Process: FFD Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Systemic Issues (Nairobi, Kenya)
March 29-31, 2005
Organized by Civil Society: New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Kenya, SEATINI – Kenya
Co-Sponsored by Foreign Ministry of Sweden, Commonwealth Foundation, UN Foundation, UN Financing for Development Office
Venue: Nairobi Safari Club, Lillian Towers, Koinange Street, University Way, Nairobi, Kenya
Process
The FFD Multi-Stakeholder Consultations on Systemic Issues from March 29 through March 31 is a meeting of experts. We have worked with our co-conveners in Nairobi, the SEATINI/Kenya office and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Kenya office, to ensure that we have identified experts from each of the stakeholder groups: the relevant UN agencies, the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, national governments, the private for-profit sector, and civil society which includes NGOs, think tanks and academics.
The Open Forum will be open to the public, as invited by SEATINI and FES. The two days of meeting on March 30-31 will not be open to the public. Every participant, as an expert, will be invited and expected to participate actively. Before arriving in Nairobi, we expect all of you, all of us, to have reviewed the background papers. We will bring that knowledge as well as our own broad and deep knowledge and experience to this Consultation. You will not receive copies of these background papers in Nairobi. If you want hard copies to work from, please bring them with you.
The persons identified in the Agenda as Presenters might better be described as “conversation starters.” We have asked each one to speak no more than 9 or 10 minutes. This means that in an hour session, we should have close to 50 minutes for discussion. The Moderators will then ensure that as many different people as possible have the opportunity to speak. They will also try to keep us on subject; as appropriate, they will challenge us with questions; and summarize at the end.
For this meeting, despite our diverse institutional backgrounds, we will all speak as individuals, not as representatives of our various institutions. Notes will be taken, and a rapporteur’s report will be made public. However, no names will appear in the rapporteur’s report. In discussing this event in the future, you are welcome to discuss the substance. Our agreement among ourselves and to each other is not to mention the individual or the institution that proffered a particular idea or position. In some countries this is referred to speaking on the basis of “not for attribution.”
In addition, the goal is not to reach consensus. Again, the rapporteur’s report will reflect ideas and arguments; it will not describe a position as a “consensus” or as “most agreed” or that everyone agreed (or disagreed). The UN Secretary General is seeking a description of the range of views and options available.
Any recommendations that result from these Consultations will come exclusively from the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition. Yes, we may steal your idea and claim it as our own! However, only by using this arrangement and the other “rules of the game” described above can members of international governmental organizations and representatives of national government participate actively and fully. They are in no way engaged in negotiating an official position. Some of the recommendations may be affirmed at the High-Level Dialogue, expected to take place at the Ministerial level in New York June 27-84, 2005. The Ministers at that meeting will formally negotiate at that time.
The previous meetings in this consultative process, most recently in Lima and earlier in Washington at the International Monetary Fund, resulted in wide ranging discussions—even emotional debates! They also resulted in people from very different backgrounds finding common ground. We hope for this again in Nairobi. Following Nairobi, we will meet with UN delegations in New York on May 17-18 to review our findings and introduce some recommendations so the Delegates will be able to learn and to provide additional insights and feedback before we write the report to the Secretary General. Our report, along with those from the 2 other parallel Multi-Stakeholder Consultations organized by UN staff and the other by the private sector, will be submitted to the Secretary General. The Secretary General’s report then goes to the Ministers who will participate in the High-Level Dialogue. And New Rules will continue to pursue the implementation of recommendations through the UN and through other venues.