members. There might also be consultations between government or the coordinating committee and a wider group of civil society organizations. It is important that there should be facilities for public hearings open to a wide spectrum of interested organizations and individuals so that there are varied opportunities for members of the public to put their views forward. 7.3 Public meetings and public hearings Consultations with stakeholders should aim to reach out to people at all levels of society and in the various regions of the country. Efforts should be made to avoid a situation in which the plan becomes an exercise focused narrowly on government and civil society elites. Public meetings can make a significant contribution to the process of consultation and to the development of a plan that enjoys broad support. They will be more effective where they are set up in partnership with civil society organizations, properly organized and funded adequately. There will be many situations in which it will be desirable to take the public meetings to the people. For example, many persons belonging to vulnerable groups may live in areas distant from the capital. Other members of vulnerable groups may feel greater confidence in the process if public meetings are held within the framework of their own organizations. In addition, the general public will accord greater credibility to the process if it is seen to make an effort to reach out directly to ordinary people. An issue relating to public meetings is that they require adequate funding to cover travel costs of participants, advertising and venue hire. A somewhat different version of the public meeting is the public hearing, in which members of the public, civil society organizations and government officials can be invited or required to provide information on relevant issues. Public hearings may be part of the legal mandate of parliaments, parliamentary committees, national human rights institutions or other statutory authorities. Such hearings can inquire into issues in a systematic way, calling for submissions or the appearance of witnesses, analysing information provided and making recommendations. Public hearings on human rights themes can be very effective when they are brought locally to the people. For example, public "speak out" hearings on poverty were organized in 1998 across South Africa by the Human Rights Commission, the Commission for Gender Equality and the South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO). The hearings gave the poor a unique opportunity to tell their compelling stories and to be heard directly by decision-makers and the general public. An important benefit of public meetings and hearings is that they can be the focus for positive media coverage of the national action plan process. Such coverage will constitute a potentially significant and cost-free element of the plan’s public information strategy. The public awareness benefits will probably be particularly evident in rural and provincial areas. Members of vulnerable groups or persons who have been victims of human rights violations may not always feel comfortable expressing their views in public contexts. If this is the case, those involved in consultations with the public should provide 58