AUGUST 2003

IN THIS ISSUE:

· Regional Civil Society Forum: Southern Africa

· Campaigns on Women’s Human Rights

· Next Issue: Social Development Review

· Reminder: Member Participation in UN Civil Society Survey

Southern African Civil Society Forum, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 16-17 August 2003.

ICSW in conjunction with the Southern African Development Community Council of NGOs (SADC CNGO) and the Tanzanian Council on Social Development (TACOSODE) convened a Regional Civil Society Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 16-17 August 2003. The forum, held immediately prior to the SADC Heads of State Summit, brought together over 40 representatives from civil society organizations across SADC countries to discuss civil society engagement within the region and in interaction with SADC. The keynote address by Viviene Taylor, author of ICSW’s SADC Briefing Paper, explored the key challenges facing civil society in engaging with SADC and the possible connecting points for civil society organisations (CSOs) afforded through SADC’s organs. Several of her observations were reinforced by a presentation on the restructuring made by Andrew Mchumuu of the Institute of Social Work, Dar es Salaam.

A varied agenda focused on building the capacity of the CSO networks in the region to address common concerns. Angela Ishengoma, Project Manager with the Tanzanian office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), briefed the gathering about FES’ work in enhancing the advocacy skills of CSOs. Abraham Ditlhake, of the South African National NGO Coalition, spoke to the key challenges and prospects faced by the SADC NGO. Ezra Mbogori, of MWENGO, a regional network of CSOs in East and Southern Africa, discussed the role of the umbrella NGOs that represent national coalitions of CSOs within the SADC CNGO. Segametsi Moathaping, Regional Youth Caucus Coordinator of the Commonwealth Africa Region, raised concerns about the inclusion of youth agendas within SADC. Abby Taka Mgugu, of the SADC Platform on Women's Land and Water Rights, on her network’s experience with advocacy that challenges gender relations in Southern Africa. Dakarayi Matanga, of AFRODAD: the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, presented analysis of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) process in 10 African countries. Hilde Basstanie, of UNAIDS Intercountry Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, discussed how UNAIDS cooperates with SADC to the HIVAIDS pandemic

There was a high level of dialogue and analysis of these various facets of social development in the SADC region following each presentation. Participants used these inputs to formulate an agenda for interaction to advance development in the region and produced a joint declaration of their concerns, which was presented to the SADC Secretariat. They also articulated a focused regional advocacy strategy and priority actions for the SADC CNGO, to build the profile of this network to contribute to the policy dialogue and compel SADC to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, which will allow for the establishment of a secretariat for the SADC CNGO. Members of the SADC CNGO benefited from collaboration with organizations from outside their network that became invested in backing this important regional vehicle for civil society. Feedback from participants demonstrated that the forum met its objectives as well as many of their expectations and most expressed an interest in ICSW continuing to resource the work of the SADC CNGO and civil society advocacy in the region.

Campaigns on Women’s Human Rights

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign spearheading the activities of over one thousand organizations in over 130 countries. The campaign organises activities around the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including December 1, which is World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.

The theme of 2003’s 16 Days campaign is "Violence Against Women Violates Human Rights: Maintaining the Momentum Ten Years After Vienna" Activities of the campaign that are undertaken from November 25 - December 10 will recognise the ten year anniversary since representatives of nations and NGOs from around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria in June 1993 for the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights. Since the conference, significant gains in the movement to end violence against women have been made at the international level. In December 1993, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW).

This year’s campaign will consider how both the human rights framework and various international initiatives have affected the work being done to end violence against women at the grassroots level during the past ten years. For more information and a Take Action Kit contact: the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, 160 Ryders Lane , Rutgers University , New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA, Phone +1 732-932-8782; Fax: +1 732-932-1180; E-mail:cwgl@igc.org. Go to:http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu to access the kit online.

Next Issue of Social Development Review

The September 2003 issue of ICSW’s magazine the Social Development Review (SDR) is titled: The Menace of GATS: Promises or Threats. This themed issue has been prepared to coincide with the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun, Mexico, 10-14 September 2003. The ministerial meeting marks a mid-point in the new round of negotiations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS.) It is an important time to take stock of how GATS jeopardizes essential services, commercializes health care and enforces liberalization of social welfare systems. The issue is available on line at the ICSW website: www.icsw.org and will be in subscribers’ mailboxes in September.

REMINDER - ICSW calls for its members participation in UN civil society survey

We hope that all ICSW members will take the opportunity to reply to the survey developed by the UN Panel reviewing civil society relations, which was included in the July edition of Global Cooperation. ICSW would like to collect responses and submit them to the Panel to express the views of our unique global network of civil society organisations.

ICSW would like to receive responses by September 15 for submission to the Panel on October 1 2003. Please send your responses to:

ICSW, 16 Hatton Wall, London EC1N 8JHN, Fax: + 44 20 7404 9527, Email: fdaly@icsw.org

If you wish to respond directly to the Panel’s secretariat please use the following:

Mailing address: United Nations, S-3275D, New York, NY, 10017, Fax: +1 212-963-2155

Email:civilsocietypanel@un.org

The content of Global Cooperation may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source is acknowledged. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the policy of ICSW.

Would you please distribute this newsletter as widely as possible to:

o your organisation’s staff

o your Board/Committees

o your members

o other interested people

Newsletter Editor: Felicity Daly, Project Officer, London Global Office

ICSW Contact Details

Website: www.icsw.org Email icsw@icsw.org

London Global Office:

16 Hatton Wall, London EC1N 8JHN,

Tel: + 44 20 7404 9780, Fax: + 44 20 7404 9527

Kampala Global Office:

PO Box 28957, Kampala, Uganda.

Tel: +256 41 531036, Fax: +256 41 531037,

Roselyn Nakirya, Programme Assistant /Administrator

Bangkok Global Office:

Room 301, 3rd floor

Mahidol Building, Rajavithi Road,

Rajathevi, Bangkok, Thailand 10400

Tel: +66 (2) 248 3949, Fax: +66 (2) 245 4814

Michael Chai, Project Coordinator

Global Vice Presidents: Solveig Askjem and Bushra Gohar

Treasurer: Michael Raper

Executive Director: Denys Correll

If you have any questions or need further information on any of the activities or issues mentioned in this newsletter, please contact: Felicity Daly, Project Officer, at the Secretariat in London, or reply to this email. icsw@icsw.org.