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Report of the AGNA Annual General Meeting 2014

November 25, 2014, Johannesburg

Rationale and objectives of the meeting

The Affinity Group of National Associations Annual General Meeting brought together representatives of national associations from around the world to discuss the progress made on objectives agreed to during the last meeting in 2013, the challenges encountered in the implementation of objectives and the priorities for the coming year. The 2014 AGM took place in Johannesburg as one of the multiple conferences and events organised under the International Civil Society Week from 21-25 November 2014 and gathered a total of 36 out of the 75 members of the network (list of participants in Annex 2). The main objectives of the AGM were:

Assess progress made on annual goals and objectives of the network.

Report back on financial situation.

Present activities from the previous year and discuss achievements and challenges.

Identify priorities, goals and ways of working for the year ahead.

Elect new Steering Committee for the period 2014-2015.

Time and venue

The meeting took place at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on the 25th

of November 2014 from 9 am to 5pm.

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Summary of the sessions

Opening remarks

Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, the Deputy Char of the Steering Committee opened the AGM by reading

the letter of Addys Then Marte, the Chair of the SC, that couldn’t be present for reasons beyond her

control. In the letter, the Chair highlighted the importance of the AGNA network and its relevant

contribution in areas such as the shaping of the Post 2015 agenda and the support to civil society

under threat in multiple countries. She also emphasized the important support that CIVICUS gives

AGNA to make it a viable platform, by bringing opportunities to the members with their involvement

in programmes such as the Enabling environment National Assessments, the Civil Society Index Rapid

Assessment, the Sustainable Development 2015 project, etc.

Other highlights included the successful implementation of the new membership strategy of the

network, opening up the group to two additional categories besides the full membership: associate

membership and friends/allies/supporters. This new strategy has been translated into 15 new

members (we have a total of 75 members now) from different regions. In terms of the structure of the

network, there was also an improvement with the incorporation of the Middle East and the MENA

region in the Steering Committee representation, as an opportunity to motivate a bigger presence and

participation in the region.

Finally, Addys covered some of the specific deliverables produced by the group with the review and

update of the Resource Guide for National Associations, the peer-learnings in MEXICO, South Africa

and Thailand, and the production of knowledge products and tools on the areas of enabling

environment, self- regulation and civil society assessments.

To conclude the opening of the meeting, Oyebisi highlighted that the presence of so many members

of the network was an achievement per se as it was the first time we managed to bring more than half

of our constituency to our annual meeting. Also, the presence of so many observers, including a

representative of the CS Mott Foundation, was very positive and denoted the interest of other

partners in contributing to AGNAs work.

The year that was: overview of the year’s activities and the progress towards

2013 agreed priorities1

Patricia Deniz, the AGNA Coordinator, reminded the participants about the main findings and

recommendations of the evaluation that took place in July 2013, which was divided in two main areas,

the structural level of the network and the operational level.

In the spirit of revisiting the group’s work and achievements over the last twelve months, Patricia

proceeded with a review of the main areas of work of the network under the following categories: 1.

Partnerships-To strengthen relationships with networks with a similar mandate; 2. Capacity building –

1 The ppt. presentation is available in Annex 1 at: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-

gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing

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To strengthen the capacity of AGNA working groups and their key policy focus areas; 3. Networking –

To encourage networking, cooperation and knowledge sharing; 4. Sustainability – To expand and

diversify AGNA’s funding base for improved sustainability; 5. Promoting solidarity.

The work done under these areas denoted that the network has been improving its ways of working

and has managed to incorporate all the lessons learnt and recommendations from the evaluation,

from building linkages with other networks and CIVICUS and expanding its regional presence, to

improving communications and exchanges between members.

Some specific achievements were mentioned under the main areas of work of the group:

Enabling environment and government relations: involvement of more than 20 AGNA

members in projects such as the Enabling Environment National Assessments (EENAs), the

Lifeline Fund, the New Social Contract, the Intergovernmental Scorecard, the Civil Society

Index-Rapid Assessment.

LTA and impact assessment: participation of more than 40 members in the Self-regulation

guide and the survey on NAs services.

Advocacy: participation of almost half of our membership in initiatives such as Sustainable

Development 2015, the development of the Advocacy toolkit, and Action 2015.

Sustainability and Fundraising: the creation of a new regular service to members on funding

opportunities, the initiation of regional priorities, and the increase of matching funding

through other projects and partners (more than double of the original AGNA budget).

Membership and governance: the elaboration and implementation of a new membership

strategy (we now have 8 new associate members and 67 full members); the mapping of new

potential members and opportunities (active outreach).

Stakeholder engagement and collaboration: joint work and events with the International

Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP), the International Centre for Non-profit Law (ICNL), the Asia

Development Alliance (ADA) and other networks such as the Balkan Civil Society Development

Network (BCSDN), the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), etc.

Patricia proceeded with the review of the new 2014-2016 goal and objectives as per agreed with our

donor CS Mott Foundation. These are mainly focused on: Developing a strong regional sub-groups to

lead AGNA’s thematic work; fostering international solidarity against national civil society restrictions;

extending AGNA membership base and representation; promoting CS exchanges between members;

enhancing capacity development opportunities; reinforcing working groups; and facilitating

networking opportunities.

The outcomes and recommendations of the regional working groups that took place on the 23rd of

November were also presented to the plenary (see details in Report of the Regional groups) and could

be summarized as follows:

• Share experiences of the role of NAs on EE: the enabling environment national assessments

(EENAs); good practices, lessons learnt, recommendations.

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• Book of good practices on how to mobilize and engage NAs/platform’s members.

• Sharing successful stories, case studies and good practices of our network members in diverse

areas of work.

• Joint fundraising within the network: national, regional and global level- Identification of

funding opportunities for CS networks.

• Capacity development of NAs through trainings on: 1. how to assess EE; 2. accountability; 3.

how to run effective advocacy campaigns; 4. internal governance and management.

• Produce a bi-annual newsletter including: members news, updates on the work of AGNA;

upcoming events and activities.

• Explore new technology platforms to improve communication and experience sharing.

To conclude, Patricia revisited the financial status of AGNA, presenting last year’s budget and expenses

as well as the budget for the next two years. The CS Mott foundation has agreed to support AGNA for

another two years with a grant of USD 50,000 per year under the condition that AGNA manages to

increase its matching funding through members and CIVICUS. Participants were impressed by the

amount of work done by AGNA with such a small budget during the past few years and congratulated

the Secretariat and the SC for its achievements.

For further details about the financial status of the network please see presentation in Annex 1.

Member’s experiences per priority area

The AGM was an opportunity for members to showcase their work and lessons learn at the

national and regional level, present their challenges from a thematic perspective and share

experiences.

Due to the active participation of the members, it was agreed in plenary to introduce some

changes in the agenda in order to allow more space for discussion, reducing the number of

presentations and moving the election of the new Steering Committee forward in the day.

1. Post 2015 agenda

The first set of presentations were grouped under the thematic area of advocacy and

influencing the Post 2015 agenda. The session as initiated by Freya Seath, Coordinator of the

project Sustainable Development 2015: Helping stakeholders shape the new global goals for

humanity’s future.

The SD2015 is a multi-stakeholder engagement programme run by Stakeholder Forum and

CIVICUS, in collaboration with UNDESA. The programme provides tools and opportunities for

all stakeholders to input to the post-2015 process and help build a more sustainable future,

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through five focus areas: raising awareness; increasing engagement; empowering

stakeholders; coordinating advocacy; and strengthening governance. Besides the activities at

the global (UN) and regional levels, the project also focuses on the need to build bridges

with the national sphere by promoting the creation of civil society nationally led advocacy

campaigns. In this regard, the project counts with the participation of seven AGNA members

from Tanzania, Malawi, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Nepal and the

Philippines.

The AGM was a good opportunity for these members to introduce to the group the work

they are doing in their respective contexts. With very diverse dynamics and challenges,

colleagues from the Philippines, Malawi, Venezuela and Nepal run through their activities at

the national level that involve the participation of multiple stakeholders and the creation of

dialogue platforms to develop an advocacy strategy to influence their government’s position

towards the SD2015 agenda and to hold them to account on the implementation of their

national agreed goals.

The presentations of this session are available in annexes 2, 2.1. and 2.2. at:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

2. The role of National Associations in promoting an Enabling environment and civic

participation

The second set of presentations were focused on the work of our members around the

promotion of an enabling environment for civil society and civic participation.

Ilina Nesikj was in charge of introducing us to the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling

Environment for civil society developed by the Balkan Civil Society Development Network

(BCSDN). However, due to the discussions held previously around the election of the new

Steering Committee (see section below), Ilina decided that it was more relevant for the

debate to present the participants the governance structure of the regional network of

networks that she represents. Both, her presentation about the governance structure of

BCSDN and about the Monitoring Matrix can be accessed in Annex.3 and 3.1. at the

following link:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

Ibraheem Al Hayek, from Partners-Jordan, made a presentation about the work of his

organisation in the area of participatory budgeting as a tool for community development,

emphasizing the role of new technologies in the promotion of civic engagement and

participation.2

2 Presentation available at: http://prezi.com/g3pqyt35jszp/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

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Chiara Butti from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in the UK,

introduced the participants to the work done under the project Building Bridges in the

MENA region: strengthening CS through networks. This initiative, implemented by NCVO in

partnership with ANND and CIVICUS, is funded by the Arab Partnership Fund to support civil

society in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, and aims at supporting the development of national

networks in these countries. The initiative is a clear example of the challenges that the

enabling environment for CS poses on the promotion of trust and the creation of alliances

between CSOs at the national level. The presentation can be accessed in Annex 4 at

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

3. Accountability and civil society assessments and an advocacy tool

The discussions continued around the issue of accountability and transparency with the

presentation of Dave Henderson, from ANGOA in New Zealand. Dave explained us the new

accounting standards for registered charities in New Zealand, a new framework led by civil

society itself that has proved effective in the following areas: promotion of public trust and

confidence in the charitable sector; encouraging good governance and management;

encouraging and promote the effective use of charitable resources; promoting transparency

of information about charities; providing for on-going accountability. For more information

please refer to his presentation on Annex 5 at the link abovementioned.

The last contribution from our members was made by Romy Grasgruber-Kerl, representing

IGO Austria. Romy explained their work under the Civil Society Index-Rapid Assessment (CSI-

RA), how the process took place, its challenges and recommendations, and how this

participatory tool was useful to strengthen the work of the network and its potential to be

used as an advocacy tool. The presentation can be accessed on Annex 6 in the link provided

above.

Steering Committee elections

As mentioned in the opening remarks of the AGM, the 2013-2014 SC members agreed to

include one more representative in the governance structure of the network with the

incorporation of a new region: Middle East and MENA. The election process was initiated

with a brief explanation of the process to follow by the voting members and the introduction

of the candidates from the 6 regions (2 from Africa, 2 from the Americas and the Caribbean,

1 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 1 from the Pacific and 1 from the MENA/Middle East).

Concern was raised by the member from Norway for having a candidate from a not a voting

member organisation in the MENA/Middle East region. The main argument was how a non-

voting member could become candidate in an election process. The SC and the Coordinator

explained that after internal discussions it was agreed that due to the lack of other

candidates from the region and the fact that AGNA is interested in reviving the engagement

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of members in the area, it was considered appropriate to make an exception for the present

year only. In particular, it was mentioned by the Coordinator that the profile of that

candidate is highly relevant for AGNA as they are well connected in the region and can bring

additional knowledge to the network and contribute to its growth.

On another note, it was also highlighted by the Coordinator that full members of AGNA are

considered voting members as long as they are also CIVICUS voting members (main criteria

for becoming a member of the network) and that in the present situation most of the voting

members of the network, including those ready to vote at that precise moment during the

AGM haven’t renewed their memberships in years or have never even been members at all.

This was remarked as another exception to take into consideration by all the members

present in plenary.

It was agreed by all parties that one of the main tasks of the new SC and the Coordinator for

the coming year was to review and circulate the AGNA policies regulating the election

process and the strategy that describes member’s responsibilities and benefits.

After the long discussion, the members proceeded to vote and the new Steering Committee

was conformed, not without first acknowledging and appreciating the work of the outgoing

committee. The following table shows the composition of the new Steering Committee

members as well as the number of votes that each of them received from the total of 28

voting members present at the AGM.

New members of the Steering Committee 2014-2015

Region Member Votes

Africa

Nigeria Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi (Nigerian Network of NGOs- NNNGO)

22

Uganda Sophie Kange (Uganda NGO Forum)

22

Asia

Japan

Yoshiharu Shiraishi (The Japan Association of Charitable

Organizations-JACO)

25

Nepal

Gopal Lamsal (NGO Federation of Nepal)

18

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The Pacific New Zealand

Dave Henderson (The Association of NGOs of Aotearoa- ANGOA)

22

The

Americas

and the

Caribbean

Dominican Republic

Addys Then Marte (Alianza ONG)

22

Argentina

Guillermo Correa (Argentinian Network for International

Cooperation)

22

Europe UK

Chiara Butti (National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

22

MENA and

Middle East

Jordan

Rasha Abdel Latif (Partners-Jordan)

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Looking ahead: New initiatives and other updates.

We took the opportunity of having so many of our members present during the AGM to

introduce them and our observers to two new exciting CIVICUS initiatives that we are hoping

to integrate in the work of the network with the participation of our members: The Big

Development DataShift and the Civic Pulse initiative.

The Big Development DataShift (BDD) was introduced by Jason Maglaughlin, manager of

the initiative. During his presentation, Jason described the BDD as an ambitious, multi-

stakeholder initiative to leverage the potential of new technologies for more creative and

effective social accountability. While still being in its initial phase, the project aims to bring

citizen voice to the heart of sustainable development by building a community of people and

resources prepared to harness the data revolution. It is a movement and a tool to monitor

and shape progress on the new global development agenda by promoting people-powered

accountability. Participants were very much interested in the initiative although also

highlighted their concern for being very vague and general at this stage, something that the

project team acknowledged and highlighted as an opportunity for AGNA members to

contribute to its design and future phases. The tool will be piloted in several countries and

AGNA is going to be a key group in the consultation and validation process of the coming

months. For more details see annex 7 at: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-

gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

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The Civic Pulse initiative was presented by Dominic Perera and Oliver Henman, staff

members of the CIVICUS team. They explained to the participants that the Civic Pulse is

designed to provide regular, timely, customised, at-a-glance data on civic space. Some of

them were already aware of it as they participated in the pilot phase of the survey. Dominic

explained that while the tool will produce results of interest for researchers and academics,

its use is designed primarily for civil society activists and organisations themselves to make

the case for improved conditions for civil society organisations, human rights defenders and

activists in their country and globally. In the same way that numerous business and

consumer confidence indices act as a barometer of economic conditions, a regular

barometer of the health and direction of global civil society can act as a stimulus for policy-

makers and public opinion to take more seriously the conditions within which social change

happens. Indeed, while business communities have used this kind of tool effectively, no such

equivalent currently exists for civil society.

AGNA members showed interest in the tool and acknowledged that besides producing a very

“light” and subjective assessment of the status of civil society around the world, it is a good

initiative to take the pulse on how civil society is doing and how can it evolve in different

contexts, make projections and identify trends. For more details on the project see Annex 8:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

The last presentation was done by Magda Elena Toma, officer in charge of the International

Forum of National NGO Platforms (IFP). The idea behind her participation at the AGM was

to help members have a clearer idea of the work that IFP is doing, their areas of focus and

how can we can work together more closely, taking into consideration that some of AGNA

members are also part of IFP. During her presentation Magda explained the recent change of

priorities agreed by the Board of IFP and how they will now focus not only on advocacy work

form the thematic perspective but also include other priority areas such as the enabling

environment, advocacy around the Post 2015 agenda and the development of capacities of

its members. It was also discussed during her presentation the potential areas of

collaboration between IFP and AGNA such as accountability on Post 2015 and capacity

development, and it was agreed that in the coming year both networks will identify joint

initiatives. To access her presentation see Annex 9 at:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B93F2Z-gxLi8WGlTeWg4QlQweHM&usp=sharing.

Closing remarks

The AGM concluded with a brief review of the proposed priority actions for the coming

period (January 2015-June 2016) and an invitation was extended to all participants by the

Coordinator to carry on thinking about how to improve the communications and

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involvement of our members, and how the proposed civil society exchanges (secondments)

could be structured and implemented.

Picture: Some of the participants at the AGNA AGM, 25th November 2014.

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Annex 1. AGNA AGM Agenda

Tuesday 25th November

Time allocation

Agenda item Responsible

9:00-9:45 Welcome and opening

Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, Vice-Chair SC Patricia Deniz, AGNA Coordinator

Overview of year’s activities and AGNA’s progress towards agreed priorities in 2013 and strategic changes Q&A

Patricia Deniz-Coordinator 9:45-10:00

10:00-12:40 Members experiences per priority area

10:00-11:30

Panel discussion on advocacy for policy

influencing

Advocacy for influencing the Post 2015

agenda- CIVICUS and AGNA’s work at the

global, regional and national levels.

Country experiences in Venezuela, Tanzania,

Nepal, Philippines and Dominican Republic

Q&A

Freya Seath, SD 2015 project Coordinator Diana Vegas, Sinergia Venezuela Ngunga Tepani, TANGO Tanzania Patricia Sarenas/Jet Pacapac, CODE-NGO Philippines Gopal Lamsal, NGO Federation of Nepal

11:30-11:45 Tea & coffee break

11:45-12:45 Election of new Steering Committee and Chair for the period Nov.2014- Nov. 2015

Patricia Deniz

12:45-13:45 Lunch break

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13:45- 14:45

Panel discussion on the role of National

Associations in promoting an Enabling

environment and civic participation

Working at the regional level on enabling

environment and CS promotion-The case of

the Balkan Civil Society Centre for

Development

Stakeholders engagement and civic

participation through participatory budgeting-

The experience of Jordan

Building Bridges in the MENA region:

strengthening CS through networks – A NCVO

led project

Ilina Nesikj, Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) Ibraheem Al Hayek, Partners-Jordan Chiara Butti, NCVO UK

14:45-15:10

Strategies for promoting transparency and

accountability – Lessons learnt in New Zealand

Q&A

Dave Henderson, ANGOA New Zealand

15:10-15:30

Assessment tools for civil society

strengthening- Experiences from Austria

Q&A

Romy Grasgruber-Kerl, IGO Austria

15:30- 15:45 Tea & Coffee break

15:45-16:40 Looking ahead: New initiatives and other updates

15:45-16:15

A quick look to CIVICUS new initiatives: the Civic Pulse and the Big Development Datashift

Oliver Henman and Dominic Perera, CIVICUS Jason Maglaughlin, CIVICUS

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Q&A

16:15-16:40 Update on the International Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP)

Magda Elena Toma, IFP

17:00-17:15

AOB and closing

Patricia Deniz, Coordinator

Annex 2. List of participants of the AGM

Region Country Organisation Name Type of

membership

The Americas + Caribbean

1 Dom. Rep

Alianza ONG Severin Jacques Marie Carminati

Full member

2 Uruguay ANONG Anabel Cruz Full member

3 Argentina RACI Guillermo Correa Full member

4 Venezuela Sinergia Diana Vegas Full member

5 Colombia CCONG Diana Verdugo

Full member

Africa

6 Nigeria

NNNGO

Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi

Full member

7 Zambia ZCSD Lewis Mwape Full member

8 Uganda

NGO Forum Sophie Kange

Full member

9 South Africa

SANGOCO

Jacob-Malusi Molapisi Full member

10 Tanzania

TANGO Ngunga Tepani

Full member

11 Mauritius MACOSS Samad Sairaly Full member

12 Burkina Faso RESOCIDE Siaka Coulibaly Full member

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13 Zimbabwe

National Association of NGOs (NANGO)

Cephas Zinhumwe Full member

14 Malawi CONGOMA Simekinala Kaluzi Full member

15

Ghana

West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI)

Jim Chick Fomunjong Associate member

Asia + Pacific

16 Japan JACO Yoshiharu Shiraishi Full member

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Japan

Japan NPO Center / CIVICUS Senior Advisor

Katsuji Imata Associate

member

18 New Zealand ANGOA Dave Henderson Full member

19 Pakistan

PNF Ismail Mohammad

Full member

20 Pakistan AwazCDS Zia-ur-Rehman

Associate

member

21 Nepal

NGO Federation of Nepal

Gopal Lamsal

Full member

22 India VANI Harsh Haitli Full member

23 Philippines CODE-NGO Patricia Sarenas Full member

24 Philippines

CODE-NGO Jet Pacapac

Europe

25 UK NCVO Chiara Butti Full member

26 Turkey TUSEV Basak Ersen Full member

27 Turkey

TUSEV Liana Varon

28

Norway

The Association of NGOs in Norway

Birgitte Brekke

Full member

29 Estonia NENO Maris Jogeva Full member

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30

Wales

Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA)

Matthew Brown Full member

31

Poland

Polish National Federation of NGOs

Michal Braun Full member

32 Macedonia

BCSDN Ilina Nesikj

Associate

member

33 Finland Kepa Outi Hannula Full member

34 Denmark CISU Erik Vithner

Associate

member

35 Austria IGO Romy Grasgruber-Kerl

Full member

Middle East

36 Jordan

Partners Jordan

Ibraheem Al Hayek Associate member

Observers:

1. Regina Utita Opondo, Executive Secretary of Creco Kenya (Constitution and Reform

Education Consortium) and CO- Chair of CSO reference group

2. Magda Elena Toma, International Forum of NGO Platforms (IFP)

3. Mamotshidisi Mohapi, South Africa CS Mott Foundation

4. Erik Jacob, International Centre for Non-Profit Law (ICNL) Program Manager for the Civic

Space Initiative

5. Emanuele Sapienza, UNDP Policy Specialist on Civic Engagement

6. Oliver Henman, CIVICUS European Representative

7. Jeffery Huffines, CIVICUS UN Representative

8. Freya Seath, Coordinator of the project SD 2015

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Annex 3. Appreciation letter to CS Mott Foundation

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