During the International Conference "UNESCO between Two Phases of the World Summit on the Information Society" held on 17-19 May 2005 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, in response to the recommendations of a special Session on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships, and with the strong support of H.E Adama Samassékou, President of WSIS Preparatory Committee for Geneva Phase, Francoise Rivière, Assistant to UNESCO Director-General, at the closing plenary session of the Conference declared: "It was said clearly that UNESCO should create a group on multi-stakeholder partnerships. We will be very serious about the idea, because, as I understand, there is a need for it. UNESCO is an intergovernmental organization, an organization of states, but I think it is also in the nature of UNESCO to be a platform or a window between the civil society, intellectual communities, professional organizations, the private sector and the governments. I guess that this notion of a new society, which can be built only through partnerships of various stakeholders, has to be explored not only philosophically, but mainly on an instrumental basis: how can we do it, what are the conditions, and what should be the obstacles to be overcome."

We believe this is a clear sign of what WSIS has meant in terms of rethinking global diplomacy in the 21st century, by making international players aware of the need to develop rules and modes for sustainable cooperation among different actors. Furthermore we believe these developments are also the outcome of the many initiatives conducted by civil society entities within and outside WSIS - through writings, seminars, public initiatives and research projects - to promote a public discourse and develop a better understanding of the preconditions and implications of a strongly needed multi-stakeholder approach for the knowledge society. Finally we believe it is up to civil society to not only push a for a strong commitment from all actors towards participatory mechanisms in this last phase of the WSIS but to work in the direction of fully inclusive follow ups to the process.

For all these reasons an urgent and open call is made to revive the Civil Society Family on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships previously coordinated  by Adel El Zaim (adel.elzaim @ canti.com) and which has been considered by the Civil Society Bureau as inactive. Multi-stakeholderism should be a guiding principle for all actions and developments in Tunis and beyond, a transversal common understanding among all families and working groups. We therefore invite all interested civil society participants to join this effort.

All interested parties are welcome to join this call. Please contact: Tatiana Ershova, Institute of the Information Society, Moscow, Russia, (tatiana.ershova @ iis.ru) and Claudia Padovani, Department of Historical and Political Studies, Faculty of Political Science, University of Padova (claudia.padovani @ unipd.it).

All interested parties are welcome to use the mailing list: wsis-msp@yahoogroups.com (subscribe: wsis-msp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) to start transparent and inclusive discussions in the respect of cultural, gender and geographical diversity.to start transparent and inclusive discussions in the respect of cultural, gender and geographical diversity.

More details can be found at the web site http://www.wsis-msp.org, which is meant to be an open space fo dialogue and strategic planning. We invite you to make suggestions and send contribution to further developing this activity.