Global Network Web Delegates
The Global Network Web Delegate area provided regularly updated information, day by day, on the Global Platform-DRR from 15th -19th June 2009. It also provided the opportunity for Global Network Members to become 'Web Delegates'. They contributed questions and suggestions here and these were taken up by the Global Network delegates representing the network at Geneva. The 'Latest news' blog on the right of the page is an entirely unofficial account of events and reflections during the Global Platform. |
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Questions and suggestions from Global Network Web Delegates. Click HERE to add your contribution. (You will need to log on to do so). |
News and reflections from the Global Platform - Disaster Risk Reduction 2009 - an unofficial 'take' on the workings of the conference from Global Network Project Manager Terry Gibson |
Day 5 at the Global Platform 19 June 2009 – Partnership in Practice?
Last day at the Global Platform. We’re packing up and taking the banners down. As I walked through reception I was handed the inevitable ‘happy sheet’ – in other words the evaluation sheet which asks what you went to, what you thought of it and so on. The final question is ‘Overall, how well did the Global Platform meet your expectations?’ Perversely I would have to answer ‘Exceeded my expectations’. This is because really I didn’t have any expectations when I arrived here!
There’s a problem with this approach to evaluation and that is that it’s generally based on setting goals, and then evaluating progress towards those goals. Of course that is the overarching description of the purpose of this conference, too. The ‘Hyogo Framework for Action’ is an attempt to create a set of priorities for action on Disaster Risk Reduction and then evaluate their progress.
But as I said there’s a problem with this approach to evaluation and the problem has been exemplified this week. If you look at this event, and the whole ‘Framework for Action’ then it is clear that progress is woefully slow. The ‘Views from the Frontline’ project draws the conclusion that progress is ‘very limited’. But in between the goals and the evaluation there’s an awful lot of stuff happening - and an awful lot of richness missed along the way if you just look through the narrowly focused lenses of ‘goals’ and ‘evaluation’.
In fact one of our colleagues, Bina, came to lunch with smoke coming out of her ears yesterday. She’s been charged with sitting on the ‘drafting’ group which is meant to draw together the final summary statements from the conference. Rather her than me! – The whole process has been steamrollered through to ensure that it reaches a politically comfortable conclusion. But that’s how things are really. We have to work with these systems but we also have to work outside them to achieve change.
I’m thinking particularly about what we mean by the ‘p’ word. ‘P’ words tend to be Problematic. One ‘p’ word is ‘participation’. Everyone talks about it, but how many people do it? All respect to the Huairou commission (who’ve worked with us on this project) because they reported at the ‘Hyogo Hardtalk’ yesterday that they try to ensure that in any delegation they organise 50% of the group is ‘grassroots’ members. They were also honest enough to say they haven’t achieved that here (I think the figure was 39%). However, more widely participation is honoured more in the breach than the observance.
But the ‘p’ word I’m thinking of here is ‘Partnership’. Partnership is claimed as a plank of the ISDR’s processes. It’s claimed by us as a critical component of progress, It’s bandied about by everyone as a key to moving forward towards resilience and securer livelihoods. But there’s a noticeable sound of a hollow wind blowing and tumbleweed rolling across the landscape when anyone asks ‘what exactly does the ‘p’ word mean in practice?’
But the fault, I suspect, lies as much with ‘civil society’ as with local and national government. I think an opportunity was missed at the meeting yesterday to engage with the government representatives who showed up. To be fair one of them was on the panel and made several contributions, and a representative from the Gambia was pretty vocal, but none of the others were invited to contribute.
There are bridges of trust, as well as of concrete, to be built here – and at least one of the unexpected outcomes of the discussions here is a new focus on how to do the ‘p’ word in practice, how to build bridges between civil society and local government, how to support these partnerships in turn to bring pressure to bear on national government, and how to ensure that next time we come here the Global Platform has stopped mouthing the word ‘parrtnership’ and is actively promoting it through governments sitting down with civil society and communities to work out how to do partnership in practice.
Day 4 at the Global Platform 18 June 2009 The security queues were noticeably less busy this morning. The conference is timed to continue until lunchtime tomorrow but it's clear that people are gradually filtering away. Much of our specific work is also completed. The work of the conference continues as during the week they are meant to be using feedback from the various debates to influence the closing statement and recommendations. Some of our colleagues yesterday felt that this was a less than democratic process, as the 'chair' of the session was being guided by people advising him to select certain questions and contributions in preference to others. The feeling was that the 'civil society' contributors were finding it difficult to make their voice heard. Another case of what we described on Tuesday as the 'back row' syndrome. However we were pleased to see that despite our disappointing press conference yesterday we hit the high spots. Well maybe not the high spots, but we were one of the two featured highlights in the Global Platform Highlights Newsletter for the day. They printed our press release more or less as it was written - here's an extract:-
'VIEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE In a major announcement at the Platform, the Global Network for Disaster Reduction unveiled its grassroots assessment of progress on disaster risk reduction – ‘Views from the Frontline’. Over 7,000 people at community level in 48 disaster-impacted countries were consulted in the ground-breaking survey conducted by the Global Network for Disaster Reduction (GNDR). Results revealed a huge amount of energy and expertise at the 'frontline'; but a failure to create genuine partnerships and provide the resources to support this. . . .
. . . The survey concludes that closer integration of risk reduction, climate adaptation and poverty alleviation means bringing decision-making processes closer to people at-risk, unlocking synergies and resources through solid partnerships with local governments and civil society, and building resilient communities. “Only when this happens will the goals set by the 'Hyogo Framework for Action' on disaster reduction be achieved,” stresses GNDR Chair, Marcus Oxley.
OK so the Global Platform Highlights newsletter is not the same as CNN - but at least Views from the Frontline is making a mark at this conference!
Later on Day 3 at the Global Platform 17 June 2009 Well the press didn't turn up to the press conference. The press are fickle people. It has to be said that governments can be fickle too. We had a good crowd at the afternoon presentation of Views from the Frontllne, but it was noticeable that most of those who attended were from 'civil society' and as someone commented more generally about who comes to the various presentations here, it seems a shame that even where governments are financing the projects and work being discussed, they don't often show enough interest in how their money is spent to come to the presentations. We recorded the discussion that took place between the delegates in the room (we also highlighted the comments made on this website). You can see the discussion on video if you follow this link. However you will need a good internet connection to view this. People who have participated in the project will find the discussion interesting. You can view it here The day is coming to an end at a special film debate. I think for the Global Network the presentation of the Views from the Frontline has been most effectively been through the 'plenary' yesterday - it took it to a broader audience. As I write there is a film debate in progress which is about trying to do the same thing. The challenge for civil society is to get outside the pen it's kept in.
Day 3 at the Global Platform 17 June 2009
Lots of enthusiastic feedback about the Views from the Frontline presentation yesterday. Ironically even our in house ‘professor’ Ben Wisner reported that people said the combination of the big banners at the marketplace, the summary reports we distributed to everyone at the plenary, and the presentation itself all contributed to the impact. They all carried the image of the child with a backdrop of clouds (see the website homepage). In the end that’s all about branding. Is the Global Network just another Nike? Should we have a ‘swoosh’. I don’t think so, but we can’t discount the power of communications – in fact that even features in two of our key recommendations (they’re in the reports) – along with the power of the web, which we’re using here.
That’s the end of the advert! Today we have some more ‘marketing’ to do. Manu and Marcus are at a press conference right now.
(just to digress: in Ethiopia they have this down to a fine art with the ‘coffee ceremony’ which means it takes an hour just to make a cup of coffee so there’s plenty of time to chat. Well-meaning development workers apparently suggested more work would get done if they ditched this, used instant coffee and got on with the work – thankfully they realised in the end that communications and networking is vital to the progress of communities, and stuck with the ceremony).
VFL presentation today Nisha from Nepal (RCO and NCO) Didier from Madagascar (NCO) Sano from Cambodia (NCO) Malu and other colleagues from the Phillipines (NCO) Takako and Jemilah Mahmood from Malaysia (NCO and RCO) Sasha Bootsma (RCO Central Asia) Buddika (NCO Sri Lanka
Buddika from (NCO Sri Lanka)
Day 2 at the Global Platform 16 June 2009 Tuesday Lunchtime How are we going to move the needs of communities and the work of ‘civil society’ from the back row of discussions like this? Our plan today benefited from the fact that Marcus had been invited to speak in the full plenary session so after the break (45 minutes late because once these people start talking there’s no stopping them) He was taking his place at the top table.
We took advantage of coffee break to make sure that the summary report (you can download it, there’s a link to reports on the home page) was distributed to all 600+ delegations’ desks. We’re proud of the report because it contains such an incredible volume of work that network members have done to gather views of progress at the ‘frontline’ – the design looks pretty cool too, and plenty of people at the conference have been complimenting it.
So we’re starting to make a mark on behalf of the network and of communities round the world – but at this point it all hangs on Marcus, who’s looking rather less bubbly than he usually does (especially as he’s in a very sharp suit).
Not surprisingly the second part of the session is as long winded as the first.
By the time the presentation immediately before Marcus’s is winding down the delegates are visibly wilting.
Finally Marcus is invited to the podium and has the advantage of visual support –
It goes well. The presentation is clear and as sharp as Marcus’s suit. Even Margareta (Assistant Secretary General of UNISDR) compliments him at its conclusion. And the message is clear – it’s only through real partnerships between national and local governments, civil society and the communities themselves that real progress will be made.
And now its on to the next opportunities – the press conference tomorrow morning, and the a major presentation of Views from the Frontline at 1:30pm on Wednesday 17th in room 3 (if you happen to be here – if not you can read about it here!).
Keep sending those messages for tomorrow’s meeting – great ones from Graciela and Christina!
Tuesday AM The delegates have taken their places for the opening session
If you're wondering why the view seems to be from a long way back - that's because that's where 'Civil Society Organisations' are allocated seats - right at the very back. Is this symbolic? One benefit is that it makes it easy to slip in and out! We're all looking forward to the Views from the Frontine project being presented to the entire conference later this morning. This is a great opportunity and evidence of civil society starting to move forward from the back row. Marcus, who's making the presentation, is understandably nervous - go for it Marcus! More news later.
Day 1 at the Global Platform 15 June 2009
(there are requests for action at the end of this blog)
If you’ve never been to one of these events – well I haven’t either. It’s a bit like the first day of school, following a crocodile through security and then another to register and get your nametag. Everyone seems to know more than you do and everyone seems to know everyone else. Fortunately I gradually realised that a lot of the people who I’ve been emailing over the last few months have arrived here and when they worked out my name welcomed me as a long lost friend. It’s funny how some people look very different in person do what I imagined from emailing and chatting on skype . . . I’ll say no more than that!
People are snapping up copies of the Views from the Frontline report (which you can download from the website) – we brought more than we originally intended – over 500 – and I’m already worried that we’ll run out. I think the huge amount of work that the NCOs, RCOs and participating organisations put in have really transformed the standing of the network and given us a ‘voice’ at this platform.
Which leads to our three questions for today:-
1. Take a look at the ‘Next Steps’ on page 43 of the VFL report –to save you looking they’re at the bottom of this blog
We’re going to be discussing these at the major VFL presentation on Wednesday afternoon and we will be asking the people at that meeting to say which of these ‘next steps’ are most important – and what they want to add. We’ve agreed that we’ll also present contributions to this discussion from Web Delegates – so please do identify what you think are the most next steps – and we’ll take your feedback to the meeting – add them to the forum on this page or if you don’t want to use that then email terry.gibson@globalnetwork.org
2. On Friday John Holmes will make a closing statement, summing up the key findings and recommendations of the conference. We have representatives and contacts who we can use to feed suggestions into this – we need to provide very sharply focused suggestions. If you feel strongly about a specific recommendation for us to ‘push’ then post it on the forum.
3. And please keep sending any questions or suggestions for us to present at the many meetings during the conference.
‘Next Steps’ (from the VFL Report)
• A series of regional and global learning reviews with network members to learn from the VFL pilot experience; drawing out recommendations for the future • Further country consultations and thematic analysis to critique findings and draw out policy implications at national and regional levels • Adapt indicators to incorporate climate adaptation considerations • Extend review within participating countries and geographically expand into more countries ahead of Global Platform-DRR 2011 – VFL to serve as an independent periodic audit of progress towards risk reduction • Form strategic alliances with relevant networks and coalitions in support of extending coverage and building a broad-based constituency active in risk reduction and climate adaptation • Develop links with respected academic institutions to strengthen policy – practice – research linkages • Research social networking innovations as means to engage and foster active citizenry, raise critical awareness, build social demand and strengthen public accountability for risk reduction • Establish multi-donor trust fund to support the development of VFL. |
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So what is the richness on the journey – in the space between goals and evaluation? Why has this conference ‘exceeded my expectations’? Well, in part because the recognition of the work the network did in ‘Views from the Frontline’ has far exceeded the expectations of everyone who worked on it. We’ve taken a huge step forward. But more importantly than that, the informal meetings, encounters, discussions and debates have opened up new thinking and possibilities for creating progress.
Unusually at the ‘Hyogo Hardtalk’ meeting, (organised by NGOs), that I mentioned, when the chair asked different groups to make themselves known a significant number of hands were raised to indicate ‘government’. I say unusual because this ‘platform’ doesn’t live up to its name – government don’t sit down with civil society. In fact ironically a ‘multi-stakeholder’ meeting excluded NGOs completely, until under protest it grudgingly included them as ‘observers’. 
As we came here this morning on the bus the widely experienced and determinedly independent Dr Ben Wisner, (who’s attempted to herd us towards robust analysis in our report), was emphasising that we need to turn the ‘p’ word into a practical reality. He was also pointing out that the gulf is often between local and national government – rather than between civil society and local government. I saw this in action in Nigeria this spring (and the case study appears in the report) the Local government stood alongside our Views from the Frontline colleague – Uwem Utu Robert, and together they looked at the collapsed bridge, cutting off three communities, which she has been trying to secure funds for for three years. 
At the conference itself it’s life as usual. There are as many people doing business together, networking or just chilling as there are at the official sessions. If all the money spent on this event was for the sake of people sitting in official sessions listening to strings of statements 
Well we’re working to try and get people together for a big chat this afternoon. Our main opportunity to get people together to discuss and learn from ‘Views from the Frontline is this afternoon at 1-30 (room 3 if you’re here) so we’re busy sticking posters up and telling anyone we can about this. Don’t know how successful we’ll be – there are at least five other meetings on at the same time. I’ll update you later on how it went. We’re also bringing the messages that people have posted to this page to that meeting. If you’re reading this before 1-30 (GMT +2) it’s not too late to add your comments!
And we keep discovering new ones every day! Most of the Steering Group members are also here, as well as the partners that implemented the Women's perspective and child focus of the VFL review. It all bodes for a very interesting session today. More news on this later!
Y seguimos descubriendo nuevos cada día! La mayoría de los miembros del Grupo Asesor igualmente se encuentran presentes, tanto como las organizaciones que han implementado la perspectiva de mujeres (Comisión Huariou) y de niños y jóvenes. Así que la sesión de hoy promete ser muy interesante. Ya les informaremos en mayor detalle durante el día.
simple clear pictures rather than a stack of words and graphs – and a presentation that has been honed and rehearsed down to within a minute of its seven minute target.
Maybe we’ve edged a bit further towards the heart of the matter from the back row, though it’s clear that real change is most likely to happen outside these four walls.
Day one is really before the conference starts in earnest. People are busy setting up stalls, planning their strategy at pre-meetings, catching up with old friends. I’m writing this from the ‘NGO open meeting’ which as you can see is pretty well attended. If you look at the shot of the audience the guy at the left (at the front) is the ‘boss’ of ISDR - Sálvano Briceño – who arrived unannounced and then spoke briefly. I guess his visit is a sign that he’s taking our work seriously (and we hear that the long, long list of participating organisations in the 