Poverty Hearings: A Weapon for Change Source:
Global Call to Action against
Poverty (GCAP) On Wednesday, 17 September, the
Global Call to Action against Poverty-Liberia hosted the first in a series of
poverty hearings aimed at documenting the reality of life without access to
basic rights and needs experienced by many people. This unique way of giving a
greater voice to people living with the reality of poverty, is part of a
worldwide Poverty Hearing process coordinated by The Global Call to Action
against Poverty (GCAP) alliance. Already hearings have taken place
in South
Africa and Bangladesh
in August and will continue throughout
September in Nigeria, Nepal, India, Philippines, Liberia, the
Gambia, Cameroon and elsewhere. They will culminate in New
York on 23 September at a high
profile Poverty Hearing focusing on the food crisis, education and the
environment set to coincide with a special UN High-level Event on the
MDGs. For more information, click
here.
Millennium Campaign calls for urgent corrective action on the MDGS Source: UN Millennium Campaign On the heels of a report issued by the United Nations indicating that the world is not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Millennium Campaign is warning that global food, financial and climate change crises caused by the rich are wreaking havoc on the lives of the world’s 1.4 billion poorest people. Urgent corrective action must be taken if we are to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. For more information, click here.
Supporting capacity-building for youth participation in decision-making Source: Anu Pekkonen, CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme Coordinator It is vital that opportunities are created to foster greater youth participation in political processes. Young people in the global North and South alike express a sense of alienation from the political system, manifested in low voter turnouts among youth and ageing membership of political parties. Whilst this is often interpreted as political apathy in younger generations, evidence shows that it is the lack of confidence in the efficiency of their participation and in their ability to influence political decisions-making that constitutes a more fundamental reason for the disengagement.
Supporting capacity-building for youth participation in decision-making Source: Anu Pekkonen, CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme Coordinator It is vital that opportunities are created to foster greater youth participation in political processes. Young people in the global North and South alike express a sense of alienation from the political system, manifested in low voter turnouts among youth and ageing membership of political parties.
Financing for gender equality in SADC: prospects and challenges By Pamela Mhlanga, Deputy Director, Gender Links There are two recent events that have the potential to make a significant impact on the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda in Southern African Development Community (SADC). The first was the adoption of a SADC Protocol on Gender and Development (Gender Protocol) at the Summit in August 2008. The second was the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Accra, Ghana, soon after the Summit in early September, 2008.
EURODAD analysis of the outcome of Accra Source: European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) On the 4th September in Accra, Ministers of developing and donor countries and heads of multilateral and bilateral development agencies endorsed the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA).
Civil Society Challenges: 60 years on By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General After a longish stint in Johannesburg, I’ve spent the past 3 weeks on the road, or more precisely, in conference halls, meeting rooms and airports. In meetings large and small, I sense a collective wearing down of spirit. From aid in Accra to human rights in Paris and New York and governance in Syracuse, I experienced a lowering of expectations by civil society of civil society. Beyond the formal assaults - in the form of legislation, financial control, harassment, attacks and incarceration of activists - are the less overt, but more insidious, wearing down of expectations.
60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 7 years of the war on terror By Julie Middleton, Acting Manager, CIVICUS Civil Society Watch Programme In the 60 years since the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the concept of human rights has been deliberated, debated and dissected.
While its premise, that the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” has rarely, if ever, been challenged, few of its articles have been left unscathed.
