[WSIS CS-Plenary] Open call to join the newly-organized family on Multi-stakeholder partnerships at WSIS

[Tatiana V. Ershova]

During the International Conference "UNESCO between Two Phases of the World 
Summit on the Information Society" 
(http://confifap.cpic.ru/conf2005/eng/info/) held on 17-19 May 2005 in Saint 
Petersburg, Russian Federation, in response to the recommendations of a 
special Session on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships, and with the strong 
support of H.E Adama Samassékou, President of WSIS Preparatory Committee for 
Geneva Phase, Francoise Rivière, Assistant to UNESCO Director-General, at 
the closing plenary session of the Conference declared: "It was said clearly 
that UNESCO should create a group on multi-stakeholder partnerships. We will 
be very serious about the idea, because, as I understand, there is a need 
for it. UNESCO is an intergovernmental organization, an organization of 
states, but I think it is also in the nature of UNESCO to be a platform or a 
window between the civil society, intellectual communities, professional 
organizations, the private sector and the governments. I guess that this 
notion of a new society, which can be built only through partnerships of 
various stakeholders, has to be explored not only philosophically, but 
mainly on an instrumental basis: how can we do it, what are the conditions, 
and what should be the obstacles to be overcome."

We believe this is a clear sign of what WSIS has meant in terms of 
rethinking global diplomacy in the 21st century, by making international 
players aware of the need to develop rules and modes for sustainable 
cooperation among different actors. Furthermore we believe these 
developments are also the outcome of the many initiatives conducted by civil 
society entities within and outside WSIS - through writings, seminars, 
public initiatives and research projects - to promote a public discourse and 
develop a better understanding of the preconditions and implications of a 
strongly needed multi-stakeholder approach for the knowledge society. 
Finally we believe it is up to civil society to not only push a for a strong 
commitment from all actors towards participatory mechanisms in this last 
phase of the WSIS but to work in the direction of fully inclusive follow ups 
to the process.

For all these reasons an urgent and open call is made to revive the Civil 
Society Family on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships previously coordinated  by 
Adel El Zaim (adel.elzaim at canti.com) and which has been considered by the 
Civil Society Bureau as inactive. Multi-stakeholderism should be a guiding 
principle for all actions and developments in Tunis and beyond, a 
transversal common understanding among all families and working groups. We 
therefore invite all interested civil society participants to join this 
effort.

All interested parties are welcome to join this call. Please contact: 
Tatiana Ershova, Institute of the Information Society, Moscow, Russia, 
(tatiana.ershova at iis.ru) and Claudia Padovani, Department of Historical and 
Political Studies, Faculty of Political Science, University of Padova 
(claudia.padovani at unipd.it).

All are invited to register to the mailing list: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsis-msp to start transparent and inclusive 
discussions in the respect of cultural, gender and geographical diversity.

More details can be found at the web site http://www.wsis-msp.org, which is 
meant to be an open space fo dialogue and strategic planning. We invite you 
to make suggestions and send contribution to further developing this 
activity.