Report of the AGNA Annual General Meeting 2014 AGM 2014 report of the... · Finally, Addys covered...
Transcript of Report of the AGNA Annual General Meeting 2014 AGM 2014 report of the... · Finally, Addys covered...
1
Report of the AGNA Annual General Meeting 2014
November 25, 2014, Johannesburg
Rationale and objectives of the meeting
The Affinity Group of National Associations Annual General Meeting brought together representatives of national associations from around the world to discuss the progress made on objectives agreed to during the last meeting in 2013, the challenges encountered in the implementation of objectives and the priorities for the coming year. The 2014 AGM took place in Johannesburg as one of the multiple conferences and events organised under the International Civil Society Week from 21-25 November 2014 and gathered a total of 36 out of the 75 members of the network (list of participants in Annex 2). The main objectives of the AGM were:
Assess progress made on annual goals and objectives of the network.
Report back on financial situation.
Present activities from the previous year and discuss achievements and challenges.
Identify priorities, goals and ways of working for the year ahead.
Elect new Steering Committee for the period 2014-2015.
Time and venue
The meeting took place at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on the 25th
of November 2014 from 9 am to 5pm.
2
Summary of the sessions
Opening remarks
Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, the Deputy Char of the Steering Committee opened the AGM by reading
the letter of Addys Then Marte, the Chair of the SC, that couldn’t be present for reasons beyond her
control. In the letter, the Chair highlighted the importance of the AGNA network and its relevant
contribution in areas such as the shaping of the Post 2015 agenda and the support to civil society
under threat in multiple countries. She also emphasized the important support that CIVICUS gives
AGNA to make it a viable platform, by bringing opportunities to the members with their involvement
in programmes such as the Enabling environment National Assessments, the Civil Society Index Rapid
Assessment, the Sustainable Development 2015 project, etc.
Other highlights included the successful implementation of the new membership strategy of the
network, opening up the group to two additional categories besides the full membership: associate
membership and friends/allies/supporters. This new strategy has been translated into 15 new
members (we have a total of 75 members now) from different regions. In terms of the structure of the
network, there was also an improvement with the incorporation of the Middle East and the MENA
region in the Steering Committee representation, as an opportunity to motivate a bigger presence and
participation in the region.
Finally, Addys covered some of the specific deliverables produced by the group with the review and
update of the Resource Guide for National Associations, the peer-learnings in MEXICO, South Africa
and Thailand, and the production of knowledge products and tools on the areas of enabling
environment, self- regulation and civil society assessments.
To conclude the opening of the meeting, Oyebisi highlighted that the presence of so many members
of the network was an achievement per se as it was the first time we managed to bring more than half
of our constituency to our annual meeting. Also, the presence of so many observers, including a
representative of the CS Mott Foundation, was very positive and denoted the interest of other
partners in contributing to AGNAs work.
The year that was: overview of the year’s activities and the progress towards
2013 agreed priorities1
Patricia Deniz, the AGNA Coordinator, reminded the participants about the main findings and
recommendations of the evaluation that took place in July 2013, which was divided in two main areas,
the structural level of the network and the operational level.
In the spirit of revisiting the group’s work and achievements over the last twelve months, Patricia
proceeded with a review of the main areas of work of the network under the following categories: 1.
Partnerships-To strengthen relationships with networks with a similar mandate; 2. Capacity building –
1 The ppt. presentation is available in Annex 1 at: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-
gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing
3
To strengthen the capacity of AGNA working groups and their key policy focus areas; 3. Networking –
To encourage networking, cooperation and knowledge sharing; 4. Sustainability – To expand and
diversify AGNA’s funding base for improved sustainability; 5. Promoting solidarity.
The work done under these areas denoted that the network has been improving its ways of working
and has managed to incorporate all the lessons learnt and recommendations from the evaluation,
from building linkages with other networks and CIVICUS and expanding its regional presence, to
improving communications and exchanges between members.
Some specific achievements were mentioned under the main areas of work of the group:
Enabling environment and government relations: involvement of more than 20 AGNA
members in projects such as the Enabling Environment National Assessments (EENAs), the
Lifeline Fund, the New Social Contract, the Intergovernmental Scorecard, the Civil Society
Index-Rapid Assessment.
LTA and impact assessment: participation of more than 40 members in the Self-regulation
guide and the survey on NAs services.
Advocacy: participation of almost half of our membership in initiatives such as Sustainable
Development 2015, the development of the Advocacy toolkit, and Action 2015.
Sustainability and Fundraising: the creation of a new regular service to members on funding
opportunities, the initiation of regional priorities, and the increase of matching funding
through other projects and partners (more than double of the original AGNA budget).
Membership and governance: the elaboration and implementation of a new membership
strategy (we now have 8 new associate members and 67 full members); the mapping of new
potential members and opportunities (active outreach).
Stakeholder engagement and collaboration: joint work and events with the International
Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP), the International Centre for Non-profit Law (ICNL), the Asia
Development Alliance (ADA) and other networks such as the Balkan Civil Society Development
Network (BCSDN), the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), etc.
Patricia proceeded with the review of the new 2014-2016 goal and objectives as per agreed with our
donor CS Mott Foundation. These are mainly focused on: Developing a strong regional sub-groups to
lead AGNA’s thematic work; fostering international solidarity against national civil society restrictions;
extending AGNA membership base and representation; promoting CS exchanges between members;
enhancing capacity development opportunities; reinforcing working groups; and facilitating
networking opportunities.
The outcomes and recommendations of the regional working groups that took place on the 23rd of
November were also presented to the plenary (see details in Report of the Regional groups) and could
be summarized as follows:
• Share experiences of the role of NAs on EE: the enabling environment national assessments
(EENAs); good practices, lessons learnt, recommendations.
4
• Book of good practices on how to mobilize and engage NAs/platform’s members.
• Sharing successful stories, case studies and good practices of our network members in diverse
areas of work.
• Joint fundraising within the network: national, regional and global level- Identification of
funding opportunities for CS networks.
• Capacity development of NAs through trainings on: 1. how to assess EE; 2. accountability; 3.
how to run effective advocacy campaigns; 4. internal governance and management.
• Produce a bi-annual newsletter including: members news, updates on the work of AGNA;
upcoming events and activities.
• Explore new technology platforms to improve communication and experience sharing.
To conclude, Patricia revisited the financial status of AGNA, presenting last year’s budget and expenses
as well as the budget for the next two years. The CS Mott foundation has agreed to support AGNA for
another two years with a grant of USD 50,000 per year under the condition that AGNA manages to
increase its matching funding through members and CIVICUS. Participants were impressed by the
amount of work done by AGNA with such a small budget during the past few years and congratulated
the Secretariat and the SC for its achievements.
For further details about the financial status of the network please see presentation in Annex 1.
Member’s experiences per priority area
The AGM was an opportunity for members to showcase their work and lessons learn at the
national and regional level, present their challenges from a thematic perspective and share
experiences.
Due to the active participation of the members, it was agreed in plenary to introduce some
changes in the agenda in order to allow more space for discussion, reducing the number of
presentations and moving the election of the new Steering Committee forward in the day.
1. Post 2015 agenda
The first set of presentations were grouped under the thematic area of advocacy and
influencing the Post 2015 agenda. The session as initiated by Freya Seath, Coordinator of the
project Sustainable Development 2015: Helping stakeholders shape the new global goals for
humanity’s future.
The SD2015 is a multi-stakeholder engagement programme run by Stakeholder Forum and
CIVICUS, in collaboration with UNDESA. The programme provides tools and opportunities for
all stakeholders to input to the post-2015 process and help build a more sustainable future,
5
through five focus areas: raising awareness; increasing engagement; empowering
stakeholders; coordinating advocacy; and strengthening governance. Besides the activities at
the global (UN) and regional levels, the project also focuses on the need to build bridges
with the national sphere by promoting the creation of civil society nationally led advocacy
campaigns. In this regard, the project counts with the participation of seven AGNA members
from Tanzania, Malawi, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Nepal and the
Philippines.
The AGM was a good opportunity for these members to introduce to the group the work
they are doing in their respective contexts. With very diverse dynamics and challenges,
colleagues from the Philippines, Malawi, Venezuela and Nepal run through their activities at
the national level that involve the participation of multiple stakeholders and the creation of
dialogue platforms to develop an advocacy strategy to influence their government’s position
towards the SD2015 agenda and to hold them to account on the implementation of their
national agreed goals.
The presentations of this session are available in annexes 2, 2.1. and 2.2. at:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
2. The role of National Associations in promoting an Enabling environment and civic
participation
The second set of presentations were focused on the work of our members around the
promotion of an enabling environment for civil society and civic participation.
Ilina Nesikj was in charge of introducing us to the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling
Environment for civil society developed by the Balkan Civil Society Development Network
(BCSDN). However, due to the discussions held previously around the election of the new
Steering Committee (see section below), Ilina decided that it was more relevant for the
debate to present the participants the governance structure of the regional network of
networks that she represents. Both, her presentation about the governance structure of
BCSDN and about the Monitoring Matrix can be accessed in Annex.3 and 3.1. at the
following link:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
Ibraheem Al Hayek, from Partners-Jordan, made a presentation about the work of his
organisation in the area of participatory budgeting as a tool for community development,
emphasizing the role of new technologies in the promotion of civic engagement and
participation.2
2 Presentation available at: http://prezi.com/g3pqyt35jszp/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
6
Chiara Butti from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in the UK,
introduced the participants to the work done under the project Building Bridges in the
MENA region: strengthening CS through networks. This initiative, implemented by NCVO in
partnership with ANND and CIVICUS, is funded by the Arab Partnership Fund to support civil
society in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, and aims at supporting the development of national
networks in these countries. The initiative is a clear example of the challenges that the
enabling environment for CS poses on the promotion of trust and the creation of alliances
between CSOs at the national level. The presentation can be accessed in Annex 4 at
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
3. Accountability and civil society assessments and an advocacy tool
The discussions continued around the issue of accountability and transparency with the
presentation of Dave Henderson, from ANGOA in New Zealand. Dave explained us the new
accounting standards for registered charities in New Zealand, a new framework led by civil
society itself that has proved effective in the following areas: promotion of public trust and
confidence in the charitable sector; encouraging good governance and management;
encouraging and promote the effective use of charitable resources; promoting transparency
of information about charities; providing for on-going accountability. For more information
please refer to his presentation on Annex 5 at the link abovementioned.
The last contribution from our members was made by Romy Grasgruber-Kerl, representing
IGO Austria. Romy explained their work under the Civil Society Index-Rapid Assessment (CSI-
RA), how the process took place, its challenges and recommendations, and how this
participatory tool was useful to strengthen the work of the network and its potential to be
used as an advocacy tool. The presentation can be accessed on Annex 6 in the link provided
above.
Steering Committee elections
As mentioned in the opening remarks of the AGM, the 2013-2014 SC members agreed to
include one more representative in the governance structure of the network with the
incorporation of a new region: Middle East and MENA. The election process was initiated
with a brief explanation of the process to follow by the voting members and the introduction
of the candidates from the 6 regions (2 from Africa, 2 from the Americas and the Caribbean,
1 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 1 from the Pacific and 1 from the MENA/Middle East).
Concern was raised by the member from Norway for having a candidate from a not a voting
member organisation in the MENA/Middle East region. The main argument was how a non-
voting member could become candidate in an election process. The SC and the Coordinator
explained that after internal discussions it was agreed that due to the lack of other
candidates from the region and the fact that AGNA is interested in reviving the engagement
7
of members in the area, it was considered appropriate to make an exception for the present
year only. In particular, it was mentioned by the Coordinator that the profile of that
candidate is highly relevant for AGNA as they are well connected in the region and can bring
additional knowledge to the network and contribute to its growth.
On another note, it was also highlighted by the Coordinator that full members of AGNA are
considered voting members as long as they are also CIVICUS voting members (main criteria
for becoming a member of the network) and that in the present situation most of the voting
members of the network, including those ready to vote at that precise moment during the
AGM haven’t renewed their memberships in years or have never even been members at all.
This was remarked as another exception to take into consideration by all the members
present in plenary.
It was agreed by all parties that one of the main tasks of the new SC and the Coordinator for
the coming year was to review and circulate the AGNA policies regulating the election
process and the strategy that describes member’s responsibilities and benefits.
After the long discussion, the members proceeded to vote and the new Steering Committee
was conformed, not without first acknowledging and appreciating the work of the outgoing
committee. The following table shows the composition of the new Steering Committee
members as well as the number of votes that each of them received from the total of 28
voting members present at the AGM.
New members of the Steering Committee 2014-2015
Region Member Votes
Africa
Nigeria Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi (Nigerian Network of NGOs- NNNGO)
22
Uganda Sophie Kange (Uganda NGO Forum)
22
Asia
Japan
Yoshiharu Shiraishi (The Japan Association of Charitable
Organizations-JACO)
25
Nepal
Gopal Lamsal (NGO Federation of Nepal)
18
8
The Pacific New Zealand
Dave Henderson (The Association of NGOs of Aotearoa- ANGOA)
22
The
Americas
and the
Caribbean
Dominican Republic
Addys Then Marte (Alianza ONG)
22
Argentina
Guillermo Correa (Argentinian Network for International
Cooperation)
22
Europe UK
Chiara Butti (National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
22
MENA and
Middle East
Jordan
Rasha Abdel Latif (Partners-Jordan)
19
Looking ahead: New initiatives and other updates.
We took the opportunity of having so many of our members present during the AGM to
introduce them and our observers to two new exciting CIVICUS initiatives that we are hoping
to integrate in the work of the network with the participation of our members: The Big
Development DataShift and the Civic Pulse initiative.
The Big Development DataShift (BDD) was introduced by Jason Maglaughlin, manager of
the initiative. During his presentation, Jason described the BDD as an ambitious, multi-
stakeholder initiative to leverage the potential of new technologies for more creative and
effective social accountability. While still being in its initial phase, the project aims to bring
citizen voice to the heart of sustainable development by building a community of people and
resources prepared to harness the data revolution. It is a movement and a tool to monitor
and shape progress on the new global development agenda by promoting people-powered
accountability. Participants were very much interested in the initiative although also
highlighted their concern for being very vague and general at this stage, something that the
project team acknowledged and highlighted as an opportunity for AGNA members to
contribute to its design and future phases. The tool will be piloted in several countries and
AGNA is going to be a key group in the consultation and validation process of the coming
months. For more details see annex 7 at: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-
gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
9
The Civic Pulse initiative was presented by Dominic Perera and Oliver Henman, staff
members of the CIVICUS team. They explained to the participants that the Civic Pulse is
designed to provide regular, timely, customised, at-a-glance data on civic space. Some of
them were already aware of it as they participated in the pilot phase of the survey. Dominic
explained that while the tool will produce results of interest for researchers and academics,
its use is designed primarily for civil society activists and organisations themselves to make
the case for improved conditions for civil society organisations, human rights defenders and
activists in their country and globally. In the same way that numerous business and
consumer confidence indices act as a barometer of economic conditions, a regular
barometer of the health and direction of global civil society can act as a stimulus for policy-
makers and public opinion to take more seriously the conditions within which social change
happens. Indeed, while business communities have used this kind of tool effectively, no such
equivalent currently exists for civil society.
AGNA members showed interest in the tool and acknowledged that besides producing a very
“light” and subjective assessment of the status of civil society around the world, it is a good
initiative to take the pulse on how civil society is doing and how can it evolve in different
contexts, make projections and identify trends. For more details on the project see Annex 8:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
The last presentation was done by Magda Elena Toma, officer in charge of the International
Forum of National NGO Platforms (IFP). The idea behind her participation at the AGM was
to help members have a clearer idea of the work that IFP is doing, their areas of focus and
how can we can work together more closely, taking into consideration that some of AGNA
members are also part of IFP. During her presentation Magda explained the recent change of
priorities agreed by the Board of IFP and how they will now focus not only on advocacy work
form the thematic perspective but also include other priority areas such as the enabling
environment, advocacy around the Post 2015 agenda and the development of capacities of
its members. It was also discussed during her presentation the potential areas of
collaboration between IFP and AGNA such as accountability on Post 2015 and capacity
development, and it was agreed that in the coming year both networks will identify joint
initiatives. To access her presentation see Annex 9 at:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.
Closing remarks
The AGM concluded with a brief review of the proposed priority actions for the coming
period (January 2015-June 2016) and an invitation was extended to all participants by the
Coordinator to carry on thinking about how to improve the communications and
10
involvement of our members, and how the proposed civil society exchanges (secondments)
could be structured and implemented.
Picture: Some of the participants at the AGNA AGM, 25th November 2014.
11
Annex 1. AGNA AGM Agenda
Tuesday 25th November
Time allocation
Agenda item Responsible
9:00-9:45 Welcome and opening
Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, Vice-Chair SC Patricia Deniz, AGNA Coordinator
Overview of year’s activities and AGNA’s progress towards agreed priorities in 2013 and strategic changes Q&A
Patricia Deniz-Coordinator 9:45-10:00
10:00-12:40 Members experiences per priority area
10:00-11:30
Panel discussion on advocacy for policy
influencing
Advocacy for influencing the Post 2015
agenda- CIVICUS and AGNA’s work at the
global, regional and national levels.
Country experiences in Venezuela, Tanzania,
Nepal, Philippines and Dominican Republic
Q&A
Freya Seath, SD 2015 project Coordinator Diana Vegas, Sinergia Venezuela Ngunga Tepani, TANGO Tanzania Patricia Sarenas/Jet Pacapac, CODE-NGO Philippines Gopal Lamsal, NGO Federation of Nepal
11:30-11:45 Tea & coffee break
11:45-12:45 Election of new Steering Committee and Chair for the period Nov.2014- Nov. 2015
Patricia Deniz
12:45-13:45 Lunch break
12
13:45- 14:45
Panel discussion on the role of National
Associations in promoting an Enabling
environment and civic participation
Working at the regional level on enabling
environment and CS promotion-The case of
the Balkan Civil Society Centre for
Development
Stakeholders engagement and civic
participation through participatory budgeting-
The experience of Jordan
Building Bridges in the MENA region:
strengthening CS through networks – A NCVO
led project
Ilina Nesikj, Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) Ibraheem Al Hayek, Partners-Jordan Chiara Butti, NCVO UK
14:45-15:10
Strategies for promoting transparency and
accountability – Lessons learnt in New Zealand
Q&A
Dave Henderson, ANGOA New Zealand
15:10-15:30
Assessment tools for civil society
strengthening- Experiences from Austria
Q&A
Romy Grasgruber-Kerl, IGO Austria
15:30- 15:45 Tea & Coffee break
15:45-16:40 Looking ahead: New initiatives and other updates
15:45-16:15
A quick look to CIVICUS new initiatives: the Civic Pulse and the Big Development Datashift
Oliver Henman and Dominic Perera, CIVICUS Jason Maglaughlin, CIVICUS
13
Q&A
16:15-16:40 Update on the International Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP)
Magda Elena Toma, IFP
17:00-17:15
AOB and closing
Patricia Deniz, Coordinator
Annex 2. List of participants of the AGM
Region Country Organisation Name Type of
membership
The Americas + Caribbean
1 Dom. Rep
Alianza ONG Severin Jacques Marie Carminati
Full member
2 Uruguay ANONG Anabel Cruz Full member
3 Argentina RACI Guillermo Correa Full member
4 Venezuela Sinergia Diana Vegas Full member
5 Colombia CCONG Diana Verdugo
Full member
Africa
6 Nigeria
NNNGO
Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi
Full member
7 Zambia ZCSD Lewis Mwape Full member
8 Uganda
NGO Forum Sophie Kange
Full member
9 South Africa
SANGOCO
Jacob-Malusi Molapisi Full member
10 Tanzania
TANGO Ngunga Tepani
Full member
11 Mauritius MACOSS Samad Sairaly Full member
12 Burkina Faso RESOCIDE Siaka Coulibaly Full member
14
13 Zimbabwe
National Association of NGOs (NANGO)
Cephas Zinhumwe Full member
14 Malawi CONGOMA Simekinala Kaluzi Full member
15
Ghana
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI)
Jim Chick Fomunjong Associate member
Asia + Pacific
16 Japan JACO Yoshiharu Shiraishi Full member
17
Japan
Japan NPO Center / CIVICUS Senior Advisor
Katsuji Imata Associate
member
18 New Zealand ANGOA Dave Henderson Full member
19 Pakistan
PNF Ismail Mohammad
Full member
20 Pakistan AwazCDS Zia-ur-Rehman
Associate
member
21 Nepal
NGO Federation of Nepal
Gopal Lamsal
Full member
22 India VANI Harsh Haitli Full member
23 Philippines CODE-NGO Patricia Sarenas Full member
24 Philippines
CODE-NGO Jet Pacapac
Europe
25 UK NCVO Chiara Butti Full member
26 Turkey TUSEV Basak Ersen Full member
27 Turkey
TUSEV Liana Varon
28
Norway
The Association of NGOs in Norway
Birgitte Brekke
Full member
29 Estonia NENO Maris Jogeva Full member
15
30
Wales
Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA)
Matthew Brown Full member
31
Poland
Polish National Federation of NGOs
Michal Braun Full member
32 Macedonia
BCSDN Ilina Nesikj
Associate
member
33 Finland Kepa Outi Hannula Full member
34 Denmark CISU Erik Vithner
Associate
member
35 Austria IGO Romy Grasgruber-Kerl
Full member
Middle East
36 Jordan
Partners Jordan
Ibraheem Al Hayek Associate member
Observers:
1. Regina Utita Opondo, Executive Secretary of Creco Kenya (Constitution and Reform
Education Consortium) and CO- Chair of CSO reference group
2. Magda Elena Toma, International Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP)
3. Mamotshidisi Mohapi, South Africa CS Mott Foundation
4. Erik Jacob, International Centre for Non-Profit Law (ICNL) Program Manager for the Civic
Space Initiative
5. Emanuele Sapienza, UNDP Policy Specialist on Civic Engagement
6. Oliver Henman, CIVICUS European Representative
7. Jeffery Huffines, CIVICUS UN Representative
8. Freya Seath, Coordinator of the project SD 2015
16
Annex 3. Appreciation letter to CS Mott Foundation
17