Public Participation Committee Minutes
16 December 2008
The Public Participation Committee (PPC) met on16 December 2008 at 16:00 UTC
PPC members present: Dennis Jennings, Jean-Jacques Subrenat – chair, and Katim Touray
PPC member not present and sends apologies: Dave Wodelet
Invited committee member present: Thomas Narten
Staff members present: Kieren McCarthy, Diane Schroeder, Amy Stathos, Nick Tomasso
The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken and actions identified:
- Discussed number of committee members and inclusion of liaison(s) as committee members. The Committee invited Thomas Narten to join as a committee member and agreed to monitor meetings to determine if additional members should be added. Action: Staff to include invitation to new PPC member on next Board Governance Committee (BGC) meeting agenda for consideration.
- Discussed revisions to proposed charter and next steps needed to finalize. Action: Staff to revise per discussion, return to PPC for review and comments. Staff to then send to BGC to ensure language common to all new and revised charters is consistent across committees.
- Discussed public participation activities from 2008 and those envisioned for 2009, with focused discussion on ways to improve participation during Mexico City meeting. Ideas discussed included on-line participation during public forums, increasing public comment and response time period with Board participation, coordinating constituencies’ public forums with public forums involving Board, having more predictable schedules and timely materials, identification of what is meant to be achieved at each session, the possibility of scheduling tracks of meetings that focus on particular themes, and a statement of the goals and expectations of public forum sessions. Action: Staff to draft statement of what is expected during public forums at international meetings and present that to PPC for consideration during its next committee meeting.
- Discussed scheduling next meeting. Action: Staff to distribute schedule and committee is to review and comment via email.