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Second Planning Meeting For Developing the Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

March 22-25, 2001
Cape Town, South Africa

Summary Report & Key Decisions

I. Interim Name

An interim name for the network has been chosen: “International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” (INESCR).

II. Mission & Goals

Participants at the Cape Town meeting presented the following mission statement to the Interim Council for consideration: “To end poverty worldwide and promote human development though the achievement of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR).” The Interim Council will present a version of the mission to be discussed and approved at the first General Assembly meeting. The Interim Council for consideration at the first General Assembly meeting will also present a final draft of the goals and principles.

The following principles were proposed for the network:

  1. Inclusivity, pluralism and diversity;
  2. Indivisibility of human rights;
  3. The work of the Network is grounded in the lived experiences of those who are affected;
  4. Increased recognition of ESCR is essential to human progress; and
  5. Empowerment and participation are essential to truly realizing ESCR.

The following goals were presented:

  • To develop a wide and inclusive network.
  • To ensure the enforcement and promote the justiciability of ESCR at all levels.
  • To ensure that those who are directly affected by ESCR violations are represented at all levels of the network.
  • To educate people with regard to their economic, social and cultural rights.
  • To further the work of member group by promotion, collaboration, and information sharing.
  • To demonstrate the concrete advantage of an ESCR approach to work on poverty, development and human rights.
  • To influence media, government, donors and others with regard to the promotion and protection of ESCR.
  • To promote the participation of women and other marginalized groups.
  • To develop a collective voice for the promotion of ESCR.
  • To structure a network that is accountable and transparent.

III. Structure & Governance

A. Overview
Participants agreed upon a three-tiered structure for the network, consisting of

  1. A General Assembly (a growing and dynamic body of all members of the network, including groups and individuals);
  2. An Interim Council (chosen from among the membership to oversee the development of the network until the first general assembly meeting); and
  3. A Secretariat (Center for Economic and Social Rights) to implement the decisions and plans of the Interim Council.

All these arrangements are for an interim period of one year, until the meeting of the first General Assembly.

B. General Assembly
The General Assembly is a growing body that consists of the entire membership of the network. It was agreed that the General Assembly consists of the groups that were present at the second planning meeting, and that new members may join freely during the interim period. Members do not need to be affiliated with groups in order to participate and individuals working on ESCR are encouraged to join the network. In addition, while funders may participate in the assembly, they may not vote in any decisions that come before the Assembly.

C. Interim Council
The Interim Council is the decision-making body for the network. The main objective of the Interim Council is to oversee activities of the Network and its Secretariat leading up to the first General Assembly meeting. The responsibilities of the Interim Council include:

  • Serving as the facilitating body to launch the first General Assembly meeting;
  • Making substantive decisions about budgets and expenses until the first General Assembly meeting, including allocation of funds for emerging concerns;
  • Representing the Network and communicating with the General Assembly about activities and developments of the Network;
  • Overseeing and approving the work of the Secretariat;
  • Developing the criteria for funding the Working Groups; and
  • Developing criteria for groups that apply for funding to attend the first General Assembly meeting.

Additionally, members of the Interim Council must:

  • Make a one-year commitment to sit on the Interim Council (the same person);
  • Participate in a conference call within one month of the Second Planning Meeting;
  • Meet face-to-face as a group at minimum two times before the first General Assembly meeting
  • Participate in a group conference call every two months; and
  • Recuse themselves from all funding decisions in which their organization has a financial interest.

Finally, there was general agreement that:

  • Interim Council members are volunteers, and will not be compensated for their participation in the council. The Network will cover all related expenses for meetings, calls, and other governing activities.
  • At the first General Assembly meeting, the first permanent Council will be elected by the General Assembly members. The elected Council will then replace the current Interim Council.

Participation on the Interim Council was decided on a voluntary basis, taking into account the principles of diversity and inclusiveness. The Interim Council members include:

Geoff Budlender (Legal Resources Centre)
Leilani Farha (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and Centre for Equality Rights and Accommodations)
Felix Morka (Social and Economic Rights Action Centre)
Patricio Pazmino (Centro de Derechos Economicos & Sociales)
D.J. Ravindran (Forum Asia)
Julieta Rossi (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales)
Galen Tyler (Kensington Welfare Right Union)

Members on the IC will confirm their participation by April 9 after they have consulted with their groups. The first call for the IC is scheduled for April 18 and the first meeting is planned for September in New York.

Interim Council Tasks:

  • Finalize a date and choose a venue for first General Assembly meeting.
  • Develop criteria for funding of Network activities, including principles for disbursement of funds for working group activities, language translation, and technology.
  • Develop criteria for supporting groups that apply for funding to attend the first General Assembly meeting.
  • Develop a proposal for the responsibilities and term (duration) of the first elected council.
  • Develop a proposal for securing new funding sources for the Network, if necessary.
  • Approve of outreach materials, including a basic letter of introduction for the Network and approve of mission statement, goal, and principles to be presented at the first General Assembly meeting.
  • Advise and approve of the one-year plan leading up to first General Assembly meeting.

D. Secretariat
The Center for Economic and Social Rights will serve as the Interim Secretariat for the Network. Responsibilities of the Secretariat include:

  • Implementing all decisions of Interim Council;
  • Hiring Network staff, with approval of the Interim Council;
  • Budgetary/fiscal management of the Network grant;
  • Developing the one-year plan;
  • Developing the material for the network outreach;
  • Developing the Network website and communications channels (coordination, not content development);
  • Facilitating the activities of the thematic working groups;
  • Organizing the calls and meetings of the Interim Council; and
  • Coordinating all outreach activities, including content development.

Additionally,

  • The Secretariat will ensure that all new initiatives and major decisions are referred to the Interim Council for approval;
  • The Secretariat will actively seek to ensure decentralization and ensure regional outreach and regional allocation of resources;
  • The Network and Outreach Coordinators will be part of Secretariat and will ensure the implementation of the political decisions and plans of the Interim Council.
  • Management and coordination of the Secretariat will be located at CESR offices in New York, while outreach planning and thematic working groups will be decentralized; and
  • CESR as the Secretariat will be compensated for it’s administrative and management expenses.

Key Secretariat Tasks:

  • Identify and hire Network Logistical Coordinator and Outreach Coordinators.
  • Develop the one-year plan for the Network.
  • Develop and launch network web site in conjunction with the Web Sub-Committee and approval of the Interim Council.
  • Develop data collection instruments for case law, best practices, legislation & policy, events, ESCR literature, and Network membership databases.
  • Develop the necessary outreach materials for the Network.
  • Facilitate and support the activities of Working Groups and the ad hoc Outreach Group.
  • Review of all proposals submitted by new Working Groups.
  • Organize all calls and meetings of the Interim Council.
  • Centralize all the data on groups that is being collected by network members.
  • Organize listserves and any other internet-based communications to facilitate exchange between economic, social and cultural rights groups.
  • Address any urgent developments in ESCR that come to the attention of the Secretariat.

IV. Working Groups

Thematic working groups are the primary bodies for carrying out the substantive work of the Network. Through these working groups, the Network will facilitate cooperation and collaboration between members. The working groups:

  • Will be based thematically and not regionally, but sensitive to regional inclusion;
  • Will set their own agendas and coordinate their own activities, including the outreach and organization for collaborative work, including meetings;
  • Will initiate collaborative actions and/or international campaigns;
  • Must submit funding proposals to the Secretariat for review which will be forwarded to the Interim Council for their approval;
  • Can invite people who may or may not choose to join the network to participate in working group activities.

Members are free to form new working groups, and develop proposals for funding of their activities. Proposals should be submitted to the interim Secretariat, which will present them for consideration to the Interim Council.

Three thematic working groups had already submitted proposals to the Secretariat by the time of the Cape Town meeting:

  • Adjudication (including international and domestic)
  • Trade and Investment
  • Women’s ESCR

V. Outreach

Participant agreed that they were ready to announce the network to a broader audience of groups, including the 70 names that already been given to the Secretariat by current members. It was also decided that in the period between the Cape Town meeting and the hiring of Outreach Coordinator (s) an ad hoc Outreach Committee would be set up to continue the work of collecting names from under represented regions. The committee will work closely with Secretariat to distribute basic materials about the Network and identify potential new network members. The Outreach Committee, open for membership, includes:

Daria Caliguire, Ford Foundation
Jumoke Ogunmola, Social and Economic Rights Action Center
D.J. Ravindran, Forum Asia (added April 11)
Loretta Ross, National Center for Human Rights Education
Galen Tyler, Kensington Welfare Rights Union

In addition, participants agreed to the following:

  • At this initial stage, prioritize reaching out to groups engaged in ESCR activities (rights-based approach to poverty).
  • The main channel for engaging new groups will be through work on substantive issues with sensitivity towards actively engaging new groups through regional inclusion.
  • There will be an emphasis on conducting outreach through existing networks.
  • The network should not duplicate what others are already doing.
  • Outreach coordinators and Network members will use events that are already planned or plan events to bring in new members.
  • Outreach will actively seek to engage new groups working on specific issues, such as disability, youth, etc.
  • Existing network members will not be given special privileges over new members.
  • Outreach is a facilitation tool for member groups to inform each other (what we can bring to others and what they bring to the network) about work on ESCR.
  • For the first year, outreach will focus on quality and not quantity for recruiting new members to become a part of the founding General Assembly.

VI. Network Website

It was agreed that:

  • The website will be dynamic and database-driven.
  • The two functions of the website are information sharing and promotion of the ESCR framework.
  • The design will employ a layered approach so that viewers can get to the information they need quickly.
  • The case law database will be non-legalistic and include secondary material. An expert will be contracted to develop this material appropriately.
  • The website will employ a “pro-active” voice and will emphasize interactivity.
  • The website will be launched in at least two languages, English and Spanish. And, if possible other languages will be selected.
  • All information produced by the Secretariat for outreach and announcing the Network will be in multiple languages. Groups providing documents to be posted on the Web should note that these documents will be available in their original language and will contain a one or two-line summary translations in the other languages. These documents will be translated as necessary depending on the demand from participants and funds.
  • A language fund will be established to support translation of documents.
  • A technology fund will be established to build capacity of member groups to access and use the Internet.
  • Different prototype websites will be developed for comparison.
  • The outreach coordinator will be responsible for providing information generated through outreach activities (in appropriate format) to the Secretariat for publishing on the web site.
  • A web site editorial board (a combination of experts and members of interim council) will be established.
  • Information on the website will be available to the public.
  • Parallel non-Internet methods of information sharing will be maintained.

The participants agreed to the establishment of a Website Committee to oversee and guide the development of the Network website. The committee members are:

Chris Caruso, Human Rights Tech/Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Alan Jenkins, Ford Foundation
Julian Liu, Center for Economic and Social Rights
Bruce Porter, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
Sarah Zaidi, Center for Economic and Social Rights

The website committee will decide who will develop basic content, and whether materials specifically for journalists will be developed.

VII. First General Assembly Meeting

The first meeting of the General Assembly will be held in June 2002, barring any conflict with other important international and/or regional events. Participants agreed that the Interim Council would determine the exact date and venue. In choosing a venue, the Interim Council will take into consideration the following:

  • Existence of local ESCR work that can be supported by the Network
  • Willingness and capacity of local organization to host the meeting
  • Accessibility
  • Minimizing travel costs for members
  • Visa considerations

The network will cover some of the expenses for the first meeting, with the exception of travel, incidental expenses and accommodations*. In cases where the burden of these expenses would prevent an organization from attending the first meeting then the organization could apply for assistance from the Interim Council.

VIII. Finances

The Ford Foundation promised 9,000 for 15 months and committed more if necessary to support the launch of the network. Ford also promised longer-term support to the network. The initial grant to CESR was for 1,000 of which 0,000 was earmarked for CESR general support and the remaining 1,000 was for the network planning process. The IC will review the expenses and determine the budget for next year’s activities.

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