Subject of the conference
What future for INGOs in international policy-making?
Traditionally, international diplomacy is an area of activity reserved for States and, by extension, for those international organisations to which these States collectively delegate part of their competence in a given area, as part of a specific mandate. From this perspective, INGOs are often considered simply as back-up partners, there to embody “field cooperation” and ease a disoriented world's conscience.
With the constant increase in the number and scale of their actions in the field, and the concrete, sometimes spectacular, results they obtain in the international arena, but also with the sometimes virulent criticism levelled against them, it was inevitable that INGOS should start wondering about the part they should be playing in creating a new form of global governance: what place should they be granted, what influence should they be allowed to have on public policies, what should their responsibilities be alongside the other stakeholders in the field and in the public arena?
This question, and the issues revolving round it, will be the guiding thread of Handicap International's conference. The conference will take place over two days. Three themes will be discussed in participative workshops.