[WSIS CS-Plenary] Content and themes report on week 1

[Sally Burch]

(Version español en otro mensaje.  Version francaise suivra plus 
tard.)

Content and Themes report to Plenary on activities of the first 
week of the Prepcom

Monday Sept 21    

Presented by Sally  Burch, CT coordination group

1)	The Content and Themes Working Group has been 
coordinating and facilitating civil society input on content to the 
official process of the Prepcom, including facilitating the 
assignment of CS speaking slots to the different caucuses, 
facilitating information and discussion on content issues and 
compiling CS proposals on the draft Declaration and Action Plan, 
which have been presented to the 
intergovernmental drafting committee.
	
2)	It has been meeting twice daily, at 10am and 6pm.  It has 
drawn up a workplan; it has set up a monitoring group that is 
reporting back to the Plenary on the official sessions of the 
Prepcom, a drafting group responsible for compiling and drafting 
consensus proposals  
and a coordination group, in charge of organizing the work of the 
CT group, chairing meetings and liaison with the CS bureau, 
secretariate, etc.  Since Wednesday, a CT delegate has been 
attending the CS bureau with observer status, who is specifically 
authorized to speak on content related issues, as agreed at 
Prepcom 2.  This has helped to make coordination easier between 
these two bodies.
	
3)	From day 1 the CT group had to move quickly to organize 
speaking slots for the different caucuses: 5 minutes on each block 
of articles of the Declaration and Action Plan, in all about about 60 
minutes assigned, in which about 30 speakers made CS input to 
Subcommittee 2 (the intergovernmental space where content of the 
documents is discussed).  Apart from minor mishaps, this has 
worked smoothly and in general CS participation has been 
welcomed by the governments for being relevant and concise (this 
does not, of course, imply any guarantee as to whether it will be 
taken into account).
	
4)	A major achievement was the acceptance, early in the week, 
by the Chair of Subcommittee 2, Ambassador Numminen, that a 
written compilation of all civil society proposals for precise 
language changes to the documents would be accepted as formal 
input by the drafting committee.  Content was provided by the 
different caucuses, and the drafting group undertook the arduous 
task of 
compilation.  The content compiled was attributed to the 
caucus(es) 
presenting each proposal; in some cases proposals were 
combined, 
with consent of those concerned, or were drawn up by the drafting 
committee.  This modality  has the advantage of reflecting the 
diversity of positions and proposals, but the disadvantage of not 
allowing for a strong CS position on any particular issue.
	
5)	CS speaking slots afforded at the informal intergovernmental 
drafting groups that are thrashing out the most contentious issues, 
were organized on an ad hoc basis by those present.
	
6)	On balance, with the advantage of past experience, the CT 
group was able to organize fast and make timely input, in spite of 
having to plunge into the task of producing statements and 
ammendments from day 1.

Next steps:

For the coming week, it has been agreed to work on the next draft 
of the documents with a more strategic focus.  This will include 
identifying some key issues that are either absent from or 
inadequately addressed in the documents, around which to concert 
language, make public statements or lobby government 
delegations.  
At the Monday morning meeting there will be an evaluation of 
whether and how CS input has or not been integrated into the 
Declaration and an exchange on key issues relating to the latest 
draft of the Declaration.

It has also been agreed to start work on an alternative civil 
society declaration or document, based on the wealth of CS 
proposals produced over the last year, which will be widely 
consulted and endorsed and presented at the Summit in December.