Members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and civil society gathered at UN Headquarters in New York from 6 to 8 September 2006 for the 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference, hosted by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), to demonstrate their concern in strengthening the existing partnership with the United Nations. In addressing the participants, Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized the role of such partnerships: "In a time where government leaders and the media tend to focus on clashes of values and beliefs, our partnerships help bridge such divides and provide a different vision." The 2006 theme-"Unfinished Business: Effective Partnerships for Human Security and Development"-reflects the enormous amount of work that still has to be carried out to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, it leaves an open door for further improvements and highlights the goal of using the conference as a policy-building forum for NGO collaboration.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Moving Development Forward

In the panel discussion on "Moving Development Forward: Accountability, Transparency, Equitable Trade Policies", held on 6 September, moderator Katherine Marshall, Senior Advisor of Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics at the World Bank, said that "this was a group of idealistic pragmatists and pragmatic idealists". Efforts to effectively pursue the MDG of developing global partnerships for development were also discussed. Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and Director-General Emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented two issues of vital necessity for human security: for citizens and NGOs to demand the truth and revive the stagnated process of arms control and disarmament. He also highlighted the tragedy of the Iraq war and the importance of strengthening existing treaties and conventions against weapons of mass destruction and of improving cooperation and negotiation among Member States.

Grace Nshemeire, Low Unit Pack Champion at Unilever, outlined the role of the private sector in the development of low-income countries, explaining the need for transparency and the establishment and enforcement of laws and regulations at all levels, particularly those that affect low-income consumers and the small retail outlets that serve them. Mal Nuhu Ribadu, Executive Chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, emphasized the importance of good governance to development, especially in his native Nigeria and in Africa as a whole. He noted how corruption ruins the effectiveness of development efforts at all levels.

Lester M. Salaman, Director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, presented his empirical studies of the non-profit sector. Better data on civil society will promote greater visibility and legitimacy, improve policy-making, increase transparency and accountability, improve economic statistics, chart the contributions to the MDGs of non-profit organizations and help spot trends and problems. Christopher Sinckler, Executive Coordinator of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, called for a "genuine acceptance of a small States agenda in international trade", noting "three big hits" to the economies of the Caribbean region: the World Trade Organization's decision on bananas; the European Union's proposed reform of its sugar protocol; and the unilateral liberalization of the agricultural sector under the International Monetary Fund/World Bank-sponsored adjustment programme. The consensus at this discussion corresponded well with the conference theme. Though Ms. Marshall noted "a sense of the possible and of hope" among the panellists, as well as a "heartening faith in the potential of the United Nations", there is indeed much "unfinished business". They seem to agree that the full potential of civil society has not yet been realized.

Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in Conflict Resolution

On 8 September, an interesting roundtable discussion was held about "Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in Conflict Resolution". It was a representation of different ideas and experiences coming from several intellectual backgrounds-academics and civil society members-dealing with conflict resolution and understanding cultural differences, particularly in religion. Moderator Carol Rittner, Interim Director of the Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Richard Stockton College and an active member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, said that "ignorance stimulates conflict", and for this reason the antidote to such tremendous hatred should be awareness and knowledge of cultural differences, in particular religious differences, which determine many conflicts today.
Solutions and mediation are needed for these long-standing rivalries.

An alternative view on conflict resolution was proposed by Carole Frampton, Director of the Institutional Learning Team at Search for Common Ground, an NGO focusing on transforming cultural clashes into cooperation. Began during the cold war, the search for a common ground was once aimed at bringing together the divergent perspectives of the United States and the Soviet Union. The organization's basic approach has been to understand differences and then act on commonalities, which is to "search for a common ground". Its core principle is to shift from an adversarial to a cooperative approach, teaching conflicting parties to comprehend reasons why the other is different. One of its important missions was an attempt to prevent genocide in Burundi by using the media, creating the first multi-ethnic radio station that has allowed people to receive reliable information.

In the view of Eboo Patel, founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core, an NGO that deals with the problem of faith in the twenty-first century, we live in a very religious world, but the question is what should religion's role be in our lives. During the last century, some of the most important personalities of faith, such as Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., have shaped our ideological background. However, at the beginning of this millennium, he said, we are witnessing a new totalitarian version of religion, as demonstrated by people being killed in the name of God. Interfaith aims to change the idea of religion and give space to those young people who are consciously seeking an identity.

Rabbi Uri Regev, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and who is actively involved in the issue of education for the next generation, read two leaflets that display extremes of opinion within the same religion, in order to underline the importance of plurality of ideas within the same faith. Attention must be focused on this plurality, he said, because of its influence on the education of children. Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, a visionary Sikh faith leader and the Chairman of a religious charitable organization in the United Kingdom, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, started with his reflection, stating that "our planet's peace has been disturbed through violence, exploitation, conflict and insecurity". However, it is not religion that is in crisis but believers, especially the new generations, who are still seeking their identity. He agreed with previous statements that ignorance about other beliefs and practices is the source of many problems. "It is not diversity that is the problem", he added, but prejudices about diversity that lead to misapprehension and ultimately to conflict.

The Role of the Media and Communication Technology in Achieving the MDGs

A few years ago, finding innovative ways to harness the power of technology and communication in order to foster development was barely an issue, but it dominates our lives now, Juan Carlos Brandt, head of the NGO Section of DPI, said in opening the final session of the conference on "The Role of the Media and Communications Technology in Achieving the MDGs" on 8 September. The theme has its roots in the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), and helped to increase awareness of the need to use information and communications technologies (ICTs) as tools to achieve development and make the information society global. Therry Moses Genesis, Assistant Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Liberia, focused on the need for partnerships among global actors to enhance the communications system in his country, which had been ravaged by civil war until 2003. Print media now enjoys a broader freedom, the number of local cellular phone companies has increased, and the Internet-a true novelty in Liberia-is beginning to spread. Promotion of human rights and gender issues has everything to gain from increased participation and awareness, which can certainly be helped by the diffusion of ICTs. The challenge is to provide appropriate conditions for this diffusion.

Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Television for Education-Asia Pacific (TVEAP), discussed the region's success in technology development. In the 1990s, it was a theatre of a vast ICT proliferation. Recalling "how quickly disasters become yesterday's news", he pointed out that we need to keep stories of human survival and struggle alive. "Silent tsunamis", such as deep-rooted poverty, do not usually hit the news, as devastating as they may be, but they should, perhaps more than high-profile events. Mr. Gunawardene suggested that images dealing with poverty and development should be "copyright-free", enabling educators, activists and civil society members to use them at will, or that their commercial exploitation should, at least, cease.

Oscar Avalle, representative of the World Bank, said that there was no doubt that market mobility and information-sharing were boosted by ICT, and that enterprises of every size could benefit from their use. He described the issue of the Internet as "critical" and that a large number of new users in developing countries are young people, indicating a computer-literate future for these countries. The advantages can be great, but consistent rules in public policies and implementation of ICTs for development are needed in order to create stable conditions for investments, reduce gaps in use and distribute benefits equally across societies. Mr. Avalle recalled Thomas Friedman's words, saying this is the way to make our world a really "flat" one. Sarbuland Khan, Executive Director of Global Alliance for ICT and Development, proposed a broader, global approach to the issue. A "smooth flow" of information and communications could not take place without collaboration among all stakeholders. Governments, the private sector and civil society have to revise their roles and go beyond their traditional functions in order to mobilize resources and people at every level. This "networking" approach to development, he said, is perhaps the key to the achievement of the MDGs, and the United Nations can play a crucial role in bringing stakeholders together.

An interesting insight into the world of participatory media was proposed by Rebecca MacKinnon, a fellow at Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, who introduced the work of Global Voices Online. This organization, which she co-founded in 2004, tracks blogs all over the world and provides opportunities for their creators to get more voice and attention. The blogs deal with issues concerning the developing world, which are often not considered news, and are a great opportunity to hear voices outside the mainstream media. Rather than a substitution, the relationship between bloggers and reporters should be one of partnership, she said. Professionalism and care about sources are still important, but official media have to "reach out and listen". Exercising intellectual arrogance toward bloggers or, worse, ignoring them cannot possibly be the way to address the tremendous spread of new participatory media.

To learn more go to:

59th Annual DPI/NGO conference: http://www.unngodpiconference.org/

DPI/NGO Website: http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/index.asp