Commonwealth Civil Society Project
Research by: Dr Manisha Diedrich
Updated: June 16, 2004
What young people think about the Commonwealth
Manisha
Diedrich, April 2004. Participation by young people is the key to the
future of the Commonwealth. This paper includes findings from a survey
conducted by the civil society project in three youth fora between October-December
2003 -- Creating Common Wealth in Brisbane, Australia, the Commonwealth
Youth Forum at Abuja, Nigeria and a workshop for young persons conducted
by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in London, UK. The aim of
the survey was to find out about young people’s awareness of the
Commonwealth before participating in these fora and whether they wished
to be involved further in Commonwealth activities.
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young people think about the Commonwealth'
Hope for Change: World Social Forum 2004
Manisha Diedrich, February 2004. For six days in January, the city of Mumbai was transformed as the local and trans-border international civil society came to participate in the World Social Forum 2004 and made their presence felt in this leading industrial, financial and film city of India. This paper gives a first-hand account from the Project Officer for the civil society project, who was one of 100,000 delegates to the Forum.
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From
rhetoric to action
Youth participation in the Commonwealth
This article provides an independent analysis on youth participation in the Commonwealth and proposes recommendations to Commonwealth NGOs and Commonwealth Heads of Governments. The article by Manisha Diedrich was included in the publication, The Commonwealth Heads of Government 2003: The Commonwealth in the 21st Century, published by the Commonwealth Secretariat and Henley Media Publishing, and released at the December 2003 CHOGM in Abuja, Nigeria.
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Civil Society in the Commonwealth
This article examines the role of the unofficial Commonwealth, which consists of a vast network of organisations at a local, regional and pan-Commonwealth level. As such organisations form networks for regional advocacy and policy work, the key question is the extent to which they can influence official processes in the Commonwealth. A related issue is how far such processes can include young persons, since the Commonwealth’s future depends upon the formation of a more participatory body. The article by Manisha Diedrich was included in the publication, Nigeria’s Commonwealth Summit: A Briefing on Issues Before the Leaders at Abuja, CPSU, December 2003.
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Workshop for pan-Commonwealth NGOs on Youth Engagement
On
Friday September 26th, the Commonwealth Civil Society Project, CPSU, in
association with the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Foundation,
held a 'Workshop for pan-Commonwealth NGOs on Youth Engagement', at the
Institute of Commonwealth Studies. See the Report of the Workshop below.
In June 2003 the Project, in association with the Africa Office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, organised a Commonwealth Advocacy Workshop in Accra, Ghana for civil society organisations in Commonwealth West Africa i.e. Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The aim of the workshop was to explore the Commonwealth as a platform for creating change, particularly in the run-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting being held in Nigeria, December 2003.
During the course of the workshop participants adopted a workshop statement which concentrated on the issues of human rights and development, peace and security, political transition and democracy as well as the Commonwealth and West Africa. The statement begins "to face the challenges of our age participants believe that the Commonwealth has to restructure itself to be first and foremost people-centred."
The statement is included in the report of the workshop, appended below. The report includes papers from participants outlining advocacy strategies in different settings (UN, Commonwealth, African Commission, ECOWAS, and at the national level). Specific issues covered include the perception of the Commonwealth in West Africa, human rights and development, peace and security and political transition and democracy.
Survival of the Youngest: Pan-Commonwealth NGOs and the Younger Generation
The Round Table, April 2003
The Commonwealth has a long acknowledged problem in attracting and retaining the interest of young people and has run a designated youth programme for three decades. However at the start of the new millennium the organisation seems no nearer to successfully addressing the challenge of how to remain relevant to new generations of Commonwealth citizens. In trying to transform apathy about the Commonwealth amongst younger people, the association has generally not sought, nor been offered, the active assistance of the 69 accredited pan-Commonwealth non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that make up a key part of the unofficial Peoples' Commonwealth. This article analyses how these organisations could work to increase youth interest, not just in the Commonwealth as a concept and as an organisation, but in their own work. The article concludes that without an assessment of youth needs and interests, a number of pan-Commonwealth NGOs face diminishing members, or even extinction, within a generation, something that could be a precursor to the fate of the Commonwealth itself unless political will, better cross-sector resource mobilisation and creative thinking are all fused together.
The Commonwealth of Nations - a positive forum for civil society
engagement?
CPSU Project Officer, Amanda Shah has written an article for the new online section of Alliance magazine, Alliance Extra, as part of its March 2003 special theme on civil society's role in global policymaking.
Partners or Protagonists? The Commonwealth of Nations and Civil Society, January 2003
This article was written by Amanda Shah for "Transnational Associations: The Journal of the Union of International Associations" and is taken from "Joining Up the Commonwealth: A Response to Governmental Calls for Increased Co-ordination with Civil Society" the inception phase report of the Commonwealth Civil Society Project. The article documents and comments upon the process of re-thinking the official Commonwealth's engagement with civil society that has been taking place since the 2002 Commonwealth summit in Coolum. Updates in the ongoing process since the report's publication in August 2002 have been incorporated in the article, particularly the round of civil society consultations organised in the summer and autumn of 2002. For a copy of the published article please see the website of the Union of International Associations.
'A Commonwealth of Governments and Peoples: A New Partnership?, Commonwealth Club, 30 October 2002'
This half-day conference was organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society, in association with the CPSU, in preparation for meetings convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat in the run up to the December 2002 Board of Governors' Meeting which will discuss the civil society recommendations of the High Level Review Group Report. The background note for the conference was prepared by Amanda Shah, CPSU Project Officer. The conference report can be found at the website of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
'Joining up the Commonwealth', A Response to governmental calls for increased co-ordination with civil society. A report by Amanda Shah, August 2002
During the Commonwealth Civil Society Project's inception phase (April-August 2002), work concentrated on the civil society recommendations from the report of the High Level Review Group to Heads of State at the Coolum Commonwealth summit. The project focused on three elements of importance to these recommendations; 'mapping' the 69 accredited pan-Commonwealth NGOs, an exploration of the usefulness of Commonwealth Centres from a civil society perspective, and an examination of accreditation procedure. 'Joining up the Commonwealth', is the report of this inception phase.
CPSU Submission to the coordination committee for Commonwealth Agencies
CPSU's Commonwealth Civil Society project made a submission to the Co-ordination Committee for Commonwealth Agencies (CCCA) prior to its first meeting in London on 28 June 2002 advising on how it should engage with civil society.
The Commonwealth Civil Society project at the CPSU would be pleased to see copies of any submitted material, which can be forwarded to the Project Officer, Amanda Shah.
The Commonwealth Civil Society project held a consultation seminar to raise some of the issues for civil society in the Commonwealth following the commitments made by Heads of Government at the Coolum Commonwealth summit in March 2002. Papers were delivered by Amanda Shah, CPSU Project Officer and Claire Auplat, CPSU Associate Fellow.
Royal Commonwealth Society International Meeting, Commonwealth Club, 24th June 2002
As part of the Royal Commonwealth Society's International Meeting, Amanda Shah was asked to sit on a panel with Rajesh Tandon, Executive Director of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) and Colin Ball, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, to discuss Bridging Divides, Making a Difference - the People's Commonwealth.
Australia's Commonwealth Summit: A briefing on issues before the leaders at Coolum in March 2002
In the CPSU-SAIIA publication 'Australia's Commonwealth Summit: A briefing on issues before the leaders at Coolum in March 2002', Amanda Shah examines the nature of the relationship between the governmental and non-governmental Commonwealth in the essay 'Relations between the Official and Unofficial Commonwealth'.