The next CIVICUS World Assembly will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in June 2008. Glasgow, with its active civic life and home to a wealth of voluntary organisations, is looking forward to welcoming delegates from around the world, who will be able to interact and share lessons with each other and the host civil society.

CIVICUS is an international alliance of an estimate 1000 members in about 100 countries that has worked for over a decade to strengthen citizen action and civil society throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens' freedom of association are threatened.

CIVICUS has a vision of a global community of active, engaged citizens committed to the creation of a more just and equitable world. This is premised on the belief that the health of societies exists in direct proportion to the degree of balance between the state, the private sector and civil society.

CIVICUS provides a focal point for knowledge-sharing, common interest representation, global institution-building and engagement among these disparate sectors. It acts as an advocate for citizen participation as an essential component of governance and democracy worldwide.

CIVICUS seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people and it gives expression to the enormous creative energy of the burgeoning sector of civil society.

About CIVICUS

Following the 2006 CIVICUS World Assembly, it was clear that there was a need for an international youth-led forum for debate and dialogue on CIVICUS programme issues from the perspective of young people that could feed into, inform and shape the debate at future World Assemblies.

With this mandate, Oxfam in Scotland and the Scottish Youth Parliament combined forces to work in partnership to make this happen. They set up a new initiative to develop a youth led education programme focusing on political, economic and social justice issues.

The initiative was funded by the BIG Lottery in Scotland and is called ’Roars not Whispers’. It has developed as a youth led peer education, leadership and activism project which helps facilitate and encourage civil society participation by 16–25 year olds in Scotland and also goes on to raise awareness of UK national and International issues. The CIVICUS Youth Assembly is hosted by, and as part of the Roars not Whispers project in Glasgow, Scotland.

An International Youth Steering group leads on developing and linking the Youth Assembly programme closely to that of the CIVICUS World Assembly to ensure that young people globally can have a voice and be heard during the World Assembly.
The inaugural Youth Assembly was held in May 2007 and 150 young people came from 66 Countries. The 2008 Event will be the final CIVICUS Assembly to be held in Scotland before the series moves on to another part of the World, however with the outstanding success of the 2007 has already seen CIVICUS move to ensure that the Youth Assembly will remain a part of the World Assembly, wherever it is held.

CIVICUS World Assembly 2008

The next CIVICUS World Assembly will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in June 2008.  Scotland is ideally placed to provide a stimulating and enriching conference environment for the CIVICUS World Assembly, one of the largest annual civil society conferences. Glasgow, with its active civic life and home to a wealth of voluntary organisations, is looking forward to welcoming delegates from around the world, who will be able to interact and share lessons with each other and the host civil society.

2006 marked the beginning of our new approach to the CIVICUS World Assemblies; they will now be held every year, rather than every two years, and will be held in one location for three years. Thus these three CIVICUS World Assemblies will be held in Glasgow and will follow the common theme: “Acting Together for a Just World” - a theme inspired by events leading up to the G8 Summit, which showed both the massive global commitment from ordinary citizens for a better and more just world, and the absolute necessity of continuing the struggle to achieve it. The over-arching theme of 'Acting Together for a Just World', is explored through a focus theme, which was 'Accountability: Delivering Results' in 2007. The focus for the 2008 World Assembly will be confirmed shortly.

Past CIVICUS World Assemblies have shown the creativity and dynamism that civil society can bring to address issues of justice and equity, including issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS, gender equality and youth empowerment amongst others.  These CIVICUS World Assemblies have served as venues through which civil society organisations (CSOs) can articulate and exchange information about important victories they have achieved and critical issues they, and the societies in which they work, face.

The upcoming CIVICUS World Assembly promises to fulfil the same role. A dynamic venue for CSOs to create and strengthen connections with each other, the CIVICUS World Assembly allows for a dialogue that can lead to innovative collaboration across national borders. Similarly, the CIVICUS World Assembly provides a platform for CSOs to interact and engage with interested parties from government and intergovernmental organisations and reflect on the state of civil society around the world.

Professional and leadership development remain important components of the CIVICUS World Assembly.  Learning exchanges serve as an invaluable way of promoting exchange between local and international participants. In the past, these exchanges have included site visits to community projects, informal and formal receptions, and capacity-building sessions focused on local, regional and international experiences. The CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow will continue this tradition and draw upon local and international issues to promote the growth of civil society practitioners.

The 2008 CIVICUS World Assembly promises to build upon the success of the previous CIVICUS World Assemblies and continue to strengthen civil society around the world. The CIVICUS Board and staff, together with our colleagues at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) look forward to greeting you in Glasgow!  Be there to recharge your batteries, to learn new things, to make new connections and to explore joint projects across borders. A key part of the CIVICUS World Assembly is participant organised workshops, so please visit our website and get involved in the planning of your next CIVICUS World Assembly. 

Sincerely,

Kumi Naidoo
Secretary General
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Find out more at www.civicusassembly.org