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Outreach and feedback: 80 NGOs to attend special EBRD meetings

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Meeting with Uzbek NGOs at the 2003 Annual Meeting

Human rights, the environment and human and economic development will be the main topics for discussion in this year’s annual meeting programme for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The NGO programme has become an important parallel event to the EBRD’s annual Board of Governors meeting and offers an opportunity to enhance mutual understanding between the Bank and civil society.

Starting on Sunday 18 April there will be nine meetings for 80-plus NGO representatives to discuss various aspects of the Bank’s work, policies and strategies. There also will be meetings with EBRD President Jean Lemierre and with members of the EBRD Board of Directors, and a reception. The participants, all representatives of NGOs accredited with the EBRD, will engage in open dialogue with the Bank’s decision makers and hear the latest EBRD information relevant to their interests.

Along with deepening their understanding of the Bank and its work, the participants will provide the EBRD with crucial feedback. Through their presentations, participants will discuss specific projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in the Caucasus region; Russia’s Sakhalin II gas pipeline; and broader issues such as public participation and transparency in the Bank’s work.

Networking occasion

The NGO Programme is a networking occasion. It brings together a wide sample of organisations: large, well-known international groups such as Friends of the Earth and Human Rights Watch, and small, grassroots organisations interested in sustainable development at the local and regional levels. Worth noting is another category of participating NGO: representatives from CEE Bankwatch, Bank Information Centre and the Bretton Woods Project.  

So far, 80 representatives from more than 60 accredited NGOs are registered for the Programme and the turnout will increase as more participants register on-site (registration closes at 20.00 on 19 April). The participants come from 26 countries, including 19 EBRD countries of operation. Inspired by the high level of NGO participation in the EBRD annual meeting in Uzbekistan in 2003, close to half the organisations registered for this year’s meeting are from Central Asia. The rest are from other parts of the Bank’s region of operations, mainly Eastern Europe and Caucasus, as well as from six other shareholder countries.

As a result of the EBRD’s continuing efforts to further its outreach to civil society, more than a third of the registered NGO are attending the event for the first time. The Programme allows the EBRD’s NGO Relations team to include more individuals and organisations in its contacts database, enabling a broader flow of information in future. Beyond the annual meeting, the Bank’s outreach will be facilitated by its newly implemented e-mail alert system. Members of the public who wish to be kept abreast of the Bank’s activities may now subscribe and be regularly notified about any updates in their pre-selected fields of interest.

For further information please contact:

Doina Caloianu
Outreach and NGO Relations unit
Phone: +44 20 7338 6620
Fax:      +44 20 7338 6102
E-mail: ngo@ebrd.com

15 April 2004