CIVICUS World Assembly
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international alliance of members and partners which constitutes an influential network of organisations at the local, national, regional and international levels and spans the spectrum of civil society <a>more</a>
If you have a long journey back from meetings such as the CIVICUS General Assembly, there is really no need to play any movie on your small screen on the plane. Instead, you can enjoy the rewind of the event in your head. Hundreds of faces. Charming views of Old Montreal. Myriads of thoughts – yours and of those who inspired you there.
I admire activists. They inspire me. I like seeing how moved they are talking about their work. How seldom they complain about dire circumstances. Some of them deal with everyday crises, providing for those in need who are forgotten by everyone else. Others try for systemic change, so that the need for help decreases and the world gets a bit better. There are also those who measure, map, compare and analyze so that the rest can look into best practice, learn, and demonstrate impact whenever needed. All of those can be found at any CIVICUS GA.
I could go on about how important and valuable it is to participate in workshops and what a great opportunity it is to listen to the representatives of World Bank or Google Inc., but the CIVICUS bloggers (including me) have already given you a lot of insight into that. Instead, I want to make a point that the unique value lies in the fact that people who are involved in all those kinds of activism meet each other and talk about how their tasks are different and where synergies are. I believe you can only become a better activist if others help you look from the outside at what you do.
There is a great value in talking about opportunities and challenges. Shrinking democratic space, new ways of engagement, double edge of technology and all the faces of justice: from judiciary through economic to climate – require responses and strategies more coordinated than ever. If we can be divided, then we can be easily ruled. There is a great value in differences in opinions and we should never let go of this, but we need to be able to negotiate common ground based on shared principles. Chances are someone asks what the world ought to be like and we wouldn’t want to be caught guessing.
Because there are so many problems to deal with and so many things to do, we, activists do live in a jetlag. Some of us work ahead of our time zone, looking into the future, foreseeing impact of current events and designing strategies. Some of us work a couple of hours behind our time zone, dealing with results of human irresponsibility, greed and appetite for power, having always something to fix and to make better. We all need to find time and space to breathe, to catch a perspective and to use some peer support. There will be many occasions in the following twelve months. In September 2012 we all can hopefully meet for this in Montreal, -4 GMT.
See you all there.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Programme Work Sessions
Tags: #CivWA, activists
Claudia Kis Madrid es una participante y una voluntaria blogger en la Asemblea Mundial de CIVICUS.
En el taller titulado “Las muchas caras del movimiento climático” se habló entre otras cosas sobre las oportunidades que presentan las aplicaciones web para lograr una mayor participación y movilización ciudadana.
El mundo digital tiene grandes posibilidades para difundir información de manera muy rápida, vincular personas al otro lado del planeta e implicar a los jóvenes en el debate actual. Por esta razón CIVICUS también está explorando nuevos horizontes a partir de su nueva aplicación para iPhone.
Este tipo de aplicaciones web para teléfonos inteligentes sirven como plataformas permanentes de dialogo y expresión. Permiten a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil conjuntar esfuerzos y compartir información, y son a su vez, espacios donde los ciudadanos pueden proponer alternativas y coordinar iniciativas.
Sin embargo, no debemos olvidar que las aplicaciones web son únicamente uno de los múltiples instrumentos que deben usarse para debatir y coordinar acciones ya que aún muy poca gente en el planeta puede comunicarse a través de esta tecnología. Creo, en este sentido, que es necesario seguir considerando el recurso de la palabra y del contacto humano para lograr una mayor participación y movilización ciudadana. De no ser así, muchos quedarán excluidos del debate actual y de la acción.
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Category : Connecting People Through Technology, Spanish Content
Dear Alexandre, Dear Sam,
I wish more than anything to make this world a better place for you. As you grow older, more of the world’s harshness unfolds before you and I feel both powerless and ashamed of what you discover. You know that millions of people are dying of hunger, yet we have all the food we need. You hear of unkind people willingly hurting and killing others in order to stay in power, yet you live in a safe and peaceful neighbourhood surrounded by friends. You know of thoughtless people ruining the planet by polluting the atmosphere, yet we’re no better with two cars in our driveway.
I don’t know if any of this leaves you conflicted like me. Maybe you have a better ability to forget about these things and focus on being kids. But I do know these things hurt you too. Neither of you wanted to finish your rice last night for different reasons. Alexandre, when you refused to finish what was on your plate, I pulled out the guilt-inducing excuse my mother gave me: “Finish your food, there are children dying in Africa!” Your sincere but anguished reply was unexpected: “But how can I get this to them? They’re too far away!”
They are too far away. And rather than save the few remaining bites, I told you each to throw away your own food. You took no pleasure in doing that Alexandre; as for you Sam, your somber face revealed your sadness. I made you do this in part for you to feel bad, but I also want you to realize you have privileges and choices many others don’t. The privileges you have and choices you make must be put to good use.
What I mean to say is that as you learn more about the world, you will discover the meanness and love that people have for each other, the violence we inflict and kindness we bestow on each other, our destruction and respect for the environment around us. As you learn more about the world, you’ll find you are in a position of privilege: you have your rights respected, you have an education, you are in good health, you have enough food and clean water to drink, and you have a home. Just with those things, you are better off than hundreds of millions of others around the world.
You also have choices: you can choose to live a life in which you care for yourself and your loved ones. You can also choose to help people you do not know. You help them because it’s simply the right thing to do. Despite how I’ve seen some people treat each other, I want to believe that there is more goodness than not in everybody’s hearts.
The people I met this past weekend are in positions of privilege and can make choices to create a better world. They are all part of a global alliance called CIVICUS – people from different organizations from around the world. They choose to make the world a better place, but they agreed that they don’t always do so in a united way. They said they speak for common people, but in many countries the common people have taken to the streets and said “Enough!” to their leaders without anyone’s help. But all those people need help now.
The people I met last weekend have ideas for making the environment better, but they don’t always agree on what to do, what to say, when to say it, and who to speak to. They want to make sure that everyone in power leads with accountability and transparency, which is another way of saying nobody cheats and everyone knows how decisions are made. They have ideas on bringing people out of poverty, helping women become equal with men, making sure everyone gets an education, helping everyone have access to food and shelter and good health. But not everyone who leads governments bothers to listen to them.
The people I met agreed that “new technologies” like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and text messages (none of which were ever new to you) are important tools to connect us together and learn more about struggles happening half a world away. But communicating information, sharing ideas and talking about ways to make our collective lives better is not enough.
We need leaders. We need strong people who will reunite us and energize us and make us cry out against the injustices of the world and push us to rise up and say we have rights. We need to stand up for those suffering, we need to take action and help prevent our planet from turning into a wasteland. Many people say we can’t forget to listen to young people. The two of you need to learn about the world around you and how to make it better than what it is now. There is a lot of wrong being done in the world. There is no shortage of greediness, abuse of power, ignorance, violence, hatred, discrimination, and destruction of peoples’ lives and environments. But I am firm in my conviction that the voices of those aspiring for a better world for everyone are far louder than the voices of those whose intentions and actions hurt us all. Add your voices in solidarity to those who want change and who fight to live in a world that needs to be kinder and more caring than the one I have sheltered you from. You can make a difference.
Je t’aime Alexandre, je t’aime Sam. - Daddy
With inspiration from Jay Naidoo, Lessons from CIVICUS World Assembly in held in Montreal – Building a just world; Jessica Hume, A multitude of convergence; Patrick Johnston, Putting the ‘citizen’ back in civil society organizations; CIVICUS members who remarked that civil society’s language must be accessible; and the Letters to My Sons series of blogs.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Climate Justice, Connecting People Through Technology, Development Effectiveness
Quedamos en el silencio reflexivo de los días que siguen a decenas de discusiones que tienen como centro la fuerza de la movilización civil. Fueron días intensos, de discusiones densas. La justicia social, el desarrollo de las comunidades, el activismo en línea. Los ejemplos primarios fueron, como era de esperarse, la nueva visión que se tiene sobre el mundo árabe y cómo sus represores hicieron que finalmente la gota derramara el vaso. Logramos que quedaran claras dos cosas: la primera, que los nuevos medios representan herramientas importantes, pero que sin la participación ciudadana no hay nada. Y la segunda, que aunque nos encanten los movimientos civiles y sea emocionante llamarlos revoluciones, hay que entender que todo ese revuelo no es más que el principio de un camino sumamente pedregoso que sigue dependiendo de todos para llegar a alguna parte.
Para los que aún creen que nada de lo que uno haga puede hacer la diferencia, creo que estos movimientos de gentes deberían hacer despertar. He pensado últimamente en amigos que dicen pensar en seis billones de personas vs la cantidad de recursos y volverse derrotistas en consecuencia. Al tiempo, otros luchan apasionadamente por los derechos de los animales, mientras se preguntan por qué es que tantos países infortunados buscan la luz en Francia. Los primeros me hacen pensar que es fácil ser derrotista cuando hay techo, calefacción, agua corriente y comida en casa. Los segundos, que hay procesos históricos muy fáciles de olvidar aún cuando los resultados nos den en la cara. Ahora bien, en ambos casos hay una muestra fuerte de la diferencia que hay entre dar la espalda a la realidad o afrontar las responsabilidades que hacen de los movimientos civiles un factor de diferencia. Es un proceso lento, pero los resultados son seguros.
Las ideas de Castells (que recomiendo enormemente), que he tenido a la mano estos últimos días me ayudan a dar un cierre a lo que hemos discutido, y de lo que seguiremos hablando. El sociólogo explica cómo los poderes y contrapoderes son los que van modelando los caminos. La participación de la gente es importante, aún cuando no se vea al día siguiente. Por ejemplo, cuando se boicotea a grandes empresas que no siguen criterios respetables, éstas, por criterios de venta, pueden enderezar su modo de trabajo. Puede que los poderes se vean enormes. Pero dependen también de lo que cada uno empuje. Los cambios vienen con las ideas de un individuo, reproducidas en cadena y apoyadas por los semejantes. Son ondas, llegan lejos, pero alguien las tiene que iniciar. Cuando un movimiento empieza y se expande, los poderes escuchan y se mueven.
Quizás sea esto lo más útil de recordar cuando uno cree que el esfuerzo individual y la voluntad de hacer las cosas caen en saco roto. Quizás sea esto una de las cosas que nos toca incluir en los nuevos procesos de educación. Quizás sea esto también lo que debamos evitar como miembros de una sociedad, de una nación. Cuando hablo con gente que dice que votar es involucrarse en política, veo que nuestra educación cívica agarró adonde no es. Cuando aprendemos que en la historia, pueblos de tradiciones antiguas y de logros educativos altos y expandidos son capaces de cambiar su libertad a cambio de protección, pues han cedido a la manipulación del miedo, hay un problema grave en lo que cada individuo entiende como responsabilidad. Sin embargo, todos estamos en la posibilidad de cometer esos mismos errores… Aunque no se pueda decir que no se advirtió.
En cualquiera de los casos, las pruebas están ahí. En la historia antigua, en la reciente, en el mundo dolorido que tenemos hoy. Lo que hacemos como comunidad cuenta. Los movimientos civiles tienen fuerza. Las aspiraciones individuales se conectan y hacen volumen. Si algo me ha encantado aprender, es que aún cuando las ideas dentro de nuestras cabezas suenen locas, y cuando otros más apegados a la tradición las miren de reojo, vale y valdrá siempre la pena ponerles voz y hacerlas oír. Uno nunca sabe quién conjuga con uno y se anima justo porque escuchó que en este mundo de locos, tan solo tampoco se está.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Connecting People Through Technology, Spanish Content
My Mexican friend Consuelo told me today that what she remembers the most from her first World Assembly in 1995 is a statement that civil society organizations are like mushrooms: some are nutritious, some poisonous and some – hallucinogenic. A position that our civil microcosm is not like that anymore would be quite a hard one to defend.
Therefore I was very curious about the workshop “Civil Society at the Crossroads” that was delivered today by a group of people running an initiative on the future of civil society around the world. Which sorts of mushrooms will sustain evolutions and revolutions? What new species emerge? Rajesh Tandon of PRIA, India, stated that CSOs as we know them are only a part of the context. There are also active citizens engaging in issues of concern in a collective manner that can last together for few weeks but also for few hours. What is then the role of those movements? What sort of political space they occupy?
Brian Pratt of INTRAC, UK, argued that civil society and its organizations need to remind themselves what they are all about, revalue the space their occupy. He noted, that UK exports a model to the world where organizations are first and foremost subcontractors of public service. Finally, the civil society is at the crossroads because society is there as well.
a snapshot from yesterday's dance is both a chance for you to see how good it was and to reflect on the structured vs. amorphous nature of civil society :)
Activists who put a lot of time and effort into building sustainable structures take a distanced approach to movements and amorphous collaborations, treating them as unsustainable. On the other hand, we cannot totally ignore them, because it seems that the random and issue-focused way of engagement will be a growing trend. It is especially important for umbrella bodies and support organizations who promote participation and model frameworks for it. If they become oblivious to the civil society that grows away from traditional structures, they may be soon laying down rail tracks in the areas less and less people want to take trains to.
On the other hand, not all citizens moved by what bugs them will remain active after the itching stops. Those with their activism gene activated may want to involve in action-based movements on issues of concern after hours of their regular engagement, and that is also fine. Finally, no organization nor movement grow in vacuum – there are stakeholders and constituencies that would like to know the phone number and person responsible for speaking on behalf of the initiative – be it governments, grant makers to beneficiaries. “Traditional” organizations have a predictable model of democratic governance that makes them simple to talk to and their flaws in democratic procedures easier to spot. Those issues are still ahead of movements and ad hoc initiatives that wish to be treated seriously in the long run.
I think big thanks go to both the facilitators and the audience that posed very good questions to inspire the rest and avoided easy answers. Any answer conceived in an hour-and-a-half workshop would be strikingly false on the issue that still belongs to the future.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Programme Work Sessions
Tags: #CivWA, civil society, CSOs, democratic space, movements
watch?v=S2ZdywTtWpQ&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1315860015
Una de las sesiones de trabajo de hoy habló de una apuesta que rara vez se pierde, pero en la que los poderes parecen arriesgar poco: educación, comunidades y tecnología. Para los que han visto la explosión de las tecnologías en el aula lo que digo puede sonar extraño. Sin embargo, al ver experiencias como la de PROTEGE QV en Camerún, creo que puedo decir esto sin demasiado miedo a equivocarme.
La misión número uno de la organización es conectar a las escuelas en medios rurales con ayuda de la tecnología. Y aquí hablamos de niños y de maestros que apenas comienzan su relación con el mundo de las computadoras. Los retos son muchísimos: entrenamiento, uso y mantenimiento. La conexión a internet continúa siendo un lujo, y hay muy poco apoyo como para que las escuelas puedan conectarse efectivamente con los nuevos recursos que han cambiado la cara de las escuelas.
El camino es largo. Y ni siquiera los países que han gozado de la ventaja en los accesos a la tecnología ven el panorama nítido. Las tecnologías por sí solas no hacen la magia, claro está. Sin embargo, los resultados académicos de estos niños antes y después de tener una computadora en su escuela muestran el camino. Varias organizaciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales hacen grandes esfuerzos, pero falta aún mucho más.
La colaboración entre educación y tecnologías es compleja, y necesita de un cambio de mentes y de una integración hábil dentro de la idea de la escuela formal. Casos como los de Camerún, entre otros nos brindan la oportunidad de hacernos preguntas que pueden orientarnos hacia nuevas estrategias.
Ahora, primero lo primero: los recursos. Me pregunto si una red que comunique iniciativas que convergen puede ayudar compartiendo ideas. La historia de PROTEGE QV y del programa de alfabetización digital que se llevó en Camerún son ejemplos maravillosos. ¿Qué otros podemos incluir? Y en lo que concierne a los recursos, que aún no llegan tan lejos como deberían ¿Qué estrategias podemos proponer?
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Category : Connecting People Through Technology, Spanish Content
Augusta Dwyer is the author of Broke But Unbroken: Grassroots Social Movements and Their Radical Solutions to Poverty.
As development practitioners and non-governmental organizations addressing issues of global poverty seek more effective ways of changing the current status quo, they are recognizing the need for communities of the poor to demand more accountability from both governments and policy-makers.
The heady events we have come to know as the Arab Spring are just one recent example of the aspirations of millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East for a greater say in their lives, for more just and economically equitable societies. In many other countries, from Brazil to Thailand to Senegal – to name only a representative few – social movements already decades old have also been struggling to define their own development processes.
In Brazil, the Landless Rural Workers Movement has used direct action to take state land and unproductive estates and distribute them among the poor. In doing so, they have empowered hundreds of thousands, setting up schools, cooperatives and organic farming initiatives. More than 370,000 families now cultivate the land instead of living in dire circumstances at the margins of society.
In Thailand, the Assembly of the Poor has long challenged their government’s development policies, top-down decisions that have destroyed their abilities to make a living as fisherfolk, farmers and forest dwellers. In Senegal, various community organizations have come together and formed networks for local development, deciding what needs to change and searching for international partners to work with them in their endeavours.
Perhaps one of the most interesting alternatives the global poor have themselves devised, however, is the International Urban Poor Fund. This fund is managed by members of the Shack/Slum Dwellers International from various developing nations. Donations from private trusts and the governments of Norway and Sweden are routed through Britain’s International Institute for Environment and Development. Since 2001, it has disbursed over $5 million to organizations of the urban poor to build housing and establish community-run microfinance schemes.
Here we find a process where the poor themselves make important decisions about what kinds of projects they need and how to implement them. What’s more, these projects cost far less than traditional aid projects, and are sustained by the people who designed them.
By working with the grassroots, bringing the voices of the poor and marginalized to the centre is possible. Like the courageous protestors who gave birth to the Arab Spring, they have already proven themselves capable of struggling for – and winning – truly stirring transformations.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Connecting People Through Technology
Claudia Kis Madrid es una participante y una voluntaria blogger en la Asemblea Mundial de CIVICUS.
La conferencia de Naciones Unidas Sobre Medio ambiente y Desarrollo Rio+20 representa una oportunidad para establecer nuevas normas y objetivos de desarrollo. Sin embargo a menos de un año de Rio+20 la sociedad civil no se está aun movilizando. Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil no tienen aun espacios de dialogo permanente en donde puedan establecer agendas comunes. Tampoco existen espacios de discusión ciudadana en donde los individuos puedan hablar sobre temas claves la Cumbre.
Las organizaciones presentes en la Asamblea Mundial de CIVICUS 2011 coinciden en que, en general, la gente no esta animada para participar en Rio +20. Sin embargo, están cocientes de que hoy más que nunca la movilización es necesaria.
Hay temas importantes presentes en la Asamblea como el financiamiento de la adaptación al cambio climático, la creación de empleos verdes, la protección social universal, la descentralización de la energía renovable, la iniciativa de subsidios globales, etc. Esto refleja que no sólo se trata de revisar las grandes problemáticas ambientales, sino de analizar en conjunto las metas de desarrollo y buscar soluciones que integren tanto lo económico como lo social y ambiental.
El problema es ponerse de acuerdo para poder tener un impacto positivo. El papel de la sociedad civil no es de llegar a Rio+20 a manifestarse. Se trata de toda una preparación, un debate previo, durante y después. Es una lucha que puede ganarse con la participación de todos. Con la búsqueda de soluciones conjuntas, con el apoyo entre organizaciones. Porque de nada sirve duplicar esfuerzos y desperdiciar recursos.
Rio +20 representa una oportunidad. Si queremos que las cosas funcionen de diferente manera que como hasta ahora debemos buscar alternativas. Encontrar nuevas formas de transmitir los mensajes y de participar.
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Category : Climate Justice, Spanish Content
Claudia Kis Madrid es una participante y una voluntaria blogger en la Asemblea Mundial de CIVICUS.
La Conferencia de Naciones Unidas sobre Desarrollo Sostenible (Rio+20) pretende renovar el compromiso político y evaluar el progreso que ha habido hasta la fecha en la implementación de los acuerdos en materia de desarrollo sustentable.
La economía verde será el tema central en Rio+20. Sin embargo, ¿es realmente esta una solución al problema de la creciente destrucción ambiental y la pobreza? ¿Se puede realmente solucionar el conflicto de intereses entre la sostenibilidad ecológica y el desarrollo? ¿Qué es el desarrollo verde? ¿Quién se beneficia?
El problema hoy en día es lograr el progreso social respetando el medio ambiente. En este sentido habrá que tener cuidado en no caer en el típico negocio verde: parches verdes, crecimiento verde… Los nuevos acuerdos en Rio+20 deben replantear el concepto de desarrollo sustentable. Es decir, deben reconocer el valor de la naturaleza, deben poner énfasis en la equidad intra e intergeneracional.
Es tiempo de pensar si vamos por buen camino. Necesitamos implicarnos y movilizarnos para que los nuevos marcos regulatorios incluyan principios que nos beneficien a todos.
El primero de Noviembre es la fecha límite para enviar propuestas para la agenda Rio+20. Esta es la dirección: uncsd2012@un.org
Para más información sobre Rio+20:
http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php
http://www.earthsummit2012.org/
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Category : Climate Justice, Spanish Content
Tags: Rio+20
The Beyond 2015 3-hour marathon session on Day 2 of the Assembly was beyond packed. And I still cannot figure out why the elevated dance floor in the middle of the room isn’t ditched.
Regardless, the participants were eager to hear about the steps taken so far with the initiative. There was lots to tell – sometimes too much. I can understand that presenters have a lot to say, but so do the participants.
I agree it’s important to know the history, but I suspect many in the room already knew. By the time we got into small groups to discuss, it was clear we had lots to say. I was happy to see that the level of discussion was more forward thinking and direct than in last year’s two-day open space MDG sessions. But in the end, things were more than a little inconclusive, a remark also noted by Patrick Johnston. Yesterday we addressed these questions (I’m paraphrasing):
- Which of the four options do we want – no replacement framework, 2015 date extended, goals/indicators updated/changed, or a new framework?
- Do we want a development framework or something more holistic?
- What issues do we see as most important for people and planet over the next 2-3 decades?
- What would the framework look like?
Most in the group agreed that a new framework was in order, although some were suggesting to add an MDG or two, others questioned the term “framework” altogether, saying the last framework didn’t work. Some were calling for a rights-based framework that entails greater accountability and state obligations, others calling for greater equity, others mentioning the weaknesses of the current MDGs, notably on gender equality and climate justice. One person in our group proposed a set of “UDGs” – universal development goals.
Whatever the look of the post-MDG 2015 frame-or-not-framework, we all agreed that we as civil society want a stronger voice in its development. After Sering Falu Njie from the UN Millennium Campaign spoke, Kumi Naidoo expressed a shared concern of those present: the UN is talking the same talk as before that led to the MDGs, and that’s not going to work this time.
The movement has begun for us to define the post-2015 world. With just over a thousand days until 2015, the Beyond-2015 initiative is right on time.
Learn more: Beyond 2015
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, Beyond-2015, CSOs, MDGs, UN
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