Dear colleagues and friends,

We have the pleasure of inviting you to a two-day interactive and participatory workshop on 9 and 10 November to help build a global civil society strategy against privatisation and for reclaiming public services in various areas (education, health, water and sanitation, housing…).

This workshop will bring together CSO allies and key organisations working at the intersection of public services, social and economic justice, and human rights. The two-day session will build on the discussions held this last Monday, 19 October, when eight current and former UN human rights Special Rapporteurs gathered to discuss the human rights impacts of privatisation and strategies for the public provision of services related to economic, social and cultural rights. The recording of the webinar held on 19 October can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zXjzgOOyCY

The CSO workshop will be held in two three-hour sessions, at 1- 4pm UTC each day (8-11am EST, 2-5pm CET, 4-7pm EAT and 9pm–12am PHST).  It will be an occasion to share information and political calendars across different sectors, learn from political strategies used in different sectors and regions, develop a joint understanding of our positions and build a collective narrative, and explore potential collective actions going forwards. We really hope to make concrete progress together to develop an agenda of work on public services and human rights.

This will be a closed event among allies who are committed to responding to the challenges raised by privatisation and to mobilising for the public provision of services to ensure the delivery of economic, social and cultural rights. Please feel free to invite other trusted partners who share these values. The event is intended for groups working across various areas (development, human rights, finance, economic justice (including feminist groups), etc.) and sectors (education, water, health, etc.).

We hope the workshop will help further catalyse global momentum for the recognition of the importance of publicly funded and high-quality social services for the fulfilment of human rights.

To register for this workshop, please fill in this form as soon as possible: https://forms.gle/wJhYkU7hZkc4H6LS9

The workshop is organised jointly by Action Aid, the East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights), the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), Oxfam, the Society for International Development (SID), Public Services International (PSI) and the Transnational Institute (TNI).  

All the best,

Sylvain