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2011 Busan Global Civil Society Forum,
South Korea:Redefining
Development Aid
By Mohammed B Attah
Newsdiaryonline Sun Nov 27,2011
Attah
With over 500
representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs),
government and the private sectors, participants at the 2011
Busan Global Civil Society Forum (BCSF) in
South Korea, participants are
unanimous in their agreement to demand for a more inclusive,
transparent, and people-oriented, development-driven aid for a
better world we live.
Tagged ‘The Busan CSO
Agenda’ and enlisting a wide variety of local and international
concerns, the three-day event held on November 26 through 28
serves as preparatory meeting to the Fourth High Level Forum
(HLF-4) on Aid Effectiveness, as a means to prepare CSOs’
position on development aid and cooperation before the
international governments largely from the donor nations.
Essentially, the aim of the pre-HLF-4 meeting was to ensure a
common platform for the global CSOs to demand that aid should
not only be owned by the people, it should be untied by the year
2015.
Hosted around the theme
of ‘Development Cooperation
and Transparency’ the event was organized by two leading
international coalitions of CSO on aid effectiveness, Better Aid
and Open Forum for CSO Development and Effectiveness as well as
Korea Civil Society Forum on International Development
Cooperation (KoFID), with support from the government of Korea.
The event featured
series of sessions including an opening ceremony that gave
presentations on the key elements of the Busan Forum leading to
the HLF-4, plenary and panels on CSO Road to Busan from Accra,
an overview of the Rio+20 and a final draft of the Busan Outcome
Document (BOD) which wil form the basis of negotiation among
parties.
Other key elements of
the presentations include remarks by Mr. Seonghbon Lee, Chair of
KoFID on a post-Busan Agenda that focuses on fresh movement for
action towards 2015 MDG target, a global monitoring mechanism
with more focus at country level, strengthening domestic
accountability process and cooperation between and among global
governments such as the United Nations (UN), European Union
(EU), Organisation for Economic and Development Cooperation
(OECD) among others.
In his congratulatory
message, Mr. Tae-yul Cho, Ambassador for Development Cooperation
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea
identified four thematic areas for CSO engagement beyond the
HLF-4 and the MDG year 2015. They include new global context for
development effectiveness, South-South Triangular Cooperation,
engaging new players such as the effective use of the private
sector as development for growth and locally owned and managed
resources.
Speaking at the event,
Ms. Emele Duituturaga, Co-Chair of the Open Forum for CSO
Development Effectiveness, she echoed the position of the
participants with the phrase that ‘the time has come and
government must listen to their people’. In the same vein, Mr.
Antonio Tujan, Co-Chair of Better Aid remarked that CSOs are
already ahead of their governments most developing nations,
particularly in Africa, and as such all efforts must be made to
bring them to the current realities.
In a special address to
the participants at the Forum, UN Special Rapportuer on the
Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Maina
Kiai congratulated the organizers and participants for coming
this far and having the thought of meeting before the HLF-4. He
emphasized on the role of CSOs during and after meeting with a
strong message that ‘CSOs must come up with their own process
not only for aid effectiveness but of internal regulations that
will guarantee the delivery of aid to the people.
One key message by a
representative of the Open Forum from Nigeria, Dr. Tola Winjobi is a clear
and unambiguous reality that the only big obstacle to achieving
the above objectives will be the lack of political will on the
part of government not only to deliver on their promises but to
keep the agenda working.
Such international NGOs
as the British Oversees NGO for Development (BOND), Arab NGO
Network for Development (ANND), CIVICUS World Alliance, Oxfam,
Plan International and Care were among several others in
attendance.
_________________________
Reported by
Mohammed Bougei Attah, Africa Regional Coordinator WANGO and
Managing Editor of NGO Network who was in attendance
Th
This is the document referred to in the Witness
Statement on Oath of Clifford O. Kokogho as
“Exhibit
COK.2”
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