DPI/NGO Town Hall Meeting
This was the last Briefing of the 2009-2010 season, so there were a number of different items discussed or presented.
The NGO DPI Executive Committee conducted the annual election for next year’s Committee - the Executive Committee is an 18 member body elected annually - A third of the body serve 2 terms.
There was an opportunity to review the work of the past year and to look at plans for the future. Eric Falt, Director of the Outreach Division and Officer-in-Charge of News and Media Division of DPI gave an overview of the past year and conducted a conversation with the NGOs on next Annual DPI/NGO Conference (64th). It was generally agreed that the practice of having the conference outside of New York, for the past 3 years, (including this year) was a good thing as it gave NGO’s and civil society in general, opportunities to attend the conference from that area. It was also thought to be a good idea to have possible rotation by region finishing up in New York in 2015 in time for the MDG’s review. In 2008 the conference was held in Europe - Paris, France, on the subject of Human Rights, in 2009, it was held in the Americas - Mexico City, Mexico on the subject of disarmament and this year it is being held in Australasia - Melbourne, Australia on the subject of health. Potential venues were discussed for 2011, and we were told of offers that had already been made to date to host it - a firm offer from Bonn in Germany and an interest to host it from Nigeria, Africa. There was discussion on the benefits of hosting it in Nigeria, though finances for this was still somewhat unresolved. The conference themes discussed were Volunteerism, Education, and Food security.
The DPI staff had also organized a short, heart felt and amusing presentation film as a ‘goodbye gift’ to Eric Falt as he was leaving DPI to go to UNESCO in Paris. Everyone wished him good luck with his new position.
The Brahma Kumaris will be attending the DPI/NGO conference in Melbourne, we have a full delegation, including youth and will be hosting a workshop and holding an exhibition during the three days. The conference theme is “Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs, and the Brahma Kumaris will be exploring the theme of Global Health and Resilient Communities. We will be writing a daily blog and will keep you updated.
Julia