CIVICUS on the International Stage

The Australian organiser of the CIVICUS 2001 World Assembly in Vancouver in August, Gail Goodall wants as many Australian Not for Profits and businesses as possible to be represented at this International event.

Goodall says the Assembly has two themes this year: Citizen Action and Volunteering and “Cross Sectoral Collaboration” or simply developing partnerships.

Goodall says the event will be an invaluable networking tool for Australian Not for Profits because based on last year’s experience, many international corporations who have dealings in Australia take part in the conference. For example she says Rio Tinto is strongly involved in the event.

She says apart from networking, the conference is interactive with 75 workshops with the inclusion of many inspiring guests such as Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson, Former Philippines President Aquino and Craig Keilburger, the young entrepreneur who set up a Not for Profit organisation to stop child labour.

The 2001 World Assembly describes itself as an alliance for citizen participation wanting to build a civil society and volunteers will play a crucial role in this year’s event, from leadership tasks to host committees and translation volunteers.

Australian Jenny Onyx, the Associate Professor of the School of Management at the University of Technology Sydney, is running one of the scheduled workshops.

Gail Goodall says Australians will also be able to follow the World Assembly via the Internet. For more details on the Conference check out the web site at
www.civicusassembly.org

Gail Goodall can be contacted via e-mail on ggoodall@civicus.org.au.