With the decision by the WTO to severely limit civil society participation in Doha, it is vital that we find a way to construct the most powerful civil society voice possible. We also need to ensure that we have the technical capacity to get the word out from Doha to the millions who will be watching the WTO from outside and, at the same time, to make sure that our voices from outside can get heard inside Doha.

To address these issues, we are proposing the creation of a Civil Society Delegation to Doha. We realize that with the decision to limit each organization to one NGO delegate, many organizations will need to use that slot for their own work. However, many of us engaged in this work are also committed to taking steps towards creating as representative and strategic a delegation of NGOs for Doha as possible. Some of the criteria for such a delegation could include North-South balance, ensuring expertise in the core issues, and a balance from different constituencies, as well as advocates, activists, media experts, etc.

It is a challenge to organize such a group in a short period of time, but we think we can make it happen. Final applications for accreditation are due at the WTO on September 17. We hope that the organizations that join us in this process will consult widely with their networks and partners to make this as widely owned a process as possible given the constraints:

Here is the general proposal:

1. Any organization that has been accredited to go to Doha is invited to "donate" its one delegate slot to a pool.
2. All organizations that agree to donate their delegate slot would name one person to be part of a decision-making body that would meet by phone.
3. The purpose of the call would be to review criteria for nominations to the pool and, if necessary because we are too large a group, to select a small committee that would be given the task of nominating an "all star" team of delegates equal to the number of slots donated to the pool.
4. The nominating committee would take into consideration a wide range of criteria including North-South balance, issue expertise, government/media contacts, language skills, gender, etc.
5. The committee would bring back a recommendation to the decision-making body of all the groups that gave slots.
6. At the same time as the small committee is selecting a delegation, the decision-making body would send a joint fundraising letter to potential donors to create a travel pool to ensure that the delegates from the South that are nominated can participate.
7. So far, about a dozen groups have expressed an interest in participating in this process. If you are interested to join, or have questions about the process, please contact Sophia Murphy at IATP, phone +1 612 870 3454; fax +1 312 870 4846 or e-mail smurphy@iatp.org
8. Because the timelines are so tight, the deadline for notifying Sophia is Thursday, August 23^rd. The phone call for the decision-making body will be at 8:00 AM (Midwest) time on Friday August 24^th. That is 9AM in New York, 2PM in London, 3PM in Europe, etc.

Sophia Murphy
Director, Trade and Agriculture Program
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
2105 First Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55404, USA
tel: (direct) +1-612/870 3454
fax: +1-612/8704846
e-mail: smurphy@iatp.org
web site: http://www.iatp.org