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 The Civil Society Development Forum (CSDF) 2008, hosted by the Conference of Non-Governmental Organisations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO), took place in Geneva on 27-28 October and was attended by delegates from key civil society movements from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The forum focused on two main topics, dedicating one session to each: firstly, the global food crisis, food sustainability and food sovereignty; and secondly, human rights and the development nexus (including issues of political decision-making and speculative commodity and financial movements).
CONGO, which is made up of national, regional and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is "a bridge, a two-way stream vis-a-vis civil society and vis-a-vis the U.N.," explained Werner H. Schleiffer, Executive Coordinator of CONGO. He added that governments cannot deal with the current financial crisis on their own, and need the support of the people they govern, which is "best translated by the opinions of the civil society movement." According to IPS, "CONGO officials were encouraged by the results of their participation in the High Level Segment, an annual ECOSOC session held alternatively in New York and Geneva that is like a kind of ‘parliamentary' session of the U.N. system for dealing with economic and social issues". Schleiffer commented that, at that session, "we had the opportunity to speak more than ever before. It was unprecedented, between our CONGO statements on behalf of civil society and statements by organisations...under our umbrella, all together we had something like half an hour of speaking time, which is unique when you think that depending on the sessions, you only have one or two minutes to speak. That was quite an accomplishment." Source: |
