What's coming up?

EVALUATION OF STAND UP AND TAKE ACTION
From October 17-19, nearly 117 million people stood up and took action against poverty in a unique and unprecedented global call to action against poverty and inequality. We showed again that civil society is a massive and powerful force for positive change in the world. It is vital at this time that we ensure we continue to strengthen, build and improve our joint mobilisations in coming years.

To support this, we would like to ask all national coalitions and constituency groups to take a few minutes to fill in the Stand Up and Take Action 2008 questionnaire (see link below). The results of the survey will be available in January.

Take the questionnaire:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5IbjL8vzVIZPkWRgU3SA4A_3d_3d (English)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YyPpkCi2OfhiCk7OPGSrwA_3d_3d (French)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2wn5Dl8Mi_2fFTrSC3sbt1Cg_3d_3d  (Spanish)

FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE, DOHA - NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 2
Following the G20 summit in Washington, the upcoming Financing for Development Conference in Doha has taken on even greater significance. GCAP is preparing for strong representation at both the Doha Global Civil Society Forum (26-27 November, Doha, Qatar) and the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development (29 November – 2 December 2008, Doha, Qatar).

Several representatives of GCAP (including members of Feminist Task Force, members of Arab Region council, Global Council members, 2 co-chairs, UNMC, and other key partners) will be attending these events in Doha. A final list of GCAP delegates/representatives in Doha will be sent out to Global Council members soon.

The GCAP Secretariat has prepared a plan of action with the help of members of Feminist Task Force, ANND Lebanon and other partners, and a coordination team has been formed that will facilitate GCAP activities and lobbying efforts in Doha. The team, in consultation with co-chairs and, if need be, the Global Council will be adopting policy positions as and when needed. GCAP is also organizing a side event on 'From Crisis to Crisis; Food, Fuel, Finance and the Road Ahead' in collaboration with ANND Lebanon. GCAP will be issuing a media statement in advance of the Civil Society Forum which coalitions and partners can adapt and release locally.

Documents and materials for Doha are available at:
http://www.whiteband.org/Action/take-action/gcap-mobilisation-2008/financing-for-development-2008/

Find out more about the Financing for Development conference and civil society engagement
http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/doha/
http://www.ffdngo.org/

For more information on GCAP activities, please contact Kinda Mohamediah (kinda_mohamadieh[at]hotmail.com)

UNFCCC CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES, CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE, POZNAN, POLAND - DECEMBER 1-12
GCAP will have a limited presence at the important UNFCCC climate change conference in Poznan, Poland. Our focus will be on ensuring that poverty remains a key issue through all governmental and non-governmental debates and targeted media work. We will also focus on working with partners to build our capacity, knowledge and impact through 2009 to the major talks in Copenhagen.

For more information please contact Ben Margolis (benmargolis[at]whiteband.org)

UN HUMAN RIGHTS DAY - DECEMBER 10
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As you know, to mark this, GCAP has been working with The Elders Every Human Has Rights Campaign to highlight the crucial role that Human Rights have in poverty eradication and justice and many Stand Up events reflected this. To mark the anniversary, the Elders will host an event in Paris on December 6th to which the GCAP co-chairs have been invited. This event will include the announcement of the winners of the Internews Every Human Has Rights media awards (see  for details).

For more information please contact Ciara O'Sullivan (ciara.osullivan[at]civicus.org)

What's been happening?

G20 SUMMIT - NOVEMBER 15
An emergency summit of the G20 convened in Washington DC, USA to discuss the financial crisis. There were GCAP activities around the world, including a press conference organised by GCAP El Salvador and an "open radio" event organised in the main square in Buenos Aires, Argentina by FOCO/GCAP Argentina and a protest march in manila in The Philippines by the Freedom from Debt Coalition.

In Indonesia Front Perjuangan Rakyat (the People Struggle Front) - an alliance of mass organizations and NGOs in Indonesia - rallied in front of US Embassy and Presidential Palace to resist G-20 Summit. In Washington, A People's Summit convened a march and seminar with discussions on the issues of social justice related to the financial crisis. Co-Chair Kumi Naidoo was in Washington during the Summit and presented the GCAP position and views in a number of interviews with global media and at the closing of the People's Summit. Irfan Mufti also appeared on SABC TV in South Africa on an analysis discussion after the G20.

Read more on whiteband.org/blog and see some of the coverage including:

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/17/doha-trade-g20
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kumi-naidoo/lament-g20-failure-to-hel_b_144107.html
• http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/features/article_1443175.php/Leaders_meet_as_economic_woes_pile_up
• http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44693
• http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2008/11/2008111795236311780.html
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/

As part of the follow up to the Summit, Kofi Annan wrote a piece which appeared in the International Herald Tribune pushing for a greater focus on poverty eradication between now and the follow-up Summit in 2009. 
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/17/europe/kofi.php

CLUB OF MADRID SHARED SOCIETIES MEETING, NOVEMBER 12-14
by Sylvia Borren
The Club of Madrid held their meeting in Rotterdam. This is the biggest and possibly most dynamic city on the issue of diversity in the Netherlands. Ahmed Aboutaleb has just been appointed as the first migrant Mayor – having lived in Morocco until he was twelve.

The meeting was about building leadership capacities for shared societies. Such an important topic!! Which all ex-prime ministers had to face during their years of leadership in their own countries, with various levels of commitment and success.

Mary Robinson and Bill Clinton are (vice) chairs within the Club, Princes Maxima of the Netherlands attended the opening session, as did a whole variety of leaders from governments, the corporate sector, and civil society.

Ashok Bharti (of the National Conference of Dalit Organisations, NACDOR) and I were there for GCAP, Ashok as the convener of the GCAP Socially Excluded constituency group, myself as co-chair. We shared (and I chaired) a small but very productive 'break-out' session on gender-inequality. Our concrete recommendations included urging the Club of Madrid to encourage at least 40% women in leadership of governments,  corporate and civil society sectors – reaching this through better selection processes, capacity building and quota's if necessary.

I was a member of the Plenary panel on leadership at which I spoke also of the pain I felt the night before: in the Netherlands the Minister of Integration Ella Vogelaar had just resigned. She was the chair of Oxfam Novib when I was director, and she was popular in the big cities where she was creating processes of change. Her own Labour party did not support her sufficiently financially or morally when she had faced harassment in the press – and finally dropped her. For me this issue is not mainly about political competence (as it is framed) but about gender and diversity: in showing lack of respect for a woman's leadership and communication style, as well as for migrants (the final straw was a human rights issue: 'preventative' registration of problematic Antillian youths). And of course I smell the well-known fear and aggression of slightly younger men to older women. Politicians and media-men why don't you sort your childhood frustrations elsewhere instead of projecting them outwards in your adult life!!

A sad day – but the discussion with ex-leaders in the Club of Madrid was rich (does one have to be ex- to become wise?)  And Ashok managed a one minute meeting with Bill Clinton….. 

Find out more at http://www.clubmadrid.org/cmadrid/index.php?id=1

GCAP Internal Updates

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS 2009-11
The deadline for comments and views on the Strategic Directions document 2009/11 has passed. The SD group will consolidate the views received from coalitions, regions, constituency groups and partners into a revised draft for final review and signoff by the Global Council in mid-December. The plan will then lead the GCAP actions and fundraising for the next three years.

Please find the current DRAFT document on the website at:
http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap/reports/gcap-global-council/2008-documents

GCAP LEARNING EXERCISE
An overall learning exercise of GCAP is currently under way. The outcome of the exercise will feed into a capacity building plan for coalitions and constituency groups. One-page updates on coalition activity are being developed, with the first one on GCAP Georgia already available online.
http://www.whiteband.org/blog/archive/2008/11/19/gcap-learning-excercise-2008/

If you have conducted or are conducting your own evaluation at national or regional level, please get in touch with Caitlin Blaser (caitlin.blaser[at]civicus.org)

ANNUAL REPORT
GCAP Secretariat is compiling the Annual Report 2008 and will be contacting coalitions and constituency groups for activity reports shortly.

GCAP Around The World

ARAB REGION - ASIA - EUROPE - LATIN-AMERICA

ARAB REGION
GCAP coalitions in the Arab Region will be holding a planning meeting towards the end of November. More to come soon.

ASIA
GCAP coalitions in Asia held a meeting earlier this month to discuss common planning strategies. More to come soon.

EUROPE: Kilowatts of Energy in St. Petersburg
by Julien Vaissier
The 5th GCAP Europe Assembly gathered around 40 participants coming from all parts of Europe (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, UK, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Malta and, of course, Russia).

Highlights:
The 2008 GCAP Europe Assembly took place in St. Petersburg, November 12-14. The comprehensive 3 days agenda's architecture was divided as follow: "DAY 1" looking backward (assessment of the campaign in 2008), "DAY 2" looking ahead (strategic planning towards 2009/2010), "DAY 3" GCAP Europe engagement at regional and global levels (European representation within the GCAP global and regional "Europe" mechanisms).

On the first day participants had the opportunity to share with the European attendees their 2008 campaigning innovations and also reflected on what should be improved in the future in order to have a better impact mobilization- and policy-wise, as well as effective ways of working delivering on our objectives/ambitions. A full set of recommendations was designed and will be soon shared with the relevant people at global and regional levels for consideration and development (ex: media strategy well shared in advance; one week of Stand Up and Take action culminating on October 17; to link Stand Up and Take Action with political actions such as "poverty hearings").

The second day was felt by the participants as the most demanding as they were asked to ponder on the future opportunities GCAP Europe should focus on in order to carry out its anti-poverty activities at national, regional and global levels. As a result of several presentations and works in groups the GCAP Europe attendees decided to put the emphasis on the following for 2009:

• "the launch of the Aid Watch Report" (April/May);
• "the European Parliamentary Elections" (June 4-7);
• "International Day for Poverty Eradication" (October 17, including Stand Up and Take Action and political events such as "poverty hearings").

Along with these 3 main key dates the GCAP Europe Assembly attendees also proposed to closely look at the following events/dates that as well represent strong advocacy and campaigning opportunities for the anti-poverty campaigners gathered under the GCAP umbrella in Europe:

• "World Social Forum" (Brazil, January 27 – February 1);
• "International Women's Day" (March 8, including women's tribunals);
• "G8" in Italy (July 8-11);
• "Road to Copenhagen" (December, Climate Change).

Other key decisions regarding GCAP Europe future strategic planning are first that European attendees strongly insisted on the importance to start working towards 2010 and its MDG +10 review. A group of people including CONCORD, GCAP Spain and GCAP Belgium will work on a concrete first draft proposal to be soon circulated and shared with GCAP Europe coalitions. Also GCAP Europe will develop more work on the financial crisis that appeared to be during the Assembly as one of the most recurrent issues discussed by the attendees. A first group composed with GCAP UK, GCAP Belgium and GCAP Hungary was set up to explore and propose options to properly address this important issue.

On the very last day, participants set the lines for a regional and shared outreach and capacity building strategy. They also strongly engaged in the different groups and task forces that composed the regional and global levels architecture.

The two GCAP Europe Global Council nominees have been endorsed by the participants (Glen Tarman from GCAP UK and Lilit Stepanyan from GCAP Armenia) and a new GCAP Europe Steering Group set up (9 confirmed members + 6 to come back with a final decision). Some GCAP Europe member also decided to take the lead on regional events as on the Aid Watch launch (CONCORD, Czech Republic, France) and the European Parliamentary elections (UK).

Other representatives put themselves forward to be part of the following GCAP working groups: G8 Working Group; Children and youth Task Force; Feminist Task Force; Climate Change Working Group; Mobilisation Task Force; Monitoring Learning and Accountability Working Group.

By December 1 the finalised list of GCAP Europe Steering Group members and other group representatives will be circulated along with the 2008 GCAP Europe Assembly Report, which will also be  available on the public domain (www.whiteband.org – European Section).

Take a look at the whiteband.org blog for a view from GCAP Asia representative Lysa John on the GCAP Europe Assembly
http://www.whiteband.org/blog/archive/2008/11/19/gcap-europe-assembly-a-view-from-asia/

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America concentrated on mobilizing around the G20 summit, with a press conference in El Salvador and an "open radio" event in Argentina.

Send your national updates to your regional secretariat:

• Africa - Christophe Zoungrana (christophezoungrana[at]yahoo.fr)
• Latin America and Caribbean - Jiovanni Fuentes (jiovanni.fuentes[at]cidepelsalvador.org)
• Europe - Julien Vaissier (gcapeuropesecretariat[at]whiteband.org)
• Middle East and Arab Region - Hamdi Al-Khawaja (hamdi[at]dwrc.org)
• North America - Dennis Howlett (dhowlett[at]makepovertyhistory.ca)
• South East, North and Central Asia - Chona Ramos (chlemara67[at]yahoo.com)

Some useful links

• Read the whiteband blog
• Surf on GCAP sites
• Learn about our issues
• See the photo gallery

The GCAP Global Secretariat

• Irfan Mufti, Campaign Manager (irfan.mufti[at]civicus.org)
• Ciara O'Sullivan, Media and Communication Coordinator (ciara.osullivan[at]civicus.org)
• Ben Margolis, Outreach and Mobilization Coordinator (benmargolis[at]whiteband.org)
• Helena Suarez, Web and New Media Coordinator (helena[at]civicus.org)
• Caitlin Blaser, Campaign Officer (caitlin.blaser[at]civicus.org)
• Rajiv Joshi, Mobilisation Intern (rajiv[at]whiteband.org)
• Adam Mukendi, Web & New Media Intern (adam.mukendi[at]civicus.org)
• Nomusa Moyo, Mobilisation Intern (nomusa.moyo[at]civicus.org)
• Budhi Bahroelim,Learning and Accountability Intern
• Mercedes Alvarez Rudin, Learning and Accountability Intern

GCAP Global Secretariat
C/O CIVICUS PO Box 933, Southdale 2135 Johannesburg – South-Africa
Tel: + 27 11 838 0690
Fax: + 27 11 833 9779

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a growing alliance of trade unions, community groups, faith groups, women and youth organisations, NGOs and other campaigners working together across more than 100 national platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world's leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. The white band is our symbol and expression of solidarity against poverty.
http://www.whiteband.org/