people and organisations informed of the many developments taking place in civil society around the world. As a subscriber you know the value e-CIVICUS can bring to your work. So why keep it to yourself? Do you have a friend who works for a more just world? Would you like to share this newsletter with them? Why don’t you suggest they register for a free subscription? They can send us an e-mail to subscriptions@civicus.org or fill out the subscription form click here. Alternatively, please forward their e-mail address to KumiNaidoo.e-civicus@civicus.org and we’ll contact them on your behalf. Please send us your contributions no later than Monday every week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must be focused on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. The deadline to complete e-CIVICUS Readers’ Survey is 28 June. To complete readers’ survey, click here. e-CIVICUS DIALOGUES Articles published in this section seeks to enhance further discussion and debate at the 2008 World Assembly  Acting together for a adaptative change of climate justice By Viktor Kaisiepo Msn, Chairperson of First Peoples Worldwide & Papua Presidium Council Allow me to share with you some observations that may eventually bring to extent to redefine or start thinking of a re-positioning of our collective responsibility towards the objectives of this conference: to challenge our intellect to think innovative and free in the “Global Forest “ of Regulations, Treaties and Conventions as pavements of good intentions to the subsequent required Adaptative Change of Climate with the specific focus on the theme of People, Power and Participation, looking at how civil society accesses, engages with and participates in all forms and spheres of governance at the local, national and international levels. For more information, click here. Scotland gets new charity champion at the World Assembly Scotland’s un-sung heroes have been honoured at an award ceremony dedicated to the charity sector A news that is certain to gladden the hearts of people with disabilities, Glasgow resident Stephen Joyce has been named Scotland’s new Charity Champion. Working with charity Deafblind Scotland as a training manager, Stephen got the honour at this year’s Third Force News (TFN) Scottish Charity Awards for his long term dedication to improving the lives of deafblind people. Stephen won the award for his commitment to unique fundraising feats that have seen him rappel off the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow and also reach Africa’s tallest peak Mount Kilimanjaro, making him the first-ever deafblind person in the world to do so. For more information, click here. Volunteers boost people’s participation and power By Scott McQuade, Head of Communications at United Nations Volunteer (UNV) One of the greatest challenges facing civil society is to strengthen involvement at all levels of society in order to help people organise, express their needs and ensure participatory governance. Volunteering is a key means of meeting this challenge. Volunteering offers the opportunity for civil society to develop, remain relevant and build capacity to influence the policies and practices of governments, international institutions and the private sector. The growth of the environmental movement and the increasing influence of environmental organisations is a good example of the potential of volunteering and social activism in particular.  For more information, click here. The perspective of civil society in Zimbabwe By Cephas Zinhumwe, CEO of National Association of NGOs (NANGO) NANGO, the Voice of NGOs in Zimbabwe, convinced that the problems of Zimbabwe have gone too far while the whole world is watching without giving positive assistance to the people of this beautiful country. On a daily basis the rights of the people is being denied to them by their liberators, their own government. One wonders why the whole world is watching while the Zimbabwean men, women and children are suffering. To our surprise some of the key governments in the world are showering us with sanctions as if that is the only solution to the Zimbabwean crisis, some leaders of progressive governments are also saying that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, how many people should die before you react? I would like to encourage civil society to come together and challenge not only the Zimbabwean situation but negative outcomes from mature democracies. For more information, click here. MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS & GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY Financing for Development from a gender perspective Prepared by Ana Agostino and Rosa Lizarde from the GCAP Feminist Task Force (FTF) The Women's Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG) is a network of women's rights advocates in the Financing for Development (FfD) process, and is coordinated by the core group comprised of the Association for Women's Rights and Development (AWID), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Feminist Task Force-Global Call to Action against Poverty (FTF-GCAP), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) and Women in Development Europe (WIDE). The involvement of women’s groups in this process aims to place women's rights organisations' analysis and policy recommendations into the forefront of global economic debates and national implementation strategies. For more information, click here. What has changed ten years on? By Archbishop Njongo Ndungane The question "What is poverty?" would get varied responses according to the gender, race, age, and geographic location of respondents. Woven into the responses a central feature would be that poverty is not only about the lack of financial resources, but more centrally about an absence of opportunities and choices which allow people to build decent lives for themselves and their families. This emerged clearly ten years ago when I was one of the commissioners at the Speak out on Poverty public hearings. Ten years on and evidence suggests that the amount of people living in poverty has increased. This has prompted the various concerned partner organisations to initiate a follow up to the 1998 poverty hearings called the 10th Anniversary Poverty Hearings. This initiative is intended to serve as much needed feedback on the 1998 hearings. We feel that it is important for us to assess from the poor themselves the actions that have been taken to address their plight, actions that they have taken to improve their lives and their awareness of economic and social rights. For more information, click here. GET INVOLVED! Say No to violence Against Women Source: UNIFEM At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of pandemic proportions. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development. For more information, click here. End Poverty and Inequality - Act now! In July, leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations - the G8 - will meet in Hokkaido, Japan for their annual meeting. Civil society around the world is calling on these leaders to take urgent action to meet their promises, and do far more to fight poverty and inequality. Every year, on July 7, the people of Japan celebrate Tanabata by writing down their wishes for the coming year, and tying them to a bamboo tree. This year, people across the globe are invited to make their wish for immediate action from the G8 on education, health and HIV/AIDS, climate change and international aid. For more information, click here. ACCOUNTABILITY Transparency - an expectation of civil society to fight Interview by Rahul Kumar, Terra Viva with the Vice president, International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) Transparency and accountability is expected from NGOs because this is what they fight for; sometimes even against their own governments which may be corrupt. If you are going to fight against something, you have to be accountable and credible. NGOs should be accountable to the people because that is who they work for. If they are funded, they should also be accountable to their funders. I do not think they should be accountable to the government because there is a likelihood it will be controlled by the government. An NGO should be independent and able to stand up to the government without antagonising it. For more information, click here. Enhancing grantmaker accountability and effectiveness Source: www.KeystoneAccountability.org There is an exciting pilot project unfolding in East Africa that will for the first time empower grantees to speak freely to their funders and give grantmakers new insight into the experience and perceptions of their grantees. This, it is hoped, will generate learning, improve relationships and foster more effective grantmaking and developmental practice in the region. The central element of the project is a "comparative grantee feedback survey", designed and implemented by Keystone and  by Keystone with the assistance of Allavida. The idea behind comparative grantee feedback surveys is for an independent agent, using a carefully designed standard questionnaire, to anonymously collect feedback from grantees on key aspects of grantmaker performance. For more information, click here. Accountability: People who are working Source: Terra Viva Nick Ishmael Perkins, Head of Communications, IDS, University of Sussex told the CIVICUS Assembly that there is a social compact that delivers things. It is like a contract that you enter into to improve the quality of people’s lives. Therefore you are accountable to the people whom you are working for. Accountability works on many levels and goes in many directions. NGOs have to be accountable at all of these levels. A challenge here is that there is some accountability which is easier. Accountability to donors is easier because of a certain power structure and also because the donor is giving money. Comparatively it is slightly more difficult to maintain accountability to beneficiaries because this can take more effort and work. For more information, click here. Fight for accountability and be accountable delegates told at CIVICUS Assembly Rahul Kumar spoke to Oliver Pearce, Policy Analyst, Christian Aid Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) should be accountable to different stakeholders with the first and foremost being the people for whom they have been set up. They should also be accountable to donors and have the ability to justify what they are doing and why. They should also be able to stand up to scrutiny from the larger community of people. An NGO should give staff the feeling of importance and usefulness while enforcing the good purpose of the work. It is not easy to make a generalisation about whether NGOs are accountable or not. Not all have enough resources for communication purposes which can prevent them from showcasing their work while being transparent. For more information, click here. CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISM AND GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS An uphill battle: civil society primary watchdog of the conduct of inter-governmental organisations By Richel Langit-Dursin, Terra Viva Civil society has to really struggle to run after inter-governmental organisations. This is the view of Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, secretary general of the World YWCA, in a plenary session on the relationship between civil society and IGOs. Gumbonzvanda, who served as regional director for the United Nations Development Fund for Women in Eastern Africa, pointed out that it is difficult to chase the IGOs, whether they are from the United Nations or the European Union, just  to have a two-minute conversation or to submit a paper. “It is crucial for IGOs to provide a qualitative space, especially in the security and political agenda, to civil society,” said Gumbonzvanda, who was applauded by the audience for her critical and straightforward remarks. For more information, click here. Getting to the root of the problems - issue of donor aid to third world countries By Joyce Maluma, Terra Viva While aid is deemed necessary to achieve development, it is crucial for the public to know what the aid is being used for, said Elisa Peter, deputy coordinator of the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service. “It is important to involve voices of the people who need it most; when we take decisions that affect them in the first place. Most often these voices are not considered and that is why aid money is sometimes misused,” she told a discussion forum on effective funding, at the CIVICUS Assembly. About 40 per cent of Africa’s military spending is financed by aid, “and that is why this money is not being felt on the ground”, Peter added. For more information, click here. Volunteerism efforts making a big difference at CIVICUS Assembly By Richel Langit-Dursin, Terra Viva The role of volunteering, citizenship and engaging in social change was the hot topic among young people. Committed, courageous, enthusiastic and motivated were just some of the terms used to describe the role of the volunteer at a two-hour workshop on the subject. When delegates were asked what volunteering meant to them the answers were wide and varied. For some it described working with children, disaster management, manual labour, environmental work and free labour. While for others it meant being jobless, doing charitable work, teaching, governance and inter-faith. The distinction was also made between volunteering and social activism. Social activism is perceived as making reforms and changes, involving confrontations, holding protests and doing advocacy work. It was also tied with agitation and imprisonment. For more information, click here. PROFILES DONOR: The United Nations Millennium Campaign CIVICUS would like to acknowledge the United Nations Millennium Campaign’s generous support in holding a successful World Assembly. The Millennium Campaign informs, inspires and encourages people’s involvement and action for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals. An initiative of the United Nations, the Campaign supports citizens’ efforts to hold their government to account for the Millennium promise. The Campaign was launched in October 2002, two years after 189 government leaders from the highest political level of almost every country in the world agreed at the September 2000 Millennium Summit to a set of eight time-bound targets that, when achieved, will end extreme poverty across the planet. Working at both the national and international levels, the ambition of the Campaign is to inspire a global movement to achieve the Goals and eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. The ongoing work of the Campaign is led by a secretariat housed at UNDP headquarters in New York. For additional information, click here. MEMBER: The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) is the first generic membership body for civil society organisations in Nigeria that facilitates effective advocacy on issues of poverty and other developmental issues. Established in 1992, NNNGO represents over 800 organizations ranging from small groups working at the local level, to large networks working at the national level. The Network is charged with the objective of identifying, registering, coordinating, building capacity and mobilizing civil society organizations to promote interconnectivity and bring equity, justice, peace and development to grassroots communities throughout Nigeria, including the implementation of NEEDS, SEEDS, LEEDS and the MDGs. NNNGO’s membership includes over 20 national organizations and over 250 membership organizations focusing on different thematic areas of development, all of whom work to support a diverse range of membership communities across the nation. In total its outreach to the third sector in Nigeria is estimated to be in the excess of 2,500 which includes both members and affiliates at national and global levels. NNNGO champions a sector that is accountable, independent and truly representative of giving a voice to the common man.  For more information, click here. BOOKS, REPORTS & RESOURCES CIVICUS Civil Society Index process gaining momentum in Tanzania Ending of the training workshop on CSI methodology in Johannesburg, late January 2008, was but to ignite the CSI process marathon in Tanzania. Despite that ForDIA, the National Coordinating Organisation (NCO), had until late December 2008 put pieces together, including to constitute the National Index Team (NIT), none in the core group was methodologically clear. Clarity on the part of concept and methodology came due after the Johannesburg training. The CSI team had really unpacked the ‘diamond’ notion - responding to participants’ quest for knowledge appropriation. For more information, click here. CALL FOR PAPERS, SUBMISSIONS, SURVEYS & NOMINATIONS Call to complete Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability Assessment Survey Deadline to complete the survey: 27 June 2008 CIVICUS’ members, partners and programme participants have, on various occasions, expressed the need to effectively share the learning and develop capacities regarding the transparency and accountability of civil society organisations (CSOs). The CIVICUS Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability (LTA) programme has devised a survey that aims to identify the needs and challenges of CSOs in order to know how best to assist CSOs in improving their LTA structures. With a participatory approach, the programme in the upcoming phase will aim to co-ordinate and strengthen LTA initiatives within civil society around the world. For more information on the survey, click here. APPOINTMENTS CURRENT JOB Manager of the Secretary General's Office Application Deadline: 7 July 2008 CIVICUS Location: Johannesburg, South Africa For more information, click here   CONTACT e-CIVICUS e-CIVICUS is a free weekly online publication keeping tens of thousands of people, organisations and programmes informed of the many developments that are taking place in civil society organisations around the world, the many factors that are affecting the impact of civil society on creating a more just world. We value your comments and suggestions. Please send these to the Editorial Team at editor@civicus.org. Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from e-CIVICUS, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options by entering your subscription email address: Click here. For more information on the CIVICUS WORLD ASSEMBLY daily updates, download a pdf versions of Terra Viva: 19 June Edition 20 June Edition 21 June Edition