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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I think this is a sensible way forward. My sense from the Bali meeting is that there was little enthusiasm for becoming a membership organisation, with a clear preference for staying as a platform. That means being careful in how the BB name is used as we shouldn’t suggest that it is an organisation in anything we do. And there’s lots of work for civil society groups to work on in the next few months<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:7.0pt;line-height:115%;text-autospace:none'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#253741;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Andrew Puddephatt</span></b><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> </span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>| </span><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#253741;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>GLOBAL PARTNERS</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#253741;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> DIGITAL<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:115%;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#253741;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Executive Director</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#FF2126;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:115%;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#7F7F7F;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Development House, 56–64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#7F7F7F'>T: +44 (0)20 7549 0336 | M: +44 (0)771 339 9597 | Skype: andrewpuddephatt</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#7F7F7F'><br><b>gp-digital.org</b><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> bestbits-request@lists.bestbits.net [mailto:bestbits-request@lists.bestbits.net] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jeremy Malcolm<br><b>Sent:</b> 03 December 2013 10:17<br><b>To:</b> bestbits@lists.bestbits.net><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [bestbits] Best Bits MAG nominations for your approval - URGENT<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 03/12/13 01:11, parminder wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal>My preferred option is to make BB into a membership based organisation. My impression at its inaugural meeting was that it was supposed to emerge as a membership based body, where serious and committed civil society organisations/ individuals will like to work together in peace and with focus, away from the general din of civil society conversations.<o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>Thanks, that's really much more helpful. We now know that your main objection is that you want a more tightly institutionalised Best Bits, closer to an organisation than to a loose platform or network, and you have now described what you are looking for specifically and clearly.<br><br>However it does seem fair to say that most others don't want those changes, at the current point in time. This came across both at the meeting in Bali, and in responses here.<br><br>Can we therefore park this disagreement and revisit it once the interim steering committee have issued their 2013 report, that Anriette called for in her proposal? This will at least give people (you and others) more background to inform their decision about whether Best Bits should change into an organisation with specific membership criteria, charter, etc.<br><br>Meanwhile we can also try to limit straying into acting as a de facto organisation, though I still contend that there may be some actions that we can take, beyond sign-on statements, that the community should be able to endorse us doing by overall consensus, without requiring all the additional organisational baggage.<br><br>Let's take the heat down a notch - your latest reply has helped - and we will try to be sensitive to the differences between organisation that you have described.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><p><b><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>Senior Policy Officer<br>Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers</span></b><span style='font-size:9.0pt'><br>Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br>Tel: +60 3 7726 1599<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Explore our new Resource Zone - the global consumer movement knowledge hub | <a href="http://www.consumersinternational.org/news-and-media/resource-zone">http://www.consumersinternational.org/news-and-media/resource-zone</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>@Consumers_Int | <a href="http://www.consumersinternational.org">www.consumersinternational.org</a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/consumersinternational">www.facebook.com/consumersinternational</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#999999'>Read our <a href="http://www.consumersinternational.org/email-confidentiality" target="_blank">email confidentiality notice</a>. Don't print this email unless necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='color:red'>WARNING</span></strong>: This email has not been encrypted. You are strongly recommended to enable PGP or S/MIME encryption at your end. For instructions, see <a href="http://jere.my/l/8m">http://jere.my/l/8m</a>.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>