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SOCIAL WATCH
Report by the International Secretariat
FROM SOFIA TO ACCRA - 2006-2009
Contents
SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
THE STAFF
THE REPORT
Production
Contents and thematic foci
A new tool: the Overview Report
The Basic Capabilities Index and the Gender Equity Index
Launch of the Report and press strategy
Other publications
STRENGTHENING THE NETWORK
Networking and communications
Capacity building activities
National Social Watch coalitions
INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNING
Financing for Development
Aid Effectiveness
UN High Level Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis
G-20
Alliances with Women Groups
World Social Forum
Social Watch and GCAP
ACTIVITIES BY THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE
BUDGET AND FINANCIAL REPORT
THE CHALLENGES: A final word
LIST OF ANNEXES
SUMMARY
In the three years that have passed since the Sofia Assembly, Social Watch published the 2007, 2008 and 2009 reports respectively on social security; human rights; and financial, ecological and economic crises and launched the Gender Equity Index (GEI) 2007 in New York, the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) 2007 in Germany and the GEI and BCI 2008 both in New York.
The Social Watch report has grown in quality and in impact. Social Watch as an international network has gained in recognition and respect, which in turn has helped the national Social Watch coalitions advance.
The membership of Social Watch has expanded in this period, both in terms of the number of country coalitions involved in the network activities, as well as in terms of the growth in the number of their affiliate organizations and their capacities to conduct advocacy and policy analysis. Several Capacity Building Workshops were held to help improve the quality of the work by Social Watch national coalitions and to stimulate the creation of new coalitions.
Social Watch participated in both the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and the Civil Society Parallel Forum, held in Accra, Ghana on September 2008, advocating for more inclusiveness and genuine multilateralism in the aid effectiveness process, for the elimination of conditionalities attached to aid, and for the inclusion of gender and rights-based perspectives in the process.
Social Watch participated actively in the UN International Review Conference on Financing for Development and the Civil Society Forum, held in Doha, Qatar in December 2008. Social Watch was an integral member of the Doha NGO Group on Financing for Development.
The global financial and economic crisis that initiated in September 2008 has proven correct what Social Watch has long been proclaiming: the financial architecture is unstable and unjust, and badly needs to be redesigned. Reinforcing this message, Social Watch had an active role in the UN High Level Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development held in New York in June 2009. Social Watch advocated for its successful realization and played a leading role in promoting civil society initiatives related to the Conference.
The Social Watch Coordinating Committee functioned actively in this period and became a key institutional mechanism, providing oversight and political guidance to the activities of the network and also worked on fundraising for the coming years.
At the beginning of this period, the coalition restructured the Secretariat to adapt to a reduced level of funding. In a joint effort with Oxfam-Novib, the Co-Chairs of the Social Watch Coordinating Committee and other members of the network, the Social Watch Secretariat developed a project for the period 2009-2011 which was approved by the European Commission, with the principal aim of strengthening the network and expanding its reach. Thus, in the coming years Social Watch will be able to enhance its research (in particular by studying the sub-national application of the Social Watch indexes on basic capabilities and gender) and to convene several international meetings of the network. Also, the Social Watch annual report will expand its reach to new audiences, with editions in French and Arabic, as well as English and Spanish.
BACKGROUND
Meeting in Copenhagen and Beijing in 1995, governments of the world decided at the highest political level to commit to eradicate poverty and achieve gender equality. That commitment was reaffirmed by the United Nations Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000.
In order for those commitments not to be forgotten and to strengthen the political will to achieve them, the Social Watch network was created in September 1995. Every year since 1996, Social Watch has been publishing a yearly report on progress towards these internationally agreed goals. The Social Watch report is based on the findings of independent civil society coalitions at national level, complemented with global statistics, indexes and analyses of global trends.
The idea that governments should be accountable to their citizens for the commitments they made is easy to understand and can be applied in many different contexts and circumstances. The Social Watch approach has empowered civil society organizations at national and local levels, and has led to the growth of the Social Watch network, from an initial handful of NGOs in 13 countries to an impressive alliance of civil society coalitions active in more than 60 countries. Social Watch has won recognition as a respected interlocutor with national governments and multilateral organizations.
Social Watch addresses the need for a channel to voice national civil society concerns to international fora, helps build the capacity of local groups to make their authorities accountable and contributes to the opening of meaningful dialogue spaces at the national level.
The basic message of the Social Watch reports in the past years has been that, unless major policy changes happen at a global level, the goals agreed upon internationally, and the Millennium Development Goals in particular, will not be achieved. While this diagnosis is shared by many intergovernmental organizations, Social Watch went further, promoting civil society benchmarks which lay a basis for a common platform of what needs to be done in the coming years. An adequate response to poverty will only be found in comprehensive and redistributive initiatives that address all aspects of inequality, with particular attention given to the gender dimension; respect for human rights and ecological sustainability. Social Watch promotes accountability of governments and international organizations and has always seen the United Nations as its main space for global advocacy.
Following the recommendations of the Sofia Assembly, Social Watch has improved its work on the relations between gender and poverty and is increasingly adopting a rights-based approach to its policy analyses and campaigning. While the specific focus and identity of Social Watch is on social justice issues (poverty and gender equity in particular), in specific circumstances Social Watch has worked to advocate for peace and basic civil and political rights, without which civil society organizing and promotion of social issues is not possible.
THE STAFF
The Social Watch Secretariat is hosted by the Third World Institute (IteM) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Since the Sofia Assembly, the composition of the permanent secretariat staff has changed. New recruitment of senior staff was done through public calls and the co-chairs of the CC were part of the selection committee, together with the coordinator and asisted by Eva Friedlander.
Coordination: Roberto Bissio
Networking and campaigning: Jana Silverman, assisted by Agustn Fernndez
Production: Ana Zeballos, assisted by Gustavo Alzugaray
Edition: Amir Hamed, assisted by Soledad Bervejillo
Computer Systems engineer: Andrea Antelo, Webmistress: Ximena Pucciarelli
Management: Daniel Zabaleta, assisted by Dorely Freitas.
The research in social sciences, in particular the production of the indexes and the processing of the indicators is done by a team of the Sociology Department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Universidad de la Repblica, headed by Gabriel Errandonea.
Advocacy: Natalia Cardona. Since August 2009, Natalia operates from a small space in the offices of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), based in New York, within walking distance of the United Nations.
Most translation and design work is outsourced. The auditing of the accounts is done by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
THE REPORT
4.1. Production
The Annual Report is the primary tool for advocacy by the network at national and international levels; it is distributed widely, attracts interest, and has garnered respect for Social Watch in the international community.
As stated in the 2001-2005 Social Watch Evaluation, the production of the Annual Report is the central activity of Social Watch, for the Secretariat as well as for the national platforms from which there has been a consistently high level of participation. Many affiliates are involved either through the provision of relevant statistical data from their countries incorporated in the statistical tables, preparation of a country report, and/or through a thematic report.
a) Contents and thematic foci
REPORT 2007: Right to social security
The Report, In Dignity and Rights, focused on the theme of making the universal right to social security a reality. The 2007 Report was launched at the United Nations High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in October 2007 in New York, where Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio intervened on behalf of the network. National-level launches also took place in the Philippines, Spain, Canada, Ghana and the Netherlands. The 2007 Social Watch report was also launched during the Forum on Decent Work for a Fair Globalization organized by the International Labour Organization in Lisbon, Portugal in October 2007.
REPORT 2008: National policies, financial architecture and human rights
Under the title Rights is the Answer, the 2008 Social Watch Report analyzed the connections between national policies, the global financial architecture, and the fulfilment of human rights. The report was officially launched in a side event held as part of the UN International Review Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar in December 2008. The launch was attended by dozens of civil society practitioners, representatives of UN agencies, and members of official delegations to the Conference, and was covered by 13 distinct media outlets. The official launch was preceded by a pre-launch held at the Doha Civil Society Forum, and was followed by national-level launches in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Paraguay, Poland, and Spain, among other countries. In addition, on January 2009, the 2008 Social Watch Report was launched in the European Parliament. Luisa Morgantini, Vice-President of the European Parliament, hosted the event.
REPORT 2009: Invest in people
The 2009 Report, Making Finances Work. People First documents the social impacts of the multiple crises affecting the planet and proposes policy alternatives to end the crisis from a human and gender rights-based perspective. This Report contains 61 national reports, and also includes several testimonies from people who have suffered the direct impacts of the crisis in the entire world. People First was launched internationally in September 23 in Pittsburgh, in the context of the G-20 summit, and in September 25, in New York during the high level segment of the United Nations General Assembly. The 2009 report will be printed in English, Spanish, French and Arabic.
b) A new tool: the Overview Report
Since 2007 an Overview version of the international report has been produced, taking into account suggestions emanating from the Sofia Assembly and the 2001-2005 evaluation. It has been intended as a tool for further improving the reports dissemination and use, particularly as an advocacy tool at the national level. This is a more user-friendly version, developed for popular education and advocacy. It is designed to be used at the local level and at university lectures, workshops, etc.
The 24-pages Overview includes relevant articles of each annual Report. It is currently printed in Spanish and English.
c) The Basic Capabilities Index and the Gender Equity Index
In addition to the yearly reports, since 2006, Social Watch has calculated and disseminated a Gender Equity Index (GEI) and a Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) to rank countries and measure progress towards gender equity and poverty eradication.
The Social Watch GEI is intended to fill a vacuum in terms of comparable world-wide gender indicators. It is widely referenced in the literature and is considered and used in several circles as the best available measurement of global trends in gender equity. The OECD highlighted the Social Watch GEI during an international experts workshop on Measuring Gender Equality Taking Stock and Looking Forward held in Paris in 24-25 May 2007.
The BCI uses an alternative methodology to register the progress or lack of progress towards compliance with the Millennium Development Goals. These indexes constitute new methodologies that complement in numerous respects the human development indexes most commonly used.
The GEI and BCI had previously been included in the annual reports and its launch at a separate event was one of the strategy changes that came out of the Sofia Assembly. (see 4.2 below)
The GEI 2007 was launched, in a separate publication, in New York, during the 51st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (26 February to 9 March, 2007). The BCI 2007 was launched on June 2007 in Germany, coinciding with the start of the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm.
The GEI 2008 was launched in New York, during the 52nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (25 February to 8 March, 2007) and gained wide repercussion: 47 press clippings mentioning the GEI 2008 were published on the occasion of its launch. (See annex e).
The BCI 2008 was launched on in September in New York, in the context of the UN High Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, with the presence of Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio and other members of the Social Watch network.
The Social Sciences team is currently completing the 2009 version of the BCI and GEI indexes.
4.2. Launch of the Report and press strategy
The international launch of the report has always been an occasion to gain visibility, not only for the publication but also for the network as a whole. During the Sofia General Assembly the need to improve media coverage of the Social Watch messages was emphasized. Given the multitude of the messages in the annual Report, it was suggested that instead of concentrating all media messages in one event, they should be distributed throughout the year.
The strategy of organizing three major launches in different times of the year, each focused on a specific aspect (gender, poverty and systemic issues) of the overall message proved successful. It resulted in greatly expanded media coverage.
Press kits were prepared and press campaigns were made to support the international launches of the Social Watch Report 2007, 2008 and 2009; GEI 2007 and 2008; and BCI 2007 and 2008. National launches were also promoted and supported with press kits.
In qualitative terms, an important trend observed in the clippings is that Social Watch is not only mentioned when the network organizes activities, such as the launches listed above, but also it is increasingly being quoted as a source of information and data by journalists or columnists in their own analysis. This clearly shows the identification of Social Watch as an authoritative source.
The country launches and events were determined at country level by the national Social Watch coalitions, according to their own priorities. Several important national launch activities were carried out. Among them the launch of the Indian Social Watch report, which was received in a public ceremony by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was held in July 2007.
4.3. Other publications
Who pays? The global crises and what needs to be done. In mid-2009 Social Watch published a poster, updating the one included in the Annual Report 2006, Impossible Architecture. This new poster features testimonies from civil society activists from the South on the impacts of the food, financial, economic and environmental crises and highlights from the national reports. The poster addresses in a pedagogical manner the main problems of the current international financial architecture. It was printed in English and Spanish, and it is available in the Internet in English, Spanish and French (both in htlm and flash version).
The publication in 2009 of the research Learning from Successful Experiences, Summary of the Analysis of Four Case Studies from the Social Watch National Coalitions (a qualitative study of successful factors and best practices of four different Social Watch coalitions) was developed as part of the European-Union funded project Promoting Social Development Building Capacities of Social Watch Coalitions, and aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences, know-how transfer and capacity-building of national groups within the global Social Watch network. In particular, the study analyses the history, structure, and initiatives of the Social Watch coalitions in Benin, Brazil, Germany and the Philippines, taking into account five key aspects related to the relevance, efficiency and sustainability, effectiveness, strategy and impact, and coherence of these coalitions and their work.The reports findings conclude that trust, flexibility, mutual respect, and a strong commitment to common objectives are important factors related to the success and sustainability of Social Watch national coalitions, and that these coalitions work best when, instead of duplicating the work of the member organizations, provide a broad-based platform for the shaping of new initiatives related to the promotion of public policy aimed at ending poverty and gender discrimination. The Secretariat edited an abridged version of the study and translated it into French and Spanish. The publication is available on the Social Watch website in English, French and Spanish.
Strengthening the Network
a) Networking and communications
National Social Watch coalitions are not funded by the Social Watch Secretariat and they are accountable to their member organizations, not to the Secretariat. This has allowed for a sense of ownership, in which the Secretariat is accountable to the national coalitions and not the other way around. While this is a positive development, one of its drawbacks is that it is difficult to compile a comprehensive list of Social Watch-related activities at the national level, since the groups are not compelled to report about them. Efforts have been made to overcome this problem, and the Secretariat will continue to generate alternative ways to gather information about these activities, as well to properly disseminate it, in order to reinforce the networks cohesion and impact.
Social Watch Mailing Lists
The main communication tools to reach the Social Watch membership are the mailing lists. News and information are disseminated through several email lists: Coordinating Committee, watchers e-mail lists (in English, Spanish and French), and regional lists for Europe and Asia.
Questionnaire
In 2007 and 2009, the Secretariat sent a questionnaire to the national groups in order to understand the interests, needs and opinions of each Social Watch national coalition.
The Secretariat has received 40 responses in 2009. The responses related to the new communication tools used by the Secretariat were generally positive. All the coalitions with easy access to the Internet value them, while some coalitions ask for more production of information, diversification of sources and notification of updates.
The questionnaire also asked the coalitions what topics they preferred to be addressed in the regional training workshops to be held in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the coming years. (See annex a).
Social Watch E-newsletter
The Social Watch electronic newsletter was published bimonthly since November 2008. The E-newsletter features news articles reflecting the advocacy and campaigning work of national coalitions and the network as a whole, new resources for NGO practitioners, profiles of Social Watch member organizations, and an events calendar. Editions were published in English, Spanish, and French, and were disseminated to hundreds of members and allies of Social Watch within civil society, representatives of intergovernmental institutions, journalists, academics, policymakers and the general public. See additional material - newsletters.
Social Watch Website
The Social Watch website includes information on the network, its evolution and its member organizations and the complete versions of all Social Watch reports from 1996 to 2009. Publications by Social Watch National Groups are also available.
The Social Development Indicators Database, an on-line interactive database including an interface for queries, offers its users possibilities not usually included in the major data delivery facilities, i.e., generation of graphs with the data requested, and generation of customized data tables combining different indicators, selected countries or years. Thus, the user is able to compare, in a single table or graph, different indicators of his or her choice for the selected countries or regions. It was created and updated to make this information available for national groups and the public at large. The statistical tables for the yearly report are also drawn from this database.
The usage of the Social Watch website continues to grow. It received 1.827.000 sessions and over 17 million hits in 2008, compared to 486.670 sessions and 6 million hits in 2003. Around 400 websites and 60 blogs link to the Social Watch website and we were able to trace at least 250 blogs that mention Social Watch and at least 80 books that mention Social Watch or quote the report as a source. (See annex d).
The redesign of the Social Watch website started in January 2009 and its new version has been on line since September 2009.
New developments: blog, video channel, Facebook
In order to stimulate communication in and between Social Watch groups and civil society in general, Social Watch created a space in Facebook and a new blog, called "Global Eye on Social and Gender Rights". Social Watch launched a Social Watch video channel in Youtube and opened a Social Watch photo gallery at flickr.com. The purpose is to highlight the multimedia materials produced by the different national coalitions as well as videos and fotos of network-wide activities.
These initiatives were created by the Social Watch network to allow civil society organizations from around the world to share their experiences in advocating for gender equality and poverty eradication, and to generate critical analyses from diverse perspectives on how economic, financial, and trade policies impact upon social development and the realization of rights. These initiatives are opened to contributions not only from members of the Social Watch network but from all the civil society activists, researchers, and educators whose common purpose is to promote social and gender rights.
Information
Social Watch offers a free news service through three mailing lists, one in English reaching 1871 self-subscribed people, another in Spanish with 1200 self-subscribed people and another in French, reaching 746 self-subscribed people. The Newsletter, available in English, Spanish and French, is also distributed through these mailing lists.
b) Capacity building activities
Capacity building activities are an important tool for the network to help improve the quality of the work of its members. Capacity building workshops consolidate existing partnerships and networks and promote -through information sharing and capacity building- the creation of new coalitions. The activities also strengthen strategic partnerships, networks and cooperation between Non-State Actors and Local Authorities. In the period Social Watch has strengthened watchers capacities on social indicators and human rights, particularly on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, budget analysis, the Gender Equity Index and the Basic Capabilities Index.
The Social Watch Secretariat co-organized a programme on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) titled Linking & Learning Programme on ESC Rights for the Latin America region that was held in Quito, Ecuador, from 2 to 10 November 2006.
Three KIC Workshops were held during this period. They had three basic objectives: a) to map out, share information and practices, mainly on monitoring social indicators and government commitments, participatory budget, the Economic Social and Cultural Rights approach, lobbying and actual uses of monitoring results (tools for advocacy and networking); b) to document and systematize those practices; and c) to build a sustainable network based on those sharing and linking objectives that would work both on-line and face-to-face (workshop) in order to facilitate collaborative action in the region thus reinforcing the existing networks and to strengthen the knowledge and skills of those working to empower people, contributing, through monitoring and a human rights approach, to build the capacity of grassroots movements.
The workshop "Building an Asian community of practice on monitoring and budget analysis" was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 9 to 11 July 2007. The workshop was organized by SILAKA and Social Watch in collaboration with OXFAM-Novib/KIC. The workshop brought together 23 participants from several countries in the region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The workshop Sharing experiences and building advocacy capacities was held in Rabat, Morocco from 17 to 19 July, 2007. It was co-organized by Espace Associatif and the Social Watch Secretariat with the collaboration of Oxfam Novib/Kic. The workshop brought together 22 activists from 14 French-speaking African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Kenya).
The workshop Learning form experiences with a human rights focus was held in Montevideo, Uruguay from July 6-8 2007. It was co-organized by the Social Watch Secretariat with Centro de Derechos Econmicos y Sociales (CDES), Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) Americas Programme, DECA Equipo Pueblo and Dignity International, with the collaboration of Oxfam Novib/Kic and brought together activists from 8 Latin American countries.
The third Linking and Learning Program on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) co-sponsored by Social Watch, was held in Buzios, Brazil from November 7 17, 2007.
The Social Watch Capacity-Building Regional Seminar for the Latin America region was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 24 26, 2009, together with Ibase and INESC. 26 participants from 14 Latin American countries participated in the workshop.
The Social Watch Capacity Building Regional Seminar for francophone Africa and the Maghreb region was held in Morocco from October 16 18, 2009. Civil society activists from 13 countries in the region participated in the workshop.
The following workshops and activities were held at the WSF in Nairobi in January 2007. The aim of these activities was to raise awareness in order to promote civil society capacity building and coalition-building:
Workshop The use of Indicators in assessing social development: the Social Watch experience
Social indicators: What are they and what are they for? Technical criteria for construction of indicators. Types of indicators. Good and bad use of indicators. Theory and indicator systems. Summary of the information in the indices. The Social Watch experience: Monitoring of international commitments. Social development dimensions. Social Watch indicator system. Basic Capabilities Index. Gender Equity Index.
Workshop on alternative budget and budget monitoring
Several Social Watch national coalitions shared their experiences on budget monitoring and alternative budgets with other movements. This showed that the same thing can be done in different ways and in different regions picking up what things might better fit their organizations, networks and countries.
Human Rights and Poverty: the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights perspective
This workshop was aimed at exploring, a in participatory way, the issue of poverty as a complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon and its relationship with economic, social and cultural rights. A debate was held on poverty from a human rights perspective and their justifiability beyond the political will of governments. One of the goals of this workshop was to analyse the relevance of the ESC Rights approach in the implementation of public policies and its linkage with social development.
Workshop on UN Reform and advocacy strategies of the international networks and NGOs, co-organized with ICAE, REPEM and the Tax Justice Network.
Panel: How to redesign the international financial architecture
This panel discussed several related issues like: aid, trade, debt, capital flight, tax evasion, fraudulent intra-firm trading and the governance of the international financial institutions. These topics have yet to filter down from the debate of experts to the awareness of the citizens in the streets. But they all form part of a package, an architecture, that badly needs to be redesigned. The Social Watch 2006 report looks at the means for putting development policies into action and it is focused on the international financial architecture.
c) National Social Watch coalitions
The Social Watch Network has been expanding steadily since its initial presence in 13 countries. Currently, it has active members in over 60 countries. Social Watch national platforms are present in all regions of the world. (See annex b).
From a maximum of 52 reports in 2003 and 51 in 2005, the number of reports went down to 42 in 2006, recovered to 48 in 2007, went up to 59 in 2008 and reached the record figure of 61 in 2009. (See annex c).
The subject of the 2006 Report (financial architecture) was judged as more difficult than usual by many participants during the Sofia Assembly, while the 2007 theme (right to social security) emerged from a wider consultation process and refers to problems that are subject to intense debate in most countries. The subject of the 2008 Report, produced during the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stressed the need for a new approach based on human rights as a way out of the world economic crisis that was beginning to unfold. The 2009 Report is focused on the need to put people first in order to overcome the multiple (financial, economic, food, environmental) crises affecting the planet.
Since the Sofia Assembly, new national platforms or coalitions have joined the Social Watch network in the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Burma, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Hungary, Mauritania, Moldova, Mongolia, Slovakia, Syria, Somalia, Ukraine and Vietnam.
According to the replies to questionnaires, the main Social Watch-related activity of national groups during the 2008-2009 period was the launch of the Social Watch international report, followed by the presentation of national reports, as well as other press conferences and workshops organized together with other organizations.
The Social Watch network has been the object of a case study commissioned to Srilatha Blatiwala by the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as part of a wider research on international NGO advocacy. See additional material - Social Watch: Study of an Int. Advocacy Network.
INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNING
The Sofia Assembly of Social Watch reaffirmed that the United Nations and its different bodies are its main space for global advocacy and in light of trends towards militarization and unilateralism decided that our advocacy efforts and presence at the UN should therefore increase and be conceived as a defence of multilateralism itself, above and beyond the intrinsic importance of our specific issues. Thus, the UN was at the center of the international advocacy activities if the secretariat, while at the same time, Social Watch continued to relate with and participate at non-UN international decision making spaces, such as the meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions, WTO and other trade negotiations and OECD-related processes.
a) Financing for Development
At the Special high-level meeting of ECOSOC with the BWIs, the WTO and UNCTAD, in New York, 15-16 April 2007, Social Watch representative Roberto Bissio defended innovative finance mechanisms and articulated civil society demands on the Financing for Development summit (Monterrey follow-up) to be held in Doha in 2008.
Together with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Social Watch-Philippines organized a workshop on Financing for Development with national Social Watch coalitions in Asia in Manila, in May of 2008.
Social Watch participated actively in the UN International Review Conference on Financing for Development and the Civil Society Forum, held in Doha, Qatar from 25 November to 2 December 2008. Social Watch was an integral member of the Doha NGO Group on Financing for Development (DNG), with Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio as well as Social Watch Coordinating Committee members Jens Martens, Ziad Abdel Samad, and John Foster, among other Social Watch members, acting as panellists during the Civil Society Forum and as participants of round tables during the official Conference. Social Watch collaborated in the editing and dissemination of the final declaration of the Civil Society Forum and was also present at the press conference held by civil society at the conclusion of the official summit.
Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio and John Foster of Social Watch Canada participated in the Civil Society Forum of the Spring Meeting 2009 IMF/WB held in Washington in April 2009.
b) Aid Effectiveness
Social Watch was an active member of the International Steering Group that prepared the civil society parallel conference to the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and participated in both the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and the Civil Society Parallel Forum, held in Accra, Ghana from August 31 - September 3, 2008.
Several members of the Social Watch Coordinating Committee participated in the process towards Accra. Social Watch participated actively in several of the meetings of the inter-governmental working party on aid effectiveness leading to the Accra HLF and in the regional preparatory meeting held in Bahrain in May 2007. During this process, Social Watch emphasized a rights-based approach and highlighted the right to development as key to the analysis of aid effectiveness, elaborating on a paper prepared by Roberto Bissio for the Human Rights Council.
Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio addressed both the closing session of the Civil Society Forum, as well as the opening session of the official Forum on behalf of civil society representatives.
Social Watch advocated for more inclusiveness and genuine multilateralism in the aid effectiveness process, changes in the conditionalities attached to aid, and a gender and rights-based perspective towards aid.
c) UN High Level Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis and its preparatory process
Social Watch had an active role in the UN High Level Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis and its impact on developing countries and its preparatory process, promoting and contributing to active civil society participation in it, helping to open this process to real democratic debate and scrutiny.
In October 2008, Social Watch, along with other civil society organizations, drafted and disseminated a statement regarding reforms to the global economic system in the wake of the financial crisis, which called for a comprehensive, participatory summit to be held under the umbrella of the UN in order to restructure the international financial architecture, and which was signed on to by over 2,800 organizations and individual persons from across the globe. This statement, along with another civil society statement signed on by 603 groups and individuals which made recommendations on the substantive changes that should be made to the global financial system, was presented publicly in Washington on 13 November, as part of the lobbying efforts directed towards the G-20 Summit held in the US capital city that same month.
In February 2009, the Social Watch Secretariat presented a series of policy recommendations to the Stiglitz Commission on the Reform of the Global Financial and Economic System as part of an initiative to encourage civil society engagement with this high-level commission of experts named by the President of the UN General Assembly.
The Commission includes many of the suggestions by civil society organizations (and by Social Watch) in its recommendations, including that of major reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions and the creation of an Economic Council at the UN with oversight powers over the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
Roberto Bissio, John Foster and Jo Marie Griesgraber (New Rules for Global Finance Coalition) participated in a press conference organized by NGLS in April 2009. The press conference was organized to highlight the warm-up event at the Economic and Social Council, consisting of panels on the Civil Society perspectives on the Financing for Development Agenda, for the high-level ECOSOC meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Trade Organization and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 27 April and the General Assembly Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.
Social Watch, along with other civil society organizations, drafted and disseminated a Statement on the negotiations about the outcome of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development on 15 May 2009. The statement was supported by hundreds of organizations.
The Economic and Social Council held a panel discussion on "Civil Society Perspectives on the Financing for Development Agenda" on Monday, 20 April 2009, in the ECOSOC Chamber in New York. The panel discussion was held in preparation for the ECOSOC Special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to be held in New York, 27 April 2009. The panellists for the first panel, "Addressing the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on development, including issues related to the international financial and monetary architecture and global governance structures" included Roberto Bissio; Jo Marie Griesgraber, Executive Director of New Rules of the Global Finance Coalition and Marina Durano, Senior Policy Researcher of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). The panellists for the second panel, "Strengthening of the intergovernmental inclusive process to carry out the financing for development follow-up" included John Foster, Principal Researcher of the North-South Institute; Aldo Caliari, Director of Rethinking Bretton Woods Project, Center of Concern and Barry Herman, Visiting Senior Fellow of the New School University.
The Social Watch Secretariat together with members of the Social Watch network from Benin, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Sudan, and the USA, participated in the UN Conference on the World Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development in New York on June 24-26.
Social Watch co-organized a coalition of more than 20 local and international civil society organizations to convene the Peoples Voices on the Crisis event in New York. The event brought to light the social, labor and environmental impacts of the financial crisis. Civil society activists, including watchers of Benin, Bulgaria, Sudan, Nepal, Kenya, and the US, presented testimonies on the impacts of the crisis in their communities. This event was held on June 20 in New York, within the framework of the UN Conference on the World Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development, and also counted with the participation of the President of the General Assembly of the UN, Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, as keynote speaker.
Social Watch also coordinated the execution of the forum in New York on June 23 entitled Towards a people-centered economy: Alternative responses to the crisis, which included the participation of Pedro Paez, former Minister of Economic Coordination of Ecuador, and representatives of Our World is Not For Sale, LDC Watch, International Gender and Trade Network, Institute for Policy Studies, and Bail Out the People Movement.
In addition, Social Watch was a co-sponsor of a seminar within the Conference on June 25 on trade and human rights, which featured the participation of President Rafael Correa of Ecuador.
The Coordinator of Social Watch was a speaker in one of the round tables during the Conference, and the Coordinator of Campaigns and Communications was one of the moderators of the Civil Society Forum, which took place on June 23 as an activity prior to the Conference.
The poster Who pays? The Global Crisis and what needs to be done (see above) was presented and distributed at these events. The poster presents testimonies of voices from the South, as well as national reports published later in the 2009 Social Watch Report, about the impacts of the crisis.
In addition, Social Watch designed and updated the 10 days of action: Countdown to commitments blog, which published information and analysis on the Conference process.
In a meeting with NGOs held as a side event during the UN High Level Conference, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz recognized the importance of the civil society input in the work of the commission he chaired, which in turn was a decisive component in the preparation of the conference. The contribution of Social Watch to the work of the Commission is quoted several times in the compilation report prepared by NGLS.
d) G-20
The Social Watch Secretariat and representatives of Social Watch coalitions from Canada, India and the USA participated in the civil society activities organized parallel to the G-20 Leaders Summit held in Pittsburgh, USA in September 2009. Social Watch prepared and disseminated a joint press statement with Third World Network and presented the 2009 Social Watch Report to an audience of journalists, academics and civil society activists on September 23. In addition, Social Watch was a co-sponsor of a series of civil society forums entitled Peoples Voices: Challenging the G-20s Agenda of Corporate Globalization that took place in Pittsburgh on September 23-24.
e) Alliances with Women Groups
Since its creation, Social Watch has coordinated its UN activities with international womens networks and organizations, particularly DAWN and WEDO, of which Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio is a Board member.
During the the Coordinating Committee meeting held in Lima, Peru in February 2009, a Gender and Womens Rights Task Force was created to ensure gender analysis in the drafting of all policy papers and other Social Watch public documents.
Building on the accumulated experience of joint initiatives with womens groups, Social Watch is planning for a publication that will assess the advances and setbacks made over the past fifteen years in relation to the Beijing Platform of Action. That publication will be launched in the framework of the Fifty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women to be held in New York next March 1 - 12 March, 2010.
f) World Social Forum
Social Watch is member of the International Council (IC) of the WSF, but the Secretariat lacks the human and financial resources to support the travel time and costs involved in attending each IC meeting. Since 2006 the policy is to involve Coordinating Committee members in attending IC meetings close to their countries.
At the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya (January 20-25, 2007), Social Watch organized several workshops (see Capacity building activities, above), in which printed copies and CD-ROM versions of the 2006 Report were distributed. The Coordinating Committee elected in Sofia met there for the first time. The African Social Watch coalitions met to strategize together and a meeting of all watchers present in Nairobi was held to initiate the discussion on the theme of the 2007 Social Watch Report.
The eighth edition of the WSF took place in Belem do Para, Brazil (January 27 - February 1, 2009). Members of Social Watch national coalitions from Brazil, Cameroon, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru, Uruguay, and Zambia had an active participation in it. During the WSF, workshops were organized by Social Watch and partners such as the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Global Policy Forum, and Terre des hommes: After the Doha Conference Which Way Forward for the Financing for Development Agenda? Civil Society Perspectives and Strategies (organized by Social Watch, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Global Policy Forum and Terre des hommes); and Tools for Human Rights Budgeting (organized by Social Watch, Global Policy Forum and Terre des homes). The workshops were notable for the diversity of the participants as well as the depth of the debates.
In addition, the Social Watch 2008 Report, Rights is the Answer. Civil Society Responses to the World Financial Crisis was presented to the WSF public in an event organized by Social Watch, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Global Policy Forum and Terre des hommes, with a panel discussion focusing on the relation between human rights and economic policy.
g) Social Watch and GCAP
During the GCAP assembly held in Beirut in 2006 an International Facilitation Team (IFT) was created in which Social Watch was represented as one of 6 international NGOs in the IFT. In the IFT, the Social Watch Secretariat was represented, while other members of Social Watch were appointed as regional representatives and as spokespersons for the 2006 mobilisation.
When GCAP reformulated its governance structure, basing it in the representation of national platforms and not any more in the alliance of international networks, Social Watch as an international network ceased to be a member of the governing bodies of GCAP from 2008 on, while still considering itself a signatory of the original Call to Action.
ACTIVITIES BY THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE
The Social Watch Coordinating Committee worked through e-mail lists, international telephone conferencing and physical meetings whenever possible.
The Coordinating Committee met to discuss and decide the guidelines for its future work at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya (January 20-25, 2007).
The Social Watch Coordinating Committee met in Bonn from 13 to 14 October 2007, with the participation of 13 Coordinating Committee members along with 2 Social Watch Secretariat staff and 4 observers, in which decisions were made regarding the structure of the Social Watch Secretariat, the strengthening of the Social Watch network, and the Social Watch presence in international events. The meeting was organized by the Social Watch Secretariat jointly with Social Watch Germany.
In May 2008, the Co-Chairs of the Social Watch Coordinating Committee, Oxfam-Novibs officer for Global Strategies and Alliances and the Secretariat met in Montevideo.
The Coordinating Committee met in Brussels, Belgium from November 22-24, 2008, with the participation of 10 Coordinating Committee members, two observers, and three members of the Social Watch Secretariat. At the meeting, discussions were held and decisions taken regarding the implementation of the project funded by the European Commission which began in January 2009, staff changes at the Secretariat, work on Financing for Development, fundraising, and themes for the 2009 Social Watch Report. The meeting was organized by the Social Watch Secretariat jointly with Eurostep.
Coordinating Committee members participated in the Kick-off Meeting of the Social Watch European Commission Project met in Lima, Peru on 17 February. In this meeting the partners were informed about contract management and procedures of reporting to fulfil the donor requirements of the EC. The aim of the kick-off meeting was also to create a common understanding of all expectations.
The Social Watch Coordinating Committee met in Lima, Peru on February 18-20, 2009. At the meeting, discussions were held and decisions taken regarding the implementation of the project funded by the European Commission which begun in January 2009, staff changes at the Secretariat, work on Financing for Development, fundraising, and planning for the 2009 Social Watch activities. Both meetings were organized by the Social Watch Secretariat jointly with CEDEP, Social Watch focal point in Peru.
The Social Watch Coordinating Committee met in Cotonou, Benin on July 2009. At the meeting, discussions were held and decisions taken regarding planning for the 2009 Social Watch activities, especially regarding the 4th Social Watch Assembly to be held in Accra, Ghana in October 2009. The meeting was organized by the Social Watch Secretariat jointly with Social Watch Benin.
Accountability
The Coordinating Committee agreed to adhere to the principles of the IANGO Accountability Charter, after discussing it and its background during the Coordinating Committee meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2007. (see for the whole text).
Since Social Watch is a network and not an institution, it cannot undertake as a network some of the obligations implied in signing the charter, and those accountability responsibilities have to be delegated to the entities that execute programs on behalf of Social Watch, in particular ITeM as host of the secretariat, but potentially other organizations implementing parts of the Social Watch program of activities.
The Coordinating Committee also decided that Social Watch should incorporate as basic principles, beyond those in the charter, a) its support of workers rights, including those working for the organization, to unionize and b) its understanding that non-discrimination also includes not discriminating because of sexual preferences.
Fundraising
Major efforts were done in this period to increment and diversify the sources of funds for Social Watch activities:
In a joint effort with Oxfam-Novib, the Co-Chairs of the Social Watch Coordinating Committee and other members of the network, the Social Watch Secretariat developed a project for the period 2009-2011 which was approved by the European Commission.
The Third World Institute (ITeM), which hosts the Social Watch international secretariat, has earmarked for Social Watch a substantial part of the institutional support it receives from the Ford Foundation.
The Belgian organization 11.11.11, a member of Social Watch, also approved a project to support Social Watch activities in the Latin America and the Caribbean region for 2009-2010.
Please see the details of the funds received and programmed in the financial report.
Many other sources have contributed with in kind support to Social Watch activities, including travel subsidies, co-hosting activities and many others. Among them NGLS, the non-governmental liaison service of the United Nations and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung ought to be recognized, but the list is enormous. The in kind contributions of the organizations that form Social Watch and the individuals in them, in terms of their time, work and ideas is a value impossible to estimate but whithout which nothing else would have happened.
BUDGET AND FINANCIAL REPORT
(Please see the attached excel file).
THE CHALLENGES: A final word
Fifteen years after its creation, Social Watch starts its fourth Assembly with enormous potential and it faces major challenges.
Social Watch has become a consolidated and recognized network with global presence and an active membership, asisted by an experienced team of highly committed and experienced people. It has an audience and what it says is being heard.
At the same time, the global crises has proved us right in many of the critiques we have been voicing over the last years and now that it is widely recognized that markets will not deliver the social goods alone and governments are back as major protagonists, the need for the watchdog functions that Social Watch provides is greater than ever.
Our challenge is therefore to raise to the new demands and responsibilities. The network needs to expand precisely into those areas and countries where it is not easy to organize civil society and where democracy is still imperfect and human rights need to be strengthened.
We need to build the capacity of the national coalitions and improve the quality of their work and the way we learn from each other, as the network is only as strong as the weakest of its members.
We need to diversify and consolidate our funding and we need to identify new ways for our members to sustain their activities in so-called middle income countries, where rapid changes in the traditional funding mechanisms pose difficult challenges.
And we need to do it all in keeping loyal to our identity and funding principles, while gaining effectiveness in our monitoring, reporting, organizing and advocacy work.
How to do it is the question this Fourth Assembly is requested to answer.
LIST OF ANNEXES
(The annexes will be sent by email)
Questionnaire results for 2007 and 2009
Social Watch in the world (see Social Watch Report 2009)
National Coalitions and their participation in the Annual Report (1996-2009)
Website statistics
Press coverage
Social Watch International Secretariat Activities 2006-2009
Additional material:
Newsletters
Outcomes Ford and Novib evaluations
Social Watch: Study of an Int. Advocacy Network, by Srilatha Blatiwala
For more information see: .
See: http://www.socialwatch.org/node/41
See: http://www.socialwatch.org/node/68
More information is available from: .
More information is available from: .
Active is defined here and for the sole purpose of counting the number of members, as those national platforms that have submitted at least one report in the last three years.
Please note this is a draft, still subject to editing and should therefore not be quoted or circulated without permission from the author.
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