Meeting #1
Thursday, 7th December, 2006
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Conference Room C
Committee Co-Chair
Richard Jordan and Juan Carlos Brandt Co-Chaired the meeting.
Handouts Distributed
Agenda
Opening Remarks
Joan began by introducing Richard Jordan as the new chair of the 60th Annual Conference, and co-chair of the Planning Committee. Joan claimed that, with 22 years of experience at the UN and a variety of contacts, Richard was sure to guide the Planning Committee into a successful new year. Regarding the weekly meetings, Joan stressed that it was important to decide on a topic now so that we can begin inviting speakers and choosing sub-topics early. She hoped that we could begin sending preliminary letters out in January.
Richard began by thanking everyone for the opportunity to represent them as chair. He has created an email address for anyone to confidentially express any issues, comments, or suggestions they may have on how to improve the planning committee process. The email address is: dpiconference@yahoo.com.
Richard proceeded to address the proposals for themes of the upcoming 60th Anniversary DPI/NGO Conference. He said that the proposals would be filed in a binder, which would be available in the Resource Centre, so that people could look at the submissions in detail. Richard claimed that most proposals could be grouped into 4 main categories:
1) Environmental Issues
2) Human Rights
3) UN Reform
4) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Juan Carlos Brandt reminded everyone that next year’s DPI/NGO Annual Conference will not only be the last one held at headquarters, it will also be the 60th Anniversary. While ‘60’ may be just a number, 60 years represents a significant accomplishment on behalf of the civil society community. This needs to be acknowledged.
Discussion on Topics for Next Year’s Conference:
The Floor was opened for a general discussion on themes for next year’s DPI/NGO
Conference. The first suggestion of a theme for next year’s conference was
climate change. Climate change affects everything, from mass population movements
to water security, poverty and the economy. Under a theme of climate change,
virtually every other topic could be addressed, including all aspects of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Furthermore, climate change was topical.
It was suggested that Al Gore could be brought in as a guest speaker, which
would significantly raise the profile of the conference.
The second major suggestion was UN Reform. With a new Secretary General, UN renovation, and a changing global attitude towards the UN, many committee members believed it was necessary to keep NGOs engaged as active participants in the reformation process. It was also pointed out that climate change could be a sub-topic under UN Reform. Rather than simply discussing the issue of climate change, outlining how the UN plans to address climate change was believed to be a more constructive approach to the issue.
The idea of an umbrella theme was brought up to accompany whatever topic was chosen. Different segments of an umbrella would represent different sub-topics, such as the migration, water security, health, education, etc. The concept of an overarching umbrella would also represent continual change, progression, unity and motion.
Although a few other suggestions on the MDGs and poverty-related topics were suggested, debate between UN Reform and Climate change dominated the discussion. Some committee members stated that NGOs should not engage themselves in the UN Reform discussion, as the decisions are taken solely by member-states; while other committee members stated that NGOs could significantly impact governments. Many planning committee members were also concerned about how, and in what capacity, they were going to engage themselves with the UN while the building comes under renovation. Others believed, however, that this was less of a concern for NGOs located outside New York.
Additional Elements Mentioned:
• There is a need for a more dynamic, interesting approach to how the UN bridges
problems and solutions. It was recommended that the theme have a catchy title
to attract attention.
• The umbrella theme should be broad, and not directed at a specific theme
(ie, ‘Challenges and Future Action’). This would allow a multitude of topics
to be addressed.
• The private sector should be brought in to discuss practical ways to solving
poverty-related problems, such as food distribution.
• A central component of the conference should recognize the progress of the
civil society sector since the 1960s and since the 1992 Rio Summit.
• There also needs to be more opportunities in the next conference for people
to connect with each other. The conference should follow a more ‘humanist’
approach.
• It was suggested that we link the topic of the 2007 conference to the topic
of the 2008 one in order to maintain momentum for the proceeding conference
outside of New York.
Richard brought the open panel to a close, and stated that, from the way he
saw it, there were two main topics on the floor: Climate change/environmental
issues, and UN Reform.
Vote:
The Planning Committee took a vote.
Results:
Climate Change: 18 votes
UN Reform: 10 votes
Climate Change, it was decided, was the umbrella topic of the 60th Anniversary DPI/NGO Conference.
Final Comments:
The Floor was re-opened for discussion and final comments. Some members claimed that there were still more than one topic on the floor, and we should not be narrowing it to climate change yet. Others stated that, while Climate Change is the most important single issue, it was not a broad enough concept. Others also stated that more time was needed before voting. However, Joan Kirby pointed out that, in talking about climate change, we are not necessarily not talking about UN Reform. The challenge, now that the topic was decided, was to integrate other sub-topics. Overall, members were pleased that a decision had been made at this stage of the conference planning process.
Closing Remarks:
Richard was impressed with the decision. It was the first time in 22 years he had seen NGOs make a decision on such a concrete subject as Climate Change. He claimed that climate change, as an umbrella theme that encompassed different issues, offered real dynamism.
Juan Carlos offered his congrats at the decision. He pointed out that this was the beginning of a long process. There will be plenty of room now to integrate UN Reform issues under the heading of Climate Change. The topic, he claimed, also has a lot of potential for creating excitement and participation around the world. Juan Carlos will inform Nairobi that this is the decision of the group. We need to move quickly now, he emphasized, to secure the address of Al Gore, and ask him to be the key-note speaker. This will give a tremendous boost to the profile of the conference.
Next Meeting: Thursday, 21st December, 11AM-1PM, Conference Room C.