[WSIS CS-Plenary] Reminder - Accreditation deadline - 8 August 2005

[Robert Guerra]

On 24-Jul-05, at 7:02 AM, Adam Peake wrote:

>
> Lisa's having problems posting to the list, so while we sort out  
> I'm forwarding this for her.
>
> (and I agree with her note: go ahead and try to get accredited,  
> explain your situation and hope the Secretariat can help.)
>
> Adam
>
>
>
>> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 18:52:31 -0400
>> To: Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp>
>> From: mclauglm at po.muohio.edu
>>
>>
>
>
>
>> ###
>> Dear all,
>>
>> With the WSIS deadline looming (August 8), I thought that it might  
>> be a good idea to share some information that may facilitate the  
>> process for those groups whose organizations do not have all of  
>> the required documents.

As i mentioned earlier, i'm blogging about this issue. see
http://www.privaterra.org/activities/wsis/blog/how-can-i-register-for- 
the-wsis--.html


>> My organization, for example, has a financial report and a  
>> governance statement, etc., but we do not produce a formal annual  
>> report (in part because our funding comes entirely from membership  
>> dues, and our financial reserves amount to nearly nothing).

Another document that is needed is one that states from the  
organization requesting accreditation has legal status as an NGO (ie.  
non profit) for at least 2 years. In the USA, this would be a 501c3  
determination letter from the IRS.

As for annual reports - well, i'm not sure if there's been specific  
details on the type of financial report that is needed. No doubt you  
have annual budgets of some kind? send that, with a note mentioning  
it's all you have..


>> I found that the WSIS secretariat was willing to "forgive" the  
>> failure to produce a document that doesn't exist once the  
>> situation was explained. I think that it would have been likely,  
>> however, that we would have been turned down for accreditation if  
>> we hadn't communicated our circumstances directly to the  
>> Secretariat prior to applying for accreditation. If your  
>> organization does not have some of the documents that are  
>> requested, I would encourage you to send an e-mail to  
>> wsis.csd at ties.itu.int, noting this and asking for consideration.

I would suggest not waiting for the Aug 8th deadline as it's the  
"hard deadline", at which point all the submitted documents are  
assembled and distributed to the member states for comment and  
review. If there are any "questions" then the NGO in question will  
likely be contacted so that the issue can be resolved ahead of the  
presentation of accreditation requests the first morning of PrepCom 3.


>> One thing to add: I don't know if the accreditation process has  
>> become more inflexible for the Tunis phase (I suspect that, during  
>> the first phase, some organizations experienced more flexibility  
>> than others).

If I recall the Civill Society orientation meeting @ PrepCom 2 well ,  
it was stated by Charles Geiger that ALL civil society entities that  
requested accreditation we granted status. That is, unless they were  
vetted by one or more member states (as was the case with Human  
Rights in China and a NGO from Spain)

Ref: Audio Archives PC2 (Tunis phase)
http://www.privaterra.org/activities/wsis/blog/wsis-pc2-audio-files- 
online.html

Ref: Human Rights in China denied accreditation for WSIS (again)
http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/public/plenary/2005-February/004886.html

regards

Robert