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Project Summary Address by the Honourable Paul Martin - G-20 Chair, Canadian Minister of Finance, August 28, 2001 Project Summary
Rethinking Governance HandbookThe purpose of this component of the project was to highlight some of the ways by which international organizations are already responding to the call for more responsive and accountable governance at the international level. The result of this work is a 266-page publication entitled Rethinking Governance Handbook: An Inventory of Ideas to Enhance Accountability, Participation and Transparency. The inventory contains a review of 72 best practice initiatives drawn from 25 organizations, and covering an extensive range of examples for enhancing governance, including the use of investigative bodies, dispute resolution mechanisms, on-line dialogues, participatory project management, civil society liaison mechanisms, innovative voting models, and many more. Rethinking Governance provides a relevant and timely resource for officials and policy-makers at every organizational level who are interested in strategies for enhancing institutional effectiveness.
New Institutions InitiativeIn this component of the project, researchers from policy think-tanks in seven participating countries assumed the task of developing proposals for one or more of the ten new international units. The purpose of this strategy was three-fold: 1) to respond to perceived gaps in the international governance regime; 2) to establish a framework(s) for piloting new and innovative governance arrangements that may not be easily accommodated within the constraints of existing institutions; and 3) to benefit from the synergy of perspectives from different continents, different cultures and different stages of development that is represented by the T-7 collective. The complete menu of new initiatives is included in the table below. During February through March 2001, position papers were prepared on all ten of the initiatives, and in April, these were circulated to several potential funders in the form of an omnibus proposal entitled "Managing Interdependence". To date, feasibility studies for two of the ten - the Microcredit Promotion Agency and the Digital Initiative for Development Agency - have received financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency. This support, combined with funds allocated from the Ford Foundation grant, enabled the organization of two conferences in August and September 2001, during which the proposals were discussed by international experts from the field.
Microfinance Promotion AgencyThe rationale for this initiative is that microfinance programs in general have not been well served by the existing networks of multilateral and donor institutions that fund them, and that bold initiatives are needed if the considerable potential of this sector for addressing world poverty is to be fully exploited. On the basis of this premise, and with the objective of identifying pragmatic strategies for the implementation of alternative global governance arrangements, CFGS set about to test the feasibility of these ideas with a panel of international microfinance experts. A conference was organized for late August 2001 in Victoria, with 26 participants in attendance, representing a diverse cross-section of microfinance programs and organizations. Prior to the meeting, an Options Paper was prepared and circulated to the group. The Rethinking Governance inventory was also provided as a core point of reference for the discussion. In general, the idea of a new global microfinance initiative received strong support from the group, and has since been incorporated into the overall package of recommendations from the Transcending Post-Seattle Angst project. To find out more, view these documents: Options for a Microfinance Promotion Agency
Microfinance Meeting - Final Conference Report CFGS Policy Brief - The Need for a Global Microfinance Facility Digital Initiative For Development AgencyThe purpose and methodology of this component of the work followed closely the model used for the microfinance research. In this case, the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies took the lead in coordinating the consultation process, which took place in Beirut in September 2001. Like the microfinance project, the organizers found considerable interest and support within this sector of the development community for the idea of new institutional initiatives to advance the promotion of ICT transfer.
See the DID Discussion Paper and Final Report from the International Consultative Workshop
August 28-31, 2001, the Centre for Global Studies hosted a third consultation, this one aimed at compiling the visions of high caliber researchers from around the world on what would comprise the most practicable and desirable architecture of international institutions in the year 2020. The background to the exercise is set out in the 2020 Concept Paper below. In preparation for this exercise, CFGS commissioned the drafting of twelve vision papers by researchers representing a broad cross-section of regional and political perspectives. The authors and titles of the twelve papers appear below.
1. Vision 2020: A Sustainable Livelihoods Perspective, Tariq Banuri, Tellus Institute and Stockholm Environment Institut, Sweden During the conference, the Visionaries were joined by an additional group of 24 discussants for collective examination and debate on ideas outlined in the papers. Canada's finance minister, the Honourable Paul Martin, opened the event with a video-taped address to the participants, in which he helped to focus the proceedings by posing three key questions:
· What should we govern internationally?
Find out more about the 2020 Global Architecture Conference
· How should we govern at the international level? · What is the best path to poverty reduction and development? |
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