Back in Geneva
Groundhog Day in Geneva (Written on the run during 2 day meeting - sent after returned home)
Seems like it was only last week that I was travelling the same streets. Yes, I am here in Switzerland for the third time in 6 weeks - maybe we should have pushed for Microsoft loaning us one of its jets?
This time, I'm here for an interesting meeting that I sort of helped into existence. UNISDR is convening a small consultative meeting on "Building a Network of NGOS for Community Resilience to Disasters" in the very same conference rooms as the IWG principals, focal points and staff met only the week before last. The agenda and focus has shifted a lot in the previous 2 weeks. We finalized this only in meetings the night before with Michele and Feng Min (ISDR). Though asked to chair some sessions, I asked instead to fully participate and suggested 2 others, who eventually took on the task.
A total of 21 experts met in the meeting rooms of the ISDR & CARE International building on the Wednesday and Thursday. It was opened by Helena Molin Valdés, the Deputy Director of the ISDR Secretariat in Geneva (Sálvano Briceño, the Director, sent his apologies for not being able to attend as he was in UN meetings in NYC).
The flow was open and fast, up and down, challenging and refreshing. A small number of individuals moved in and out, and a few folks joined later. The NGOs and NGO networks included ActionAid, TearFund, ADRRN, Duryog Nivaran, Focus/ Aga Khan, the Huairou Commission, IRHA, DiMP, ProVention Consortium, IFRC, UNDP, UNISDR, the BOND UK DRR working group, and me. There was no proper representation from LAC. (See posted workshop materials for further details).
The attendees were extremely open when asking why they were there, and what was the value of another meeting/ talkshop. Several with previous mixed experiences with UNISDR & UNDP, questioned the need for a network of networks, or the value added for engaging directly with the UN agencies. Several expressed misgivings about progress towards the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). After a series of short individual presentations, we collectively adapted the agenda to reflect the open dialogue, and did not immediately move into smaller group work. Helena spoke more about the background to the important "Global Platform for Risk Reduction" planned in Geneva for 5-7 June 2007, which would provide the first major milestone for the UNISDR program.
It was clear that the assembled folks in the room were the nominated steering committee for the NGO and CBO community, and soon agreed to take on this task. Many felt too much responsibility, and reservations for the top-down approach to the representation of vulnerable peoples/ beneficiaries/ partners, etc., but how best to include as many voices as possible? Lots of talk about "accountability" and responsibilities to vulnerable populations. It would be nice to have our Indian and Pakistani colleagues attend the Rome workshop (Paul, did you encounter Duryog Nivaren during your Pakistan mission?). Lots of talk about focussing on the primary responsibility of national governments to protect their populations and to be able to measure and track progress towards the HFA.
A few of us helped redraft the next version of the ToR for the Global Network of NGOs to more fully encompass the bredth of discussion and interest. The presentations and drafts would be available directly from the http://www.unisdr.org website.
So what was/is the relevence for the ECB project? I must confess, given the direction that ECB Phase II seems to be taking, this UNISDR-led initiative is now of more relevence to any individual agencies that might want to take the baton, than to the ECB as a whole. I will carry on being a part of this effort, if only in my spare time. However, the ECB mandate for such collective engagement would seem to be limited if not completely absent for Phase II, and therefore, I am not sure what roel the individual or collective agencies could play in the Global Platform. I would challenge Mercy Corps, CARE, World Vision, or Oxfam to engage directly with this new and promising initiative, and I am more than happy to make the appropriate introductions. The steering committee, of which I am a part, will be re-drafting materials over the coming months, and these I will share with all interested parties.
I invite anyone interested to contact me directly about this initiative, and how to get involved. I will ensure that all materials and ideas produced are shared amongst the ECB group.
For me, I am very excited to be involved in this renewed enthusiasm that a few of us felt during the 90's - the UN Decade of Disaster Reduction. I believe that this sector is rife with opportunity and of ultimate relevence to the reduction of risk or more appropriately, the increasing resilience of communities to the affects of disaster. I was very happy to be there, but also feel that, given the lack of a role like mine in Phase II, it would be more appropriate for Melisa or Susan or Paul to have been in that room. (Bill, from CARE, was invited to attend, and is only one floor above the ISDR team, but did not attend). Everyone in the meeting left Geneva with a new collaborative commitment to holding all parties responsible for advancing the HFA.
Funniest moment: 1) rescuing one lost participant from the red light district, a few blocks away from the central hotel; and 2) the return of the New Testament kids.
Out from Geneva.... Warner Passanisi
Seems like it was only last week that I was travelling the same streets. Yes, I am here in Switzerland for the third time in 6 weeks - maybe we should have pushed for Microsoft loaning us one of its jets?
This time, I'm here for an interesting meeting that I sort of helped into existence. UNISDR is convening a small consultative meeting on "Building a Network of NGOS for Community Resilience to Disasters" in the very same conference rooms as the IWG principals, focal points and staff met only the week before last. The agenda and focus has shifted a lot in the previous 2 weeks. We finalized this only in meetings the night before with Michele and Feng Min (ISDR). Though asked to chair some sessions, I asked instead to fully participate and suggested 2 others, who eventually took on the task.
A total of 21 experts met in the meeting rooms of the ISDR & CARE International building on the Wednesday and Thursday. It was opened by Helena Molin Valdés, the Deputy Director of the ISDR Secretariat in Geneva (Sálvano Briceño, the Director, sent his apologies for not being able to attend as he was in UN meetings in NYC).
The flow was open and fast, up and down, challenging and refreshing. A small number of individuals moved in and out, and a few folks joined later. The NGOs and NGO networks included ActionAid, TearFund, ADRRN, Duryog Nivaran, Focus/ Aga Khan, the Huairou Commission, IRHA, DiMP, ProVention Consortium, IFRC, UNDP, UNISDR, the BOND UK DRR working group, and me. There was no proper representation from LAC. (See posted workshop materials for further details).
The attendees were extremely open when asking why they were there, and what was the value of another meeting/ talkshop. Several with previous mixed experiences with UNISDR & UNDP, questioned the need for a network of networks, or the value added for engaging directly with the UN agencies. Several expressed misgivings about progress towards the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). After a series of short individual presentations, we collectively adapted the agenda to reflect the open dialogue, and did not immediately move into smaller group work. Helena spoke more about the background to the important "Global Platform for Risk Reduction" planned in Geneva for 5-7 June 2007, which would provide the first major milestone for the UNISDR program.
It was clear that the assembled folks in the room were the nominated steering committee for the NGO and CBO community, and soon agreed to take on this task. Many felt too much responsibility, and reservations for the top-down approach to the representation of vulnerable peoples/ beneficiaries/ partners, etc., but how best to include as many voices as possible? Lots of talk about "accountability" and responsibilities to vulnerable populations. It would be nice to have our Indian and Pakistani colleagues attend the Rome workshop (Paul, did you encounter Duryog Nivaren during your Pakistan mission?). Lots of talk about focussing on the primary responsibility of national governments to protect their populations and to be able to measure and track progress towards the HFA.
A few of us helped redraft the next version of the ToR for the Global Network of NGOs to more fully encompass the bredth of discussion and interest. The presentations and drafts would be available directly from the http://www.unisdr.org website.
So what was/is the relevence for the ECB project? I must confess, given the direction that ECB Phase II seems to be taking, this UNISDR-led initiative is now of more relevence to any individual agencies that might want to take the baton, than to the ECB as a whole. I will carry on being a part of this effort, if only in my spare time. However, the ECB mandate for such collective engagement would seem to be limited if not completely absent for Phase II, and therefore, I am not sure what roel the individual or collective agencies could play in the Global Platform. I would challenge Mercy Corps, CARE, World Vision, or Oxfam to engage directly with this new and promising initiative, and I am more than happy to make the appropriate introductions. The steering committee, of which I am a part, will be re-drafting materials over the coming months, and these I will share with all interested parties.
I invite anyone interested to contact me directly about this initiative, and how to get involved. I will ensure that all materials and ideas produced are shared amongst the ECB group.
For me, I am very excited to be involved in this renewed enthusiasm that a few of us felt during the 90's - the UN Decade of Disaster Reduction. I believe that this sector is rife with opportunity and of ultimate relevence to the reduction of risk or more appropriately, the increasing resilience of communities to the affects of disaster. I was very happy to be there, but also feel that, given the lack of a role like mine in Phase II, it would be more appropriate for Melisa or Susan or Paul to have been in that room. (Bill, from CARE, was invited to attend, and is only one floor above the ISDR team, but did not attend). Everyone in the meeting left Geneva with a new collaborative commitment to holding all parties responsible for advancing the HFA.
Funniest moment: 1) rescuing one lost participant from the red light district, a few blocks away from the central hotel; and 2) the return of the New Testament kids.
Out from Geneva.... Warner Passanisi
posted by Warner Passanisi at 10:51 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks Matt for the clickable links.
Paul, I put some more details in a more recent post - "Useful Networks..."
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