FRIDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2006
Morning Roundtable Session:10 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Roundtable #4 - Civil Society and Global Partnerships for Development
Conference Room 4This roundtable will examine effective partnerships between the United Nations, governments, media, academia, labour, youth, the private sector and other civil society actors, including NGOs. Such partnerships are needed to fully achieve both, the MDGs and the United Nations reform measures endorsed by world leaders at the 2005 World Summit. Discussion will focus on enhanced NGO access and input to United Nations fora, the General Assembly and other decision-making bodies. Examples of connecting global actors with local ones will also be discussed.
Moderator:
- ZohrehTabatabai, Director of Communications and Public Information, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Speakers:
- Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, President-Elect, Sixty-first Session of the General Assembly, United Nations
Download Speech PDF - Joe Donnelly, International Representative of the United Nations, Caritas Internationalis
Download Speech PDF - Jan Eliasson, President, Sixtieth Session of the General Assembly, United Nations and Foreign Minister of Sweden
- Shamina de Gonzaga, Special Advisor on NGO relations, Office of the President of the General Assembly, United Nations
Roundtable #5 - Commitment to Reducing Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Dag Hamarskjöld Library AuditoriumWays of reducing extreme poverty and hunger as a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and specific examples of successful partnerships aimed at achieving this goal by 2015 will be the topic of the roundtable. Unemployment as one of the causes of poverty and migration will also be addressed, with examples of multi-stakeholder partnerships needed to reverse this trend.
Moderator:
- Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui, Prince of Morocco and Founder of the Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia
Speakers:
- Dumisani Nyoni, Director, Zimele Institute, Rural Association for Progress (ORAP)
- Pedro Sanchez, Director, Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment, Senior Research Scholar, Director of the Millennium Villages Project
Download Powerpoint Presentation - Salil Shetty, Director, Millennium Campaign, United Nations
- Alvaro Umaña, Counsellor of Costa Rica, Office of the Executive Director for Central America and Belize, Inter-American Development Bank
Roundtable #6 - Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in Conflict Resolution
Conference Room 8The roundtable will provide a platform for representatives from different backgrounds to discuss efforts to increase the understanding of multiculturalism and to promote respect for cultural diversity. Speakers will cite examples of effective dialogues between different religions and cultures, in particular as they apply to conflict resolution. Clashes of ideologies, values and cultural norms that accompany globalization will be examined to incorporate sacred and secular practices and beliefs into multicultural solutions to these challenges.
Moderator:
- Carol Rittner, R.S.M., Interim Director, MA Programme and Distinguished Professor, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Richard Stockton College
Speakers:
- Carole Frampton, Director of Institutional Learning, Search for Common Ground
- Eboo Patel, Founder, Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
- Uri Regev, President, World Union for Progressive Judaism
Download Speech PDF - Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Sikh Leader, Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Download Speech PDF
Afternoon Panel Session:
2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The Role of the Media and Communications Technology in Achieving the MDGs
Conference Room 4The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), held in Tunisia in November 2005, looked at the link between information and communications technologies (ICTs) and development. The Summit aimed to bridge the economic and digital gap between developed and developing countries and to promote the importance of full and equal participation of all stakeholders (government, private sector and civil society) in propagating ICTs. The Summit was not about technology but rather about ways to make information society global and to convince decision makers to use ICTs as a tool for development.
Speakers will examine how the emerging trends in ICTs as well as new, innovative ways of distributing content are helping to achieve the MDGs. In addition to discussing new trends in mainstream media reporting, they will also examine examples of how these are being supplemented by participatory media, making information more accessible and more diverse.
Moderator:
- Juan Carlos Brandt, Chief, NGO Section, Department of Public Information, United Nations
Speakers:
- Oscar A. Avalle, Special Representative (Ai) to the United Nations, World Bank
- Therry Moses Genesis, Assistant Minister of Administration, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Liberia
- Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and CEO, Television for Education - Asia Pacific (TVEAP)
Download Speech PDF - Sarbuland Khan, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development
- Rebecca MacKinnon, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, and Co-founder, Global Voices Online
5 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Conference Room 4
- Raymond Sommereyns, Director, Outreach Division, Department of Public Information
Download Speech PDF
- Summary of Roundtables:
- Richard Berman, Moderator, Roundtable #1
- Augustine P. Mahiga, Speaker, Roundtable #3
- Zohreh Tabatabai, Moderator, Roundtable #4
- Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah el Alaoui, Moderator, Roundtable #5
- Carol Rittner, Moderator, Roundtable #6
- Farewell Remarks: Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Download Speech PDF
- Closing Remarks: Michaela Walsh, Chair, 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference