Forum of Federations

Forum of Federations logo in English

The Forum of Federations is an international organization based in Ottawa, Canada. The Forum and its partners form a global network on federalism. It brings together elected officials, civil servants and experts involved in federalism from about 20 countries to learn from each other. The Forum's learning and technical assistance programs have covered the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Switzerland. Venezuela, being a federal country at least in name, has a program director.

Organization

The Forum of Federations is a international network of federal countries, elected officials, civil servants and scholars. The Forum was established by the Government of Canada in 1999 and currently has eight other partner governments including Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Switzerland. The Forum runs learning events on federalism, gives technical advice on governance and produces publications for practitioners of federalism and academics. It is an international organization with programs and activities on six continents. Its activities involve working with government officials as well as academic experts, young professionals, journalists and others.

Activities

• Publications: Published series of books on major themes of federalism covering Constitutional Origins, Separation of Powers, Local and Metropolitan Governance and Fiscal Federalism among others. Also published Federalism: An Introduction translated into more than a dozen languages; and Fiscal Federalism: An Introduction forthcoming in July 2009. Magazine and booklets produced in French, English, German and Spanish. Extensive material in Arabic, Nepali, Sinhala and Tamil.

• Problem-solving: Current or recent projects on federalism including post-secondary education, water, internal markets, oil and gas, public security, climate change, benchmarking, immigration, and integration of newcomers.

• Learning: Organizes more than 70 events a year, workshops, roundtables, training sessions, where participants learn or refine their knowledge about the practices of federalism, and how to apply their learning in their countries. Events take place in over 20 countries.

• Assisting the developing world: Development assistance programs have taken place or are planned in Ethiopia, Iraq, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan. These programs provide case studies, examples from all federations as well as institutional support.

• Holds major international conferences: On average every three years, sponsored by Canada (1999), Switzerland (2002), Belgium (2005), India (2007) and Ethiopia (planned 2010). Conferences are attended by heads of government (e.g. Johannes Rau, president of Germany, in 2002; Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in 2007), as well as ministers, judges, senior officials, young professionals, academics and other specialists.

Partner Countries

Supported by nine federal countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Switzerland), plus development assistance contracts from various governments.

History

The Forum was founded in 1999 following the First International Conference on Federalism in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The event drew world leaders such as then U.S. President Bill Clinton; former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Since then the Forum has been active on six continents, and has gained nine country partners.

Board Members

Vijay Kelkar, (Chairman), India; Abay Tsehaye Abay, Ethiopia; Alexander Alvaro, Germany; Ken Boessenkool, Canada; Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Canada; General John de Chastelain, Canada; Walter Fust, Switzerland; Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Nigeria; Wolf Linder, Switzerland; Georg Milbradt, Germany; Sen. Ramón Galindo Noriega, Mexico; Prof. Johanne Poirier, Canada; Vicente Carlos y Plá Trevas, Brazil; Roger Wilkins, Australia.

President and Chief Executive Officer: Rupak Chattopadhyay

Past Presidents: George Anderson (2005-2011) Bob Rae (2002-2005) Ralph Lysyshyn (2000-2002)

External links

• Forum of Federations homepage