[governance] [WSIS CS-Plenary] Highlights of GAID Steering Committee

Thu Oct 5 08:33:58 EDT 2006

Sorry, I forwarded this without stating the context. I was replying to an
email on the plenary list, and forwarded it not realizing that the original
email was never sent to the egov list.

This is from the deliberations of the Global Alliance on ICT for
Development.  IGF and GAID are seen as the two main post WSIS bodies and
therefore their governance may need to be seen in a common perspective to
some extent - as the global governance framework of the emerging information
society. 

And asking for annual contributions 'on indicative scale' from members of
strategy council and steering committee is directly equivalent to asking for
'financial contributions' from the members of the IGF MAG - and thereupon,
maybe, pulling it into an implicit criterion for selection. And it is useful
to see it in the context where the African Civil Society for the Information
Society is making appeals for pro-active assistance for ensuring CS
participants to attend MAG meetings. 

Parminder 

________________________________________________

Parminder Jeet Singh

IT for Change, Bangalore

Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 

Tel: (+91-80) 2665 4134, 2653 6890

Fax: (+91-80) 4146 1055

 <http://www.itforchange.net/> www.ITforChange.net 

  _____  

From: Parminder [mailto:parminder at itforchange.net] 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 1:47 PM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: [governance] [WSIS CS-Plenary] Highlights of GAID Steering
Committee

Dear All

Going through the discussions summary, the following comes as a surprise,
and alarms me a lot..

At the Chairman's proposal, it was agreed that members of the Strategy
Council and Steering Committee be requested to support the Global Alliance
through annual contributions (in cash or in kind), according to an
indicative scale, taking into account the financial constraints of some
members, in particular civil society organizations and developing countries.
(quote ends)

This will then, sooner or later, make the reverse logic operational as well
- the steering committee and strategic committee membership will begin to
include an implicit or explicit criterion of 'capacity to contribute funds'.
And this logic is dangerous in public policy spaces.. There already is a
growing tendency of public policy meetings and conferences sponsored heavily
by interested parties which of course casts a shadow on the deliberations
and outcomes, but to have a UN anchored public policy body have its
governance positions linked to the criterion of 'capacity to pay' is going
quite a few steps beyond. I find any such move very dangerous to the very
fiber and structure of our public life.  

GAID needs to decide for itself whether it is a global public policy body,
with important policy influence on ICTD policies globally, nationally and
locally, or it is a non-profit which wants to challenge energies, goodwill
and funds into ICTD activity. And if it is both, what is it primarily.
Because in the latter mandate, it is fine to look around for funds in this
manner, even offering governance positions for the purpose (though still,
discretion is required to see that social responsibility funds are not used
for narrow interests - commercial or otherwise, which in the long run harms
the interests of the targeted group more than they benefit them
immediately). 

And if its mandate is the former - that is mainly policy advice and
influence related - GAID needs to be extra careful that its governance as
well as other structures are free from narrow commercial (or other)
interests. And the positions in its governance structure etc go strictly by
the criterions like  capacity to contribute and representative-ness of
different stakeholders - more of those who could with some legitimacy be
seen as representing the poor and marginalized sections (as the UN Secretary
General advised during the deliberation, and I quote form the enclosed
document - "the Alliance must keep the interest of the poor and marginalized
foremost in mind". 

Going by the statement of GAID's mission given out by the press statement
from the UN Secretary General's office that announced the launch of GAID, it
seems to be oriented more as a platform for ICTD policy dialogue and
advocacy. To quote the press statement - "The mission of the Global Alliance
for ICT and Development will be to facilitate and promote such integration
by providing a platform for an open, inclusive, multi-stakeholder
cross-sectoral policy dialogue on the role of information and communication
technology in development".  

Of course funds are needed, and contributions are welcome. But these can not
be tied to positions in the governance structures. We all need to take a
clear position on this issue. There is a great danger in requesting the
members of governance bodies to contribute - this links the membership to
contributions, even if implicitly, and in the long term. The call for
contributions should instead be open - to all those who agree with the
stated purpose and polices of GAID to contribute.

I will request CS members in these deliberations to report in more detail on
such issues, and their implications, though I understand the
insider-outsider dilemma of participation in such high level bodies.

And we also need to have a general CS view on these issues, and keep up a
broader engagement with post-WSIS bodies through these elists, and other
associations. This is specifically so because this group was asked to, and
it did, contribute to the process of selection of the governance structures.

regards

Parminder 

________________________________________________

Parminder Jeet Singh

IT for Change, Bangalore

Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 

Tel: (+91-80) 2665 4134, 2653 6890

Fax: (+91-80) 4146 1055

 <http://www.itforchange.net/> www.ITforChange.net 

  _____  

From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of Renate Bloem
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 12:51 AM
To: CS Plenary
Cc: bureau wsis; governance-bounces at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Highlights of GAID Steering Committee

Dear all,

Please see attached a brief outline from the Secretariat of the GAID
Steering Committee discussion held 27-28 September in New York. You will see
that the essence for GAID is to provide a distinguished but broad platform
to promote, scale up and accelerate action on initiatives provided by
communities of expertise and some Flagship Partnership Initiatives.

A summary of the meeting is being drafted by the Secretariat and will be
published shortly.

The statements by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President of ECOSOC Amb
Ali Hachani are available at
<http://www.un-gaid.org/steering/annan_27sept06.html>
http://www.un-gaid.org/steering/annan_27sept06.html and
<http://www.un-gaid.org/steering/hachani_27sept06.html>
http://www.un-gaid.org/steering/hachani_27sept06.html respectively. 

Best,

Renate Bloem
President of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO)
11, Avenue de la Paix
CH-1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 301 1000
Fax: +41 22 301 2000
E-mail:  <mailto:rbloem at ngocongo.org> rbloem at ngocongo.org
Website:  <http://www.ngocongo.org/> www.ngocongo.org

The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association
that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and
decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the
presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United
Nations agencies on issues of global concern.  For more information see our
website at www.ngocongo.org <http://www.ngocongo.org/> 

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