Category: Uncategorized

Ms Sijal Aziz

Director, Outreach and Programs – Women Empowerment Literacy and Development Organization (WELDO), Pakistan

In 2003, Ms. Sijal Aziz, embarked upon her lifelong ambition for empowering women and making a positive contribution to the development sector through founding Women Empowerment Literacy and Development Organization (WELDO). Over the years she has had the privilege of working with women at grassroots, local, national and international level. These women range from a woman who is a victim of domestic and social abuse in a backward village in Pakistan to a woman in power in Brussels.

A staunch believer in “economic autonomy” of women, she has been instrumental in raising the socio-economic and cultural status of women within the deeply patriarchal village societies of Pakistan and capacitating women entrepreneurs within the developed cities.

Based on her strong communication and networking skills she has worked with more than 250 organizations across the world under various developmental and gender empowerment projects. She has had the privilege of representing her organization and Pakistan in multiple countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

She is currently working in WELDO and living with her 15 months old daughter in Rawalpindi.

Ms Marren Akatsa-Bukachi

Executive Director, East African sub Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), Uganda

Marren is currently the Executive Director of the Eastern African sub regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI). She holds a Bachelors’ degree in Sociology and is completing her Masters’ in Public Health Leadership.

Between 2006/2007, Marren chaired the Commonwealth Women’s Network and coordinated the team that organised the Commonwealth Partners Forum preceding the Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Meeting held in June 2007, in Kampala, Uganda. She has over 20 years’ experience in development work.

EASSI was founded in 1996 as a follow up of the 4th world Conference on Women held in Beijing, China. Its main objective is to monitor implementation of the Beijing Platforms for Action in 8 countries in Eastern Africa.

She is especially passionate about violence against women (VAW) caused by misuse of small arms. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the International Action Network of Small Arms, and is also the convener of its thematic group on strengthening networks.

In December 2010, she inspired a solidarity visit to the DRC as part of her interest in Africans supporting fellow Africans, and mobilised 50 women from Eastern Africa. This was a first.

“I am very excited to be back in the centre stage of Commonwealth”

Presented by Myn Garcia, Deputy Director, Commonwealth Foundation at the Professional Development Programme for Members of the Tanzania Women’s Parliamentary Group (TWPG), 23 January 2014, Westminster Hall, London UK; organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. 

Over the past two decades, civil society participation has become recognised as critical to the national ownership of development processes. An active civil society with the ability to suggest different methods of political participation is a cornerstone of democratic governance.

This is at the heart of the Foundation’s work: supporting people’s participation for effective, responsive and accountable governance. In September 2013 the Foundation developed a Civil Society Engagement Strategy which aims to focus on the need for strengthening its mechanisms for relationships and coordination with CSOs. The Strategy is premised on the theory of change: that stronger and more organised voices, increased capacities in policy and advocacy, clearer messages, and sustained opportunities to work collaboratively with governance institutions will lead civil society to participate more effectively.

While there is no one defined method or rulebook for pursuing inclusive and democratic governance, the Foundation believes that each country defines its own unique process based on its values, standards, history, local realities and by learning from the experience of other countries.

The distinctive rise of shared governance is a development of recent decades, where the participation of non-state actors (particularly CSOs) in global policy making has increased significantly. Recent moves towards government decentralisation in a number of countries with greater decision making power/finance provided at local levels, have built upon and often extended the scope for CSOs to influence policy at the local level.

Decentralisation and devolution has increased citizen participation and promoted civil society activity. Meaningful public participation in decision-making, implicit in which are strong civic capacities and a healthy associational life, is a foundation of social stability and peace. In Tanzania for example, Policy Forum, a network of more than 100 Tanzanian civil society organisations, is promoting fiscal accountability and the importance of transparent and inclusive budgeting for improved service delivery.

In 2012, the Commonwealth Foundation contributed to the architecture of the Post 2015 Development Agenda. In partnership with the UN Millennium Campaign, it published Commonwealth Perspectives: Ideas for a new development agenda, which articulates civil society analysis of the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Commonwealth countries and the contributions of civil society, the usefulness of the MDG framework and the issues for a post 2015 agenda to consider.  One of the 14 countries covered by Commonwealth Perspectives is Tanzania

Building on the Commonwealth Perspectives, the Foundation supported a series of Commonwealth regional consultations which identified emerging regional priorities for Post 2015. These priorities were then further deliberated on at the Commonwealth People’s Forum in Sri Lanka in November 2013, which resulted in the formulation of the CPF 2013 Declaration for Post 2015.

One of the biggest lessons from and a widely shared critique of the MDGs is the need for adaptable, localised goals. The research in Tanzania led by the Tanzania Association of Non-Governmental Organisation (TANGO) certainly highlighted that localised and flexible goals imply that CSOs need to be involved in the design of development frameworks in order to play a better role in implementation. Enabling conditions for civil society participation underpins development effectiveness. What is needed is more attention to supporting the conditions such as enabling laws and policies and building capacities of civil society so they can play a full role. The Tanzania report in Commonwealth Perspectives reiterates this need for an enabling environment for civil society participation, ensuring that the Post 2015 framework will be responsive to the needs of citizens, particularly those living in poverty.

The next step now is for civil society to engage in the spaces with the decision/policy makers at the global, regional and national levels to influence the discourse and the architecture of the new development goals.

In 2011, the Parliamentarians who came together at the International Parliamentary Conference on the MDGs pledged to strengthen participatory democracy through deepening engagement with civil society, encouraging and supporting their participation in decision making and maximising their roles as independent development actors. The Commonwealth Foundation at the Africa Parliamentary Conference on MDGs in 2012 called for a strong partnership between civil society and parliaments across the Commonwealth, and pointed out the crucial nature of this partnership to guide the architecture and ensure the ownership of the new development goals. This call resonates at this time.

The IPCP 2015 Conference Communique and the recommendations for parliamentary engagement to the Open Working Group of the UN and the Post 2015 Action Plan for Parliamentarians are critical commitments and provide a meaningful framework for civil society engagement with parliamentarians on the Post 2015 development agenda. One of the cornerstones of participatory governance is dialogue. And Parliamentarians are key and critical champions for dialogue. Meaningful change takes time but if the lines for listening, learning and engaging are kept open, we can collectively make change happen.

A formal dialogue between civil society organisations and Foreign Ministers is now an established feature of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

It was the Government of Malta that introduced what is now referred to as the Civil Society Roundtable to the agenda when they hosted CHOGM in 2005. The roundtable in Sri Lanka was the fifth in the series and having been involved in each of them I reflected on the ways in which they have changed – even over this relatively short period of time.  

When the commitment to having these roundtable meetings was first made there was applause from civil society and then satisfaction that time had been set aside for their engagement with the CHOGM process. The fact that separately representatives from the youth sector had been granted direct access to Heads of Government at CHOGMs was not lost on civil society. That civil society is not given an opportunity to engage face to face with Heads still smarts, but the structured dialogue with Foreign Ministers was seen as a valuable opportunity to engage with political leaders at a senior level.  

The experience of the early dialogues was less than satisfactory. The civil society presentations were disparate, covering the gamut of global concerns, while the ministers’ responses were sceptical about the credibility of the proponents across the table. The dialogue that took place this year was different and it provides guidance for the next set piece – which poetically will take place in Malta in 2015. 

This year the Commonwealth People’s Forum’s (CPF) theme provided the point of departure for the dialogue. The CPF focussed on gathering voices from the global South to discuss the post 2015 development agenda. This provided a framework for civic inputs, which called for coordination and cooperation among the diverse array of civil society organisations pressing for their particular issues to be heard. 

The meeting started with a reading of the CPF declaration, which clearly caused irritation among some in the room. At the same time you could see that there was something symbolic about it: formally presenting the sum of civil society deliberations to Ministers – to the Commonwealth. This act invoked the opening lines of the Commonwealth Charter, which begins “We the people of the Commonwealth…” 

It was followed by seven sharp and concise civic perspectives on issues raised in the declaration, including: the importance of creative expression as a major thread in development; the need for the inclusion of all in development processes; and the vulnerability of small states in an economically and climatically fragile world. There was an eloquent statement in support of linking peace and development and the need for this to be underpinned by openness and dialogue between governments and civil society. 

To their credit Ministers responded in kind. There were no long speeches elaborating the specific shortcomings of civil society. Instead the contributions resonated with the participatory development narrative set out by the civil society speakers. There was particularly strong support for small states’ participation and visibility in the global development discourse and for further efforts behind gender empowerment and equality.        

Observing the exchanges it was also clear that many of the things that civil society were calling for from governments had already been committed to by most. International treaties and frameworks such as: the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities; the International Labour Organisation’s Decent Work Agenda; and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions spoke to many of civil society’s aspirations. What they called for here was partnership with government and implementation: partnership to shape policy and monitor its impacts; and implementation at a national level of commitments made in the global arena. 

There was no glossing over the intricacies and tensions involved when governments and civil society work together. The need for frameworks and institutions that guarantee dialogue was noted and the Foundation’s commitment to building civic capacity – particularly at the regional level was validated. 

The dialogue worked well in providing an airing for issues, but is that enough? In most Commonwealth Ministerial meetings, civil society now features on the agenda. Over the past 18 months, in addition to CHOGM there have been major Commonwealth ministerial meetings on education, health and gender equality. At each of these civil society has helped to animate deliberations and contribute to the outcomes. They are now looking for more so that they can justify expending scarce resources on Commonwealth processes. In particular they are calling for a more explicit connection can be made from one meeting to the next, with ways to involve civil society in reporting on the progress made in taking the various mandates forward. Not only would this improve the experience for civil society participants, but arguably it would add a valuable dimension to ministerial meetings for ministers themselves.

Director Vijay Krishnarayan reflects on the way the formal dialogue between civil society organisations and Foreign Ministers at CHOGM has changed over time. 

A formal dialogue between civil society organisations and Foreign Ministers is now an established feature of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It was the Government of Malta that introduced what is now referred to as the Civil Society Roundtable to the agenda when they hosted CHOGM in 2005. The roundtable in Sri Lanka was the fifth in the series and having been involved in each of them I reflected on the ways in which they have changed – even over this relatively short period of time.  

When the commitment to having these roundtable meetings was first made there was applause from civil society and then satisfaction that time had been set aside for their engagement with the CHOGM process. The fact that separately representatives from the youth sector had been granted direct access to Heads of Government at CHOGMs was not lost on civil society. That civil society is not given an opportunity to engage face to face with Heads still smarts, but the structured dialogue with Foreign Ministers was seen as a valuable opportunity to engage with political leaders at a senior level.  

The experience of the early dialogues was less than satisfactory. The civil society presentations were disparate, covering the gamut of global concerns, while the ministers’ responses were sceptical about the credibility of the proponents across the table. The dialogue that took place this year was different and it provides guidance for the next set piece – which poetically will take place in Malta in 2015. 

This year the Commonwealth People’s Forum’s (CPF) theme provided the point of departure for the dialogue. The CPF focussed on gathering voices from the global South to discuss the post 2015 development agenda. This provided a framework for civic inputs, which called for coordination and cooperation among the diverse array of civil society organisations pressing for their particular issues to be heard. 

The meeting started with a reading of the CPF declaration, which clearly caused irritation among some in the room. At the same time you could see that there was something symbolic about it: formally presenting the sum of civil society deliberations to Ministers – to the Commonwealth. This act invoked the opening lines of the Commonwealth Charter, which begins “We the people of the Commonwealth…” 

It was followed by seven sharp and concise civic perspectives on issues raised in the declaration, including: the importance of creative expression as a major thread in development; the need for the inclusion of all in development processes; and the vulnerability of small states in an economically and climatically fragile world. There was an eloquent statement in support of linking peace and development and the need for this to be underpinned by openness and dialogue between governments and civil society. 

To their credit Ministers responded in kind. There were no long speeches elaborating the specific shortcomings of civil society. Instead the contributions resonated with the participatory development narrative set out by the civil society speakers. There was particularly strong support for small states’ participation and visibility in the global development discourse and for further efforts behind gender empowerment and equality.

Observing the exchanges it was also clear that many of the things that civil society were calling for from governments had already been committed to by most. International treaties and frameworks such as: the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities; the International Labour Organisation’s Decent Work Agenda; and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions spoke to many of civil society’s aspirations. What they called for here was partnership with government and implementation: partnership to shape policy and monitor its impacts; and implementation at a national level of commitments made in the global arena. 

There was no glossing over the intricacies and tensions involved when governments and civil society work together. The need for frameworks and institutions that guarantee dialogue was noted and the Foundation’s commitment to building civic capacity – particularly at the regional level was validated. 

The dialogue worked well in providing an airing for issues, but is that enough? In most Commonwealth Ministerial meetings, civil society now features on the agenda. Over the past 18 months, in addition to CHOGM there have been major Commonwealth ministerial meetings on education, health and gender equality. At each of these civil society has helped to animate deliberations and contribute to the outcomes. They are now looking for more so that they can justify expending scarce resources on Commonwealth processes. In particular they are calling for a more explicit connection can be made from one meeting to the next, with ways to involve civil society in reporting on the progress made in taking the various mandates forward. Not only would this improve the experience for civil society participants, but arguably it would add a valuable dimension to ministerial meetings for ministers themselves.

Civil society representatives have presented the Commonwealth People’s Forum 2013 Declaration to Foreign Ministers gathered for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo  along with Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation, Sir Anand Satyanand and Director Vijay Krishnarayan. 

Medical professional and founder of MERCY Malaysia, Dr Jemilah Mahmood, gave the CPF 2013 Keynote Lecture on the role of civil society in post-2015 development, focusing on growth and inclusive development.

Dr Mahmood is a Senior Fellow at Khazanah Nasional Berhad in Malaysia and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Humanitarian Futures Programme, King’s College, London, focusing on private sector roles in disaster management.

She was the Chief of Humanitarian Response at the United Nations Population Fund in New York from 2009-2011.

Dr Mahmood is an active member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team. She sits on many international boards and is currently on the boards of Humanitarian Accountability Partnership in Geneva, Doctors of the World USA (Medecin du Monde), DARA International, INGO Accountability Charter and Teach for Malaysia. She is a Council member of the Overseas Development Institute UK and Chairs the Humanitarian Innovation Fund grants panel UK.

For her work in humanitarian and peace building, she has been conferred numerous awards including four royal awards in Malaysia, the East Asia Women’s Peace Award from Philippines and the prestigious “Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award” from USA. In May 2013, she was the inaugural winner of the prestigious Isa Award for Services to Humanity from the Kingdom of Bahrain for her contribution in humanitarian, development, disaster risk reduction, education and poverty alleviation.

She is featured in many international studies on leadership both in the business and humanitarian sector.

Photos of the event can be found here

Civil society voices were represented at the Committee of the Whole in October 2013, a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers in London.

Recommendations from civil society organisations on an array of issues including the post-2015 agenda, were presented to ministers and captured in the Civil Society Statement. Click link below to download a copy of the statement.

This year Commonwealth Writers turns its focus solely on the Commonwealth Short Story Prize as a unique award.

The short story provides an accessible format as well as enabling writers to enter from countries where there is little or no publishing industry and to submit stories that have been translated into English. As a result it has become the main focus for Commonwealth Writers, a cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation.

‘It would be wonderful to see submissions from bold stylists and stories that experiment with the form as well as more traditional approaches to the short story,’ said Ellah Allfrey, who is chairing the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

‘This prize celebrates the power of the short story to spin a tale that concentrates experience and character in such specificity that the local is transformed to significance far beyond its borders,’ said Allfrey, who is Deputy Chair of the Council of the Caine Prize, previously Deputy Editor of Granta and a senior editor at Random House. ‘This is the magic of good writing, and this is what I hope we will find,’ she added.

‘Writers from across the Commonwealth will be encouraged to send us stories that bring us news of wherever they are, in the wide variety of voices and accents that make up the English language’.

Regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000. Translators of winning stories will receive additional prize money.

‘We’re proud to have such an accomplished team of judges and excited to be putting more resources into this year’s Short Story Prize,’ said Lucy Hannah, Programme Manager at the Commonwealth Foundation.

Commonwealth Writers continues its partnership with Granta Magazine, providng winners with an opportunity to have their story published online, while for the first time, selected writers will be offered a chance to work with the London-based literary and media agency Blake Friedmann.

The judges are pictured left to right: Ellah Allfrey, Doreen Baingana, Michelle de Kretser, Marlon James, Courttia Newland and Jeet Thayil, reflecting the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The 2014 Short Story Prize closed on 30 November 2013. Entry was via the online application form at www.commonwealthwriters.org

Photo Credits: Ellah Allfrey: Daniella Silva, Jeet Thayil: Basso Cannarsa; Doreen Baingana: Jerry Riley.

Every September New Yorkers give up part of their city to the United Nations happening that is the General Assembly. Not only does it attract 193 governmental delegations, but interest groups from every conceivable sector, including a vibrant civil society presence, writes Commonwealth Director, Vijay Krishnarayan in New York.

The Commonwealth Foundation has joined the throng this year so that we can share the outcomes of our joint work with the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) that took soundings from across the Commonwealth on a future internationally agreed development framework. Given the array of civil society organisations here, it is also an opportunity to consolidate relationships and establish new partners as well as to learn from others sharing our objectives. 

Our joint project with the UNMC convened civil society organisations in 20 countries where they reflected on: progress towards the MDGs; the usefulness of the MDG framework for civil society; the contribution of civil society to the attainment of the MDGs; and issues for a post-2015 agenda to consider. The Foundation documented the results for 14 of those 20 countries and produced national papers as well as a synthesis report: Commonwealth Perspectives: Ideas for a New Development Agenda. It showed that there are particular issues that Commonwealth citizens want to see addressed post 2015 including: gender equality; the development needs of small states; and Non-Communicable Diseases. But it also showed that Commonwealth citizens care as much about the way that development is done.  They are not alone. 

This week has provided a focus for several initiatives that have been canvassing citizens’ voices on what should follow the MDGs post 2015. These include the UN’s own project “The World We Want” which reached a million people through 88 national consultations and on-line engagement. The UN’s Non-Governmental Liaison Service consulted with 120 regional civil society networks. Participate – an initiative co-convened by the Institute of Development Studies and the civil society network “Beyond 2015,” used participatory action research to hear from people in 29 countries. 

The striking thing is the degree of convergence across these pieces of work. Citizens: acknowledged that the MDGs provided a focus for development efforts; experienced development in a way that left them disappointed with implementation; and wanted to see future priorities feature decent jobs, care for the environment, accountable governance and peace.  The UN Secretary General’s (UNSG) report “A Life of Dignity for All,” which was presented to the General Assembly clearly has citizens’ fingerprints on it. He calls for goals that are measurable and adaptable to both global and local settings. He says these goals should be universal— applying to all countries. He makes specific references to a sustainable development-based agenda with quality employment and a new global partnership for implementation. 

From here the process of developing the post 2015 development framework becomes increasingly governmental. In the UN system, attention shifts to the so called “Open Working Group” – 30 UN member country representatives nominated by different regions, which will use the UNSG’s report as a point of departure for further thinking on the new framework – there will be opportunities for civil society to provide inputs until February 2014. The Open Working Group will present its report to the next General Assembly in 2014 with the seal being set on the new framework in September 2015. 

For civic concerns about participation and accountable governance to prevail through this process, the representations from the well organised and articulate civil society organisations represented here in New York need to echo the voices of those working at the local, national and regional level. In turn, opportunities need to be found that continue the in-country discussions that have started. It’s only through these national exchanges that civil society and governments will begin to appreciate each other’s position – realise that they have some things in common and begin to deconstruct the somewhat abstract concepts of participation and governance into tangible tools for more effective development.  The Foundation can play its part by supporting dialogue and the engagement of all stakeholders in setting development objectives. These national and regional dialogues will help governments take account of citizens’ voices as they move through the UN’s process. 

Governments may well agree on the need for a single set of goals addressing poverty and sustainability, but the extent to which issues of governance and peace show up is a moot point. The themes that civil society organisations have highlighted are currently at the margins of governmental concerns: while these might feature in preambles, effort is needed at all levels to see these translated into goals or targets. If these issues are to stand any chance of making it on to the new development agenda the discussions between civil society and governments need to continue through until the new framework is agreed in September 2015.