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Report on consultation regarding a Global C4D Association

Dear Friends and Colleagues in C4D,

With apologies for the long delay, we are pleased to provide the final report of the 30-31 August 2012 consultation on establishing a global C4D association.

Much has happened since the August consultation, including, as you no doubt know, the closing down of Panos Institute, London.

In addition, discussion around the post-MDG agenda has continued and a website co-hosted by civil society and the United Nations as part of the UN global conversations, www.worldwewant2015.org , opened “for business” at the end of July. But concern has been expressed that the communication for development/development communication community is not present in top-level discussions, and that the traditional sectors of economics, health, education, protection, nutrition, water and sanitation and others are still being discussed in a fairly silo-ed manner.

Quick note of thanks on last week's consultatoin

Dear Friends,

We want to send a quick note of thank you to EVERYONE for your support in moving towards a global C4D association. Last Thursday and Friday, about 25 C4D practitioners and academics debated and discussed various issues related to forming such an association. We were sorry that not everyone in this network could be with us, and hope to hear from all of you in the coming weeks and months.

We also acknowledge that participation was weighted on the "northern" side, with no participants (outside of UNICEF) coming from Africa, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East or Eastern Europe. So we look forward to getting to know those of you who have joined the network whom we do not know so well.

In the next 3 or 4 weeks, we will share the report with you. It will include the names of individuals who volunteered to form an Organizing Committee with an operational timeline of about 18 months. Others of you may wish to become involved, too, and that will be wonderful.

In the meantime, please feel free to be in touch with me, Rafael or Warren if you have observations or questions about establishing a global association for C4D.

Regards, Paula

Consultation for Global C4D Association - Agenda, Particpants List, Doucments

Dear Colleagues,

On the Google Docs link below, you can find the agenda, participants and various documents that will be included in the binders for discussion during the 30-31 August consultation at UNICEF House in NYC:

https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B_UM7ayDq7zxc1l2NEkzb0pVTzg

We look forward to seeing about 40 of you there (although several non-C4D UNICEF colleagues who are interested in C4D will also participate and are not members of this network).

For those of you who are coming from out of town, please be aware that the UNICEF lobby is under renovation. Please proceed to the reception desk, where your name will be on a list. The meeting is down one floor from the lobby, in Labouisse Hall. If you get stuck, please call me at 917-658-7127 (cell phone).

Looking forward to taking these discussions forward!

Paula

Session 11 - A gathering for C4D

Dear Woody, and am including Jackie and Ram too --

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. You have been slotted as facilitator for Session 11, "A gathering for C4D). This follows Sessions 8 and 9, which discuss the 5 suggested functions of a GC4DA, and which will be facilitated by Ram and Jackie.

There is thus some potential for overlap, particularly with Session 9, but we envision that in Session 9, the focus will be more on agreeing that such a regular gathering would be a logical function for such an organization. Session 11 would go further into exploring the pros and cons.

All three sessions are critical, and we hope they will yield some solid trends in thinking.

We made Session 10 on the linkages between the mass media functions and the C4D functions just prior to this one, as it may contribute to our overall thinking for a C4D gathering.

In Session 4, I will explain our methodology for the workshop. Warren, Rafael and I discussed how to most benefit from everyone's thinking in such a short time frame. For almost every session, we hope that the facilitator(s) can start off the discussion with an explanation of what has already been discussed with respect to the issue at hand. In the case of Session 11, this is about regular face-to-face meeting place for C4D academics, practitioners and others.

After your 8-10 minute introduction, there will be a short Q&A to clarify the issues at hand. We will then move into small group discussion. You would ask participants to work either at their tables or, if you think a regional or thematic discussion might be more effective, you could take that approach. For 18-20 minutes, the small groups would discuss either the same questions, or different ones. For example, with the bi-annual UN Round Table, OreComm's annual gathering, existing regional gatherings and CI's gatherings, what is the value added of a global C4D association gathering?

Session 8 - Functions of a global C4D association, part 1 ... and Session 9 - Functions, part 2

Dear Ram and Jackie

Greetings from New York and I hope your travel plans are going smoothly.

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. Ram has been slotted as facilitator for Session 8 and Jackie for Session 9, both of which address the five (proposed) functions of a GC4DA.

These are critical sessions and we realize that 1.5 hour is pretty short for the first part and 1 hour for the second part. But we hope they will yield some solid trends in thinking. As we go through the rest of the agenda, more clarity may emerge.

I will explain our overall methodology in Session 4. Warren, Rafael and I discussed how to most benefit from everyone's thinking in such a short time frame. We hope that you as facilitators can start off the discussion with an explanation of what had been discussed with respect to lobbying, policy-making and supporting leadership (Session 8) and with respect to supporting local expertise and organizing regular meetings (Session 9)

  1. For lobbying and advocacy for C4D, the idea is work with governments, donors, civil society, NGOs and UN system for increased human, financial and technical resources to programming that includes C4D principles and strategies

  2. For policy-making, to ensure that development programming and implementation is derived from communication and media for development principles and strategies

  3. For nurturing and supporting leadership, to nurture leadership in C4D globally, particularly from least-developed countries

  4. Supporting local expertise to develop and be more empowered -- so that C4D does not remain dominated by western/northern thinking

  5. Organizing a regular face-to-face gathering -- bi-annually? less frequently?

You may refer to the Concept Note for a few more ideas, and we will be happy to discuss this further with you when you arrive.

Session 7 - Constitutions and By-laws

Dear Marie and Jesus,

(Dear Thomas, will you kindly ask Marie to ensure she is registered in this forum and receives this message? I wrote separately to her and Jesus last week, but am not seeing her name on this CI platform yet. Thank you.)

In the hopes that Jesus will be able to be with us next week, I am writing again to the two of you with respect to Session 7, having to do with Constitutions and By-laws.

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. You have been slotted as facilitators for Session 7.

This is a critical session and we realize that one hour is pretty short. But we hope it will yield some solid trends in thinking. As we go through the rest of the agenda, more clarity may emerge.

I will explain our overall methodology in Session 4., Warren, Rafael and I discussed how to most benefit from everyone's thinking in such a short time frame. We hope that you as facilitators can start off the discussion with an overview of some of the many types and lengths of Constitutions and By-laws. I attach four sets of Constitutions, Statues or By-laws from like-minded organizations. I have many more on file if you would like to see others. You might make some comments about your perspectives on these legal documents.

Then, after this 8-10 minutes introduction, there will be a short Q&A to clarify the issues at hand. We will then move into small group discussion. You would ask participants to work either at their tables or, if you think a regional or thematic discussion might be more effective, you could take that approach. For 18-20 minutes, the small groups would discuss either the same questions, or different ones. For example, is there a specific model that seems to be most relevant (eg, ALAIC, ECREA, IAMCR)?

Then, each group will be invited to report out and any clustering of ideas.

Session 6 - Membership fees and financing

Dear Doug and Veet,

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. You have been slotted as facilitators for Session 6, discussion around membership fees and financing.

This is a critical session and we realize that one hour is pretty short. But we hope it will yield some solid trends in thinking. As we go through the rest of the agenda, more clarity may emerge.

I will explain our overall methodology in Session 4., Warren, Rafael and I discussed how to most benefit from everyone's thinking in such a short time frame. We hope that you as facilitators can start off the discussion with an overview of some of the many membership structures and fees. I attach nine sets of membership structures and fees from like-minded organizations. You might make some comments about your perspectives on membership fees and structures.

Then, after this 8-10 minutes introduction, there will be a short Q&A to clarify the issues at hand. We will then move into small group discussion. You would ask participants to work either at their tables or, if you think a regional or thematic discussion might be more effective, you could take that approach. For 18-20 minutes, the small groups would discuss either the same questions, or different ones. For example, is there a specific model that seems to be most relevant (eg, the ICA or IAMCR or ALAIC)? What would the fees be used for in the first year or two? What are the benefits of membership?

Then, each group will be invited to report out and any clustering of ideas. Hopefully, some consensus will be reached.

I am writing similar messages to the Facilitator(s) of each session.

Session 5 -- Enhancing the role of C4D through evidence, including academic journal

Dear Thomas and Ketan,

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. You have been slotted as facilitators for Session 5, discussion around the establishment of an academic journal.

I have updated Liv's spreadsheet with a suggestion from Doug Storey at JHU. Please find the spreadsheet attached. I hope this will help guide the discussion.

I will explain our overall methodology in Session 4., Warren, Rafael and I discussed how to most benefit from everyone's thinking in such a short time frame. We hope that you as facilitators can start off the discussion with an overview of existing journals, as per this spreadsheet. You might make some comments about your perspectives on the pros and cons of a new journal. (The spreadsheet will be in participants' binders and we will also share it on this platform with everyone, prior to the consultation.)

After this 8-10 minutes introduction, there will be a short Q&A to clarify the issues at hand. We will then move into small group discussion. You would ask participants to work either at their tables or, if you think a regional or thematic discussion might be more effective, you could take that approach. For 18-20 minutes, the small groups would discuss either the same questions, or different ones. For example, knowing what we do of the existing journals, what would be the added value of a new one -- give the top 2 reasons for a new one? Who or what institution might be best placed to take on this task? How would it be financed (membership fees? subscription fees? other?)

Then, each group will be invited to report out and any clustering of ideas. Hopefully, some consensus will be reached.

We realize that one hour is not a long period to discuss such an important topic, but we hope it will yield some solid trends in thinking.

Session 3 - Mission, Vision, Objectives

Dear Warren and Rafael,

Attached is the most current version of the agenda for next week's GC4DA consultation. Warren has been slotted in a number of places, including Session 3: Mission and Vision.

Also attached are eight statements downloaded from eight organizations. Not all organizations we research with respect to journals, Constitutions/By-laws and Membership Structures and Fees had the mission or objectives readily apparent on the web-sites. The ones I have included sometimes contain objectives or principles, not necessarily the mission or vision.

We hope these will help guide the discussion.

As discussed on Skype, this session could begin with a round robin of participants stating their name, institution or organization and a 1-minute statement (closely monitored) on why s/he was motivated to come to this consultation and why now is, or is not, the time to establish a global C4D association. This would be followed by a discussion to shape a statement of mission and of vision.

If more participants do not believe a GC4DA is a good idea at this time, then we can close the consultation, of course!

I am writing similar messages to the Facilitator(s) of each of the sessions. I already did that with Marie Brobeck and Jesus Arroyave for Section, but will write again today with copies of some Constitutions and By-laws. (Jesus is not sure of his participation and Anna Penido is unable to attend.)

I am including Patricia on all my messages today in case there is need of back-up for any reason.

When Rafael returns on Monday, I will have a set of documents in hard copy for us to make a final selection to include in the binders for participants.

By the way, the Google Docs sharing has not elicited comments into the spreadsheet of journals. A couple messages came in on this platform, but it was Liv or I who introduced the changes to the spreadsheet. Hence I am not using it for now.

Thank you and regards, Paula

Warren's message re the consultation

Warren and Rafael,

Thanks, Warren, for your message of 22 August explaining the theme called "Participants ..."

I have just tried to send the agenda and participants list to everyone and hope I succeeded. Not everyone is registered onto the platform so I will send a separate message to them (eg Mario Bravo) requesting them to sign in.

I cannot locate a "Create New Topics" inside, however. I can see a "Create content" and that's what I used just now.

I also see no way of replying only to you. Do I have to go to "Create content" (as I did just now) and click on your two names only?

Will you kindly confirm receipt of this message, of the draft agenda and of the list of participants?

FYI, I'll be working this Saturday in the peace and quiet of the office to finalize the "look" to the various Constitutions/By-laws and the Membership Structures/Fees that we have downloaded. By Sat or Sun, I'll be sharing them.

I also can share today the attached spreadsheet .

Thx Paula

Proposed Communication for Development Association