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I. OECD Forum 2005 -- "Fuelling the Future: Security, Stability,
Development" -- 2/3 May, Paris Since its creation, the OECD has had
co-operative activities with civil society, principally through the Business
and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) and the Trade Union Advisory
Committee (TUAC). Over the last decade,
this co-operation has been complemented by increasing activities with other
civil society organisations. The annual highlight in the OECD's activities with
civil society is the OECD Forum, the Organisation's
"civil society summit”. The Forum
brings together over one thousand business and labour
leaders, civil society personalities, government ministers and journalists to
discuss the key issues on the agenda of the annual OECD Ministerial
summit. Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden, who will be chairing the
OECD’s 2005 Ministerial summit meeting, will make a keynote address to Forum
2005. OECD Secretary-General Donald Johnston
will be opening the Forum with Swedish Minister of Sustainable Development,
Mona Sahlin.
Swedish Minister for Industry and Trade, Thomas Östros,
will report to the OECD ministerial summit (3-4 May 2005) on the main messages
from Forum 2005. A number of OECD and non-OECD ministers will be participating
in both Forum 2005 and the ministerial summit. Forum 2005 will deal with the issues of
energy, development and globalisation. Among the many participants are: -- from business -- Lars G. Josefsson,
CEO, Vattenfall AB, Sweden; and Anne Lauvergeon, CEO, Areva. -- from
trade unions -- Mody Guiro, Secretary-General,
Senegal National Confederation of Workers; and John J. Sweeney, President,
American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations -- from civil society -- Susan George, Vice-President, ATTAC,
and Bruno Rebelle, Programme
Director, Greenpeace International -- from academia -- Rachid Benmokhtar, President, Al Akhawayn
University, Morocco; Richard Descoings, Director,
Sciences Po Paris, France See
the Forum 2005 website www.oecd.org/forum2005/ for more details of
the programme and registration. II. OECD Social Affairs Ministers meet with civil society to discuss
social services, 31 March 2005 Whose
duty is it to deliver social services like child care and pensions? Governments’? Civil society? The private sector? A little of each?
This is
the question that OECD ministers put to civil society representatives at the
OECD Social Forum on 31 March. The Forum took place on the sidelines of a
meeting of the OECD Employment, Labour and social
Affairs Committee at ministerial level. See the Ministers’
Communiqué. At first
glance, it seemed that the views were polarised
between the backers of government as the provider of services and the backers
of the private sector as the most appropriate service manager. But gradually
the discussion moved towards possible solutions involving both government and
the private sector, including civil society. It was
argued that civil society could be particularly effective at local level
bringing its “caring” values. As one delegate pointed out:
“There must be some role for those who can give time, talent and money.”
Governments are experimenting with mechanisms for encouraging more
participation from civil society to fill in the “gaps” in services, such as
offering tax deductions for donations to NGOs to help finance their work. Cost is
a major issue and some business representatives at the meeting expressed
concern that governments seek to pass on the costs, as well as the
responsibility of social services to the private sector. Ideally, a mixed
system would draw on the strengths of each of the players, but society could
end up with the worst of all worlds if such partnerships were to bring out the weaknesses
of the different sectors. An example would be that government turn the private
sector into a bureaucracy by imposing endless controls and constraints. Several
delegates argued that it isn’t necessarily cheaper to have the private sector
take over services provision. One of the main advantages of having a mixed
system for providing services is that it offers more choice. But having too
many choices can become so confusing, as in the case of pension plans, and
people may procrastinate forever. In the
name of generation fairness, we must not pass on costs to future generations.
The demographic trends in many OECD countries are not favourable
and there will be fewer workers supporting an increasing number of
longer-living retired people. On the other hand, considering that today’s fifty
year old is as likely to be the parent of a 15-year-old as a grandparent, will
he or she want to hear about trade-offs between different generations, asked
another delegate? So which
model or combination of models is most likely to produce the best “outcomes”,
allow for innovation and flexibility and still be cost effective? In fact,
argued one expert, there is no such thing as a “best outcome”. Instead, perhaps
we would do better to think in terms of which best outcome we want to aim for.
And the answer to this probably depends on values: what do people want from
their service systems? III. Bulletin Board: coming events with civil society April 19-20 Washington DC - OECD workshop: “Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress in
the Global Marketplace”. The
workshop will bring together experts from governments, business, consumer
groups, and academia. They will examine approaches to dispute resolution and
redress mechanisms in OECD member countries and exchange views about their
advantages and disadvantages, particularly in the cross‑border context. Organised by the
OECD's Committee on Consumer Policy and hosted by the US government, the
workshop is timed to coincide with the bi-annual meeting of the Trans Atlantic
Consumer Dialogue (TACD) in order to facilitate active participation by US and
European consumer organisations. The workshop will be
open to the press and the public, but will require advance registration and
will be limited by available space. Further information will be made available
on www.oecd.org/consumer-policy
or may be obtained by contacting sarah.andrews@oecd.org. May 2-3 Paris - OECD Forum 2005, “Fuelling the Future: Security Stability,
Development” The OECD Forum will take place this year on 2-3
May at the Centre de Conférences Internationales
in Paris, under the heading: “Fuelling the Future: Security, Stability,
Development”. The OECD Forum contributes to the open-ness of the OECD to civil
society; enhances the visibility of the OECD's work; and constitutes a
"multi-stakeholder consultation" for the annual meeting of OECD
ministers. Themes for OECD Forum 2005 will include the world economy, trade and
investment, energy, and development. Keynote speakers will include Swedish
Prime Minister Göran Persson.
See the Forum 2005 website www.oecd.org/forum2005/
for more details of the programme and registration. 19-20 Brussels - European Conference on Public Awareness and
Development Education for North-South Solidarity Organised by the Directorate-General of Belgian
Development Cooperation and the European Commission, with the North-South
Centre of the Council of Europe, the OECD Development Centre and CONCORD. Ida.McDonnell@oecd.org June 8-10 Paris - The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence of the Radioactive Waste
Management Committee of the Nuclear Energy Agency (invitation only). Any significant decisions regarding the
long-term management of radioactive waste will be accompanied by a
comprehensive public review with involvement by a diverse range of
stakeholders. These stakeholders will include not just the waste generators,
waste-management agencies, and regulatory authorities, all of whom have a
primarily technical focus, but also interested or concerned parties with a non-technical
focus such as local communities, elected officials, non-governmental organisations, and the general public. The FSC was launched
in August 2000. The FSC open website www.nea.fr/html/rwm/fsc.html provides
an overview of the entire spectrum of activities and is a gateway to FSC
publications. 14 Paris - OECD Corporate Responsibility Roundtable The Roundtable will look at "The OECD
Guidelines and the Developing World: Building Trust". It is held every
year in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the National Contact Points, the
government offices charged with implementation of the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises. Civil society representatives from developing
countries will be invited. 24 Paris - Informal consultation OECD
Development Aid Committee and the Reality of Aid Global Network, OECD
headquarters. See also calendar
of upcoming OECD events IV. Further reading: OECD
Publications regarding civil society Forthcoming:
Evaluating Public Participation in Policy Making (publication May 2005) Citizens in all OECD countries are demanding
greater transparency and accountability from their governments. New forms of
public participation are emerging as citizens seek opportunities to actively
participate in shaping the policies that affect their lives. In response,
governments are seeking new ways to inform and include citizens and civil
society organisations in policy making. Are these new
forms of engagement effective? Do they support or undermine traditional
mechanisms for public policy making within the framework of representative
democracy? Evaluating Public Participation in Policy Making
looks at theory and practice, and draws heavily upon the insights and
contributions of government experts, scholars and civil society practitioners
from OECD countries. It builds upon the findings of a previous OECD report,
Citizens as Partners: Information, Consultation and Public Participation
(2001), which highlighted the lack of systematic evaluation of government
efforts to engage citizens and civil society in policy making. This book is a first step towards closing the
“evaluation gap”. Rather than a technical manual for professional evaluators,
it offers strategic guidance for policy makers and senior government officials
responsible for commissioning and using evaluations of public engagement. It
provides an indication of the key issues for consideration when evaluating
information, consultation and public participation, and offers concrete
examples drawn from current practice in 8 OECD countries: Canada, Czech
Republic, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden and the UK. FURTHER READING:
OECD Policy Brief "Public Sector Modernisation: Open Government" Governments are under increasing pressure to
open up to public scrutiny, to be more accessible to the people who elected
them and more responsive to their demands and needs. In deed, an open
government that meets all these requirements is increasingly recognized as an
essential ingredient for democratic governance, social stability and economic
development. Civil
Society Contributions to the OECD Observer Magazine The
World Social Forum; what is it really about? By Chico Whitaker, Brazilian Justice
and Peace Commission representative to the WSF Organisation
Committee and International Secretariat. The 21st century had just begun when
something new came into the world: the World Social Forum, which met for the
first time in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2001, to
coincide with the already well-established World Economic Forum in Davos. Since then it has gone from strength to strength…. The
Newsletter has been prepared by the Public Affairs Division of the OECD for the purpose of informing the public of OECD cooperation 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. For further information about OECD cooperation
with civil society, see the OECD civil society webpage at www.oecd.org/civilsociety/ or
contact: Meggan Dissly Civil Society Liaison Manager Public Affairs Division Tel + 33 1 45 24 80 94 |