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>
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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.
Comment (1)
Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Climate Justice, Connecting People Through Technology, Development Effectiveness
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
Picking up on Anna’s blog, I’ll add my thoughts on today’s plenary, Global Decision Making: Moving Margins to the Centre. The presentations reflected the diversity of panelists, from a Google Head of Community Affairs who ran in the Vermont gubernatorial race to a World Bank representative focusing on innovation.
I was pleased with most but not all presentations, which ranged from predictable to surprising. The presence of Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Quebec and Labrador was necessary but the scope of the issues raised fell beyond the limitations of the panel. On participation – and by extension migration from the margins – Mr. Picard stressed Art. 32 (2) of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples […] to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories […].
Status in Canada: FAIL! (see example from Amnesty)
While the panelists responded from their own perspectives, and I realize the time constraints, I would have appreciated listening to the panelists talk more to each other, not only to us.
For example, after Mr. Picard’s intervention, Mr. Šimonović from the OHCHR was quick to mention involvement of indigenous peoples at the UN. It’s fine to talk of inclusiveness, but it’s equally important to push for action to improve lives. In this respect, actions are either lacking or are ineffective. So while the UN listens to indigenous people – the UN Special Rapporteur was critical of the Canadian government in his report – it’s clear that indigenous people in Canada will continue to be marginalized as long as the government discriminates against them.
For the UN to listen and criticize is not enough. Clearly, the government doesn’t care; Art. 32 is meaningless. The others on the panel, however, could have offered solutions, and that’s when it gets interesting.
When I talk of exchange between the panelists, I am suggesting all actors can consciously and creatively search for opportunities of convergence where none existed before. Mr. Tujan’s experience from BetterAid could certainly help CSOs through set of principles that would improve their efforts to promote the rights of marginalized populations. Mr. Walji’s World Bank Innovation Team could probably map (with Google) health problems in relation to resource extraction in indigenous communities.
As a member of the audience, I want to leave a presentation thinking, “I learned something new, I’ve changed the way I’m thinking, I’m going to try something different.” The convergence of ideas is an added value that CSOs have to catalyze the migration of the marginalized to the centre. There are too many opportunities to ignore. It’s not something that applies only to plenary presentations, but it’s just as valid in our small group discussions; we need to leave knowing things will be different.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, google, indigenous, OHCHR, UN, world bank
Totally unfair of me. Who am I to tell you that you have homework? If you’re in Montreal for the CIVICUS World Assembly, you might understandably want to take full advantage of the city that is my home. The nightlife is fantastic (well, it was 20 years ago when I was part of it), the weather is great, the city is awesome. Don’t forget to go to Old Montreal. Fully understandable for you to take off your CIVICUS delegate hat and put on your tourist hat.
I’m at home a few kilometres from the Assembly with the day’s events still on my mind. The house is finally quiet. My wife’s at a book club and my children are at last asleep after playing the Star Wars theme song on their recorders through their noses. Talent. So I have plenty of time to read.
Bedtime reading for some of us.
The homework I had in mind is just a little reading. The text: the international framework for CSO development effectiveness. During a session that took place this afternoon, three presenters part of the Open Forum shared with participants the process outlining the creation of the framework; the structure of the framework; and the questions surrounding next steps in ensuring buy-in of the framework by various actors. More links are here and here.
The Open Forum is eager to get the word out about the framework. It will be pushed during the Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness later this year. The framework is worth reading. As was mentioned during the workshop, it’s a response to the growing need to prove accountability for CSOs. Seen that way, the framework is meant to improve our work and how we share the results of our work with others. It’s also meant to show other actors, notably governments, that CSOs take their role seriously and are taking proactive steps to strengthening their legitimacy. So governments should do the same. As one of the presenter’s remarked, the framework should be “used as a manifesto to push governments to keep their part of the deal.”
I’m calling the framework homework because I believe it’s a good investment of everyone’s time to read through the document, learn from it, question its limitations, identify the gaps in your own work, talk to others at CIVICUS about it, and spread the word. The CIVICUS group is a significant vehicle for promoting the framework. I wish I had something like this when I started working in NGOs (back in those nightlife days). I’m pretty sure I would have done a better job.
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, CSO_Open_Forum
Days like today are meant to be inspirational. We are meant to listen to speakers who will motivate us to continue our work, who will reinvigorate our senses, our passions and our commitments to creating a better world. A world that is just, a world where we can focus on celebrating our innumerable diversities and be richer through exchanges that value and strengthen our individual and collective potentials.
The speakers during the first day of the CIVICUS World Assembly did not disappoint. There was an abundance of sound bites that made their way through the Twittersphere throughout the day (follow the tweets here).
- Space for civil society is increasingly under threat.
- It’s either co-existence or non-existence.
- Don’t mistake access for influence.
- Don’t make us a tickbox.
- We have to remind ourselves that we are talking on behalf of the people.
- People called it the Arab Spring an awakening, as though we’d been sleeping.
- The goal of the revolution must stay with us.
- If they [governments] do something wrong, we will organize another revolution.
- When you look at what’s happening on the streets, organized civil society is way behind.
Founding member of the CIVICUS Board Dr. Rajesh Tandon mentioned at one point, “The citizens are on the streets. In Senegal in Dakar, in India in Delhi, in the UK, in Canada. […] There is a new element of hope. But that hope is being talked about not from formal organizations but from the streets, by the citizens, by ordinary folks, who do not even know the spelling of the phrase ‘civil society’.”
It reminded me of what an Egyptian friend told me while in Tunisia: the Arab Spring was a wake-up call for civil society. Civil society organizations were caught off guard by the uprisings – their work up until that point had distanced itself too much from issues that mattered to ordinary people.
While Dr. Tandon spoke of hope, he made the point that the revolutions took place through a citizen-led collective expression of both hope and anger. As I reflected on this on the way home, I thought Yes. This is why I’m doing this work in the first place. I am pissed off at the sorry state of the world but I’m hopeful there can be something better.
That sounds like a citizen. Contrast that with: We don’t like the state of the world and we know we can change it for the better and here’s how. That sounds like a CSO. We channel that hope and anger into solutions. “Revolution is a long-term process.” And we’re in it for the long haul, people.
Part 2: I’m Giving You Homework, People! (coming soon)
"There is a new element of hope."
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Development Effectiveness
There’s a passage in Thomas Friedman’s book Hot, Flat, and Crowded that resonated deeply with me. It’s also the only thing I remember from the book, but that might be owing to my poor memory. He decried the growing cosmetic concern for the environment. He writes:
“It is not about Earth Day concerts. It is not about special green issues of magazines. It is not about 205 easy ways to go green…too often and in too many ways, ‘green’ has become a license to feel good without doing good, to raise awareness without actually changing our behavior.”
He’s right. Living a truly “green” life, along with advocating for climate justice by pressing governments and educating average folks to change their climate-killing habits, is hard. Just ask any climate justice activist who’s tried to convince their government to implement climate-friendly policies. It’s a constant challenge, not only because your audience is sometimes pig-headed or ignorant (the combination of the two being horrendous), but also because simple and straightforward solutions rarely present themselves. It’s an uphill battle for any climate justice activist.
It ain't easy being green. Same goes for working for a CSO. Aaaaarrgh!
The same holds true for anyone working for a CSO or NGO, regardless of his or her field of expertise. Human rights, development, gender equality, democratic spaces and good governance: good luck. It’s messy. You have ideas, you have a dream, you have a vision, you have projects and programs: despite all you efforts, your impact can be hindered by innumerable unpredictable events and circumstances.
I’m not saying this to bring anybody down. On the contrary, having a clear grasp of the limitations and complexity of the change you want to create will only help improve you work.
In the work of CSOs and NGOs – the range of which is richly reflected in this year’s CIVICUS World Assembly – there are no simple solutions. Our work is messy and difficult and challenging. If your work isn’t, you’re probably not doing a good job. By the end of the Assembly, there will be no “10 Easy Ways to Change the World.” At least I hope there won’t be. Participants should leave the Assembly filled with hope and optimism, confusion and muddiness (in a good sense, questioning their work). They should also leave cautiously aware of the necessity to think strategically and, wherever possible, in collaboration with others to have a united voice. Coming up with well-rounded strategies linked to concrete actions (and people to realize those actions) is a step in the right direction. We won’t leave the Assembly with 10 easy ways to save the world, but we ought to go away with better ways to change the world, together.
Related post: An Idea that Shouldn’t Be Revolutionary
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Climate Justice, Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, climate, CSOs, environment, NGOs
Back in 2003 I facilitated a workshop for NGOs in Jakarta. It was a fantastic workshop, lots of wonderful ideas from the participants, great insight, lots of fun, and tangible ideas for moving forward. At the closing dinner/karaoke sing-along, one of the participants got up and said: “We had a great time, but now we have to go back to our organizations. How can we keep up the energy and enthusiasm we had together? Every time I come back from a workshop, the reality of my work gets in the way.”
Why can't we have this much fun back at work?
Fair enough. I got the same sense last year after the CIVICUS World Assembly. For each workshop I attended, the presenters took note of participants’ email addresses and promised to follow up with us and send us their notes and PowerPoint presentations. I never got anything. This should not happen this year.
The responsibility is not solely that of the individual presenters, nor that of the World Assembly organizers. The participants have a role to play as well. If presentations are moving enough for you to think afterwards, “I need to do more,” then all of us – presenters, organizers, participants, and bloggers – have a joint responsibility to make sure that the positive energy generated by this year’s WA has to live beyond the closing of the Assembly.
Someone from CIVICUS recently wrote to me: “I hope we can realise the breakthroughs that finally seem within our collective grasp.” Events like the Assembly must capitalize on this. The the Arab Spring should be evidence enough that CSOs are desperately needed in states that are moving towards a (hopefully) democratic transition. Upheavals from thousands of protesters across the Middle East need to be accompanied by a framework based on principles of participation and democracy. That’s something CSOs are good at: they can help people learn about their rights.
CSOs play an equally important role with governments. The formation of new governments cannot move forward without responding to the genuine calls from the public uprisings. Again, CSOs can help bridge the gap between citizens calling for change and their new governments. CSOs offer a tempered voice that reminds citizens and governments of the importance of human rights, gender equality, participation, and accountability, among so many other foundations that have been absent in oppressive regimes. Some argue that the “revolution” part was easy. The hard part is creating truly democratic and participatory spaces that foster positive and lasting social change.
The World Assembly is a catalyzing moment for CSOs. It will be engaging, thought provoking, and for many of us, transformative. It’s in everyone’s best interests to keep the momentum burgeoning from the Assembly well beyond September 12.
What will you do?
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Category : Civil Society and Democratic Space, Development Effectiveness
For this week’s post, I thought I’d write something on development effectiveness that is not directly addressed in the CIVICUS World Assembly: self-care for those working in CSOs.
I take a lot of planes. A pre-departure constant for each flight is the safety message. Towards the end of the message you’re told what to do if the oxygen masks drop. You’re shown how to put your mask on. After that, you’re told that if you are with someone who needs assistance, like a child, first put your own mask on and then help the other person with their mask.
They told me to care for myself first. Now I can help you, kiddo.
The message is clear: take care of yourself before helping others. This is not always the case for CSOs. In the CSO world, “compassion fatigue” and burnout happen more often than many admit. The importance of “self-care” for activists was addressed in a recent online dialogue offered by New Tactics. It’s worth reading to see whether or not you relate to the issues raised. One definition of self-care put forward is the “ability to engage in […] work without sacrificing other important parts of one life. The ability to maintain a positive attitude towards the work despite challenges.” If you’re reading this blog, chances are you can relate to this definition.
The dialogue was about human rights but is valid for any CSO. It’s easy to get burned out; it’s easy for work to consume our lives. Sometimes it’s an intense dedication to a cause that leaves us exhausted and, by extension, ineffective. When an individual’s work is ineffective, so is their organization’s.
The dialogue asked us to rethink activism: to question whether an activist must selflessly devote themselves to a cause without regard for their own needs. The dialogue also put forth the idea that self-care is not merely an individual’s goals, but should be an organizational one.
The online dialogue asked readers what organizations could do to help improve self-care. Many solutions were offered, including the institutionalization of “down-time,” psychological support, and spaces for employees to express themselves. There are examples of guidebooks, such as one from the Antares Foundation on stress in humanitarian workers.
The importance of self-care hit me as I sat down for breakfast with an Iraqi human rights activist three years ago. Before taking my first bite, he told me that in the past year he’d lost his father, brother-in-law, nephew, and best friend to the fighting. I couldn’t think of anything to say. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, That’s the way it is in Iraq.
I honestly don’t know how that man kept doing his work as an activist. In a world where people working for CSOs do everything to help others, there has to be some consideration as to who cares for them as well.
Is self-care an issue you have addressed in your work?
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Category : Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, CSOs, Self-care
The CIVICUS World Assembly has a workshop on the third day tentatively called “The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” Its description is also qualified as TBC:
The objectives of this workshop will be to develop a “World we want” action-planning track that provides a deliberation space for ‘post 2015’ thinking and developing an online discussion space where participants will begin the conversation before the WA and continue the dialogue following the WAs, which will be incorporated into GCAP hosted teleconferences. [emphasis mine]
I know the content is TBC, but I can’t help but notice all the talk going on. At least “action-planning track” sounds action-oriented, if sufficiently ambiguous. If I sound critical, I am. Civil society has taken its share of criticism for talking about issues rather than acting on them. The presenters are from the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. To be fair, when you read a fuller description of their Beyond 2015 campaign (which the workshop is based on), there is a promising degree of action: “Commit to taking practical action on the Beyond 2015 agenda and at the national and regional level.”
Beyond 2015 is a reference to the timeframe for realizing the MDGs. The MDGs are an almost-great framework for improving the lives of those less fortunate. One of the major shortcomings of the MDGs (addressed during last year’s World Assembly) is the fact that their targets are not tied to human rights. If they were, the framework would not only be rights-based, but would also hold governments to their human rights obligations under international law.
With the MDGs not explicitly linked to human rights, governments’ lack of interest in achieving them is apparent. To date, only 60 countries have submitted MDG progress reports. The official UNDP Canada MDG website aptly illustrates how important my government holds these goals. The last bullet point has the sentence, “Last year, in 2004-2005…” Way to go Canada!
Progress on the MDGs is slow. The 2011 MDG report shows some gains, but just as many areas where the goals will likely remain unattainable (like reducing maternal mortality). Read through this quick summary and you’ll see a pattern emerge: many of the goals have two paragraphs. The first one states “Yes, we’re making progress.” In cases where there is a second paragraph, it usually says “But we still have a long way to go [usually in Africa].”
If civil society is to have a meaningful impact on the post-2015 MDG world (and the current one for that matter), it must find engaging ways to involve governments. The engagement, whatever form it takes, should be one where civil society helps governments to uphold their commitments (not as strong as legal obligations, but that’s all we’ve got now). It should predominantly be constructive, but we should also be mindful that shaming tactics (”You haven’t done a thing!”) also have their use on occasion.
There already exist plenty of success stories around realizing the MDGs - got any?
MDG 2, Target 2.1: Fail, at least for these kids.
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Category : Development Effectiveness
Tags: #CivWA, MDG
The streets of London are ablaze again tonight. Walking along Oxford Street a few hours ago, I saw only one shop, an electronics one, whose owners took the precaution of boarding up store windows. There was a visible presence of police officers along the street. The rioters are now splitting themselves in small groups in the city centre and apparently coordinating looting activities. A witness said he heard one looter announce to a group, “Time to go to Olden Street now.”
The police are apparently doing their job very well or are completely absent. In places where they are present, they are apparently asking people in the streets to remove their hoodies or caps so that their faces are visible. In other places, they are able to control some groups but not all. In Birmingham, a reporter is now saying that a Tesco store was “ripped to shreds in five minutes.”
Nothing to see here, just move along.
The incident that sparked the riots is still under investigation, but it was just announced that the victim, Mark Duggan, did not fire his weapon before being shot by police. Initial peaceful demonstrations by concerned citizens turned into a tragic series of riots across pockets of London and other cities. People providing analysis are cautious to say that those responsible for the violence are a small minority. But understanding why this is happening will take time.
It was encouraging to listen to a youth worker speak earlier this evening on the BBC in defense of the overwhelming majority of youth who are not representative of the violence unfolding. As a youth worker, the activities he undertakes focus on youth respecting others and on being engaged in positive, community-based projects that benefit a range of stakeholders. He said the work his youth centre has been doing would continue as it has before. If anything, its importance is highlighted by the events of the past few days.
His words resonated with what friends said to me in Tunisia last month: the work of civil society organizations during the Arab Spring may not have been apparent, but their role after – if we are indeed to have an Arab Summer – is imperative. CSOs in the Middle East have to work with the governments just as much as youth workers in London and elsewhere in the UK have to work with police officers and government representatives in the affected areas.
It’s clear that the short-term solutions to the riots must to be for police to maintain order and ensure safety. But long-term solutions will be a lot more complex to figure out, and CSOs must play a significant part in bringing peoples’ concerns and needs to the forefront of the discussion.
The police sirens are still blazing off in the distance.
Related post: The UK Riots: What’s Worth Remembering
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Category : Development Effectiveness
Tags: UK_riots, youth
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