THE 'PREHISTORY' OF Social Watch

5 - Oaxaca: the Cradle of NGO
Input into the Social Summit

NGO interest in the Social Summit clearly started in Latin America. Not only the Comisión Sudamericana de Paz saw possibilities for NGO involvement. The Mexican NGOs Equipo Pueblo and the Foro de Apoyo discussed with Novib Director Van den Berg the possibility of using the Social Summit to advocate debt swaps as a means of raising public funding for social sectors when he visited Washington and New York in 1993.¹⁴ It was agreed that these Mexican partner organisations¹⁵ would send an English document on substantive issues for the Social Summit. Novib would endorse a position on the basis of these documents. It was further agreed that a group of Mexican NGOs would organise a meeting as a preparation to the Social Summit. This meeting took place in September 1993.

Interest in the Summit was slowly growing. In July 1993 Juan Somavía presents plans for the Social Summit to the Board of Directors of the World Bank. The Bank agreed to co-operate and to produce the necessary documents.¹⁶ The Mexican government in co-operation with the World Bank and UNDP hosted a government meeting in Oaxaca on social development and poverty in early September 1993 as a preparation to the Social Summit.¹⁷ This conference coincided with a number of international and national NGO meetings.

The presence of Somavía and UNDP representatives in Oaxaca together with many NGOs allowed for an initial exchange of views on enhancing NGO participation as a means of strengthening the outcome of the Summit. Apart from the Mexican national platform of NGOs these meetings were attended by a dozen Latin American national organisations, including FASE from Brazil and the Instituto Tercer Mundo (ITeM) from Uruguay¹⁸, as well as the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and the People's Alliance. Participation was from Latin America, with the exception of one American NGO (DGAP) and Novib. In meetings that took place with Somavía and UNDP the NGOs express their hesitation about the Summit partly as a result of the disappointment in the lack of follow-up of the UNCED process. Somavía emphasised that it was necessary to begin thinking about the follow-up at that early stage.¹⁹ Additionally, the NGO representatives emphasised in these meetings the need for a transparent and open communication and information process so as to allow broad participation of a wide variety of NGOs.

The NGOs also stressed the need for preparation at the national level so as to "validate the international process of the Summit." (See annex 2).²⁰ The principle that NGO participation in the Summit had to be based on local experience with social development and that interventions should first and foremost relate to national political realities would become an important element of the Social Summit process and its follow-up. It was also a basic approach of the Social Watch initiative.²¹

The series of meetings in Oaxaca was also used for a preliminary exchange of views between Third World Network, the APC electronic network - both represented by ITeM, and Novib. In a written document ITeM's Director Roberto Bissio concluded:

The document defined what would be considered a "success" of the Summit, and listed the following elements:

The document identified the need for a strong effort of different networks to work together in a co-ordinated way:

The meeting in Mexico established a concrete plan for co-operation particularly between Third World Network, spearheaded by ITeM, Novib and other Southern partners. The role of Third World Network in general and ITeM in particular, would be crucial in the subsequent process of enhancing NGO interest in the Summit globally, most importantly by using electronic communication of which the potential was perhaps, at the time, not yet fully understood. In a partnership with Novib preparations by ITeM for the Summit were undertaken. While Novib was to provide financial support for the enhancement of NGO participation in the Summit, the NGO group that met in Oaxaca clearly set out principles on which the exercise should be based:

1. The need for broad participation, including organisations with experience of social development at local level;
2. The need to develop specific political strategies relating to specific national and regional political realities;
3. The need for an inclusive, open and transparent process to encourage participation.

ITeM's experience in outreach work through the electronic APC network was seen as a major asset that could be utilised in mobilising such participation in an open and inclusive manner.