[WSIS CS-Plenary] info note on Working Methods WG at Prepcom II

[Rik Panganiban]

Dear Friends,

This is a brief summary note to inform other civil society
organizations about the discussions of the Working Methods Working
Group during Prepcom II of the WSIS. The issues put forward will remain
on-going deliberations of the WG and will be included into a more
comprehensive final document of the WG with general procedural options
and recommendations.

Mission of Working Group:
The Working Methods Working Group is intended to bring together civil
society actors to work together to formulate proposals and
recommendations on procedures, modalities and processes for civil
society to work most effectively and democratically together. These
recommendations are intended for use by other civil society bodies in
the WSIS process, including the Civil Society Bureau, Content and
Themes Group, Caucuses, Working Groups and the Plenary writ large.
Membership in the working group is open to all interested civil society
actors.

The following are some issues and ideas resulting from our discussions
during PrepComII:

•       CS Plenary Chairing: The group suggested that the main purpose 
of the
CS Plenary is for information exchange and reporting on working groups.
The role of the chair is therefore to be a “facilitator” of the
information exchanges between the caucuses and working groups, as well
as the monitoring reports from the intergovernmental negotiations, and
has no political role. Based on this, the WMWG suggests rotation by
regions or direct election from plenary as two possibilities for
selecting the chairs of the CS plenary sessions. It recommended to
select two individuals who would know about the processes and CS
organization in general, have facilitating skills, and not be reporting
to the Plenary themselves.

•       Content and Themes re-structuring: WMWG suggests a fuller 
“charter”
of content and themes be developed, including the general scope of the
CT Group and the decision-making procedures.  In principle Content and
Themes should be open to wide participation of all civil society. One
of its main tasks is to decide, on a consensual basis, on those
caucuses speaking at the civil society interventions during the
PrepComs.

•       Mediation Group for Civil Society disputes: The WMWG agreed that
there were both procedural and political matters that led groups to
have disputes with each other, both of which were important to address.
WMWG agreed with the suggestion put forward to it, that the Bureau
should explore establishing a group of mediators available for any
mediation requests from civil society groups.

•       Caucuses and Working Groups* structure, procedures, membership
issues, etc.: WMWG notes that a caucus of civil society exists to
enable civil society organizations and their representatives to share
information and views, coordinate activities among members, draft
agreed caucus text, and select speakers for official plenaries, press
conferences and other meetings. WMWG emphasizes importance of the
principle of openness.  Meetings of caucuses should be open to all
groups, with some fair criteria on membership in the caucus.

Those creating new caucuses should announce their intention publicly
both at a physical plenary meeting and the plenary email list.  It is
recommended that all caucuses should have a charter including their
mission, activities, structure, composition, and procedures, in
accordance with general principles. Caucuses should have available a
contact point, a list of their members, at least one open meeting at
WSIS Prepcom meetings, an email list and an open archive.

*Note that in our discussions we considered Caucuses and Working Groups
interchangably
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The WMWG is convened by Ramin Kaweh (NGLS) ramin.kaweh at unctad.org and
Rik Panganiban (CONGO) rikp at earthlink.net. To subscribe to the email
list or view the public archive of the WGWM go to:
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman//listinfo/
===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations 
(CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524 
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