Summary: Information / Discussion

Millennium Declaration’s Follow-Up

As UN conferences continue involve CSOs and NGOs, accreditation, training, and other ways of strengthening these regional organizations in their networking with the UN system becomes important.

Ms. Renate Bloem of CONGO introduced the speakers and their topics. 

Ms. Sara Longwe of FEMNET stressed the need for CSOs to be more connected to the UN system, especially by their becoming members of CONGO. She added that organizations would have to be educated about the process of becoming CONGO members and accredited with ECOSOC. Ms. Longwe noted that last year many unaccredited CSOs and NGOs wanted to attend the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) and tried to become accredited to attend the conference at the last minute. They were not able to do so, because the accreditation process takes time. Ms. Longwe also emphasized the need for more women and women’s CSOs to be involved in the UN system. Women need specific education about services available as they are usual the most socially vulnerable and socialized not to make their voices heard by patriarchal institutions. She stated that getting CSOs involved in CONGO, the UN NGO Informal Regional Network, NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development) can help CSOs and NGOs learn to network, especially in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Mr. Anselmo Lee of Pax Romana looked at the important UN conferences during the past ten years noting the involvement of CSOs. He also analyzed the conferences’ successes and failures. According to Mr. Lee’s UN-NGO “Partnership” analysis, UN conferences (such as Rio, 1992; Copenhagen, 1995; and Rome, 1997) which led to the UN Millennium Summit (2000), parallel the “civil society” conferences (such as the Hague Appeal for Peace, 1999; the Seoul NGO Conference, 1999; and WOCSOC, 1999) which led to the NGO Millennium Forum (2000). The partnering of the UN and civil society produced similarly structured conferences, such as the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in 2001, and the World Social Forum (Porto Alegre) in 2001. The upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg will involve multiple players as well. The development of these international conferences have increasingly connected people outside of the system and is key to implementing UN goals at the regional level. Mr. Lee also analyzed lessons learned from the 10-year conference experience:

1. Conference structures have gone from “top-down” to “bottom-up” – NGO participation has increased as processes have become more people- and action-oriented.
2. Yet there has been little impact on the ground – There are too many declarations with little implementation, often due to lack of political will and resources.
3. Still the role of CSOs and civil society are key – They bring about accountability and transparency; representation and democracy; and connect civil society to the UN system through organizations such as CONGO.
4. Networking is important – Helping the “disconnected” connect from the local to the global and vice versa (vertically) and intersectionally (horizontally) is important in getting all parties to work together.

Mr. Geoffrey D. Pruitt of UNDP stated that many of the MDGs have been around for years, but have never been realized due to no serious attempts made to eradicate poverty. Although some encouraging progress has been made, problems related to income, poverty, hunger, infant mortality, fair trade, HIV/AIDS, water, gender discrimination and more remain. Equal distribution of goods and resources must be required. The real challenge lies in building political will. The 1990s was the decade of broken promises. Therefore, building public will and public policy and getting wealthier nations to do more are essential. Developing partnerships is key, and services must be broken down and disaggregated into achievable parts. Other ways of helping to guarantee achievement are using MDG reports as advocacy tools for accountability and involving the worlds’ best expertise to achieve MDGs.

During the ensuing discussion, OXFAM and WFUNA (World Federation of United Nations Associations) were mentioned as organizations which could assist CSOs and NGOs.

Conclusions
While conferences alone are not enough to bring change, they do act as a catalyst of new projects, initiatives and declarations. It is however essential that declarations also be transformed into practice. Sometimes, resources and political will are obstacles hindering or slowing down this implementation.

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