Speech by Walter Fust, Director General Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation: “Civil Society in International Cooperation”

Geneva, 15 July 2002—World Civil Society Forum

Audio

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Yes, the Civil Society does play a very important role in international cooperation.

And there are challenges that civil society organisations have to meet in order to assume their role.

The role of Civil Society

Many important achievements and breakthroughs go back to Civil Society initiatives. Please allow me to recall some of the examples:

The UN Convention on the Rights of Children: It all started in the First World War. The English Quaker Eglantyne Jebb – the founder of the Save the Children Movement – and other English women & peace activists chose to work for war-victimised children in Hungary, Austria and Germany (all countries with which England was at war). This, however, was considered as an act of hostility in Britain and Eglantyne Jebb was convicted and fined for her activities. But Eglantyne Jebb continued her struggle; and in 1923 she formulated the rights of children in the Children’s Charter. This charter became the basis for the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child that was adopted by the League of Nations in 1924.

Today the UN Convention on the Rights of Children constitutes a universally recognised reference. Save the Children and Terre des Hommes have become internationally well-respected advocates of the rights and protection of children.

The Anti – Landmine Convention: This Convention (that bans the use, storage, production and proliferation of landmines) is the result of the Anti-Mine-Campaign, that was launched in 1992 with strong civil society impetus. The Campaign today comprises 1300 Organisations in some 90 countries. It has also created a broad - civil society based – information network that plays a crucial role in monitoring of the convention and the landmine issue. The campaign has created and facilitated a dynamic that Governments would not have been able to generate on their own. Today, NGOs, Governments and international organisations have joined their efforts in their efforts to promote implementation on the convention.

Debt relief: In the late 80’s, a coalition of Swiss NGOs launched a national debt relief campaign and presented to the Swiss Government a Petition “Development needs debt relief”, signed by 250 000 citizens. It was thanks to this campaign that debt relief became a important element of Swiss development cooperation policy. It also contributed significantly to the breakthrough of the concept of compensating remission of debt with a counterpart fund in local currencies for socio-economic and poverty alleviation programmes, both among bilateral and multilateral agencies. Later in the 90’s, the Jubilee 2000 campaign (that was launched by British NGOs in response to the HIPC initiative) received worldwide civil society support and culminated in the submission of a petition for multilateral debt relief at the G 7 summit in Cologne in the year 2000. Without these two civil society based campaigns, debt relief programmes would most probably not be politically as high on the agenda of Governments and development agencies as they are today. Especially the recognition of the importance of civil society participation in development and poverty alleviation programmes has received a decisive boost from these campaigns. Civil society participation is now also a key issue in the participative elaboration of the World Bank launched PRSP process.

If international cooperation is meant to promote sustainable development:

• it needs openness to civil society initiatives.
• It needs:
• critical and constructive dialogue;
• transparency on interests and contradictions;
• checks and balances.

We are strongly for open debates and not for violence to address issues.

The Civil Society and its organisations are nowadays generally recognised as major stakeholders in international development co-operation:

• for mobilising public awareness and support
• for the elaboration of international conventions;
• for policy formulation;
• and for operational implementation of programmes and projects.

This applies as much at international as at national levels.

Much trust has been placed in civil society at the Social Summit and other big international UN conferences before and after. One can certainly be of different opinion in taking stock of the experience that has been made. But the type of paralysis that is more and more characterising international negotiations (e.g. the recent Rome Summit on Hunger, or the Bali PrepCom and hopefully not the forthcoming Johannesburg Summit) may indicate that the voices from civil society might even have to play a stronger role in future international negotiation.

Many European governments and development agencies, including Switzerland, have strategies and policies for cooperating with NGOs and for validating them in policy debates and development cooperation.

The Globalisation calls for new international governance and rules. The roles of State, Civil Society and Corporate Sector are changing, implying a greater sense of shared responsibilities.

Challenges for Civil Society Organisations

As much as the role for civil society in international cooperation is of crucial importance, as much we must not take it for granted. There must also be open debate about this role.

The Civil society organisations (CSOs) and NGOs have to meet some challenges. I would like to point out but a few of them that appear of particular importance:

Legitimacy: Civil Society is in itself heterogeneous. CSOs/NGOs have to be clear about who’s interests they are representing. Whereas CSOs such as trade unions have democratic representativity, NGOs generally cannot claim such legitimacy. NGOs cannot replace parliaments and the role of popular representation of constitutional bodies. CSOs/NGOs must respect the scope and limits of their legitimacy.

NGO’s should avoid of becoming GONGO’s (government organised non government organisations). They have to remain independent.

North – South CSO/NGO competition: Northern NGOs must not substitute the role or hamper the emergence and strengthening of southern CSOs/NGOs. There is a certain risk of protectionism among the northern NGOs and NGO networks. They should not refrain from critically reviewing their activities against the background of this question.

Impact and value added: CSOs/NGOs have to ensure that they can provide genuine value added and provide evidence for their being able to present workable solutions. CSOs/NGOs have to prove their analytical capacities, their potential for innovation and their policy competency. They do good to measure their work in line with clear objectives and to be equipped with a functioning system of quality management. Lobby and advocacy must be guided by their mission statement.

Governance and transparency: CSOs/NGOs must ensure organisational accountability. There is to be transparency with regard to their interests, objectives, procedures and funding. Only well governed CSOs/NGOs are credible in their role for advocating for new forms of international policy governance and for highlighting conflicts of interests or wrong doings by other actors.

Stakeholder relationship: Strong CSOs/NGOs are indispensable. But their role can only materialise in the interplay with the other stakeholders. CSOs/NGOs have to contribute to sustaining sound and strong State structures and bodies.
(This is also crucial in countering trends of privatised violence).

Effectivity: The last twenty years have witnessed a proliferation of NGO. In the context of their own globalisation, there is need for a new division of labour and for streamlining among CSOs/NGOs at the international level.

I am aware that each of these challenges is of much greater complexity and would merit a debate on its own.

The role of Civil Society cannot only manifest itself in the form of more and more professionalising CSOs/NGOs but also in the form of social movements and of different forms of protest and political articulation. CSOs/NGOs must also ensure that they can build bridges between social movements and the institutionalised mechanisms of policy making and decision taking.

The challenge for us all is to ensure:

• not only effective cooperation between stakeholders;
• but genuine partnership and alliances between State, Civil Society and Corporate Sector.

This implies a common notion of shared responsibility.

However, there are conflicts of interests and there must and will be debate, controversy and confrontation. Some of the most controversial issues at international level – with strong repercussions at regional, national and local levels – are:

• global governance and power relationships;
• avoidance of failing states through privatised violence
• global public goods;
• cultural and spiritual livelihood
• advocacy to use and protect natural resources
• international trade and property rights
• etc.

I am sure that the discussions and deliberations during this World Civil Society Forum will provide the space for reflection and progress on these issues and will bring us closer to an answer of the key question:

• What vision do we have for the Civil Society of 2010?
• What civil society this world will be in need of in 2015 to achieve the Millennium goals?

I wish you a fruitful forum and successful networking activities.

Thank you for your attention.