Conference Of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council

The last three years illustrated once again how the Conference of NGOs continues to carry its tasks while adapting to changing times. As the end of the 20th General Assembly as your new President I had a promise and a plea. The promise was to do my best, meeting your expectations, to ensure that all your resolutions will be followed and implemented and to work with the Board and membership in a way that is responsible and transparent. We have paid particular attention to the resolution on "Defining the Future" calling for respect for cultural diversity, emphasis on gender perspectives and collaboration with NGOs worldwide. The plea was to every member of the Conference and to the members of the Board to be an active player in the process - help all of us pulling together our human and financial resources for a stronger, more inclusive, more effective Conference of NGOs.

From "Defining the Future" to today's General Assembly theme, "UN/NGO Dynamics in the 21st Century: Together for Social Justice, Equality and Peace", we can witness that we all tried our best - some more than others - to meet our goals. We achieved a great deal. We succeeded often. We stalled sometimes and definitely we needed to do more in some areas and to learn more from one another at a time of such rapid change. As they say in French, "celui qui ne fait rien ne casse rien". Well I can say it in different ways in English, "Those who try to do things make mistakes - making mistakes is a part of the process of doing". What is important, as we say in the psychoanalytic field, is learning from our mistakes, to correct them and to move forward for a better process of doing. After noting all this, I think it would be fair to say that the Conference of NGOs at the beginning of this new century is more inclusive than ever, more visible than ever and stronger than it has ever been.

I want to underline that our serious work demonstrates the constant, sustained commitment of the Board and the officers you chose in November 1997 to the goals you set for 1997-2000. It is a process which demonstrates our abilities to face challenges, to unlearn and relearn from one another to have a more caring, more nurturing Conference of NGOs - a Conference of NGOs which includes the international, regional and national and local, of the South as well as of the North. A Conference, which looks forward to the 21st Century and translates the UN/NGO dynamics in this working relationship and or togetherness for social justice, equality and peace.

The 20th General Assembly held in Geneva (3-5 November 1977) elected the President and the following organizations to serve on the Board for three years:

AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
ALL INDIA WOMEN'S CONFERENCE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS
ARAB LAWYERS UNION
CARITAS INTERNATIONALIS
COORDINATING BOARD OF JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS
GENERAL ARAB WOMEN FEDERATION
INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WOMEN
INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF SETTLEMENTS AND NEIGHBORHOOD CENTRES
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS
LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION
WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF GIRL GUIDES AND GIRL SCOUTS
WORLD FEDERATION OF METHODIST AND UNITING CHURCH WOMEN
WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS
WORLD FEDERATION OF UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATIONS
WORLD INFORMATION TRANSFER
WORLD VETERANS FEDERATION

The newly elected Board met immediately after the Assembly to reiterate our commitment to the resolution "Defining the Future"". In conformity with the rules, at its first full meeting in New York, 3 February 1998, the Board elected the following as officers:

1^st Vice-President: Ms. Irene HOSKINS (American Association of Retired Persons) */**

Vice Presidents:
ALL INDIA WOMEN'S CONFERENCE **
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN **
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF GIRL GUIDES AND GIRL SCOUTS **

* President and First Vice-President elected in personal capacity; organizations listed for identification purposes only
** By action of the Board meeting on 3 February 1998
*** Co-opted by action of the Board meeting on 3 February 1998

After Irene Hoskins resigned to accept a position with the World Health Organization and following a Board discussion about CONGO Rules of Procedure, the Board elected Danielle Bridel as First Vice-President. The important addition of Danielle rounded out CONGO leadership for this term.

In a separate review I shall be sharing with you some thoughts about the dynamic international context in which we are now working and some challenges this poses for the Conference of NGOs. In this report I can recount to you, however, the past three years we engaged in major events, including our 50th Anniversary and two regional conferences; we actively supported NGO participation in the five-year reviews of three United Nations world conferences by the General Assembly; and we were in the forefront of efforts to deal with the increasingly complex and frustrating questions of NGO access to the United Nations. A number of these efforts have been documented in publications available to you. Our Communications Task Force and funded staff position have produced a website that continues to evolve, but that can be viewed worldwide, with pages and an overall calendar for the activities of CONGO committees. In the account that follows, I want to elaborate to you on these and other highlights of the past three years.

As noted at the outset, we took heart from the "Defining the Future" resolution. Towards this end, we planned to have a series of regional NGO consultations, through which we could relates better to the realities of NGOs by region and explore how CONGO might help NGOs from regions be better engaged at the United Nations. This is important because, in the aftermath of ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31, regional and national NGOs now represent a sizeable and growing number of NGOs with consultative status.

The first of these events was a five-day, African Regional Consultation of NGOs held in Kampala, Uganda in February 1998. With support principally from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the governments of Denmark and Netherlands, this gender-balanced, participatory consultation covered four development themes selected in response to key interests stated by African NGOs whom CONGO consulted: "Health and Reproductive Health", "Human Rights and Gender Equality", "Peace and Conflict Resolution" and "Democracy and Good Governance".

The discussions cut across thematic boundaries and revealed, among many others things, the dynamism of women's contributions and the centrality of women's concerns to the future of African societies. For each thematic area the consultation also revealed much about the difficulties African NGOs see in the context in which they have to operate, about best NGO practices they have found, about challenges they have identified and it recorded many recommendations they made for future action in each thematic area. They also adopted two resolutions: one on political tolerance in Africa and another on harmful traditional practices. CONGO published the results as NGOs for Change: African Nongovernmental Organizations in Development, Equality and Peace. The consultation benefited from local, in-kind contributions of CONGO members; the Frederick Ebert Foundation, the Lutheran World Federation, World Vision International and YWCA - as well as from UNDP, the World Bank and from excellent professional backing in Kampala.

We wanted to follow up on this initiative by working more with African NGOs to foster regional networks: ones that could work downward with national and local entities, regionally with regional organizations and upward with CONGO in the future. Preliminary discussions with the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa and the African Development Bank in Abidjan were positive, and we were offered assistance from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. However, the pressure of other demands and limited staffing and funding precluded our following up as we had hoped. I hope that CONGO will pursue these initiatives in Africa. By encouraging African regional collaboration, CONGO might help ensure more meaningful African inputs in Geneva, New York and Vienna.

In another part of the world and in response to a specific mandate from the Board, the officers agreed that CONGO would be one of three convenors of what became the 1999 Seoul International NGO Conference, "The Role of NGOs in the 21st Century, Inspire, Empower, Act!" held October 10-15, 1999. CONGO joined with Kyung Hee University/Global Cooperation Society and the NGO/DPI Executive Committee as co-convenors. The goal of the conference, funded largely from the private, nonprofit Global Cooperation Society, was to facilitate NGO reflection on the gains of the past, identify outstanding challenges and foster strategies for NGO action in the new Millennium. In preparatory meetings over two years, I can say that CONGO played the central role in ensuring that the focus was on NGOs and that there would be strong participation by women and by NGOs from the South. Over 5,000 NGO representatives participated, and, remarkably, representatives of nearly all United Nations agencies attended as well.

One experienced Korean NGO observer described the conference as "a moment when we came of age". For many it marked their first time exposure to international concerns, which, they found often bore striking resemblance to many of their local ones. The Conference was noteworthy for bringing together NGO representatives from Northeast Asia (nearly 700 from China, Japan and Mongolia) and for establishing a basis for cooperation among NGOs in Northeast Asia particularly around North Korean refugees, peace and environmental issues. There was also discussion about Korea and Korean NGOs emerging as providers of international development assistance. There were 800 representatives from other developing countries, including 150 from Africa who played a strong role. CONGO published a "Summary of the Conference". The Declaration and Plan of Action from the Conference were published as NGLS Roundup No. 48, in November 1999. The Global Cooperation Society published a Korean and English White Paper, each with extensive documentation.

The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Kim Dae-Jung of South Korea recalled for many of us his statement to the Conference that he was addressing us "as an NGO activist". It reminded us too of the many doors he has opened for NGOs to flourish and reshape political life and independent discourse in a country where they had previously been repressed. In the wake of this conference, a number of Korean NGOs have gained consultative status, and CONGO should try to engage the NGO movement in Korea - and perhaps also in Japan and China - more broadly in discussion in the United Nations.

CONGO was planning an Arab NGO consultation in Cairo October 24, immediately following a Conference of the Arab Network of NGOs taking place October 21-23, 2000 in Cairo. I had received an invitation in September to participate and called UNFPA as well as David Andrews, President of one of our members, Population Communications International (PCI), and who serves as Chair of the Committee on Population and Development, to seek partnership in a one-day consultation with Arab NGOs. We developed and agreed very quickly on the concept of a consultation in which we would select from among the participants in the three-day gathering thirty NGOs that have a record of working with the United Nations to stay for an additional fourth day. They were to exchange their experiences in implementing Cairo+5 and Beijing+5 and explore possibilities of CONGO working with them. Unfortunately, events in the Middle East caused a postponement of the entire conference, which we expect will now take place at a later date.

CONGO was involved in the preparation of the World Civil Society Conference (WOCSOC), which took place in Montreal in December 1999 as a member of the Steering Committee. The Seoul Conference, WOCSOC, and The Hague Appeal for Peace provided input to the Millennium Forum.

In June 1998 the Board reviewed a "Proposal for the Millennium NGO Forum" prepared by the CONGO Committee Chairs Task Force on UN Reform, under its Chair, Techeste Ahderom (Baha'i International Community). Having been the basis for discussion with Louise Frechette, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and members of her staff, the Board concluded that the paper, after needed refinement, should be our follow-up to the "Resolution on the Forum of the Millennium" of our 20th General Assembly. The Board was informed of preparations in Geneva and New York, and CONGO membership was informed via the monthly meetings of the Committee Chairs, to which all Board members were invited.

While CONGO decided not to be formally responsible for the United Nations Millennium Forum, its membership constituted the bulk of the Forum's leadership, with strong participation from representatives of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee. The goal was to ensure NGO input into member states deliberations in connection with the Fifty-Fifth General Assembly (the "Millennium Assembly") and the "Millennium Summit" of heads of state. Building on the world conferences and on subsequent NGO conferences, approximately 1,350 representatives of over 1000 NGOs and other civil society organizations, from more than 100 countries participated in the Forum, 22-26 May 2000. Despite limited funding from a small number of member states, international donors and individuals, aggressive efforts by a volunteer staff to promote diversity succeeded in having approximately 40 percent representation in New York from developing nations.

The Forum's declaration, "Strengthening the United Nations for the 21st Century" sought "to draw the attention of governments to the urgency of implementing the commitments they have made, and to channel our collective energies by reclaiming globalization for and by the people". Its acceptance by participants and transmission to the UN Secretary-General marked the first NGO meeting in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. While some participants asked CONGO to convene a meeting of interested parties to follow up on the Forum, the Co-Chair suggested that CONGO could do that in partnership with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and the representatives of the Millennium Forum Executive Committee. The Declaration and Agenda for Action became an official document of the Millennium Summit and Assembly. The Summit, held in September, was the largest gathering of heads of state ever to take place. The Co-Chair's well-received statement on the General Assembly floor was the only NGO participation in the Summit.

We also had the opportunity of celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the Conference of NGOs. After the 20^th General Assembly, the Board designated the All India Women's Conference to coordinate plans for the Anniversary, through their representatives Sudha Acharya and Mala Pal. Events in New York, Geneva, Vienna and New Delhi included panel discussions, consultations, cultural programs and an exhibition of the contribution of NGOs to the United Nations. Themes of these events ranged in scope from the UN/NGO relationship, NGO access to the General Assembly and all areas of the UN, to gender, environmental and human rights issues.

Our publication, CONGO at Fifty: A Reaffirmation of Commitment (1998), brought together references from the many decades of our past - from past presidents, current members, officers and committee chairs - and included a statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a piece by the late Virginia Sauerwein who served for twelve years as head of the NGO Section. Written with a vision inspired by our "Defining the Future" resolution, it was dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of men and women working towards the principles of the United Nations.

The United Nations world conferences of the 1990's collectively constituted a watershed event for the United Nations and for NGOs worldwide. Consequently, the five-year reviews in special sessions of the General Assembly constitute a formidable challenge. They are the key means for the United Nations to deliver on its own promise as the world's greatest forum for deliberation and for governments to deliver on their commitments across the extraordinary range of human experience covered by the conferences - from the Earth Summit through Habitat. The role of NGOs in advocating for change, in independently monitoring implementation and pressing for accountability during and after the special sessions has been powerful and unprecedented. So far CONGO has been able to contribute substantially in three of the Plus Five sessions to develop new partnerships, reinforce the work of the NGO committees and help interested NGOs worldwide to participate in them.

The five-year anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo+5) covered a field where NGOs have been among the strongest policy advocates and also often the most active providers of services in working directly with grassroots organizations. CONGO was heavily involved in NGO participation in Cairo+5, under the direction of an Advisory Board selected by and working closely with UNFPA. The President of CONGO served on the Advisory Board and participated in planning and working in an NGO Forum held in the Hague.

CONGO agreed to help facilitate NGO participation at the March 1999 session of the Commission on Population and Development, which served as preparation for the General Assembly Special Session in June. CONGO chose to partner with Population Communication International (PCI), because of their specialization in use of communication and media to promote awareness and action on population and reproductive health issues and their role in the NGO Committee on Population and Development. CONGO and PCI obtained funding from the Hague NGO Forum and the Ford Foundation, and PCI received direct funding to bring NGO representatives from developing countries; CONGO and PCI arranged NGO orientation, daily morning briefings for NGOs, conference room logistics, provision for related NGO events and a media center.

Just as the Fourth World Conference in Beijing in 1995 was the largest UN conference ever held, Beijing + 5 was the largest-ever special session of the United Nations. The culmination of national and regional efforts, it took place on 5-9 June 2000. CONGO, working under the guidance of an International NGO Coordinating Committee, facilitated the participation of NGOs during the international preparatory conference, which took place during second week of the March session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The Prepcom set the stage for the Special Session in June and offered a crucial forum for NGO input into the review.

During both the March PrepCom and Special Session, CONGO served as the secretariat for the International NGO Coordinating Committee. It offered daily informational briefings, with French and Spanish interpretation, for NGOs able to convene in New York. It provided logistical and organization support as well as information to buttress independent but complementary NGO activities. Important among such activities were orientations and discussions organized by the NGO Committees on the Status of Women from New York, Geneva and Vienna. CONGO also used its Beijing+5 listserv and Website to provide advance information, and reached out to NGOs not able to use electronic communications via occasional mass mailing and fax broadcasts. CONGO established close working relations with the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and brokered understandings with the United Nations Secretariat on security issues and other shared concerns. CONGO served as the intermediary with the United Nations for NGOs wishing to speak in the official plenary session, developing a regionally organized process for selecting speakers and developing messages. To undertake this effort, CONGO obtained project support from the Ford Foundation's Women's Program Forum, with additional funding from The Open Society Institute, The Swiss Development Cooperation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, UNICEF, the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Women Action and The Tech Foundation.

In the months prior to the Special Session, CONGO formed a Subcommittee on Alternative Reports, including key representatives from the International Women Tribune Center, the Women's Environment and Development Organization, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and the International Alliance of Women. This committee solicited and received 115 alternative NGO reports from 59 countries, edited them and made the report available at the time of the Special Session as The NGO Alternative Report on Beijing + Five. This document continues to be in demand from NGOs and researchers and which the Tribune Center is now distributing internationally for CONGO, while the primary documentation has been deposited with the Esther Hymer Library at the Church Center for the United Nations.

The Special Session reaffirmed that there would be no going back on the Beijing Platform for Action, and it strengthened such areas of focus as violence against women, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, globalization and poverty, and it provided new benchmarks against which NGOs can work and assess the progress of themselves, their governments and their societies.

The important "Geneva 2000 Forum" in June 2000 was less satisfactory from the point of view of CONGO because, as our First Vice President noted, participating NGOs worked independently. A Facilitating Committee organized under CONGO auspices, did its best to play a coordinating role. It prepared five different workshops at the forum, which will be the subject of a general report. With the help of the United Nations Information Service and the UN NGO liaison in Geneva it obtained two rooms for briefings and caucuses for NGOs attending the General Assembly. At the Committee of the Whole, several NGOs, principally those drafted by working groups of the Facilitating Committee, presented declarations.

Given differences of opinion between the Secretariat and the President of the Assembly over the nature of NGO participation the President of the Facilitating Committee encountered difficulty. However, ultimately six representatives from regions (Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, West Asia, Asia and Pacific and 2 from Europe) and four representatives of individual NGOs were able to make interventions. In the future such interventions would be easier with precise, written instructions from the President of the Assembly.

The outcome of the Special Session was far less than some governments and most NGOs had hoped, reflecting, in the eyes of many a lack of political will to fully implement commitments of Copenhagen and to innovate. Nevertheless, the session was important in highlighting the interdependence of development issues; such as, with regard to governance, trade, gender, health and education; the key role of non-state actors in policy planning and implementation; and the circumstances of such special groups as migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons as well as those of highly indebted and least developed countries.

In sum, CONGO contributed towards NGO participation for three Plus Five sessions. It will want to be alert to providing assistance as needed in upcoming sessions that will include: The 10-Year follow-up to the World Summit for Children in September in New York in 2001; The 3^rd UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Brussels in May 2001; The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to be held in Durban, South Africa in August-September 2001, and Rio + 10 in mid 2002.

While the above activities in many cases are bringing the Conference into different geographic regions, the essential focus of CONGO is on the UN/NGO relationship: continuing engagement with the Secretariat, interaction with the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs, participation in the ECOSOC High Level Segment and dealing with questions related to NGO access to the United Nations.

Our primary partners in the Secretariat are Raymonde Martineau and Hanifa Mezoui and their excellent staffs, who provide continuous, sustained support of our work. I want to take this opportunity to thank Farida Ayoub, the former Chief of the NGO Section for her constant help and support to the Conference of NGOs and its membership. This has been enhanced by strengthened relationships with senior officials of DESA, and Under Secretary-General Nitin Desai.

We have had increasingly close relationships and expanded dealings with the Department of Public Information, beginning with Under Secretary-General Kensaku Hogan, and including our friends Therese Gastaut, Maria Heuze, Ingrid Lehmann and Lyutha Al-Mughairy, Paul Hoeffel and their teams. Concurrently, we have seen greater collaboration with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, where CONGO is represented ex-officio in the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and the Chair of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee is invited to CONGO Committee Chairs meetings. The NGO/DPI Executive Committee partnered in preparing the Seoul International Conference, and the CONGO President spoke at the DPI/NGO Annual Conferences in 1998 and 2000. This year, the NGO/DPI Executive Committee voted that the invitation of the CONGO President to the opening session of the August 2000 NGP/DPI Annual Conference should be a precedent for future DPI annual conferences. The Chair of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee is bringing greetings at the opening session of our 21^st General Assembly.

Greater cooperation between CONGO and NGLS was reflected particularly in Tony Hill's intensive assistance at the Seoul International Conference and publishing the Declaration and Plan of Action in NGLS Roundup. Other NGO interactions worth note are with the UNICEF Committee on NGOs, with NGOs affiliated with UNESCO as well as with the team of WOCSOC.

I must mention our excellent partnership with Assistant Secretary-General Angela King, Yakin Erturk, the leader of the Division for the Advancement of Women, and her staff on many occasions, culminating in Beijing+5.

As noted elsewhere, we are now in ongoing dialogue with Assistant Secretary-General Gillian Sorensen, who serves as NGO Liaison for the Secretary-General within her overall responsibility for External Relations. Finally we are looking forward to a scheduled meeting with Secretary-General Kofi Annan this month.

In the summer of 1998, the Secretary-General issued his report, Arrangements and practices for the interaction of non-governmental organizations in all activities of the United Nations system. Drafted first by the Secretariat without NGO consultation, the General Assembly at its fifty-third Session adopted decision 53/452 of 17 December 1998 requesting the Secretary-General to "a) seek the views of member states, members of the specialized agencies, observers and intergovernmental organizations, as well as the views of non-governmental organizations from all regions on the above mentioned report; and b) submit a further report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session, taking into account the submissions received.

CONGO convened a number of meetings in New York and solicited and obtained input from Geneva on the report as a basis for a response submitted by CONGO, with the endorsement of NGOs wishing to do so. The meetings and response were the only collective response of which CONGO is aware. CONGO's initiative, spread through its NGO-access listserv and website, reinforced a mailing by Ms. Sorenson, with the result that a number of NGOs that might not otherwise have acted sent their own replies. Those of which CONGO is aware support CONGO's basic conclusions regarding access in New York, which I shall note shortly. A new report, incorporating the views requested by the General Assembly, was presented to the General Assembly during its Fifty-fourth Session as agenda item 59 (Strengthening of the United Nations system).

Announcement by the Secretary-General of the The Global Compact involving the United Nations and the private sector in January 1999 has caused considerable concern among NGOs since that time and adds a new dimension to the UN/NGO relationship. Assistant Secretary-General John Ruggie, stated recently on October 13 that Secretary-General Annan predicted a backlash against globalization that in fact erupted in Seattle ten months later and that has continued to reverberate worldwide ever since. The Secretary-General presented his concerns about globalization and "committed himself", according to Mr. Ruggie, "to help reverse the adverse attributes and consequences of globalization." I hope that during the next few days we will have an honest and constructive discussion of what we think and of what we want as NGOs.

By virtue of the consultative status of its members, CONGO has a special relationship with the Economic and Social Council - principally with through the Committee on NGOs but also in dealing with ECOSOC through presentations at its high-level segment.

CONGO's dialogue with the Committee on NGOs has been both with the committee as a whole as with its individual members, on a wide range of issues affecting the relationship of NGOs to the United Nations. In 1999, the Committee reviewed a letter from the Republic of Ireland, raising the question of what happens when NGOs fail to adhere to accepted practice. We agreed with many delegates that accepted rules and practices must be followed by NGOs given the privilege to observe and participate in the discussions of United Nations bodies. However, CONGO's position is that the mistakes of a few can find remedy within the framework of 1996/31, and that all NGOs should not be punished for the misdeeds of several who do not follow the agreed upon rules of the house. Consequently, our First Vice President submitted a statement to the ECOSOC session in 1999 concerning procedural errors made by the Committee on NGOs relative to the withdrawal of consultative status of an NGO, Christian Solidarity International.

At the June 1999 session of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs, CONGO committed to convening a series of consultations to review issues relating to NGO participation in UN meetings, issues arising from the work of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs and from other sources as well. CONGO would suggest avenues for resolving difficulties of deep concern to the NGO community, and have been raised by Member States. Many issues related to a perception or "misperception" that the increased number of NGO representatives makes it hard for them to be accommodated. Subsequently, consultations took place in October, November, and December. NGO representatives, Member State delegates, and Secretariat staff were invited to attend and did so. The following summary of these consultations and recommendations presented to the Committee on NGOs on 26 January 2000.

At all three consultations, discussions addressed experiences arising from Commission meetings and other UN sessions, and sought to identify what might be flexible yet effective frameworks to ensure both order and broad-based NGO representation and participation in UN meetings, as codified by Resolution 1996/31. The consultations identified three primary areas of interest:

Numbers of NGO representatives at the UN, and attending specific meetings of the ECOSOC Commissions
NGO oral statements at official sessions
NGO conduct at meetings, and dynamics between NGOs and government delegates
Following are brief descriptions of the discussions around each item, followed by a summary of recommendations for future action.
NGO Numbers
The two most important issues discussed in the three NGO consultations were related to access and effective participation of NGOs in the meetings of ECOSOC Commissions and Committees. These three consultations did not address the overarching issues of general access to United Nations Headquarters in New York and security, because there is an ongoing discussion on security and general access of NGOs that is taking place with the office of Assistant-Secretary General Gillian Sorensen.
As asserted on a preliminary basis by staff of the NGO Section, and confirmed by NGO impressions over the years, there tends to be a discrepancy between the number of NGO representatives who register to attend meetings, and those who actually attend, with the attendees often being far fewer than those registered. This is probably for two reasons. First, NGO representatives cannot attend meetings for which they pre-register, because of financial or logistical limitations. Also, NGOs may wish to be on record as having attended, but do not intend to do so. This certainly applies to the Commissions on Social Development, Population and Development (including the ICPD+5 Prepcom), Sustainable Development and the Status of Women. In these sessions, preliminary data suggests that since 1988 there has been between a 30-50% discrepancy between pre-registrants and actual attendees. The only Commission for which no such data exists is Human Rights. The NGO Section stated that it would gather data in a more precise manner at this and other meetings of ECOSOC Commissions. NGOs warmly applaud the important data-gathering effort and commitment of the NGO Section.
Further, NGO experience suggests that even when NGOs who pre-register for particular Commission meetings are able to attend Commission meetings, they are unable to attend all the time. Again, a frequent reason for this is financial, with NGO representatives unable to afford attendance for more than a short span of time. An additional reason is that NGOs, not unlike Member State delegates and Agency representatives, tend to flock to agenda items of particular interest. The result can be quite widely fluctuating numbers of NGOs present on any given day of a Commission meeting, with attendance tending to cluster in the first days. However, there is little doubt that NGO representatives from the North tend to predominate at Commission meetings for reasons of greater affluence and/or being based at headquarters. CONGO, in partnership with a wide number of NGOs, is committed to facilitating greater NGO representation from developing countries at meetings at UN headquarters, including addressing the problem of financing.
NGO Oral Statements
Concerning the issue of NGO oral statements, NGOs agreed that greater coordination is necessary to manage the requests to speak in a fair, representative and consistent manner, and to allow for more effective time management. There has already been some consultation among NGOs regarding oral statements. While certain NGOs want to speak on every agenda item, many see this as inappropriate, and NGOs are now debating what can be done. One idea is to limit the number of times an NGO can speak. Another is to emphasize joint or collective NGO statements, but there are very mixed views about that option. Generally, it is not seen as appropriate to ask NGOs to screen who should be able to speak. Rather, NGO representatives should be encouraged to share views on a collaborative basis with government delegates so that they can be more easily taken up by the Secretariat.
NGO Comportment
We all know that NGOs need to be respectful of the prerogatives of governments, but that there is no need to formalize a code of conduct. However, there was a shared sense that NGOs need to learn more about the "do's and don'ts" in orientation sessions and via the written guidelines promised by the NGO Section so that they do not mistakenly overstep NGO rules. When NGOs do overstep those rules, Resolution 1996/31 provides adequate coverage, and there appears to be no need for additional structures.
Recommendations:
There is no need for new regulations to resolve numbers-related issues in connection with Commission meetings. These issues can be solved on a case-by-case basis, with the help of data being gathered by the NGO Section. The Conference of NGOs would be pleased to assist in the NGO Section's more precise data-gathering, especially in attempting to track fluctuations in NGO numbers across longer-lasting Commission meetings.
The UN Secretariat has expressed the intention of devising ways to measure who enters UN headquarters on a day-to-day basis. NGOs applaud this idea, since such a system would be extremely helpful in tracking the pattern of usage of UN facilities by NGO representatives in an ongoing fashion, including during New York-based Commission meetings.
All concerned should advocate for the creation of a special fund to assist to underwrite NGO participation from developing countries in key Commission meetings. This would be of great practical and symbolic utility in achieving greater representation from the South at UN meetings. The Conference of NGOs would be pleased to assist in whatever way possible.
NGOs should work with Commission Bureaus to set up liaison committees in advance of Commission meetings that can flexibly and fairly address specific issues of NGO numbers, statements, and comportment that are likely to arise. Committees should be comprised of a small, representative selection of NGO representatives, the Commission Secretariat, members of the Commission Bureau, and perhaps a few representatives of other appropriate UN Agencies, Inter-Agency Units, or Programs. A case-by-case analysis of difficulties having arisen would be a good first start, with NGOs then looking toward the creation of clear and transparent procedures.
ECOSOC and NGOs should provide support to the NGO Section in its effort to compile and publish guidelines for NGOs to observe when they are visiting UN headquarters in New York City, and when they attend Commission meetings, and to explore possible complementary activities, such as convening joint orientation sessions with Member State representatives. All efforts should be part of a process that is flexible and continuing.
Conclusion
This was a preliminary report on discussions last fall. We recognize the complexity of these issues, and are committed to continuing to work collaboratively on them.
The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) has long been committed to facilitating effective and productive working relations between the United Nations system and Member States, and NGOs. This role has only increased in importance as the numbers of NGOs at the United Nations with Consultative Status, and their sophistication concerning the UN itself, has grown. There can be little doubt-as demonstrated by the intense attention directed by NGOs to the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle-that NGOs are eager to be increasingly active partners in global development and governance, and that traditional means of mediating that relationship need to be constantly improved.

On April 28 I chaired an informal discussion with member state and interested NGO representatives, reviewing recommendations of January 26. In discussion it was requested that the NGO Section share its draft of their guidelines for NGOs to observe when they are visiting UN headquarters and attending ECOSOC meetings. (In the fall a draft was in fact disseminated for comment.) One government representative applauded the call for more data on what NGOs are doing, so as to make better information on granting consultative status. There was criticism of scheduling NGOs in the evening at the Commission on Human Rights, when they ended up speaking largely to themselves after government representatives had gone home.

Another representative proposed dialogue with the Bureaus, particularly the Commission on Human Rights, to be able to deal with such matters as: 1) lack of adequate NGO seating when many UN and agency seats were unoccupied; 2) agenda management; 3) management of speakers' list. There were questions about contributions of national NGOs in some instances.

There was keen interest in the UN's experience in handling special funds for NGO participants from the South, especially at UNCED. Some of the problems which could arise included: 1) avoiding politicization in use of bilateral funds; 2) managing to avoid cost overruns; 3) advantages of establishing regional focal committees for identifying recipients; 4) making ineligible for funds any persons involved in selection; 5) pledges from recipients to work with other NGOs in the region on issues considered at the meeting; and 6) involving new groups and persons in UN processes.

It was announced that NGLS would be issuing the third edition of The NGLS Handbook, a resource much utilized in relating to many parts of the UN system, but once again it did not include any reference to CONGO.

The working relationship with the committee is continuing, and we hope it will lead to constructive, positive attention to the many important and often longstanding issues that have been raised by NGOs and governments alike.

After a one-year interruption in 1998, in both 1999 and 2000 CONGO has made presentations at the High Level Segment, held in June. Ambassador Fulci, President of ECOSOC, addressed the CONGO Board in February 1999. At that meeting, our First Vice President reported to Board members about CONGO's role in the high level segment. Even though and because of communications problems, the NGO group which had prepared a statement for the panel meeting on "Promoting People-Centered Economic Growth" was not allowed to make an oral presentation. However, towards the end of the segment, CONGO was able to take the floor to submit the result of a seminar on "New Dynamics for the Eradication of Poverty". This had been organized by Leslie Wright (WAGGGS) in New York to comment on linking women as active agents into the process of poverty eradication. The statement was presented by Renata Bloem, Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Geneva.

In 2000, CONGO made a presentation in the High Level Segment on Information Communication Technology (ICT). Sudha Acharya, Vice President, introduced representatives of three members organizations who gave a very brief but powerful presentation on the "digital divide", major issues including the impact on women and made useful recommendations. The representatives were: David Andrews, (PCI), Claudia Strauss, (World Information Transfer - WIT), and Anne Walker, (International Women's Tribune Center).

Open access to the work and deliberations of the United Nations is at the core of the consultative relationship, and for years operated remarkably freely. We are pleased that it continues to do so for United Nations centers in Geneva and Vienna. However, the question of access has become an issue for New York based representatives, where good practices of the past have changed in recent years. Some changes coincide with the increase in the number of NGOs in consultative status as a result of ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31. It is CONGO understanding that concerns from United Nations Office of Security are the driving force behind the changes. However, we have been unable to obtain information about policy changes or access to any statistics that support the notion that NGOs represent a security threat in New York. The changes and the following comparisons with other UN centers are real:

Such issues led to our 8-point Board Resolution on NGO Access to the United Nations on February 26, 1999. After an absence of communication, a positive dialogue has been reestablished with the office of Assistant Secretary-General Sorenson, but the essential questions of NGO physical access remain undefined and unresolved.

I should add that forms of access unrelated to security pose less of a problem. Procedures for accreditation to UN conferences and special sessions are generally well known in advance and CONGO has been able to facilitate NGO participation as has been noted. Procedures for delivery of NGO statements are less clear and depend on the leadership of the particular event, but with precedents established, arrangements reasonable for all concerned can usually be worked out. On the other hand, assurances made more than a year ago about NGO access to the UN optical disk system have not been realized. But on another positive note, opening of the General Assembly to the Millennium Forum, the openness of the new President of the General Assembly and designation of one of his staff members for NGO liaison are all indications that greater NGO engagement with the United Nations is welcome. We hope to address these issues in a continuing positive spirit.

The backbone of our collective work on substance at the United Nations is the responsibility of NGO committees, established under the auspices of the Conference. There are 18 Committees in New York, 6 in Geneva and 6 in Vienna. In New York committee chairs meet with the officers and the members of the Board on a monthly basis to share information, to give their feedback, suggestions, and to strategize when it is needed. In Geneva contact between the officers and the committees is continuous. In Vienna the work of the committees is less known to their counterparts in Geneva and New York, but the establishment of an office in Vienna and the presence of our Communications Coordinator with us at the General Assembly may lead to a better communication among the committees in the three cities.

When I took on the Presidency, I believed that CONGO could increase its membership substantially. Indeed, the premise of our proposal to the Ford Foundation for support of a core administrative operation in New York was that we could do so, and gradually cover the cost of the transition to operations with fulltime staff. However, we remain far from realizing our membership goals of 900 by the end of 2000. Although the first task of our new Executive Director, Rebecca Nichols, was to develop a plan for self-sufficiency through increased membership, other pressing matters took precedence. The membership plan and campaign fell far short, notwithstanding constructive efforts and good ideas.

With the help of a Membership Task Force chaired by Leslie Wright (WAGGGS) an attractive, English/French CONGO brochure was produced, and a mailing was sent to NGOs in consultative status. The Task Force and Executive Director identified certain challenges CONGO faces in expanding membership, and about which we should be very honest: 1) CONGO members receive few, if any, privileges beyond those they already receive by being in consultative status; 2) most members do not have regular representation in UN headquarters cities; and 3) CONGO's work on their behalf is not widely known.

As a partial response the challenges she identified, our Executive Director, sought to promote awareness of CONGO during the Cairo+5 and Beijing+5 special sessions, and awareness of CONGO definitely increased through these events. The sessions also yielded a number of new members, many of whom we recruited personally. However, we did not emphasize membership systematically, and had relatively modest additions, which were partly offset by organizations that did not renew their memberships. Associate membership amounted to only eight members in the Geneva record books, in part because CONGO in New York now requires verifiable affiliation with a United Nations agency or unit for each application.

Some of us may feel that CONGO membership is a privilege that does not have to be earned or one we certainly do not need to promote actively. And, perhaps assuming that new members will stay with us, our renewal efforts largely involve the Treasurer sending out invoices to members and our making routine distribution of Board minutes. As a result, according to Lee Weingarten our longstanding, dedicated but only part-time Administrator in Geneva, when new members join after receiving consultative status, they often fail to pay their dues in subsequent years.

The administrative burden of processing memberships almost punishes those responsible for processing and record keeping. For members, we simplified payment three years ago by allowing payments in dollars by bank draft, rather than by wire transfer in Swiss francs. But this further complicated our procedures for payments, acknowledgements, data updating and communications. These all need to be centralized and simplified, so that staff and members can be proactive in soliciting and retaining membership.

So far I have held back on some facts. The membership pool on which CONGO can draw jumped from approximately 1200 in 1997 to over 2000 with those added this year. So our opportunity to add new members has grown dramatically. From another perspective though, this challenges to our institutional relevance: while our 230 CONGO members accounted for about 19% of NGOs in status in 1997, the 330 we have today amounts to only 15%. Most of the increase in members in consultative status has been through the addition of national NGOs, pursuant to ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31.

So, at one level, our efforts at regional outreach are on the right track, and our piecemeal efforts have produced an increase of roughly 45%, despite the grim picture I have painted. What this shows I believe is that we have a strong base on which to build. Continuation of regionally focused activities and Plus Five reviews, would reinforce any systematic membership effort that CONGO undertakes over the next three years.

The efforts will require that we look into our database. We have a good possibility of receiving a grant to consolidate our database into one new system that will reside on the Internet and that could be updated by either Geneva or New York. At a later date this could, if we wish, give all members Internet access to membership contacts, just as the NGO section is about to do for all NGOs in consultative status. In any case, developing a plan for membership development has to be a high priority for the next President. Perhaps, creating a special fund for membership may accelerate the process.

I should mention here two essential sources of help for the past three years in backing up our membership and entire administrative endeavor have been the Global Ministries have been the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, which has provided our office space in New York and the World Jewish Congress, which contributed $10,000 annually for CONGO accounting expenses.

Recognizing the need for a special focus on developing a website for the Conference of NGOs, I appointed a Communications Task Force in New York, headed by Claudia Strauss (WIT). To keep costs down, CONGO engaged as part-time webmaster a physician in Ukraine identified by WIT, who worked in his spare time on instructions from New York. Despite the fact that the first two New York staff given part-time responsibility for the site were not well suited for the job, the site evolved under the almost direct oversight of the members of the Task Force. Today, we have as part-time Communications Coordinator, Janice Fett, who worked on Beijing+5 and has grown into the responsibility with savvy and commitment.

She has overseen at least two, important additions this fall. The first is the development and constant improvement of a calendar through which NGO Committee Chairs can post announcements of their meetings and events for all to see. The second is the development of a separate committee page for each NGO committee to post whatever it wishes in the way of a record of its work, membership, leadership and plans. We hope that this will assist the committees in their important work and provide awareness of concerns that cut across their substantive areas of interest.

We have experimented with listservs, particularly one hosted by Dennis Frado (Lutheran World Federation) on NGO access at the United Nations. We need to do a better job of reporting on events that we organize or United Nations and/or NGO events that you and others may want to know about. Equally important, though, we recognize our limits and try to point visitors to our site to other websites through links to where we think the very best information can be found.

In the longer term, I would think that our website, e-mail and listservs open possibilities for CONGO and committees to have greater participation from NGOs located outside our three headquarters cities. It should strengthen our general outreach and membership recruitment and retention and raise awareness of our entire constituency about issues and events where the United Nations and/or member states are or could be interacting with NGOs.

The activities I have described engaged and indeed mobilized the volunteer efforts of many CONGO officers, board and organizational members, but we could never have done them on volunteer effort alone. Our former President Bob Harris noted the problem at our General Assembly in 1997. Over three years' hard experience as First Vice President in New York, I had to run the New York operation with no budget and no staff. In addition to my volunteer time, I had to contribute to CONGO from personal resources. I resolved that CONGO leaders in New York should never be so restricted in working for CONGO. Two CONGO officers, the late Eleanor Brown (International Federation of Women Lawyers), Virginia Maynard (International Federation of University Women) and I worked together to implement a Board decision and establish a nonprofit entity, the Conference of NGOs Foundation. Its board would be led by CONGO officers and would work for the benefit of CONGO. The Foundation was incorporated in 1996 and two years later, in 1998, it received 501(c) 3 status from the United States Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt institution. My hope was to be able to raise funds for a small, fulltime staff for CONGO (our by-laws prohibit any Foundation Board member from receiving compensation) to do some of the things I felt were so badly needed.

In 1995, while serving on the Facilitating Committee of the Beijing World Conference on Women, I organized NGO presentations and daily briefings through a group we called, "equipo", that ensured that no one NGO or group of NGOs dominated this important NGO reporting process. A representative of the Ford Foundation noticed and appreciated that success, and I was able to discuss with her my hopes for CONGO. I had many meetings with Foundation staff, one of them included Bob Harris, and ultimately submitted a proposal that was funded, to engage a 2 ? person staff.

For CONGO this has meant that: 1) none of the many activities described in this report has been at any financial cost to CONGO; 2) CONGO in New York has not taken any CONGO funds (membership or other) for New York operations, even though the President has been located there; 3) CONGO membership funds in New York provided one-time startup funding to the Vienna office and provided computer and office purchases to upgrade the Geneva office and 4) none of the CONGO officers have had to be out of pocket for cash expenses to CONGO.

Ford funding came to us on the premise that we would expand our membership and work towards self-sufficiency, based on member dues. As indicated previously, while we have grown our membership since 1997, we were diverted from this objective and need to refocus it. The funding made it possible to hire our Executive Director. At the same time I made a proposal to UNFPA for funding our consultation in Kampala, which was also successful after some delay. I should at this point give credit to my husband, Carl Schieren, who used his experience of almost a lifetime in project fundraising in international development and who conceptualized and wrote most of these two, major proposals that established our funding viability and enabled us to hire staff. Once on board, in September 1998, Rebecca Nichols and I made a good team approaching donors for support of Cairo+5 and Beijing+5.

I have noted the generosity of donors in specific sections of the report where their funding was applied. But that may have obscured the large number of donors who have come to our assistance in so many ways, for so many purposes, without ever imposing a condition that compromised our independent action and integrity. For this we are extremely grateful.

In the future, it will be important for Geneva to demonstrate that it can raise funds for support of the office there, as it did in the past under Bob Harris. I understand that several valuable steps have been taken in this regard, including to obtain tax-exempt status and to seek donor funding. Vienna, too, will need to demonstrate that it can obtain support for some of its work. Once all of us are working, pulling some weight in all three locations, we will be in a strong position to serve NGOs in each location and face the challenges that lie ahead for CONGO.

The kinds of activity I believe CONGO should undertake, should find sources of funding. NGO participation in other Plus Five General Assemblies needs support and it needs voices from the regions. Expanded work in communications, in Geneva and New York and Vienna and on the website is needed, as an ever more essential link with our members, the NGO committees, many in the United Nations system, our donors and a broader community of NGOs and institutions and individuals engaged in international issues. To promote more diversity in our membership, several members have suggested we appeal to members to make voluntary contributions to a CONGO fund that could cover membership dues for NGOs that met certain criteria of appropriateness and need. For the fund named in honor of Eleanor Brown who passed away just after her efforts had helped to bring the Conference of NGOs Foundation into being, we need to find as much support as we can to bring women from developing countries to participate in events at the United Nations. I would also suggest another general fund to bring participants - men and women - from developing countries to UN events. The possibilities are great. To realize them CONGO will need a strong fundraising effort backed by a shared sense of common purpose among the members of its board and an increasingly new and energized base of members committed to the UN/NGO relationship.