| Parallel
Breakout Sessions Each breakout session
will elect a facilitator and a rapporteur. The breakout
sessions will: (a) describe briefly the actual situation
for the concerned topic and identify the problems (major
constraints, implications, etc.); and (b) proposed solutions
to remedy the situation and assign responsibilities
among government/institutions and CSOs.
The
breakout sessions will be organized around the following
topics:
Breakout
Session 1: Civil society and public policy formulation
Moderator:
Mr. Chris Landsberg
Wealthy
and socially dominant groups, exploiting their resources
and using their social status, frequently exercise considerable
influence over public policy, whether directly or by
supporting intermediary organizations that effectively
represent their interests. Conversely, the comparatively
poor and socially disadvantaged sectors of the population
often have virtually no chance of influencing public
policy and resource allocations. In this regard, some
questions that the group may consider include the following:
Under
what socio-economic and political conditions can grassroots
mobilization be effective in influencing public policy?
What kinds of strategies appear to be most effective
in promoting high rates of civic engagement in national
policy formulation? What kinds of institution are conducive
to achieving higher rates of political participation?
For instance, is decentralization always, or usually,
or only sometimes conducive?
Breakout
Session 2: Civil Society and transparency and information
Moderator:
Dr. Habib Sy
It
seems reasonable to suppose that energetic civic organizations
can often have an impact on the quality of governance
by increasing the availability of information about
the implementation and monitoring of government policy.
The group may consider such questions as the following,
while bearing in mind that the answers may well vary
according to national circumstances:
What
types of information and dissemination activities pursued
by civic organizations can help to further transparency
and accountability? What are the best ways for civil
society groups to strengthen government commitment to
implement recommendations of special inquiries, relevant
legislation and programmes? How can citizens work most
effectively to stem the misappropriation of resources
by bureaucrats and local elites, and to bring about
the indictment of public officials involved in malfeasance?
What determines the effectiveness of public advocacy
and campaigning designed to increase governmental commitment
to probity and responsiveness across the board?
Breakout
Session 3: Civil society and enhanced delivery of public
services
Moderator:
Mr Felix Mosha
The
quality of public services and the effectiveness of
public expenditures are among the chief criteria of
good governance. The following issues are of relevance
and need further interrogation from the group:
What
is the nature of the policy environment and how conducive
are these to the activities of civil society? How can
the effectiveness of various types of institutional
innovations designed to foster complementarities be
strengthened? What types of leadership and forms of
commitment among public officials and civic organizations
can contribute to mutual trust and a pre-disposition
towards partnership? How can cooperative relationships
and alliance building between CSOs and sympathetic bureaucrats
contribute to improving the quality of public services,
and the effectiveness with which they are delivered?
Breakout
Session 4: Civil society, social justice, rights and
the rule of law
Moderator:
Mme. J. Moanoba-Kombila
It
would seem to be true for both developed and developing
countries that an active civil society is essential
for the combating of injustice. In some countries, violations
of citizens' rights and widespread lapses from the rule
of law will be a central problem; in others, the focus
might instead be the failure of the law itself to respect
human rights and social justice. The group will consider
issues such as
What
conditions are most likely to improve the functioning
and accountability of state policing and security organs?
How can civil society organizations best be enabled
to shelter individuals threatened by repressive states
and to arrange for the defence of their rights through
official legal processes? How can concern sections of
civil society best address instances of inadequacy in
the existing law, or low capacity of the courts and
the legal profession to ensure its implementation? How
can they best deal with political obstacles to efforts
to resist injustice, or with a social environment that
likewise tends to impede such efforts? |
