[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [Africa-CS-WSIS]Re: Who and what is Civil Society

[djilali benamrane]

Dear Diana, i like and support the last phrase of your
contribution defining the possible and optimistical
African CS status.
If you can have a french or any other translation in
African spoken languages it should be helpfull and so
we can continue the discussion ! If not i am afraind
that africa will have many approachs = no strong
position...
The North and rich CS including Francophone CS have no
interest in resolving this problem... we have as poor
African CS in the South to solve it... let's be
cleaver !
All the best
Djilali
C'est encourageant que Diana termine son importante
contribution à la définition d'un statut possible et
optimiste de la société civile africaine par une
phrase regrettant que son texte ne soit pas suivi
d'une traduction en français!
Je lui réponds qu'il faut que nous ssociété civile
pauvre africaine du sud redoublions de génie et
d'intelligence pour solutionner ce problème dont se
foutent riyalement la société civile du Nord, la
francophonie et le reste du monde riche et ou
développé.
Mais c'est déjà bien que Diana ait soulevé le problème
Amitiés
Djilali 
--- Diana Mercorios <dmercorios at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> ACSIS questions from Nnenna (March 2005)
> 
>  
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> First off I would like to congratulate all of you
> who did the Accra and Geneva route and managed to
> keep us abreast of the happenings. I think that the
> numerous messages that have bombarded by mailbox
> attest to the fact that a lot has been going on.
> Nnenna in particular you have been a one woman
> secretariat!!!
> 
>  
> 
> If you will allow me I would like to add a few brief
> points to some of the discussions. There was an
> email from Nnenna that asked a few pertinent
> questions about "Who qualifies as the Civil
> Society?" I think that if we use a bit of lateral
> thinking we can argue that anyone who belongs to a
> society is a member of civil society if they step
> out of their professional disguise - the government
> official, the local entrepreneur, the woman working
> on the family plot, etc. Nonetheless, for the
> purpose of bureaucracies we need to be able to
> separate the 'us' from the 'them.' 
> 
>  
> 
>  > Who qualifies as the Civil Society? 
> 
> I suspect that anyone that does not fall under the
> governmental, intergovernmental or multinational
> banner could, and in my opinion should be considered
> as such. This means that the individuals, community
> groups and associations, NGOs, educational
> institutions, the media and local entrepreneurs or
> private sector.  
> 
>  
> 
> > What are the roles of the Civil Society? 
> 
> I believe that our role involves:
> 
> 1) advocacy (including awareness raising) &
> lobbying: ensuring that both civil society generally
> and the other stakeholders understand the
> development challenges and successes;
> 
> 2) the provision of direct services: this is where
> the information and empirical data on what we are
> advocating or lobbying about comes from. It can also
> involve the provision of educational and capacity
> development projects or initiatives;
> 
> 3) research and development: this builds on the
> other two aspects and is the basis on which one can
> argue we have a crucial role to play as partner in
> the formulation and implementation of development
> related policies and initiatives. 
> 
>  
> 
> > What relationships should exist between the CS and
> the other development stakeholders? 
> 
> There has to be partnership between all development
> stakeholders. This requires coming to a general
> agreement on what is required. The truth is that
> none of the stakeholders can achieve any progress
> should there not be a partnership based on a shared
> mission/objectives. We have to be partners in all
> aspects from the conception and development of
> policies and initiatives to the implementation and
> monitoring & evaluation. 
> 
>  
> 
> > How do we move from Global to regional, national,
> and local in our roles as the CS? 
> 
> Being a major stakeholder in the development process
> means that we already occupy those spaces even if
> only in aspiration. What we want to achieve and
> where we need to exert the influence or have input
> presupposes that we need to occupy and work on all
> of those levels. The challenge for us is in knowing
> HOW to work on those levels - how to make the local
> global and vice versa. We need to know how to
> organise ourselves so that we can effectively carry
> out our objectives. We HAVE to share information and
> knowledge, we have to enable ALL sectors of CS have
> a voice by accessing the process or acting as a
> conduit for their voice. You get the idea....
> 
>  
> 
> > What added value should be given to CS
> participation in the WSIS process? 
> 
> I'm not too sure I understand this question but
> suffice it to say that the participation of CS in
> the WSIS process has in instances pushed non-CS
> actors to move beyond the regurgitation of the same
> solutions  - we have challenged, compromised at
> times and stood our ground when required. African CS
> has been invaluable to the African governments in
> both providing information, drafting positions and
> providing support where our objectives matched. I
> would say that CS (especially from Africa) has
> learned very quickly about the global processes, the
> need to be prepared and yet be able to respond to
> changes. The active participation of CS has been/is
> crucial to making all of the "governmental"
> decisions realistic, relevant and implement able. I
> don't want to overstate the importance of CS but the
> reality is that it is at the level of CS that the
> impacts of good or bad policies are felt.
> 
>  
> 
> > What are our expected outcomes of the Tunis phase?
> 
> 
> In my opinion I would consider it a successful WSIS
> if we come out the other end with initiatives and
> policies that reflect the real needs and will lead
> to the realization of ICT for development. This
> means that we have more than promises and words on
> paper but more immediate, medium and long term
> objectives that will enable real positive changes,
> especially for those living in poverty.
> 
>  
> 
> > What happens after Tunis? 
> 
> One can reasonably assume that there will be a lot
> of work to be done. But does this question refer to
> ACSIS or to what will happen generally?
> 
>  
> 
> > What are you willing to do to contribute? 
> 
> What needs to be done? The issue of ICT for
> development is an integral part of the work
> programme for Abantu so we will be engaged in a
> range of local (Europe with policy makers and
> amongst African communities) and African based
> initiatives. The work that we do is around policy
> formulation, capacity development and advocacy from
> a gender and African perspective so we will focus on
> that. 
> 
>  
> 
> > What are your recommendations? > etc ..
> 
> Again this is a general question. I would suggest
> reflection (call it a quarterly review) on the ACSIS
> roadmap in light of some of the developments since
> Accra. I would like to see a general overview on
> where we are with the roadmap as part of that review
> or reflection. I would also add some points that
> Nnenna highlighted for Tunis namely: (1) Show what
> we had learnt before, during and after the Phase I
> of the WSIS; (2) Showcase best practices;(3) Present
> results (possibly interim results); (4) Demonstrate
> ongoing initiatives and (5) Share our common and/or
> different challenges.
> 
>  
> 
> Nnenna wrote:
> 
> > > Sadly though, many of the govt officials are
> saying that the "civil society is not organized". I
> have also heard that "the civil society does not
> know what it wants" 
> 
>  
> 
> It is currently the norm for governmental agencies
> and ministries to utter the mantra that CS is a
> crucial partner in the development process. I think
> that those government officials that made the
> general statement about CS not being organised or
> that it does not know what it wants need to go back
> and read the small print in their governmental
> public relations manuals. I could even go further
> and argue that at times were it not for CS
> government officials would not have been or be aware
> of what the issues are!
> 
> However, I do think it is important to say that at
> times there may not be one CS position, something
> that 
=== message truncated ===



Djilali Benamrane : dbenamrane at yahoo.com
Tel/fax : (227) 75 35 09 BP 11207 - Niamey - Niger
Tél/Fax : (331) 01 45 39 77 02 Paris - France
Page web sur le SMSI (mecanismes de financement) : en cours de construction 
Page web sur l'Afrique et la globalisation : http://www.multimania.com/djilalibenamrane/
Groupe de discussion: http://www.egroups.com/list/afriqueglobalization


		
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