[WSIS CS-Plenary] further comments on Global Alliance

[Rik Panganiban]

Dear Friends,

The following are my remarks at the Global Alliance consultation that took place this morning at the UN.  They elaborate upon previous comments that I have made on the Alliance, but perhaps might be useful to some people.

- Rik

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Global Alliance Recommendations
11 April 2005
Rik Panganiban, Communications Coordinator, 
Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the United Nations (CONGO)


CONGO is pleased to have an opportunity to again express its views on the purpose, structure and modus operandi of the proposed Global Alliance for ICT Policy and Development.  We view positively the fresh approach taken to following up on the WSIS as well as integrating ICTs into the larger UN development agenda.  And we are happy that there will be other opportunities for us to intervene in the coming weeks after the UN ICT Task Force Meeting in Dublin this week.  


1. For us, the main purpose of having a Global Alliance is to create a mechanism with the overall objective of moving more effectively from goal and standard setting to implementation. Such a follow-up mechanism should be established under the auspices of the UN Secretary General to avoid its mandate being hijacked by any group of actors, with a real multistakeholder partnership character in which civil society has significant weight.

2. It is important to recall that the main intent of traditional Commissions following UN summits is to provide a  forum for governments to come together periodically to report on their progress in achieving the goals the committed to at the Summit. NGOs traditionally attend the commission meetings to express their own views on how governments are doing, to network with each other and to promote their own projects related to the issue area.

 3. While the Commission process has done much to promote continued NGO participation in the UN system and been an important vehicle for promoting our ideas and proposals, there are definite disadvantages as well. Notably, Commissions are often weak mechanisms for getting governments to comply with their own commitments. NGOs often are lost among the hundreds of groups that show up. And the meetings are expensive and difficult for groups in the developing world to attend.

 4. The purpose of the Global Alliance – to promote ICTs to achieve the UN development agenda – will require a much more concerted effort to get governments, in partnership with civil society and the private sector, to create sound policies to implement this integrated vision. An annual report to a Commission meeting is not enough.

 5. One possibility is for the Global Alliance to establish a central online observatory to monitor how governments around the world are doing on achieving the WSIS and Millennium goals. Government provided data would be presented alongside international monitoring and reporting bodies like UNDP and the World Bank. NGOs and the private sector could present their own reports on what is happening on the ground and their recommendations for governments. Thus year-round, there would be an ongoing monitoring and reporting website where anyone could examine where various regions were at and see where more concerted action was needed.

 6. Once a year, the Global Alliance could convene in one of the developing regions of the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central / Eastern Europe) to bring concerted attention and support to the unique problems and issues of that region. Emphasis at the meeting would be capacity building for government policy makers, NGO activists, and business entrepreneurs in the region to jumpstart development using ICTs.

These are just a couple of ideas that may help focus our discussions on what the concrete contributions of the Global Alliance might be. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this discussion, and we reiterate our willingness to assist the Task Force as it further refines the concept of the Global Alliance.


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RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) 
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524 

* Information on the WSIS at http://www.ngocongo.org/wsis
* Information on Millennium+5 at http://www.ngocongo.org/mdg