OECD Civil Society Newsletter

OECD Week —held at OECD headquarters in Paris on 22-24 May— was kicked off by the OECD Forum, which was attended by over 1300 stakeholders from member and partner governments, as well as leading representatives of business, labour, NGOs, academia, and the media. It featured a content-rich and diverse programme that ran over two full days with interactive, stimulating and innovative discussion formats, enabling stakeholders to debate and seek solutions on how to shift from indignation and inequality to inclusion and integrity. It included more than 28 sessions, plenary debates, keynote addresses, OECD_IdeaFactories, "Food for Thought" lunch debates, and other side events where Forum speakers, participants and OECD experts were able to "Have Their Say". Discussions at the Forum fed directly into the two-day OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. Ali Babacan, the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs, chaired the Ministerial and Chile and Poland co-chaired. A special OECD_IdeaFactory for stakeholders was held prior to the OECD Forum on 21 May. 37 representatives from academia, business, civil society, media, parliaments, think tanks, and trade unions discussed new approaches to economic and societal challenges with the OECD Secretary-General and OECD experts.

The OECD Skills Strategy has just been released

Skills have become the global currency of the 21st century. Without proper investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, Skills

and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledge-based
global society. Developing the right skills and putting them to productive use requires a strategic approach. The recently launched OECD Skills Strategy provides an integrated, cross-government framework to help countries understand more about how to invest in skills in a way that will transform lives and drive economies. Its companion online tool, http://skills.oecd.org, features interactive data visualisations on developing, supplying and using skills; and provides a rich resource for researchers, educators, employers and anyone interested in the effective use of skills on the national or international level.

New OECD Strategy on Development

At the May Ministerial Meeting, OECD Ministers endorsed a new OECD Strategy on Development. The main goal of the Strategy is to strengthen the OECD's contributions to "higher and more inclusive growth in the widest array of countries", making full use of the OECD evidence-based and multidisciplinary approaches to improve policy making and economic reform in developing and developed countries, and by stepping up knowledge sharing and policy coherence for development. The strategy is cognisant of the need for the OECD's work on development to continuously evolve to be more responsive to global realities and development needs, and for the internal mechanisms and external partnerships to deliver accordingly. Civil Society and other key stakeholders contributed to the formulation of the Strategy through a consultation process that has taken place over that past year.

Promoting Gender Equality

Despite numerous improvements in women's educational and employment outcomes, many countries have not achieved gender equality in economic opportunities and outcomes. Recognising the importance of gender equality, the OECD has embarked on a Horizontal Project in Gender Equality in three areas key to economic opportunity: Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship. The Final Report to the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on the Gender Initiative was presented in May 2012. More information

Teaching in Focus

Teaching in Focus is the latest in the series of recurring briefs on Education covering subjects relevant to the teaching and learning experience in schools around the world. The briefs analyse data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) to provide implications for teacher policy and guidance for school leaders. The first Teaching in Focus brief is on the importance of teacher recognition and discusses teacher appraisal and feedback. Teachers from the 24 TALIS countries provided information on their experience with formal appraisal as well as the feedback they receive on their practice and the impact that both have on their teaching. See also: Education Indicators in Focus and PISA in Focus.

Civil Society and OECD - Recent Meetings

Several events, consultations, and meetings involving civil society have taken place since March. You can find more details in this short article.

SELECTED UPCOMING EVENTS

June 2012
17-22	OECD and Rio+20 Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit, countries from all around the world will once again meet in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The OECD's contribution to the Rio+20 Conference will focus on how to promote greener economies in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. www.oecd.org/rio+20
18-20	Conferences on Competitiveness of Universities (Seoul) Third in the OECD Centre for Effective Learning Environments (CELE) conference series on "Higher Education Spaces and Places: for Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange", this conference on "Enhancing the Competitiveness of Universities through Educational Facilities" is organised in co-operation with OECD/CELE and the Educational Facilities Research & Management Center (EDUMAC) Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). Regular updates are available at www.oecd.org/edu/facilities/highereducation.
28-29	Final meeting of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness The final meeting of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP-EFF) will be held at UNESCO in Paris. Since 2003, the WP-EFF has facilitated the aid effectiveness agenda and promoted major agreements for development co-operation such as the Paris Declaration (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (2011). This meeting will mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, with the end of the WP-EFF's mandate, and the creation of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation. This final meeting will define the working arrangements for this new inclusive space for dialogue, as well as the global indicators to monitor the agreements reached in Busan. CSOs have played a major role in the whole process being active supporters of the implementation of the aid and development effectiveness principles. They are represented by BetterAid, a platform for 1700 development CSOs.
October 2012
19-20	The International Conference on Geological Repositories (Toronto) will hold its 4th edition in Toronto, Canada under the theme of "National Commitment, Regional and Local Confidence". The conference is organised under the aegis of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. Radioactive waste management organisations and authorities will meet and dialogue with civil society organisations as well as academics and other stakeholders. Visit www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/.

RECENT OECD PUBLICATIONS


Environmental Outlook to 2050	Meeting the Water Reform Challenge	Agricultural Policies for Poverty Reduction	Deploying Renewables

Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows	Aid Effectiveness 2011	Poverty Reduction and Pro-Poor Growth	Can we still Achieve the MDGs?

This Newsletter has been prepared by the Public Affairs Division of the OECD for the purpose of informing the public of OECD co-operation with civil society. The Public Affairs Division acts as a clearing house for information about OECD dialogue with civil society. OECD staff who are in contact with civil society through consultations, workshops or other activities contribute to this newsletter. Contact us at: civilsociety@oecd.org