Start Date : 17 Jan 07   End Date : 19 Jan 07 Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi - UN-HABITAT and MWENGO together with a number of partnering organizations who are represented on the planning committee are pleased to announce the intention to convene the African Summit of Civil Society Organizations in Nairobi from January 17 – 19, 2007. The African Summit of CSOs aims to bring together the leaders of African National and Regional networks to compare experiences and exchange views on their priority concerns around African development and how best to actively nurture the growth and continued strengthening of an African civil society infrastructure. This initiative aims to follow up on two distinct efforts of the past. The first of these is the strengthening of relationships and ongoing collaborative activities between multilateral institutions and the CSO sector in Africa, while the second is a continuation of the efforts on the part of African CSOs to get a grip on continental developments by creating space to discuss these and develop appropriate collaborative strategies and approaches to addressing them in the collective interest of the sector.

Invitations to the African Summit of CSOs will be addressed directly to all known heads of African Coalitions/networks and regional networks. Participation at this initial session of the summit will be by invitation and interested eligible participants will be expected to indicate their intention to attend within a given time-span.

The Summit venue will be the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The working languages of the Summit will be English and French. As may be noted, the timing of this event has been chosen to enable participants to attend the World Social Forum in Nairobi immediately after the Summit conclusion.

Inquiries on any aspects of this event can be addressed either to partners@unhabitat.org or mail@mwengo.org.zw