Strengthening citizen action and civil society in the Caribbean

A teleconference hosted by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
14:00 – 16:00 GMT on Friday 12 August 2011

It is my pleasure to invite you to participate in a regional consultation geared towards identifying and better understanding the key issues and state of civil society in the region, as well as how governments, CSOs and the private sector can better support the strengthening of civil society in the region. The consultation comes as part of the CIVICUS alliance’s outreach in the region, and the expectation is that the findings should help inform CIVICUS’ policy positions in global forums later in 2011, including the UN, the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, and the 17th Conference of Parties on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa.

The teleconference will be introduce by CIVICUS Board Member Amsale Maryam and CIVICUS Director of Outreach Henri Valot and presentations will be given by a wide array of participants on issues of regional importance including:

• ‘Regional integration: what can citizens do?’ - Keston Perry, Founder Caribbean Movement for Civil Empowerment, Trinidad and Tobago
• ‘National associations, Caribbean networks: challenges and opportunities’ – Cecilia Babb, Executive Coordinator, Caribbean Policy Development Centre, Barbados
• ‘Under the shadow of Latin America: a civil society divided by language?’ - Addys Then Marte, Alianza ONG, CIVICUS member, Dominican Republic

The session is expected to last for two hours and will be conducted in English. We are hoping for a genuinely participatory session with only very short presentations.

Key questions we hope to explore are:

1. What are the key issues civil society is working on in the region?
2. How strong are Caribbean civil society voices on the global stage on these issues? What else could be done to amplify such voices?
3. How healthy is civil society in the Caribbean? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
4. How can governments, CSOs and the private sector better support and strengthen civil society?

In order to participate and receive the dial-in details, please submit your RSVP/Registration via email to . Space is limited so mark your calendar and register now!