Day Two of the World Social Forum was a difficult one, with meetings cancelled, interpretation not working, and the sometimes intense heat. Still, in the midst of it, I am finding things that give me hope. Where else can you find so many people who want to do good in the world? [9:30am] Lots of…
Category: Civil Society
Day 1: World Social Forum
The World Social Forum 2005 started off with a loud boom — lots of really loud booms, actually, coming from the seemingly hundreds of drummers everywhere leading the hundred thousand or so marchers through the streets of Porto Alegre toward the main outdoor amphitheater for the opening ceremony of the Forum. It’s only day one…
Uncivil Society
How do civil society networks deal with the inenvitable conflicts and competition among their own members while also maintaining a united front within international policy-making negotiations? I have been looking for reports and analysis of NGO organizational structures and conflict-resolution from other UN processes all day. So far I have been mostly unsuccessful. I did…
Civil Society’s Millennium Report Card: Will the Governments Pass or Fail?
[From CONGO Connections, Vol 6, No 2, January 2005] Five years after the Millennium Summit in 2000, governments will be gathering in New York to assess what progress has been achieved in realizing the Millennium Development Goals and the rest of the Millennium Declaration. The formal assessment will begin in March, when the Secretary General…
Civil Society still outsiders at the General Assembly
After raising the slimmest of hopes, the GA keeps civil society out in the cold. For those of us who have been active at the United Nations on the role of civil society in the institution, we were hopeful that the report of the High Level Panel on UN-Civil Society Relations would open the possibility…