Beijing+5 Global Forum / Online Discussions
ISSUES:
12 areas of concern
of the Beijing Platform for Action
GOALS:
Inform the
preparations for Beijing+5
PARTICIPATING
STAKEHOLDERS: open
to anyone – participation by NGOs, UN, governments, researchers
TIME
FRAME: scheduled
online discussions of 4-6 weeks each
MSP
CONTACT DETAILS; URL: UN Division for the Advancement of Women; web-site: www.un.org/womenwatch
Classification:
Type:
Informing
Level
of MSP: International
Procedural
Aspects:
During 1999, WomenWatch held global online working groups to gather
information on implementation if the 12 critical areas of concern of the Beijing
Platform for Action (PfA).
The
"Global Forum" was part of the UN Division for the Advancement of
Women's (DAW) strategies to take women's NGOs contributions into account
throughout the process of preparaing for Beijing+5. It consisted of 12 scheduled
online discussion groups addressing each of the PfA sections and open for all
stakeholders to participate.
Identifying
the issues to be addressed in an MSP
Identifying issues was based on the Beijing PfA 12 Areas of Concern.
Within these areas, DAW developed a set of questions for each of the dialogues
which were fed in week by week.
The working groups focused on identifying, in particular:
a. Policies, legislation, strategies and partnerships that
have been successfully furthering women's equality;
b. Case studies, best practices and examples of successful
government, business and civil society efforts as well as lessons learned;
c. Remaining obstacles to progress and how they can be
overcome.
Some of the topics generated a lot of interest in the discussions, others
didn't. Thus some groups were large, some were small.
Identifying
relevant stakeholders
UN DAW decided they wanted participation from NGOs and
others; invitations were mostly targeting NGOs (DAW database and list servers,
etc.).
Identifying
MSP participants
Access was completely open; the 12 discussions had about 10.000
participants from over 120 countries altogether – mostly NGOs, and government
representatives, intergovernmental organisations and researchers. Participants
were allowed to participate in as many debates as they wished.
Setting
the goals of an MSP
Goal was set by UN DAW.
Setting
the agenda
UN DAW set the agenda, based on Beijing PfA.
Consultations among constituencies were possible but there is no
information available summarising such activities by participants.
Setting
the time-table
UN DAW
Preparatory
process
Weekly questions were developed by by experts within DAW.
There was no monitoring of preparations within stakeholder groups or by
individual participants. Participants were not asked to speak for a particular
group or body.
Communication
process
Email only. DAW were aware of power gaps arising from different access to
the internet that people have but these were not addressed.
Decision-making
process: procedures of agreement
There was no agreements being sought.
Implementation
process
There was no implementation process being aimed at.
Closing
the MSP
Closure was planned beforehand through scheduling the online discussions.
Schedule developed by DAW.
Structural
Aspects:
Structures
/ institutions of the MSP
The online discussions were facilitated by WomenWatch.
"WomenWatch is the UN gateway to global information about women's
concerms, progress and equality. It was initiated by the Division for the
Advancement of Women (DAW), the United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM) and the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). WomenWatch is an inter-agency activity involving
the participation of many United Nations organisations" (UN SG Report to
the 3rd PrepComm, March 2000).
Facilitation
Facilitation by DAW. 1 external moderator for each group was to screen the
messages; criteria: relevant to questians on each topic / week; and going back
to people to clarify what they mean if necessary. There was ongoing dialogue
within DAW & WomenWatch bodies throughout the process, e.g. with experts
within the organisations, between them and the moderators, etc.
Documentation
The online discussions have been archived on the WomenWatch
web-site (www.un.org/womenwatch) and contributions are publicly
accessible. DAW also produced a summary document as a background document to the
3rd PrepComm for Beijing+5: Summary of the WomenWatch online working
groups on the twelve critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for
Action. Note by the Secretary General. United Nations: E/CN.6/2000/CRP.1
Relating
to not-participating stakeholders & to the general public
Information (full archive & summaries)
available on the WomenWatch web-site.
Linkage
into official decision-making process
The background document was not discussed as such but was
mentioned in the outcome document several times. Many NGOs felt that this
execise has not informed the process or had any impact on the Beijing+5 outcome
document – not aware that anyone used it to develop their positions.
Funding
Funding came out of the DAW budget for Beijing+5. This was about $ 600.000
out of the UN Foundation, plus UNDP – the online discussions where part of the
whole package.
Additional
Information / Remarks
This was an expensive process, particularly hiring moderators required
substantive funding. Holding online discussions for 6 weeks might be too long
(also expensive), reducing to 2-3 weeks would be possible.
The online discussions were useful in terms of building and educating a
constituency. It would be better to link in all stakeholders rather than only
NGOs. Involved UN bodies UNIFEM were delighted because it connected them with
the public.
Online discussions should be summarised in a short report recommended,
otherwise nobody will read it. The report should focus on which issues are being
highlighted – what do people focus on, because that is important information
for governments and others (to learn who thinks what). Maybe it would be good to
conduct such discussions on issues that people are not yet discussing to
generate interest and get a debate going.
[ information gathered as of 16 February 2001 ]
