Controversies Surround World Conferences and Summits

• Weigh costs and benefits. It’s important, said one grantmaker, to recognize that incidents may take place and things may be said that are highly offensive to some people and even run counter to a foundation's core values. “When you’re a funder,” he cautioned, “you have the idea that you’re funding something specific. But in the court of public opinion, there’s an assumption that if you fund it you must agree with it. So you need to look at the whole summit and do a risk analysis.”
• Support international meetings as part of longer-term goals. Although no single activity will solve a major world problem on its own, summits—even very controversial ones—can be crucial in moving an issue forward. Said one previously skeptical grantmaker, “At first, I actually thought the [2001 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS] was going to be an exercise in futility, but now I’m being proven wrong. The advocates are holding governments accountable for what they signed on to do.”
• Communicate clearly about your support. Whether your main motivation is advancing global solutions to a problem, increasing democratic governance, or building the capacity of grantees, clarity of purpose can help you prepare for the meeting and calmly weather any strife that occurs.
• Identify likely areas of contention. Study the issues and seek different perspectives to inform yourself, your colleagues, managers, and board about what might become sticking points in debates. Remind everyone in advance that summits are always much more complex than depicted in the media.
• Have a plan for responding. One grantmaker advised that it’s important to be prepared to react rapidly: “You might easily have a microphone thrust in your face after a workshop at which [offensive] things were said. You have to be prepared for that. If things happen that go against your values, you’ll need to make a statement.”
• Try to focus attention on the meeting’s purpose. When controversy erupts, the media tends to focus on it, often to the exclusion of more constructive developments taking place at the event. In the words of one experienced funder, “We’ve learned that it’s possible to denounce something or disagree with something that happens without throwing away the whole summit.” Acknowledging controversy is not the same as allowing it to overshadow the entire conference.