CENTRE FOR RIGHTS & DEVELOPMENT - CEFRAD
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for a true partnership with the people
through education ~ empowerment ~ respect ~ support ………………………………………………………………

Workshop Communique

Victoria, Seychelles: Tuesday 4th February 2004

The Indian Ocean workshop on the theme of "Democratic Governance and Sustainable Development" in small island countries took place at the Seychelles Institute of Management (SIM) from Monday 26 to Friday 30 January 2004, and was attended by civil society representatives from Mauritius, Rodrigues, Chagos refugee groups from Mauritius and Seychelles, as well as local representatives of the UNESCO-supported Small Island Voice (SIV) Initiative. A total of 39 persons attended the seven sessions, and 19 special presentations were delivered.

On the last day, the following issues were highlighted for future actions in the islands represented:

  1. The need to empower civil society for greater and more effective participation in the economic growth process.
  2. The need to empower island populations so they may be able to collaborate more effectively with their governments and the private sector to ensure national progress, through ongoing dialogue and consultation, and also through development education and sensitisation.
  3. The need to place more emphasis on the gender dimension of the future plan of action for small islands developing states (SIDS).
  4. The need to give a more meaningful place to small businesses in the SIDS plan of action, more particularly in the context of eco-tourism.
  5. All development partners, stake-holders and players should be made clearly aware of the contribution and responsibility of the media to ensure sustainable development.
  6. Need to ensure equality of all the partners for a genuine and effective partnership for sustainable development.
  7. Clear distinction needs to be made between "education" to prepare a human being 'for life' and "profession" which enables us to take a 'role for life'. Education provides the suitable environment to enable profession to have an impact on sustainable development.
  8. Civil society actors in the Indian Ocean need to find solution to the fragmentation and lack of cooperation that make it rather difficult to effectively compliment, or counter when necessary, inter-governmental initiatives in the context of south-south cooperation.
  9. Need for civil society to educate their leadership and their constituents or target groups, so they may be able to better understand real issues and also their roles in order to effectively raise awareness of island peoples.
  10. Need for a more intensive programme to support the empowerment of women to more effectively participate in economic growth and political processes.
  11. All development partners need to recognise professional ethics as an essential factor for leadership accountability and democratic governance.
  12. The need for civil society to collaborate with other development partners and stakeholders to ascertain the reality of the HIV-AIDS situation in the Indian Ocean, and the factors contributing to the increasing gravity of the problem. Workshop participants also proposed an exercise in the various islands to assess the effectiveness of approaches so far used to handle the AIDS epidemic.
  13. Peace, Culture and Development: participants appreciate the spirit of the Small Islands Peace Action Initiative (SIPAI) and undertook to give favourable consideration to the CEFRAD proposal for the development of an Indian Ocean network for the 'Environment, Peace and Development', subject to more details being made available.
  14. There is need for a strong civil society plan of action for democratic governance to be presented to the Barbados + 10 Meeting in Mauritius.
  15. Future of Chagos: Workshop participants expressed the strong view that the Indian Ocean community, particularly civil society, should give due recognition to the legitimacy of the struggle of the Chagossian People, and should also assist them to build a solid lobby strategy on the regional and international scene.

Further sessions: In view of the absence of participants from Maldives and Zanzibar at last week's sessions, CEFRAD is proposing further sessions, as soon as convenient, to deal with some issues and subjects not yet fully discussed, mostly relating to the environment and coastal and marine resources management.

Mathew A. Servina
President of CEFRAD
Project Leader