[CS Bureau] Back to work...

Tue Jan 4 13:30:43 GMT 2005

Robert:

In response to some of your comments and questions.

1.	CONGO has a long track record as an independent CS interface to
United Nations Conferences, meetings etc. see www.ngocongo.org
<http://www.ngocongo.org/>  
2.	Due to increasing workloads within a very small staff structure we
had for some time asked for support for an additional staff person, in
particular for WSIS activities. This met with the ideas of some donors that
some sort of additional (other what exists in the WSIS ES) support for CS,
in particular for the CS Bureau, should be given to CONGO.
3.	After some back and forth between several donor entities, an ok was
received late in December. As it was known to many CS entities that we were
looking - I had mentioned it at several occasions, including in Berlin- I
had received many CVs. However, I could start interviewing only after Cape
Town and between Christmas and New Year.
4.	Criteria included: core skills and competencies, work achievements,
languages, availability and valid Swiss working papers. I believe, we found
a very good person in Adina Fulga Radi, a Romanian national with Swiss
Permit B, (and married to a British national)  fluent English/French,
reasonable Spanish, Italian, Russian and Romanian mother tongue, holds
degrees in International Relations, Gender studies, Business Administration
and Journalism and Communication from Bucharest and Geneva Universities.
Her work experience include Media and Press Officer at AIDS Conference in
Lausanne, HEI Graduate Institute, at various functions at UNHCR, WHO, video
news releases at UNCTAD and WTO as well as field missions in Yugoslavia, BBC
World Service Correspondent (1999-present) And she was Media Officer at the
2003 WSIS Summit. She will need some days to work herself into the complex
CS structures and sensitivities, and will then be in contact with you. 

With regard to  PC2: we had sent out the information for the 6 January
accreditation deadline (for those who are not yet accredited or do not hold
ECOSOC status) some time before Christmas, so did the WSIS ES 

The Preliminary Time table for PC2  see below. I will send it also to the
Plenary.

Details on fellowships and guidelines are on the ITU website and include
those who want to attend the WGIG.

I will also meet with Ramin ands Viola later during the week. Today I am
flat with intestinal flu.

Preliminary time table for PC2

According to informal contacts with the Secretariat a very preliminary time
table for PC2 looks as follows. It will only be finalized by the next
Government Bureau meeting on 12/13 January. So please check constantly also
for fellowship details the www.itu/int/wsis 

Provisional time table for WGIG (14-16 Jan.) and PrepCom2 (17-25)

WGIG                                       14 -16 Jan.

Monday 14 Jan.             

Morning:                                    open for (silent) observers,
mainly reporting

Afternoon:                                 closed

Tuesday 15 Jan                         all day open meeting

Wednesday:                              closed meeting

PrepCom2                                 17 -25 Jan.

Thursday 17 Jan

Morning:                                    Plenary: adoption of agenda,
housekeeping and    reporting (regional and other meetings)

Afternoon:                                 General Debate: mainly on
Financing

Friday 18 Jan all day                  Subcommittee to discuss GFC document,

                                                Beginning with Finance
chapter

Monday-Wednesday:                 Subcommittee continued

21-23 Jan                                  Chapeau, first, second and fourth
chapter

Thursday 24 Jan                        Preliminary discussion on chapter
three: IG

Friday:                                      Plenary: Report, dates for next
PrepCom and an evtl. Intersessional meeting and Format of Summit

A first CS Orientation session will be held on Monday (14 Jan) afternoon
from 14:00 - 19:00 with breakouts for Caucuses and WGs

Wishing you all a very good year

Renata

  _____  

From: bureau-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:bureau-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of Robert Guerra
Sent: lundi, 3. janvier 2005 22:13
To: bureau at wsis-cs.org
Cc: 'Derrick Cogburn'
Subject: RE: [CS Bureau] Back to work...

Renate:

In regards your earlier message - all i'll say is that i'm concerned by the
fact that not too much is known about the details of the - secretariat - as
mentioned @ the cape town meeting. Surely, if there's a staff person  now
available - there's a terms of reference and a set of tasks the person is
responsible for. Personally, i think more should have been shared (either
on, or off the mailing list). 

I think I know you well enough to believe that the intentions are good,
however others who don't know you, or who don't know your and CONGO's
involvement to-date might think otherwise. Being proactive in regards to
releasing details will prevent unnecessary criticism in the days ahead.

In summary - The matter of fact approach of setting up the secretariat, and
now obtaining the "staff" person  - well, isn't too transparent. Though well
intentioned , great care must be taken and more information needs to be
provided if you don't want to  subject to  criticism.

In regards to the Cape Town meeting:

* Again i would like to thank those who were able to secure funding to bring
us all to cape town. Please let me know if personalized thank you letter to
the funders might be useful/helpful.

In regards to PC 2 :

* I would like to point out that the accreditation deadline for new
organizations is coming up. I think it's Jan 8. This really needs to be
pointed out on lists and other spaces. I would recommend that the point be
mentioned to the WSIS ES , so that they can communicate the deadline.

* Fellowships - A two week prepcom in geneva will be significantly more
expensive than the meeting in Cape Town.  Would it help to start obtaining
cost estimates ( travel and accommodation) so we can have an idea of what
funding would be needed ? 

- I have performed a very quick and high ended calculation for me , and my
numbers are as follows:

a. Travel - 1100 CDN

b. Accommodation (15 day) - 201 CDN/Day = 3015 CDN

c. Per Diem - (meals and other expenses) based on high end rate - 160
CDN/day

Total : 6515 CDN . At today's exchange rate = approx 4000 Euro.

The numbers are in a sense, a high end (conservative) estimate of what the
projected costs for me will be like. It's likely to be less.

Multiply that # by 20 (approx bureau people), and you get 80,000 Euros.
that's quite a sum to get in less than a month.

Thus the question - should we try to secure funding just for the coming
event, or more funds to cover the bureau (and possibly others too) from now
to the Summit?

* Accommodation - Can we reduce the cost of lodging/accomodation by having
those in geneva make a   bulk reservations ?

* Virtual Participation - How can we develop options so that those not
physically able to travel to Geneva can participate in a more effective and
meaningful way? Can we plan in advance - so that virtual attendees can
participate in sessions?

* Schedule / Program - Andy Carvin and others are starting to ask about the
meeting schedule/agenda. Is it available anywhere? If not - do we have an
idea of what will be discussed @ what week of the meeting?

* Tasks - by when can we develop a concrete list of tasks, when they have to
be done by and who will help with them.

those are my thoughts for now.

looking for all your comments

regards

Robert

At 7:02 PM +0100 1/3/05, Renata Bloem wrote:

As of today we have a WSIS staff person. I will in time introduce her to
you. Next mandatory step is to secure/finalize logistics. The UN is still
closed today, and the person in charge, Danielle Boccard, on vacation until
the 10th when we have a meeting with her.

-- 

###
Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
Privaterra - <http://www.privaterra.org>

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