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

 

 

Minutes of the Planning Committee Meeting: 23 February 2006

(Sub-Committee Focus Session)

 

1.0        Pre-Meeting Comments.

 

Michaela Walsh chaired the meeting of the special session of sub-committee Co- Chairs, confirming that others were welcome to participate.  Sol Oca served as Committee Co-chair. Comments from the Chair:

  • a major goal was to learn how to use technology more effectively to reach out to more people.
  • The process of contacting the four new heads of state

 

2.0  Adoption of the Agenda and Adoption of the Minutes. The agenda was adopted with a revere in items 3 and 4.

 

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

  • Jackie Shapiro is not Co-chair of the Networking Committee
  • Vanessa d’Amato’s e-mail is:  Vanessa@letsdesign.com
  • It should be stated that UNCA was interested in the NGO Conference and co-sponsored the reception for the past 3years although they acknowledged that it was not easy to get media coverage

 

3.0  Conference Preparation by Conference Co-Chairs

All sub-committees were requested to submit their outlines and full committee lists.  It was stressed that all who attend the full planning committee meeting should sign up for at least one sub-committee.

 

1)      Media.  A media list is being prepared this week and they are meeting with media contacts.

 

2)      Networking.  The committee reviewed the data from 100 respondents to the 58th Annual DPI/NGO Conference survey.  Some common observations included:

a.       The networking sessions were useful

b.       Should not be used to solve problems

c.       Interest in sessions on how to organize networking

They will formulate a programme of meetings that are informative, focus on the use of the Internet and other themes.  The Chair stressed that the network sessions should be concrete and linked to the themes of the plenary sessions.

 

3)      Registration and Resource Center Support.  The facility and efficiency of offering online registration as the principal option for registration was discussed. It was acknowledged that security needs have to be taken into consideration, but that there are precedents of other UN Conferences e.g. Commission on the Status of Women using online registration.  Sol is meeting with Security next week and all efforts will be made to secure this option.

 

4)       Midday Workshops.  All committee members are part of a list serve.  A mailing will go out early in March with a deadline for proposals to be received by 1 May with evaluation completed by 15 June.  Keys to success depend on:

 

a.       Posting the programme on the website early

b.       Mailing on a timely schedule

c.       Clarification of the plenary panels as soon as possible

 

5)      Internet.  The name Internet was confirmed as opposed to interactive.  Activities and plans include the following:

 

·         Proposal has been sent to Google for the add-word facility for key words linked to the Conference

·         Will review the website for design, functionality, registration format, content, etc.

·         Proposed to put up a basic Conference website, linked to the DPI site, as soon as possible to begin outreach and internal communication while waiting for the design issues for the overall conference to be resolved. The NGO Resource Centre is waiting for the new person hired to implement the above.

 

6)      Multigenerational. A meeting of the full committee is scheduled.

 

7)      Events.  A budget of $120,000, of which, $55,000 is for the reception, has been established as their fundraising goal.  A request was made for ideas for possible funding sources.

 

4.0  Conference Themes and Organization

The importance of plenary session was stressed and it was proposed that two of the five plenary sessions be shifted to roundtable format to encourage broader involvement and involve a wider range of points of view.

 

4.1   Proposed conference program outline.  The following preliminary outline schedule was proposed.  It was agreed that a choice of good facilitators needed to be identified to make the roundtables effective.

 

Day 1 - Morning:        Opening Session

            Afternoon:      First Plenary

 

Day 2 - Morning:        Second Plenary

            Afternoon:      Roundtable

 

Day 3 – Morning:       Second Roundtable

            Afternoon:      Closing Session

 

4.2   Discussion of plenary and roundtable themes.  The following issues and questions were discussed.

·         How will the 5 themes proposed on 9 February be taken into account?

·         Focus on UN reform could be one roundtable theme, including peacebuilding and the role of NGOs, NGO access to the General Assembly

·         Under the theme of Accountability and Transparency, as “unfinished business”, finance for development, using specific examples of financial partnerships.  It was agreed that this topic should be developed as a plenary session.  South Korea could be a case study with its new ODA law as well as consider the EU and new entrants

·         Three potential roundtable subjects were proposed:

o        Hunger

o        HIV/AIDS

o        Violence Against Women

 

·         The Conference should consider possible linkages to the forthcoming UN hearings involving NGOs:

o        LDCs

o        Migration

o        Violence Against Women

o        UN and Civil Society

 

·         Technology  as a topic for the plenary

·         Religious dialogues and multicultural issues  (look into UNESCO’s Culture of Peace as a possible multicultural theme

·         Intolerance and Religion as a topic for the plenary.  The committee of religious NGOs could be a resource to develop this theme

·         The possibility of off-site roundtables should be explored, taking into consideration the cache that meeting in the UN building holds for governments, business and NGOs.

·         Consider the Department of Public Information’s Unlearning & Religious Tolerance Services

·         Some of the topics could be dealt with in workshops

·         NGOs should be encouraged to work together to address themes

·         Include initiatives by and focusing on the younger generation – see NetAid.

 

5.0    Other Business

 

4.3  Design Issues

·         It was agreed that request for proposals from other design schools should be submitted to review along with the one from the Art Center College of Design

·         The scope of work for Conference design items includes the following:  poster, website, postcard, programme and final report.

4.2       Letters to NGOs

Letters on notification and invitation will be sent to the NGOs by mid-March if not before.  A draft letter is being reviewed

 

4.4  Grants for Participants

The issue was raised as to whether there would be grants for participants from developing word?  Last year funds were made available only to speakers from the developing world from the Millennium Development Fund (CONGO, NGO/DPI Executive Committee/WFUNA)

 

4.5   Film Festival.  The possibility of a film festival with local institutions should be explored.

 

4.6   Consult Past Participants.  It was suggested that an e-mail be sent to past participants asking for their suggestions for topics and speakers.

 

5.0  Next Steps

 

The planning committee should prepare a proposal for the next meeting for roundtable and plenary topics and topics for the workshops that are complementary to the plenary and roundtable themes.

 

6.0  Next Meeting

 

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, the 2 March from 3:00 – 5:00 pm in Conference Room 4 ________________________