Month: January 2018

From December the 4^th till the 8th, the 2017 International Civil Society’s Week as well as CIVICUS World Assembly took place in Suva, Fiji, and RACI did not miss these events.

The International Civil Society’s Week (ICSW) is a global meeting which gathers members of civil society around the globe in a constructive dialogue towards common solutions for global challenges. In 2017, the ICSW was focused on topics such as “Our Planet”, “Our Fights”, and “Our Future”, enabling more than 30 events to gather leading organizations from all around the world. CIVICUS World Assembly was indeed the most distinctive event of all, culminating with the ceremony for the 2017 Civicus Nelson Mandela – Graça Machel Innovation Awards.

In RACI’s representation, our Executive Director as well as Board member of CIVICUS, Guillermo Correa, served as envoy for communicating the main challenges of the Argentinian Civil Society and the regional situation.

The G20’s year-cycle for 2018 was inaugurated in November the 30^th 2017, having Argentina as the 2018 presiding country for the major global forum of international cooperation. Lasting over a year, around 60 working sessions will gather Chiefs of State, high rank public officers, and multilateral organisms’ representatives in a discussion over economic, financial, and political current matters.

In numbers, the G20 is constituted of 20 developed and emerging countries, as well as the European Union. Spain is in this case in a permanent guest and two countries are invited by the host, this time having Chile and New Zealand nominated by Argentina. Altogether, these countries accumulate 85% of the world’s GDP, 66% of its population (accounting for 4.500 million inhabitants), 75% of world’s commerce and 80% of global investments.

Leaders from regional and international organisations will also participate in these meetings: António Guterres (United Nations’ Secretary-General), José Ángel Gurría (OECD’s Secretary-General), Christine Lagarde (IMF’s Managing Director), Luis Alberto Moreno (IDB’s President) and Jim Yong Kim (World Bank’s President).

Besides meetings held by Sherpas, public officers and representatives from the international organisations, Affinity Groups encounters will also take place.

These groups are divided in 7 topics: Business 20 (international business community); Civil 20 (having as chair and co-chair Poder Ciudadano and RACI, respectively); Labour 20 (unions); Science 20 (science related matters); Think 20 (gathering experts from around the world); Women 20 (linking civil society organisations focused on women with leading women entrepreneurs); and Youth 20 (platform for the visibilisation of young voices). Each affinity group will deliver recommendations for the G20 to take into account in discussions and further negotiations.

Traditional topics in discussion are fiscal policy, development, and fight against corruption, incorporating more recently sustainable development, global health, and women’s participation in the labour market.

Nevertheless, certain priority topics are determined and maintained throughout the years, giving some sort of consistency thanks to the troika’s definition, which was integrated by the previous presiding country (Germany), the current one (Argentina) and the following nation (Japan).

In its 2018 presidency, Argentina determined the “future of work”, “infrastructure for development” and a “sustainable food future” as priority topics for this edition.

These topics will be discussed in 60 meetings, divided in two channels of work: Finance Channel and Sherpas’ Channel (name given to the representatives of the G20 leaders). The first channel will consist of 11 meetings gathering ministers of finances and central bank presidents treating topics of financial order, while the Sherpa Channel will foster 41 meetings between Sherpas and ministers.

Accordingly, each Affinity Group will have specific occasions to meet, as well as countries representatives in the Leaders’ Summit, in which Chiefs of State are expected to collaborate in the implementation of recommendations following discussions.

At least 52 of the previously mentioned meetings will be held in Argentina, with the remaining ones spread across multiple international summits such the World Banks and the IMF’s. The Argentine government has created the G20 Technical Unit in order to coordinate these meetings, pointing at a better collaboration between State sectors.

An estimate of 13.000 people will participate in meetings previous to the Summit, from which 2.700 will be high rank officials (Sherpas, ministers, second rank officials, and experts such as sub-secretaries and directors), joined by 8.000 technical advisors. Impressively enough, the Leaders’ Summit is expected to gather 7.000 attendees.

For more information, check: https://www.g20.org

Sources:

https://www.g20.org

http://www.apertura.com/economia/Los-numeros-detras-del-G20-20171124-0010.html

RACI launched its two new publications, continuing its collaboration in the institutional strengthening of Civil Society and access to International Cooperation.

With the support of Strengthening Civil Society Office from Buenos Aires City Government we have published the fifth edition of the Manual for Access to International Cooperation and the Directory of Civil Society Organizations in Buenos Aires City.

With sustained effort, the Research Area at RACI is glad to present and share for free access two fundamental tools for the daily work of organizations that, continuing with one of the objectives of our network, seek to democratize information that strengthens a better performance of Civil Society in Argentina.

The Manual for Access to International Cooperation is composed of three parts. The first has updated data and information on International Cooperation and its trends in the world and in Argentina, and on the 2030 Development Agenda. The second part focuses on methodological issues such as the search for donors, forms for project presentations, resources available to access international cooperation and the relationship with the donor, among other information of interest. The third part is dedicated to accountability, providing tools, good practices and recommendations for all Civil Society organisations.

The Directory of Civil Society Organizations in Buenos Aires City contains the data on organizations working in the City of Buenos Aires with systematized and reliable information. Its purpose is to publicize the profiles of the organizations surveyed, aiming at providing visibility for actors from different sectors to articulate in a sustainable manner according to areas of interest and geographical location.

As a result of the data obtained  through this mapping, the digital platform for the Directory of Civil Society Organizations in Buenos Aires City was created, once again supported by Strengthening Civil Society Office from the City Government, to promote social connectivity and the sense of community among different actors that promote the development of Civil Society.

This directory allows you to register organizations and filter your search by name, neighborhood, work topic, and address. It is an open and free platform for all those organizations that wish to join.

On November the 28^th 2017, RACI celebrated with its partners, allies, and donors another year of projects and objectives achieved in collaboration.

The event was held at the British Embassy’s Residence in Buenos Aires, for the third year in a row, welcoming more than 290 attendees to celebrate the end of 2017 with the RACI team. This event was hosted by the UK’s Ambassador, Mark Kent, and the Executive Director of RACI, Guillermo Correa.

Reviewing a year of collaborative work, Guillermo Correa and Patricia Kahane, Executive Director of Fundación Tzedaká and member of the Executive Committee of our Network, both acknowledged the milestones achieved by the federation and thanked the attendees for their support.

Among our many achievements, we highlight the following: the articulated work of all partner organizations; 7 face-to-face workshops in different locations throughout the country along with 3 free webinars open to all organizations; the Declaration of Interest granted by the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation in recognition of our training sessions and the designation of RACI as co-chair of the Affinity Group Civil20 within of the G20, having Argentina as its president and host in 2018.

From RACI we thank our allies, donors and above all, the member organizations that work year after year within the federation to strengthen the Argentine Civil Society. We wish all of you an excellent ending for 2017 and a 2018 with even greater network collaboration.

Surrounded by journalists and international experts in a press round, and followed by a launching event with Civil Society Organizations, the great challenge of the Civil 20 (C20) has officially  begun.

In December 11th and 12^th 2017, the Civil Affinity Group 20 presented its working agenda under the new Argentine presidency of the G20, providing an exclusive press round for journalists at UNDP offices, holding the so-called kick-off event at the Institute of the Foreign Service of the Nation.

In the presence of international representatives and experts, the symbolic handover ceremony was hosted by the Sherpa of Argentina for the G20, Pedro Villagra Delgado, with the chair of C20 2017, Jürgen Maier, and Pablo Secchi, chair of C20 2018, starting the working agenda of civil society within the framework of the G20.

With opening words by the President of Poder Ciudadano, Hugo Wortman Jofré, and René Mauricio Valdez, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System and representative of the UNDP in Argentina, the event invited all the attendees to expose expectations and challenges concerning this new chapter of work.

Emphasizing the inclusion of every Social Organization that might want to participate in the working groups, Pablo Secchi added: “The voice of civil society from all over the world has to be expressed and taken into account so that the results of public policies reach the citizens. We invite all organizations to come.”

To conclude the meeting, the conference “The G20: A Platform of Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Agenda” was held, integrated by Mauricio Alice, sous-sherpa of the G20; Laura Jaitman, Deputy Finance Officer; Anthony Gooch, from the OECD; Steve Price-Thomas, from Oxfam; and René Mauricio Valdez, from UNDP.

If you want to know more about C20’s work, fill up this form and you’ll get all the information about how your organization can participate.

As part of the series of digital seminars offered throughout the year by the Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, RACI participated as the organizer of the last training.

“Tools and strategies for the institutional strengthening of organizations” was the topic for the online training launched through the official website of the Center, in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation which presented the Trustlaw program.

The activity was oriented towards the development and institutional strengthening of organizations through an exchange that increases their capacities and technical resources in order to achieve greater growth and enhance their sustainability.

The topics discussed over the digital seminar were the following one: the importance of the functions and activities carried out by the Institutional Development area, tools to improve daily management, the resources available to organizations, actors and strategies to expand the funding sources and the pro bono global legal assistance program offered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation through its program.