Inaugural Meeting: Federal Advisory Committee for the Secretary of State’s Civil Society Dialogue

30 September 2011

On Tuesday, 4 October 2011, the first meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society" will occur. This meeting will take place from 10:00am to 11:30am and will be streamed live at https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/csenglish.

 

Dr. Chris Seiple,  President of the Institute for Global Engagement, is a member of the Federal Advisory Committee, and also serves as Senior Advisor to the Committee's Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. According to the U.S. Department of State, the Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society is designed to elevate the importance of the U.S. Government's work with members of civil society and to underscore U.S. commitment to engage, support, and protect civil society around the world. As such, the initiative reveals "a broader commitment to make engagement beyond the state a defining feature of U.S. foreign policy."

The inaugural meeting will begin with a welcome and opening remarks from Dr. Tomicah Tillemann, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies. The meeting will also include:

• an overview of the Strategic Dialogue and State Department Engagement with Civil Society
• introductions of Advisory Committee Members
• presentation of Reports by Working Group Chairs:
  • Governance and Accountability – Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Robert Hormats
  • Democracy and Human Rights – Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor Michael Posner
  • Empowering Women and Girls – Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer
  • Religion and Foreign Policy – Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook
  • Labor Issues – Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Barbara Shailo
• a general discussion and debate to include: 
  • recommendations to the Working Groups
  • recommendations on the Department's Civil Society Engagement Strategy, and addressing the Challenge of Civil Society Sustainability.
• an opportunity for public comment 
• closing remarks will be made by Dr. Tomicah Tillemann.

We encourage you to take the opportunity to witness this historic beginning via the online streaming available at https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/csenglish.

 

Last updated 30 September 2011