-CARICOM/civil society ‘partnership’
IF ALL goes well, the Caribbean Community Secretariat should have issued yesterday a media statement on the outcome of the two-day Regional Civil Society Consultation that concluded on Friday evening in Port-of-Spain.
Hopefully, given the emphases that both CARICOM governments and leading non-government organisations place on economic, social and cultural developments in the region, the focus of such a statement would be on specific partnership initiatives to be pursued rather than a reciting of pledges yet to be fulfilled.
Deliberations at last week’s consultation centered on the work programme of CARICOM’s Civil Society Project, with a sharing of the findings from a series of national consultations that resulted in a body of recommendations on ‘the way forward’ for the I5-member Caribbean Community.
The consultation, financed by the European Development Fund, comes ahead of the Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government scheduled for St. George’s, Grenada, on February 26-27.
A question of relevance is how really ‘civil’ has been the working relationship between CARICOM governments and the region’s civil society organisations to make a reality of the objectives of that inaugural ‘Forward Together Civil Society Conference’ nine years ago in Guyana.
Across this region, we constantly hear from officialdom how valuable civil society organisations and agencies could be in a partnership role, to encourage and sustain social and economic development, as well as helping to improve democratic governance and safeguard fundamental freedoms.
Yet, there is that lingering impression that the choreography between governments and civil society organisations continue to be flawed and, consequently, the envisaged strength of the ‘partnership’ is yet to reveal any significant impact.
Interestingly, it was in Trinidad and Tobago where, in October I999, that CARICOM governments had laid the groundwork for promised greater interaction with civil society.
It was that meeting where consensus was reached for a partnership ‘development strategy’ that resulted in an ‘encounter’ in 2002 between CARICOM leaders and civil society organisations.
That encounter took place in Guyana to coincide with that year’s annual Heads of Government Summit, and spawned the visionary ‘forward together’ CARICOM Civil Society Project.

‘Way Forward’
In the current circumstances, nine years later, it is reasonable to expect realistic recommendations for collective ACTION on the ‘way forward’, and not platitudes that conceal lack of cooperation.
The civil society representatives themselves must tell us how really substantial, or otherwise, has been the cooperation between them and governments of the Community.
The representatives include those who speak for leading regional umbrella organisations like the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC); Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC); and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL).
Given the aims of the Civil Society Encounter of 2002, with a commitment to, for instance, collaborate in the pursuit of making a reality of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), then how really productive has been the ‘togetherness’ in moving the process ‘forward’? 
What are the specific recommendations going forward from this Port-of-Spain ‘consultation’ to the Heads of Government Meeting in St. George’s? Having provided the funds for this week’s consultation, what are the expectations of the European Union itself as a partner with CARICOM?
At present, while major umbrella non-government organisations, representing a wide cross-section of civil society, have to cope with their own financial headaches to sustain programmes, the CARICOM Secretariat is faced with a serious budgetary problem that has even led to reports it had to deny earlier this week of planned reduction of staffers.
How will agreed policies and programmes be advanced following the regional consultation in Port-of-Spain, in the absence of any permanent FUNCTIONING mechanism for the once appreciated structured consultative meetings?
Facilitated by the Community Secretariat, representatives of governments, CAIC, CCL and CPDC used to meet at least twice annually,  prior to or during a CARICOM Heads of Government Conference to assess the status of relations, progress and failures in identified areas for collaborative effort.
Is it too much to expect a return to that consultative mode, in accordance with a claimed shared commitment to “move forward together” in the best interest of the regional economic integration movement?
We await some illuminating information on the outcome of the just-concluded Port-of-Spain ‘Civil Society Consultation’.