Opportunities for the UN and civil society to collaborate more effectively

Abstract

Heather Grady is Oxfam GB's Global Lead on Rights and Institutional Accountability, and until mid-2003 was its Regional Director for East Asia.

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on the author's submission to the Panel on UN–Civil Society Relations. The Panel was chaired by Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil) and met three times between 2003 and 2004. Panel members included: Ambassador Bagher Asadi (Iran), Dr Manuel Castells (Spain), Brigitta Dahl (Sweden), Peggy Dulany (USA), Ambassador André Erdös (Hungary), Malini Mehra (India), Juan Mayr (Colombia), Kumi Naidoo (South Africa), Mary Racelis (Philippines), Prakash Ratilal (Mozambique), and Aminata Traoré (Senegal). See www.un.org/reform/panel.htm for details.

Notes

Heather Grady is Oxfam GB's Global Lead on Rights and Institutional Accountability, and until mid-2003 was its Regional Director for East Asia.

The definition of civil society in this paper encompasses non-profit charities, trade unions, religious organisations, the media, etc., but not the for-profit business sector.

The World Bank and the IMF are technically part of the UN system, but in practice they operate independently of it, partly because their governance is based on a country's ‘shares’ in their institutions, rather than the one-country one-vote system of the UN. Indeed, historically there has been rivalry between the UN and the IFIs at a country and, sometimes, a global level.

Nicola Reindorp of Oxfam International suggests that the joint UN-NGO review missions and the UN Security Council meeting with CSOs in West Africa merit study.

See Acknowledgements.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather Grady *