Dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, and thank you for joining us today.
In our last meeting on this subject, we discussed concrete ways to strengthen WHO’s engagement with civil society as an organization, and in providing guidance to policymakers on engaging with civil society and communities.
WHO is fully committed to working with civil society at the global, regional and country levels, and to supporting countries to strengthen their own engagement with civil society groups.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for all-of-society approaches that incorporate civil society and communities.
As we build forward better and prepare for future emergencies, we need to empower community ownership, enhance participatory governance, rebuild trust in public health, and strengthen global solidarity.
This is true not only for emergencies but in every area of health, and especially in making progress towards universal health coverage.
The handbook on social participation for policymakers, which WHO has been working on with civil society organizations and Member States, has now been published.
I look forward to discussing with you how we can work to put the guidance and recommendations in the handbook into practice.
WHO works with CSOs and communities at the national and local level in dozens of countries to support national efforts to respond to COVID-19.
We need to take the lessons of the past year and a half on how WHO can best support policy makers engagement with civil society, especially during health emergencies.
Building on these experiences, we are finalizing the WHO CSO engagement strategy, as recommended by the Ad Hoc Task Team on WHO-Civil Society Engagement.
This strategy is currently in WHO internal consultations, but I also look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.
During our last dialogue, and subsequent follow up, it was suggested that we create a WHO–CSO Commission. We plan to establish the commission as part of the WHO-CSO engagement strategy.
The commission should be made up of a diverse, representative cross-section of civil society actors, with the job of supporting, monitoring, and reporting on WHO’s CSO engagement transformation.
The main role for the CSO commission will be to advise on CSO engagement initiatives; to provide recommendations on implementing the WHO CSO engagement strategy and handbook; and to develop a core set of tools for CSO engagement.
I look forward to hearing your proposals for the role and the functions of this commission.
I thank you all once again for your commitment to working with us. I assure you of WHO’s commitment to working with you to fulfil our mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.
I thank you.