Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development
2nd Ministerial Review Conference
“Reduce Armed Violence, Enable Development”
crossposted from the Alliance for Peacebuilding Member Forums (A Great Resource), seehttp://www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org/news/68899/Geneva-Declarati...
Call for expressions of interest in civil society participation
______________________________________________________________________________________
From 31 October to 1 November 2011, the Government of Switzerland, in collaboration with the Geneva Declaration Core Group of States, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will host the 2nd Ministerial Review Conference (2nd MRC) for the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, to take place in Geneva, Switzerland on the theme “Reduce Armed Violence, Enable Development”. The 108 States that have thus far signed the Geneva Declaration since 2006 have committed themselves to taking tangible and demonstrable steps to reducing the incidence and causes of armed violence in concert with, and to assist in enabling, the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. The 1st Ministerial Review Conference in 2008 reaffirmed our collective commitment to achieving measurable reductions in the global burden of armed violence by 2015. The time is now right to take stock, review progress, identify remaining challenges and – most importantly – to accelerate those measures which we know are producing a demonstrable impact on the ground.
The theme of this strategically important meeting--coming as it does half-way between the beginning of the Geneva Declaration (GD) in 2006 and 2015, a key date on the road to meeting the Millennium Development Goals--is “Reduce armed violence, enable development”. The Review Conference will build on developments that have taken place since the 1st Review Conference in 2008 and on the outcomes of a series of regional practitioners meetings taking place since last November. These regional meetings have focused particularly on the eliciting good or promising practices by governments and civil society organizations in armed violence reduction programming. Critically, the 2nd MRC will set directions for action between now and 2015. Civil society organizations will play important roles in this Conference and their participation is being strongly encouraged.
The 2nd MRC will bring together governments, civil society organizations and other actors to:
This “call for expressions of interest” is aimed at stimulating applications for participation by civil society organizations in the 2nd MRC. There is an opportunity for up to 70 organizations to participate, 40 of which will be sponsored for the costs of participation. Those with special interest and experience in one of the 3 pillars of the GD--advocacy, monitoring and measurement, and programming (see www.genevadeclaration.org)--are especially encouraged to make an application. Because the focus of this meeting will be on the practice of armed violence reduction programme, we are particularly interested in encouraging the participation of civil society organizations that are currently engaged in integrated programming.
In addition to the Review Conference itself, there will be a half-day civil society “pre-meeting” planned for Sunday, 30 October. This pre-meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss and explore the principal themes addressed in the conference, and to engage with civil society participants in shaping a collective vision of conference outcomes and commitments for action by Review Conference participants for the period to 2015. The 2nd MRC will then be followed by a half-day civil society convocation on Wednesday, 2 November, which will make it possible for civil society participants to review the outcomes of the Review Conference and to set directions for actions by civil society on armed violence and development in the months ahead. It will also offer a chance to review and discuss opportunities to strengthen civil society’s collaboration towards the implementation of the actions that will have been defined. Civil society organizations chosen to participate are encouraged to take part in this entire 2nd MRC “process” from 30 October to 2 November. Sponsored civil society organizations will be expected to take part in the entire process as a condition of sponsorship.
If you are interested in being considered for a place at the Review Conference, please see the process described below and complete and return the form by 25 July to Paulin Regnard at QUNO (pregnard@quno.ch).
Process for civil society participation in 2nd Ministerial Review Conference
Invitations for participation in the Review Conference will be extended to civil society organizations based on assessment of all expressions of interest against the set of criteria outlined below. There will be a limited sponsorship programme to assist up to 40 representatives of organizations to take part. Others will need to be self-financing. Priority for sponsored participation will be given to civil society organisations actively engaged in working to reduce and prevent armed violence, as well as civil society organisations from countries, territories or groups affected by armed violence. Participants from the global south will be given priority for sponsorship.
Criteria for participation:
Armed violence is complex and multi-faceted. In order to ensure balanced representation among civil society organisations working on diverse aspects of the problem of armed violence and development, a number of core criteria have been established – drawing on prior experiences in calls for participation in armed violence and development conferences and based on the objectives of 2MRC – to try to balance civil society participation at the 2nd Review Conference:
- A representative range of civil society organisations with experience across major types of armed violence involved in developing armed violence reduction and prevention interventions (development, disarmament, public health, education, urban development, gender) either through direct programming (targeting the tools of violence and victims and perpetrators of violence) or indirect programming (working on the institutions regulating violence and the general framework in which armed violence can take place).
- A representative range of civil society activities and expertise including armed violence-related research, policy, advocacy, campaigning and programme delivery experience. Special attention will be given to applications that present strong integrated projects that include programmatic work, as well as policy, advocacy and research aspects and demonstrate armed violence and development linkages;
- Priority representation from civil society working in countries/territories directly affected by armed violence
- Balanced regional representation
- Balanced gender representation
- Specific expertise that can be presented and integrated as part of the official program of the conference
The goal is to ensure a diverse and balanced civil society delegation. Priority will be given to organisations that can provide evidence of successful advocacy, practical action and innovative approaches in relevant areas.
Expressions of interest may be submitted on behalf of organisations but they must provide details of the specific person seeking to attend.
Please note that, due to the limited number of places available at the 2nd MRC, the submission of an application expressing interest will not necessarily result in an invitation. Invitations will be sent only to those organizations selected by the organizers of the Conference. information on the registration procedure and on the 2nd MRC can be found on the www.genevadeclaration.org/gdrevcon2011.
for more details see the attached forms. Deadline is July 25, 2011 for submissions. Note as with almost all postings on the site we are only providing information and cannot provide any additional guidance.
