59th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference (6-8 September 2006)

 

 

Minutes of the Planning Committee Meeting: 16 March 2006

 

1.0        Pre-Meeting Comments.

 

Sol Oca chaired the meeting. It was requested that the attendance sheets not be taken from the meeting, but returned to Victor Ukorebi.  In addition, the Chair stressed the importance of all members of the Planning Committee becoming members of at least one of the subcommittees. Michaela Walsh was not present as she had informed the Committee previously.

 

2.0  Adoption of the Agenda.  The agenda was adopted as presented.

 

3.0  Adoption of the Minutes.

 

The following comments and corrections were made and the minutes were adopted with these corrections:

  • The following 3 corrections were made to the section on Midday Workshops:
  1. The Co-Chairs (not the members) would attend the meeting on online registration
  2. The workshop committee would be sending out a separate letter to invite NGOS to submit workshop proposals.  There are no plans by the WS Committee to ask NGOs to request donations.  This is the purview of the DPI NGO Executive Committee
  3. The funds made available by DPI for speakers are for Plenary Speakers only. Expenses for Midday workshop speakers are to be covered by NGOs/CSOs organizing the workshops.

 

4.0  Subcommittee Reports

 

(i)      Media.  The committee Co-Chairs were not present, but sent a copy of the blurb that was published on the Conference in the 13 March issue of Centerpoint Now.  Centerpoint Now was sent weekly to over 2000 journalists.  Committees with information notices should send them to Sol by Friday of each week for publication.  The text that was published on the 13th follows:

 

“NGO Alert.  September 6-8, 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference, “Unfinished Business:  Effective Partnerships for Human Security and Sustainable Development.”  The planning for the 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference to be held at UN Headquarters from 6-8 September has already begun.  The title, “Unfinished Business:  Effective Partnerships for Human Security and Sustainable Development,” was chosen by the Planning Committee.  The Chair of this year’s Conference is Michaela Walsh, the Founding President of Women’s World Banking.  Ms. Walsh is currently Director of Women’s Leadership at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY.  Stay tuned for updates?

 

(ii)               Networking.

The Networking committee was preparing a letter to ask future attendees for ideas on the best strategies for networking and networking activities.

(iii)             Resource Centre Support.  The Resource Centre Support Committee organized a meeting on the 15 March to review online registration.  The meeting was attended by the Internet Committee Co-Chair, Midday Workshop Co-chairs, DPI Staffs, and representatives from the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  The latter shared their experience with online registration within the UN and confirmed that it went very smoothly.   

 

 

Some details relating to registration were summarized by Luis Delgadillo emphasizing that details are still being worked out:

 

      • Each organization would be assigned it’s own log-in name and password
      • It was the same system that ECOSOC uses, but the codes assigned to each organization would be different from the ECOSOC code
      • Organizations would be requested to up-date their addresses and representatives
      • Organizations which have e-mails returned would be sent hard copies
      • The subject line for the e-mail would be:  Registration for the 59th NGO Conference

 

Key discussion items included the following:

 

·         Printed invitations were ready to be sent and it was requested that volunteers go by the Resource Center to help with the mailing.  The invitation would include a letter from Joan Kirby as Chair of the DPI/NGO Executive Committee, requesting contributions and information about the Conference signed by Michaela Walsh and Sol Oca.

·         1100 of the 1500 DPI NGOs have e-mails, so the rest would receive the invitations by post

·         As per DPI/NGO policy, invitations would be sent to NGO headquarters only, requesting that each organization nominate/send participants to the Conference.  Concerns were expressed that the Presidents might not pay attention to the invitation nor notify their representatives at the UN liaison offices.  The invitation will ask the Presidents to circulate the invitation and be certain that liaison offices were notified. 

·         UN representatives were encouraged to contact their headquarters to make certain they expected the invitation and responded to it. 

·         Representatives were also requested to help verify that headquarters information is correct in the DPI files.

·         It was asked whether the e-mail to the organization president could be cc’d to the local representative.

 

 

(iv)              Midday Workshops.  The corrections to the previous minutes were noted.

(v)                Internet.  The internet committee was focusing on up-dating the website.  Major issues were:

·         How to get information?

·         How to get the website up?

·         Need the copy to be uploaded

 

(vi)              Multi-generational. The Committee would like to have a tent for the Conference for events.  They are inviting the Intergenerational Symphony.  It was advised that the Conference should plan without a tent for this Conference as the tent was not well used the previous year.

 

(vii)            Events.  It was suggested that the film festival idea be revisited, but it depended on having a tent.  Separate fundraising would be undertaken for the tent, separate from the DPI budget.  Tote bag options are being explored.

 

(viii)          Trouble Shooting.  No report.

 

 

5.0  Plenary and Roundtable Topics.  Discussion issues and suggestions covered the following:

 

·         There is a need for greater clarification of what is meant by:  Unfinished Business, a definition of effective partnerships?

·         The Planning Committee has not focused enough on goals, vision and outcomes.  Even the Midday Workshop Committee needs clarification on plenary and round-table themes in order to invite NGOs to make suggestions relevant to the main sessions.

·         What is the role of civil society in relationship to meeting the MDGs?

·         Look at the Global Compact for examples

·          The final plenary session should consider including a “reporting back from the round-tables” by moderators for discussion

·         The sub-targets of the 8 MDGs provide themes for the roundtables

·         Specific topic suggestions included:

 

Ø      Effective Partnerships:  Dos and don’ts

Ø      Emphasize the need for peace for development, ending violence

Ø      Business and Ethics

 

Sol reported that a matrix of Roundtable topics will be distributed for the next meeting and proposed that the next meeting focus on the Conference structure and definition of the themes.

 

 

6.0  Speaker Recommendations.  Some speaker recommendations have been made and requests were made for additional speakers.  It was suggested that it would be easier to make speaker recommendations once the Plenary and Roundtable themes were confirmed.  A short discussion was held on specific speakers. 

 

7.0  Other Items

 

Outcomes Approach.  The question was raised as to what the Committee wants to achieve at the end of the Conference.  It was suggested that time should be spent exploring this to assist in planning the sessions and determining speakers. Joan Kirby has contacted Walter Reichman at the Sirota Survey Intelligence to consider developing an evaluation tool for the Conference.  She will discuss this with Michaela Walsh and try to organize a meeting to explore an outcomes approach.  Helen and Gala indicated their interest in working on this as well.

 

Conference Blog.  Members were encouraged to use the blog to discuss issues and exchange ideas.  Instructions for its use will be distributed at the next meeting.