Over the border: ECB goes to IWG

Last week’s meetings in Geneva/Archamps were given a little extra frisson (as the French say) by the fact that we spanned an international border – going back and forth from Geneva, as we did on Wednesday in order to join the IWG Principals as they discussed ECB, meant passing through checkpoints on both sides. The Swiss seemed to adopt a pretty laissez-faire approach, but the gendarmes on the French side bristled with intent. Add to this the fact that not every member of the team was equipped with every necessary stamp in their passports, and the minutes before a meeting acquired a charge of adrenalin as we satisfied ourselves that our delegates were getting coffee and chatting in the lobby, and not languishing in a French jail.


On Wednesday, fortunately, we made it through, and joined the IWG in a misty Geneva with ten minutes to spare, despite the indefatigable Michel (our chauffeur for the week) getting lost in the maze of the UN quartier. We joined a discussion held over from the previous evening about surge capacity, and I was immediately struck by the ‘open books’ nature of the debate, and the frankness with which these senior leaders felt able to share the shortcomings of their own organizations with their peers. Obviously a deal of trust and mutual respect has been established within this group over the last three years - a stock of ‘social capital’ of considerable value.



Greg kicked off ECB discussions with a quickfire update on Project activities and progress. I won’t reprise it here as most of you will be familiar with the contents – but I will ensure that the slides are posted on Sharepoint for anyone who would find this kind of overview useful. Response from the floor was positive, with Randy Martin from Mercy Corps voicing an appreciation of the achievements of the Project and the hard work of all the agency and Project staff involved in making ECB happen. Your correspondent then took the floor, laying out the alternative visions for the Project-wide Learning Event scheduled for Spring 2007, and attempting to clarify the risks and benefits associated with these competing visions. Once everyone was bored of listening to me, Mark Janz from World Vision facilitated a discussion, and again I was impressed by the way the group moved to a consensus – not always easy in such a diverse gathering. Within 20 minutes there was agreement – the Spring 2007 event will have an internal focus, providing a space for all ECB stakeholders from within the IWG agencies to reflect on their experience and learning from the Project. External perspective will come from an invited ‘panel’ of outside experts, who will challenge us and introduce key ideas from the wider sector. I was tasked to work with the Focal Points to find a date and a place by the end of this month – watch this space!



And then we were out. As the Phase II design team swept in to present their ideas to the Principals, a swathe of staff members and focal points swept out. There are some strong feelings about the merits or otherwise of this kind of exclusion – my only contribution is that I don’t know a board of directors anywhere that allows everyone to sit in on all its deliberations. Anyway, don’t feel too bad for us – we went for a Swiss lunch and then those of us with kids at home headed to the toyshop and a happy quarter hour browsing. Phase II would have to wait. On Thursday the focus would be firmly on Phase I, as the Focal Points met with Project Staff to plot a course for the next six months. Check out the discussions here tomorrow.