Voluntary Organizations and Civil Society

Country Reports: International Developments

The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 1, Issue 2, December 1998

UNESCO

The Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development was held in Stockholm, Sweden from 30 March to 2 April 1998. A draft plan for the rehabilitation of cultural rights and development was submitted to the conference by UNESCO.

The conference concluded with an action plan, which the conference requested UNESCO to bring to the attention of the United Nations General Assembly. The action plan comprises a series of policy recommendations to member states to adopt as part of 5 policy objectives:

  • to make cultural policy one of the key components of development strategy;
  • to promote creativity and participation in cultural life;
  • to reinforce policy and practice to safeguard and enhance the cultural heritage and to promote cultural industries;
  • to promote cultural and linguistic diversity in and for the information society; and
  • to make more human and financial resources available for cultural development.

The final objective includes a recommendation to devise and develop fiscal frameworks for cultural activities in order to promote business support for cultural development and to develop mechanisms such as public endowments and revenue-earning projects by cultural institutions, and the tourism and sport sectors.

Loccum Conference

In early December 1998 an international conference was held at the Evangleische Akademie in Loccum, Germany. Nestled in a rural area of Niedersachsen, close to the Steinhuder Meer, the quiet setting for the conference proved to be an ideal place to discuss the provocative topic: “Foundations and NGOs as Agents of Social Change.” The conference was sponsored by CIVICUS, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Foundation MITARBEIT, and the Akademie itself. Panels focused on the following topics:

  • Private interest and common Good – foundations and NGOs as intermediary institutions of civil society between state and individual
  • How to deal with normative conflicts – avoiding or addressing them? Perspectives and limits of cooperation between non-profit and public institutions
  • Effective Cooperation between foundations and NGOs towards sustainable societies
  • Empowerment of foundations and NGOs – steps toward an appropriate legal framework

In addition, 4 workshops were held, and the workshop leaders gave reports in the Plenary.

The Akademie will be publishing the proceedings of the conference as part of its regular program of publishing conference proceedings. For further information about the conference and the planned publication, please contact the Akademie at ealoccum@compuserv.com.

Birmingham Conference

On 10-13 January, 1999, a conference was held at the University of Birmingham, England, which was co-organized by Dr. Michael Edwards, currently of the NGO Unit at the World Bank, Prof. David Hulme of the Institute for Development Policy Management of the University of Manchester, and Dr. Tina Wallace of the International Development Department of the University of Birmingham. The conference was entitled “NGOs in a Global Future,” and it was attended by over 300 development professionals from around the world.

The principal focus of the conference was on papers presented on thirteen different tracks:

NGOs in a Future Without Aid, Capacity-Building, The Role of NGOs in Complex Political Emergencies, NGOs and Community Economic Development, Towards a Global Civil Society, Creating Social Capital, Engendering Organizations, Mobilizing Public Support for Development, Can Corporations be Civil?, Micro-Finance, Challenging Unequal Power Relationships, The Process Panel, and New Directions for Global Advocacy.

There were also poster sessions and plenary sessions on related topics.

It is expected that one or more books will be produced from the conference proceedings as well as a shorter document summarizing key conclusions. For further information about the conference and its outcomes, please contact Michael Edwards (medwards2@worldbank.org), David Hulme (David.Hulme@man.ac.uk), or Tina Wallace (wallacec@css.bham.ac.uk).