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|  | Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 3, May 1999 - Articles
Civil Society and the United Nations Project: Book Deadline Looms We recently finished six days of planning meetings in Ottawa and Montreal for this project. We began in Ottawa on April 21-22 with a meeting of the three editors, John Foster, Anita Anand, and Michael McCoy. They reviewed work done and began filling in the gaps of chapters, boxes and resource sections to be completed before the final manuscript deadline of June 30. The 350-page book will be a classic primer on the UN/Civil Society relationships and the primary input into the World Civil Society Conference (WOCSOC) scheduled for Montréal on December 8-11, 1999. UNA-Canada has been praised from all quarters for undertaking this ambitious project. We moved on to Montréal on April 23-24 for the second meeting of the UNA Advisory Committee on the project. UNA backers who took part included past President Michael Oliver, an early advocate of the project, National Vice-President Geoffrey Pearson and Executive Director Harry Qualman. The Advisory Committee includes representatives of other NGOs, foundations and academics who have brought expertise to the endeavour. David MacDonald, a former UNA Board member, ably chaired the session. It focused on the outcomes of the book, the all-important final ideas and recommendations. For this particular meeting, we were joined by many members of the international steering committee of WOCSOC. UNA volunteer Alan Clarke was instrumental in preparations for this meeting and UNA staffers Lynn Broughton and Pieter van der Meer acted as rapporteurs. The final two days (April 25 and 26) consisted of the meetings of the international steering committee of WOCSOC. Of particular interest to UNA is an agreement to have a UNA gala dinner at the OMNI Hotel in Montreal on the evening before the official opening of WOCSOC, with Kofi Annan and the Prime Minister as guests of honour. |
