Minutes of the Coalition Conference Call - August 6, 2015
Austen Bisina
Report on the Coalition on Business and Human Rights Call
August 6, 2015
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Attendance |
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S/N |
Name |
Organisation |
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Jerry Nwigwe |
LITE-Africa |
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Abiodun Baiyewu |
Global Rights |
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Saviour Akpan |
COMPPART |
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Chinyere Ihekaibe |
LITE-Africa |
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Innocent Edemhanria |
ANEEJ |
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Absentee with Permission |
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Ifeanyi Anyanwu- |
CLEEN Foundation |
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Emeka Ononamadu |
CEDESOR |
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Hamzat Lawal |
CODE |
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Chinwike Chijioke |
African Law Foundation |
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Kentebe |
ERA |
AGENDA + NOTES
The meeting started with an opening remark by Jerry Nwigwe of LITE-Africa who thanked members for confirming to participate on the Skype Call aimed at strengthening the Coalition. Mr. Nwigwe reminded participants of the events that have happened in the political landscape since the last coalition meeting in September, 2014. Mr Nwigwe emphasized on the need for the coalition to make their voice heard on such issues. Highlights of matters arising from the previous meeting included:
· Ratification on the title of the Coalition working document,The discussion was whether to adopt the title of - A Charter or Terms of Reference
· The Need for members to incorporate Coalition meetings in proposal development based on donor priority areas; and
· Sustainability of the Coalition through payment of levies
Discussion on Strengthening of the Coalition:
There were also discussions on strengthening of the coalition where the following were propositions were made:
a) Members agreed that everyone in the Coalition need to demonstrate high level of commitment and step up the game for the Coalition to achieve her objectives.
b) Members need to agree on a subscribed Financial contribution to enable the Coalition carry out her functions (Members to refer to the TOR for modalities)
c) There is need to organize a one-on-one meeting in the coming months to ensure that members are carried along (Modalities of the meeting to be agreed upon based on funding availability)
d) Members can also explore the options of using events organize by other funders/organizations and agencies to host side-meetings of the Coalition to enable the members meet on a regular basis
e) The use of the Coalition email list-serve in disseminating information to members should be reinforced and strengthened and members should endeavor to use the tool in the sharing of news, opportunities and project updates.
f) There is need to explore partnership with other existing initiatives , and utilize recent research on issues around business and human rights
g) Coalition needs to develop ways of tracking membership commitment and seriousness
Lack of Commitment by some members of the Steering Committee
· No action was taken due to the limited number of participants at the call
Advocacy Focus Area
Members proposed that the Coalition should select specific area of focus for advocacy, so as to guide the Coalition against the syndrome of doing a lot without achieving much result. During the discussion, the following areas of focus were identified;
· Transparency in taxation
· Employment and Communication sector
· Education sector/Private schools regulation
· Nuclear Plant in Akwa Ibom and Kogi states
· Acquisition of land for international retail corporations such as Shoprite by state government.
It is expected that members who did not participate at the Skype call would review the above areas of focus or introduce new areas as necessary whereas only one major advocacy issues would be adopted by the Coalition in 2015.
Action for the Steering Committee
- On membership Subscription Levy, members of the Steering Committee should deliberate on the way forward and clarify roles on transparent management of subscription fund by answering questions not limited to the following:
ü Who decides on where the money goes ?
ü How would the Coalition monitor how the money is being spent?
In the closing remarks participants agreed that the Coalition needs to have a collective voice on business and human rights issues in Nigeria and the Coalition can achieve this by finding an entry point to enhance the visibility of the Coalition.The meeting ended with a vote of thanks.
Next Step:
· Members to agree on a title/name for the working document
· Steering Committee to agree on subscription fee and develop operational modalities for the fund
· Members of the Steering Committee to send to the secretariat their organizational profile
· Review of membership of Erring members of the Steering Committee who fail to demonstrate commitment and suggestions for the way forward.
· Members to agree on one key advocacy issue to be adopted for the year 2015
· At the completion of the next step-above, another meeting would be fixed
in a yet to be decided locations to ratify the issues raised.
"I shall pass through this world but once.Any good that I can do,or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now and not defer it. For I shall not pass this way again"...Stephen Grellet.