UNDP Engagement with Civil Society

Civil Society Advisory Committee to UNDP

The Civil Society Advisory Committee to UNDP was created in 2000 as a formal mechanism for dialogue between civil society representatives and UNDP senior management. The purpose of the Advisory Committee, which brings together a group of 14 civil society leaders, is to serve as a strategic advisory body and sounding board to UNDP senior management on key policy and programming issues.

The committee is of vital importance in contributing to a strong partnership between UNDP and civil society. The global crisis in multilateralism, multiple governance challenges, and the threats of the financial crisis to achieving the Millennium Development Goals underline the need for the UN to work creatively with its partners and allies, including civil society in all its diversity.

The committee was renewed in January 2009 with 10 new members. See the biographies of the Civil Society Advisory Committee members.

News on the Members of the Civil Society Advisory Committee

• Meenakshi Raman (legal advisor of the Third World Network) speaks out baldly on the relations between developed countries and developing countries on the issue of climate change (2009).
  
  
• Nilda Bullain (Executive Director of the European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law) discussed the meaning of citizenship and citizen culture during the Civil Society for Central and Eastern Europe Trust Forum (Bratislava, 2009).
  
  
• View a short interview with Sunila Abeysekera (2009), in which she speaks about her work on Human Rights issues in Sri Lanka.
  
  
• Roberto Bissio from the Social Watch International Secretariat launches "People First", which includes the findings from civil society organizations in over 60 countries on the social impact of the global economic crisis.
  
  
• Sheela Patel receives the David Rockefeller Briding Leadership Award (2009) for leading the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), an Indian civil society organization that aims to improve the living conditions and promote the rights of millions of urban slum dwellers and homeless people. Under Patel’s leadership, SPARC has catalyzed the construction of housing for over 8,500 families and over 500,000 toilets and latrines, with programs in 70 cities in India.
  
  
• Trade Unions Combat the Global Financial Crisis. Peter Bakvis (2009)
  
  
• An interview with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (2009) about the impact of a changing climate on her country Philippines and what she sees as the obligations of rich countries under the Kyoto Protocol and any post-2012 agreement. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is also the Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
  
  
• Remember the Real Villain - Wall Street. John Cavanagh (member of the Civil Society Advisory Committee) and Sarah Anderson (2009)