THE GCAP E-LETTER 2007 - August 27th 2007 - Edition #8

 

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THE GCAP E-LETTER 2007

27th August 2007 - Edition #8

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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.

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Dear GCAP friends,

We are entering an exciting phase of mobilisation for October 17, with information starting to be received from national coalitions about their plans. In Kenya our colleagues are aiming to mobilize one million people for the Stand Up and Speak Out challenge through a multitude of grassroots networks. In Bosnia and Herzegovina there will be mobilizations taking place in 10 towns simultaneously, which will include Women’s Tribunals on Poverty, banners and video projections on giant screens. We will keep you updated with news and plans from around the world as we receive them.

All the mobilisation toolkits and feedback forms have been distributed in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, so if your coalition has not sent back their feedback from please do so to sarah.gregory@civicus.org as soon as possible! More materials will be made available over the coming weeks.

This week in Oxford there is an important meeting taking place to discuss the future of GCAP beyond 2007. The meeting includes representatives from each region, task forces and INGOs, as well as the support team and the funders group. The objective of the meeting is to review the feedback from GCAP constituencies regarding the future structure, to discuss concrete structural formation of GCAP post-2007 and write a proposal to the IFT for its September meeting. We are still hoping to receive more input from national coalitions – see the section below for more information.

Mobilisation Update

 The mobilisation team has the following interest-based sub groups which are looking for more participants! If your coalition would like to be part of the international planning and share ideas please get in touch Sarah at the support team.

• Stand Up and Speak Out world record attempt
• Banners Against Poverty
• Ambassadors
• Political Delegations

 
Mobilisation Feature: Youth Day, Afghanistan

On 15 Aug 2007, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) Afghanistan Coalition organized a peaceful walk entitled “Afghan Youth Against Poverty” in major cities of Afghanistan. Youth, wearing loose shirts on which the title of this walk (Afghan Youth Against Poverty) was written; carrying banners and posters that included their explicit demands for eradication of poverty engulfing youth all over Afghanistan, walked their way up from Ministry of Higher Education to Afghanistan National Assembly in Kabul city. While walking, they were chanting slogans to demand their rights
from the Islamic Government of Afghanistan such as “Afghan Youth Committed to Fight Against Poverty”, “Youth Are the Backbone of a Nation, Do Not Let Them Grow weak”, “Poverty is the Mother of Crime” and many more slogans related to poverty and youth. This event was simultaneously organized in other major cities of Afghanistan such as Hirat, Ningarhar, Kunduz, Daikundi and Takhar by coalition members of GCAP Afghanistan.
For more go to http://www.whiteband.org/media/gcappresstools.2007-08-23.4333601411/

Political Delegations Update
An important part of GCAP’s political targeting strategy for October 17^th is for delegations in dozens of countries to target senior political representatives in the build up to the annual meetings of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Already several countries in Europe and Africa are planning delegations, but we are encouraging national coalitions in these and other regions to send delegations to increase the pressure. We will be representing all of these visits at the annual meetings in Washington.

Delegations will deliver a statement of solidarity on behalf of civil society outlining GCAP’s demands and expressing support for other actions taking place around the world.

For more information and to get involved, please contact Ben Margolis at bmargolis@oxfam.org.uk.

Outreach update

The IFT Support Team is conducting outreach at the global level with a number of different organizations.  However, outreach at the national level is essential in mobilizing people for October 17th!  We have identified 3 key groups for outreach.  These are: school and university students, trade unions, and faith based groups.  We encourage all national coalitions to engage with these organizations in their own country. For any support about finding these organizations and initiating contacts with them, contact Caitlin at the GCAP IFT support team.
 

Future Structure Task Group Update

A big thank you to those who have returned the questionnaire. If you have not, you can do so by COB on Monday August 27 but not after Tuesday.  The questionnaire and associated documents are posted in five languages at: http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap/reports-1/gcap-structure-post-2007/gcap-structure-post-2007

The structure group will have a face-to-face meeting on August 29-30. Thereafter, the group will present a proposal to the IFT regarding the GCAP structure post-2007.
Contact: Katsuji at the GCAP IFT Support Team for more information

Children and Youth Task Force Update

The newly re-energized Children and Youth Task Force (CYTF) is now in campaign mode for October 17th Stand Up and Speak Out.  The CYTF is engaged in a number of outreach initiatives and materials are being developed to increase awareness and participation.  

In collaboration with the UNMC, a Stand Up and Speak Out youth brochure has been created for distribution.  The English version (French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic will be ready shortly) is available for national coalitions to print, distribute and forward at:

http://www.movedigital.com/go/mcampaign/90701/stand-up_brochure04english.pdf 

For more information please contact Joe at the support team