[CS Bureau] Minutes of the Bureau Meeting, 26 June 2004

[Viola Krebs]

Minutes of the Bureau Meeting, 26 June 2004

Agenda

1. Procedure
2. Bureau: the way forward
3. Financing, strategies for next PrepComs and Summit
4. Comments about PrepCom 1, what has worked, what are the lessons that can be learned?
5. Action Plan

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1. Procedure

Procedure needs to be established in writing. It needs to be repeated at the start of the first plenary of each PrepCom / event (in paper, oral and online form).

The CS Plenary should be structured as follows: 5 min. report from the Bureau and 15 min for questions and answers; 5 min. report from Contents and Themes and 15 min. for questions and answers. 

It was suggested that the time of the Plenary should be extended to 1.5 hours. 

2. Bureau: the way forward

We have moved into the second phase of the WSIS, it is seems necessary to consider the way forward for the International CS Bureau. The composition and mechanisms will therefore be reviewed by a sub-group of the Bureau which will submit concrete proposals by September.

The following points and considerations have been mentioned:

Since the Governmental Bureau has 32 members, it might be a good idea to consider the same for the CS Bureau. 

Each Family of the Bureau has a Focal Point and at least one alternate. If the family coincides with a working group, there should ideally be at one additional person to follow the Contents and Themes group meetings, which should not be the Focal Point for the Bureau. 

The CS Bureau only deals with procedure. All matters related to content are being left up to the Contents and Themes group and the various caucuses. If there is a disagreement within a caucus / the Contents and Themes group, that may lead to a crisis (e.g. Human rights statement of PrepCom 1), the Bureau may called for advise as an instance of conflict resolution. 

It was suggested that observers could attend Bureau meetings, but would only be allowed to speak if the chair allocated time for observers. 

The CS Bureau needs a Secretariat, which deals with logistical matters (e.g. sending of minutes, translation coordination, printing documents, etc.). 

In case no funds can be secured for such a logistical position, the tasks might be divided among several members of the CS Bureau. In this case, it would be important to have a system of rotation, as the work load is significant. 

Minutes and regular updates of the CS Bureau meeting should be posted on the CS Bureau list. This is especially important for those Focal Points unable to attend a meeting, but who need to inform their constancy about events. 

Whenever possible, agendas should be sent to the CS Bureau list ahead of time.

Each CS Bureau Family that wishes to continue working should submit a report of phase 1 by 15 September. It will be the basis for the evaluation process. It appears that, in addition to the constituencies represented, the networking capacity of families should be taken into consideration.

3. Financing

We need to identify financing sources and mechanisms to allow more CS participants to attend. To do this, it is recommended to create a working group that can write grants for the CS Bureau and CS at large. One starting point is the existing CS fund that was created by Tunisia and contains currently 400,000 Dinars. 

We should in particular have a look at funding possibilities from North American Foundations (e.g. Rockefeller, Ford, etc.) that were not present at all.  

We also should approach the private sector for funding. 

4. Comments about PrepCom 1, what has worked, what are the lessons that can be learned?

We should prepare ourselves better before the next PrepCom (e.g. action plan). We should have a Bureau meeting one day before the opening of the PrepCom to prepare the first CS plenary. 

Interpretation has been an issue for CS participation in this PrepCom. Indeed, not all sessions had benefited from interpretation, which created communication problems. In phase 1 of the Summit, volunteer interpreters were provided by ICVolunteers. This could be done again, provided expenses were reimbursed (e.g. transport, accommodation). Languages to be covered should be English, French, Spanish and the language of the host country (e.g. Arabic). 

5. Action Plan

a) Four sub-groups of the Bureau have been created to work on specific documents: 
-	Overall procedure for CS (Middle East, Gender, Science and technology)
-	Way forward for the International CS Bureau (NGOs, Volunteers, Europe, Networks, Bertrand de la Chapelle)
-	Financing group (dealing with grant writing) (Africa, Think Thanks, Networks, Volunteers)
-	Liaison person to recommend creation of contents and theme procedures group (Education)

Timelines: 	Pre-final version by 15 September 2004
		Final documents by the beginning of October 2004

b) The CS Bureau mailing list needs to be updated, as it is out of date. 

c) Make sure that the email archive of the CS Plenary guarantees the accessibility of all the documents sent to the list, including attachments.