|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E-News
May 2005
E-Newsletter
Civil Society
Legitimacy and Accountability Program
The Hauser Center and the CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen
Participation will host an International Workshop on Civil Society
Legitimacy and Accountability Strengthening, from May 26-28 in
Montreal. About 25 leaders from civil society networks and
associations around the world will discuss emerging innovations for
strengthening civil society claims to legitimacy and accountability,
discuss the needs of civil societies in different regions, and plan for
ongoing regional initiatives. This is the first of a planned
series of
workshops to support regional programs to grapple with these
issues. Dave Brown, Jim Honan,
Sarah Alvord, and
Laura Ax are organizing this workshop for the Hauser Center.
International
Advocacy NGOs and Networks Workshop
The third annual meeting of leaders of international advocacy NGOs and
networks (IANGOs) will be hosted by Greenpeace International in
Amsterdam, June 5-7. This meeting brings together chief
executives of
organizations and networks concerned with human rights, poverty
alleviation, environmental degradation, humanitarian relief,
governance, women's rights, and other transnational issues to discuss
strategies and leadership challenges for transnational advocacy.
This
year the meeting will focus on issues like the roles of civil society
organizations in constructing new transnational institutions to deal
with global problems, a draft charter of accountability for
transnational NGOs, and the possibilities of cross network alliances on
issues like the Global Call for Action on Poverty and the Climate
Change Alliance. The Hauser Center and CIVICUS will continue to
be the
organizers and facilitators of these meetings, with Srilatha Batliwala, Dave Brown, and Sarah
Alvord participating in Amsterdam and Sanjeev Khagram and Laura Ax helping
with program organization.
Civil Society
Capacity Building with Monterrey Tec
Dave Brown and Mary Hilderbrand
from KSG will meet with Mexican NGO leaders and faculty from the
Monterrey and Mexico City campuses of Monterrey Tec on May 12 in Mexico
City to discuss possible civil society executive development programs
that might be offered jointly by the Tec and the Hauser Center as part
of the Hauser Center's Executive Education Model 3 Program. A
dozen
faculty at Monterrey Tec have expressed interest in working with us to
develop these programs, and this meeting has been organized to explore
where the capacities and priorities of the NGOs, the Tec and the Hauser
Center may intersect.
Religion,
Politics and Public Life Faculty Seminar Series
On March 21st, the Hauser Center's Program on Religion and Public Life (PRPL) held the fourth panel discussion in its Religion, Politics and
Public Life Faculty Seminar Series. The discussion focused on
"Religion and Politics: A Comparative Analysis" with distinguished
panelists Prof. Susan Kahn and Father Leonid Kishkovsky who provided a
comparative perspective on the role that religion plays in politics and
public life in Israel and Russia respectively. This (by
invitation
only) series is co-convened by J.
Bryan Hehir and Mary Jo Bane.
Promoting
Financial Stewardship in the Public Sector Conference
On April 1 and 2, the Hauser Center co-hosted a conference that drew
together over eighty practitioners and academics concerned with
developing sound financial stewardship in nonprofit and governmental
organizations. The discussion helped to formulate new ideas and steps
that can be taken to better address important accounting, financial,
and accountability challenges facing the public sector. Distinguished
panelists included Jack McCarthy (senior partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers), Bob Culver (CEO and President of
MassDevelopment), Ernie Almonte (Auditor-General of Rhode Island), and
Steve Goss, (Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration). The
meeting was convened by
Liz Keating To join in the ongoing conversation, click
here
Civil Society
Leadership in South Asia
We began discussions of this initiative with Rajesh Tandon, the Founder
President of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA),
when he was a Visiting Fellow at the Center in the Fall of 2004.
While
civil societies are playing major roles in promoting sustainable
people-centered development and democratic governance in many South
Asian countries, many of them face serious questions about the sources
of the "next generation" of civil society leaders and the kinds of
skills those leaders will need. PRIA and the Hauser Center are
convening a meeting of key academics and civil society leaders from
South Asian countries to explore the possibilities of organizing a
major conference to discuss the futures of civil society in the region,
the leadership demands those futures will impose, and possible joint
strategies for leadership development initiatives. Mark Moore, Gowher Rizvi, Tiziana Dearing, Dave Brown and Sarah Alvord
have been involved in initial discussions, and Gowher Rizvi and Dave
Brown will participate in the exploratory meetings with civil society
leaders and other interested parties in New Delhi on May 19-20.
The Transnational Studies Initiative
The Transnational Studies Initiative (TSI), co-directed by Peggy
Levitt and Sanjeev Khagram, is pleased to announce the launch of
our website: www.transnational-studies.org.
Please check it frequently for updates on TSI activities, new
publications, and upcoming events.
People In Action In the interest of
space, the E-News does not included titles for Hauser faculty,
researchers or staff. For full titles and bios, please visit our
People pages.
Information about our Doctoral Fellows is available
here.
Dave Brown
Dave Brown taught two sessions
on "Building Bridges and Managing Interfaces" for an executive
education program on "Innovations in Governance" for Senior Mental
Health Officials from the Western states in Denver on April 8. He
taught similar sessions in the program for officials from the Eastern
States in Atlanta on April 21.
Dave will be a speaker and moderator of a Panel on "Responsible
Participation by Civil Society in Global Governance" at the Global
Governance 2005 Conference organized by the Forum Internationale de
Montreal on May 31, 2005 in Montreal.
Marty Chen
In March, Marty participated in two events organized as part of the
Beijing +10 events at the Commission on the Status of Women. The first
event, which was organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, was a book
launch for recent publications including Mainstreaming Informal
Employment and Gender in Poverty Reduction, by Martha Chen, Joann Vanek
and Marilyn Carr. As part of this event, Marty discussed some of
the
key messages in the handbook as well as some of the key tools available
for policymakers. Also as part of the Beijing +10 events, Marty
spoke
on a panel organized by UNIFEM called " Decent Work for Women:
Pathway
to Poverty Reduction and Women’s Empowerment". The panel
discussions
centered around UNIFEM's forthcoming flagship publication,
Progress of
the World's Women 2005, which will be focusing on poverty, gender and
employment and authored by Marty Chen, Joann Vanek and Francie Lund of WIEGO. Noeleen Heyzer of UNIFEM chaired the panel, which also
included
Amelita King-Dejardin of the ILO and Selim Jahan of UNDP, and the
discussion focused on the preliminary data and implications of this
work.
Also in March, Marty, along with Renana Jhabvala of the Self Employed
Women's Association (SEWA) and James Heintz of the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, were invited by the UK Department for
International Development (DFID) to make a presentation on "Informal
Employment, Poverty Reduction, and the Role of Membership-based
Organizations of Informal Workers".
In April, Marty was invited to a conference entitled, "Unleashing
Entrepreneurship: Mobilizing Human, Financial and Social Capital",
which was hosted by the International Development Research Centre,
Canada. As part of a panel on the spirit of entrepreneurship,
Marty
spoke about examples of pro-poor business environments in India and
South Africa.
Also in April, Marty participated in a one-day seminar on work,
employment and labor market issues on the international agenda for
combating poverty that was organized by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Marty spoke on a panel focused on the role of work in
eradicating poverty. Other panelists included Hernando de Soto
(Institute for Liberty and Democracy), Allan Larsson (former Minister,
UN Panel on Youth Employment), and Heba Handoussa (Economic Research
Forum for Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey).
Brent Coffin
Brent Coffin, Mary Jo Bane and
Richard Higgins were on a panel to discuss their new book "Taking Faith
Seriously" at the Harvard Book Store's Friday Forum on March 18th. To
learn more about this book, please go to the PRPL
web site. To purchase this book, click
here.
Brent presented a plenary address at a conference in Oslo, Norway on
April 7-8. Around eighty scholars from around the world
participated
in "Religious NGOs and the International Aid System: An
International
Research Conference", sponsored by the Norwegian Institute of
International Affairs, the University of Oslo Centre for Development
and the Environment, the International Society for Third Sector
Research, and the Norwegian NGO and Civil Society Research
Network.
Coffin's presentation was titled, "Global Religions, Polities and NGOs:
Toward an Analytical Framework for Research."
Brent and Professor Cheryl Sanders taught a second executive program
for clergy in Washington, D.C. on April 13, 2005. Co-sponsored by
the
Hauser Center and Howard University's School of Divinity, the one-day
program aims to equip ministers with skills and strategies for public
ministry in their communities. Fifty clergy and graduate students
have
participated in the two programs held this spring.
Brent discussed the book "Taking Faith Seriously" on April 20 as a
guest on the syndicated radio program "Culture Shocks" hosted by Barry
Lynn, executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church
and State.
Tiziana Dearing
Tiziana Dearing, Hauser
Center's Executive Director, joyfully welcomed her second child into
the world - Jude Seiner Dearing - on April 4th. Tiziana is currently on
maternity leave.
Peter Frumkin
Peter Frumkin spoke on
Accountability at the annual conference of the Council on Foundations
in San Diego on April 9th.
Peter delivered a paper on Philanthropy and School Reform at a
conference on April 25th at the American Enterprise Institute in
Washington DC.
Peter's book, "On Being Nonprofit" (Harvard University Press), won the
best book award from the Academy of Management's Public and Nonprofit
Division.
J. Bryan Hehir
Bryan Hehir and Mary Jo Bane
were panelists at the Kennedy School of Government's Forum Event on
April 20th titled "The Pope and the Future of Religion and Politics"
together with Richard Parker and Jim Wallis. David Gergen moderated the
panel and the event was co-sponsored by the Institute of Politics and
the Kennedy School's student organizations - Christian Fellowship,
Muslim Caucus, Jewish Caucus, and Catholic Caucus. For information,
please click here.
Paul Hodge
Paul Hodge was featured in the
March 2005 KSG Alumni News under "Alumni Spotlight" for his work urging
policymakers to plan ahead for huge baby boomer retirement costs. You
can read the article here.
Jonathan
Laurence
Jonathan Laurence will be an
assistant professor of political science at Boston College beginning in
Fall 2005. His guest-edited issue of French Politics, Culture and
Society on the new French Council of the Muslim Religion appeared in
April. Jonathan also delivered talks on Islam in Europe in March
and
April at NYU, Brown University, Bates College, University of
Wisconsin-Madison and University of Washington-Seattle.
|
Home l People l Publications l Programs l Education |
|
|
