This panel is sponsored by CoNGO, the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in consultative Relationship with the United Nations. The panel will demonstrate how governments, NGOs and grassroots organizations can foster and go beyond multilateralism to tackle the most pressing global social problems.

The panel will discuss civic values that will (re)engage communities and nations in action that will transform our world in ways and means that are just, peaceable and sustainable. What institutions, movements and agents will play the role of change agents for this transformation to happen? What models are already available in such work of transformation? What roles are there for civil society and non-governmental organizations?

The panel will engender a (re)definition of civic values where obligations generated by the multiplicity of relations between and among peoples and nations go beyond traditional notions of national security into one that fosters people’s security, human rights and global peace. Civic engagement will be explored beyond citizenry to go beyond national allegiances into global citizenry and solidarity where human welfare will be primordial. Civic action will be discussed so that social justice issues from every act that nations and peoples do–be it in improving the relations of nations and peoples or in addressing the problems that beset the global commons, including our common cosmos, so that a more humanitarian planet is made possible.

“Civic Engagement in Public and Global Governance”

The concept of governance comes from the idea that the government should not work alone by itself if it wants to achieve genuine and sustained development. Governance suggests that the government should not assume the sole responsibility of achieving development; rather, it has to keep ties with other institutions towards this end. This makes partnership a key component of governance.

Partnership in turn means participation. When governments work in partnership with the people and other institutions?the civil society and the private sector in particular?the former allows the latter to participate, and to be engaged in decision-making, budgeting, program and project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and other functions that are previously performed only by the government.

That “public participation” or “civic engagement” is an old issue in Public Administration and Governance arena is correct and it°Øs probably as old as the concept of democracy itself; but this being old does not suggest that it is obsolete. On the contrary, civic engagement becomes more relevant in these modern times, not only because of the expansion and the widening roles of non-government or civil society or third sector organizations, both locally and internationally, but because civic engagement is perceived as a helpful component towards the achievement of development? that is, in terms of achieving good governance, eradicating poverty, providing more opportunities for the people, and maximizing public welfare, among others?through a multi-stakeholder public governance approach.

The rise of democracy in many countries also gives rise to freedom of expression and this freedom is perhaps among the most basic mechanisms to involve the people in the management of public affairs. When people get involved in government processes, they tend to understand how these processes happen. They become more familiar with their government and the government in turn becomes more transparent to its people. They learn to express their respective views and even hope that the government listens to what they say, and realize that participation in government affairs is one of their rights.

Civic engagement in public governance involves dynamic interplays between and among the public or the people themselves, the civil society, business sector, and the media, and this happens in various levels–local, national, regional, and international or global levels. Civil society influences the government in decision-making, while making sure that the voices of the poor, often marginalized, are also heard in the decision-making processes. The business sector remains to be a partner of the state in terms of economic productions, while the media provides for mechanisms to share information to the public, which enhance transparency and accountability.

The plenary and panel sessions in this theme aim to encourage the various public and global governance stakeholders to conduct dialogues and discussions concerning the processes of civic engagement as well as the relationships between and among them. Through these discussions it is hoped that the stakeholders will better understand their respective roles, as well as the roles of stakeholders other than themselves, in the dynamics of civic engagement in public and global governance.

Majority of the participants of this theme will be composed of civil society organizations, governments, the business sector, the media, higher education institutions, and public administration training institutions.

The following are the proposed panels under theme 2.

Making Public Sector Reforms Work through Civic Engagement

Governments are usually criticized due to inefficiency in public service delivery, graft and corruption, red tape, among other dysfunctions. Governments introduce strategies for reform in order to solve these problems, but many cases of government reform strategies fail for various reasons including lack of political will, insufficient resources, and lack of capability to implement reforms.

While many stakeholders are also capable and competent enough in their respective fields, governments may consider involving them in public sector reform processes in terms of planning, policymaking, budgeting, public service delivery, implementation, consultancy and research, among others, not to mention increasing transparency and accountability in the process.

This panel aims to discuss the role of various stakeholders in making public sector reforms work. This will showcase the different arenas in which stakeholders can possibly engage in for better governance, as well as the views of the government in terms of NGO and private sector participation in public sector reforms.

Civic Engagement as an Anti-Corruption Strategy

Civic engagement can be an anti-corruption strategy by means of increasing accountability and transparency. When citizens, NGOs and other stakeholders are engaged in governance, governments become more transparent and accountable to their publics; while citizens continue to learn more about their governments. Knowledge acquired by the citizens about their governments can be used as a tool in countering abuses in government, including corruption, particularly when the citizens know how governments and its officials should properly behave, and how government processes and mechanisms take place. In addition, groups of stakeholders who are knowledgeable of corruption practices in government may form coalitions or consortiums in order to stop such dysfunction in government.

This panel aims to share practices and strategies on how civic engagement has decreased corruption practices by increasing government transparency and accountability.

Civic Engagement, Decentralization and Local Democracy

The trend of transferring power from the central government to the local governments has not just transferred power per se, but has also promoted participation of constituents from the grassroots. Through decentralization, people from the villages and the peripheries are able to participate more in decision-making and public service delivery, engage in public governance, and articulate their views and suggestions, because they become closer to the government. Local NGOs also become more active as partners of local governments or as social watchdogs that represent and help the people in ensuring a transparent and accountable government. This panel aims to discuss how civic engagement and its corresponding processes happen in the local governments, the role of local governments in promoting public participation, the problems and challenges that impede civic engagement, and other recommendations on how to further promote civic engagement through local democracy.

This panel will explore the agenda for reform of global and regional institutions in the context of the growing importance of world civil society. Today, there are many calls by world leaders to rethink, renew, and reform global institutions. There is talk of a Bretton Woods II, reform of the UN Security Council, and the expansion of the G8. The old postwar institutions, led by the United States, are clearly in need of reform. New states are rising up and asking for a seat at the table. New sorts of global challenges are also emerging, requiring new types of cooperation. Global norms of social justice and cooperative security are also increasingly in play. In the background, the world itself has expanded in include the active participation of civil society groups.

This panel will ask the question: How can the institutions of global governance be adapted to accommodate these grand global changes?

In celebration of the World Civic Forum and the 60th anniversary of Kyung Hee University, we have launched a course designed to educate and train future leaders to be aware, innovative, prepared, and proactive on global issues that challenge our lives now and the future, with a special focus on climate change, part of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This course has offered an opportunity for collaboration among students and professors from Kyung Hee University (Seoul, Korea), University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA), and Ritsumeikan University (Tokyo, Japan), to enhance learning and understanding of climate change, while nurturing leadership skills through practical problem-solving projects. The course has dealt with transnational governance strategies on problems of climate change in an interdisciplinary manner since January 2009. This course has been taught by Professor Donald Kettl, a renowned professor from the Department of Political Science at University of Pennsylvania, Dean Euiyoung Kim and professor Jongpil Chung, both from the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Kyung Hee University, and professor Tomoaki Nishmura from Ritsumeikan University. Students have worked in a cross-institutional manner to investigate issues and complete research that answers an official UN-proposed call for projects in the classroom as well as through online coursework. Marni Baker Stein, Director of Program Development at the College of Liberal and Professional Studies of University of Pennsylvania, has designed and organized the Open Learning Commons (course website) of this course and coordinated the overall class.

Students from each country will participate in the “WCF 2009: Building Our Humanitarian Planet” forum as a panel member and will present the projects that they worked on as a group through this course. Students are divided into four groups, the US, China, Japan, and Korea, and will deliver a proposal as a Junior Delegates for the upcoming Copenhagen protocol, including strategies for engaging each government and for negotiating the realities of each country’s politics. Each group will produce recommendations to the WCF on how best to address the policy puzzles of sustainability and climate change, as well as the larger problems of global governance.

WCF 2009 as a Whole
In recent times, several global agreements including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) have successfully presented road maps and a shared vision of building justice in societies throughout the world. In order to build just societies, governments and civil society organizations are now exploring new mechanisms of partnership and devising new ways of running the businesses of the states. International organizations, NGO’s and governments are becoming increasingly responsive to public demands for greater space in governance. The result is a redefinition of the state-citizen relationship and the evolution of new meanings of the concept of citizenship itself. These new developments warrant creation of new institutions, new skills and new forms of leadership. The ability of citizens, governments, businesses, nongovernmental and non-profit organizations and other civic entities to work together for the common good of the societies, to build just societies requires both a philosophical commitment to and concerted actions to realize these values.

The World Civic Forum (WCF), to be constituted by the global collaboration of higher education institutions, international organizations, civil society organizations, governments, the business sector and the media, provides a venue for global talks and practices to embody these shared goals of humanity in the 21st century. The Forum, which will be held biennially, unfolds the first chapter in 2009 in Seoul, Korea. It will be co-hosted by Kyung Hee University and the United Nations Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs under the main theme of “Building Our Humanitarian Planet” and will focus on three key themes, including Civic Values for Global Justice, Civic Engagement in Public and Global Governance, and Civic Action for the Global Agenda, which pay attention to the following issues:

Climate Change (Global Warming) – Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s)
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Poverty and Foreign Aid (ODA)
Human Rights Issues and Human Security Cultural Diversity and Tolerance
Crisis Management including Post-conflict and Disaster

Achieving Civilization through Tourism
Industrial Revolution brought enormous changes to our lives. With economic development, the world’s average living conditions have improved. But while enjoying the benefits of development, some problems have arisen. Distribution of wealth is one key example. Rich people became richer, the poor became poorer. When we consider the importance of balanced development in the world, this phenomenon becomes significant. Besides, a polluted environment, ever since the industrial revolution, the human rights of people all over the world has been threatened.

The tourism industry has been called a factory without a chimney in contrast to traditional secondary industries, a condition that has led to certain environmental and moral problems. There is no debate that tourism, a value added industry, benefits other industries as well, by letting tourists consume all kinds of products in a certain area. The presence of a tourism industry encourages people to conserve and pass on tradition and heritage and offers opportunities to introduce unique local culture to the world outside. In addition to this, the tourism industry offers equal opportunity to late comers to take certain market shares. These characteristics have inspired many developing countries to choose the tourism industry as a core strategy to alleviate poverty.

The importance of the tourism industry has grown so fast. According to World Travel & Tourism Council, tourism industry accounted for 10% of total world GDP, and employed 238 million people around the world, in 2007. Economies of some countries are absolutely depending on the tourism industry. And quite a few of these countries are located in the Asia-Pacific region. Since the Wall Street crisis, living conditions in these countries have gotten worse, and some people cannot even realize basic welfare or human rights, for the worst case. Such a trend is driving people to solely consider economic development over environmental protection in some parts of the world. Thus this is the right time to recall the importance of environmental protection and let developing countries collaborate with the rest of the world for a better future and future relationship.

Tourism industry is one of the decisive socio-economic drivers that engage human rights and civilization. As mentioned above, the main theme of World Civic Forum 2009 can be supported by this topic as one of its supportive ideals. Within this context, Kyung Hee University proposes UNWTO to host tourism-related sessions during WCF2009, as an Institutional partner of the event.

Panel Discussion Proposal
Under the agenda “Green Revolution for Tourism” mostly to slowdown climate change and Poverty alleviation as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), interdependent sessions under the authorities of UNWTO with Kyung Hee University on tourism issues are proposed to be held.

The term, Green Revolution, has been mostly used in agricultural industry. However, it will be coined as environment-friendly tourism, which covers ecotourism, green convention, and other environmental protection activities in the tourism industry, at World Civic Forum 2009.

One-day-long sessions are planned on May 7, 2009. In sessions, moderators will conduct discussions about and comment on presentations on certain touristic issues, given by three or four distinguished presenters. The Secretariat is currently calling for papers on touristic issues for these sessions. Korea Convention Academic Society also provides technical supports.

About 200 delegates from diverse sectors, such as government officials, decision makers of NGOs, educators and disciplines, and opinion leaders from other engaged organizations in tourism industry, are expected to participate for the program.