THE GCAP E-LETTER - August 1st 2008 - Edition #26

THE GCAP E-LETTER

August 1^st, 2008- Edition #26

(use the language links above for other language versions)

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Dear Friends,

It’s August, which means holidays for many in the North and a chilly breeze for those of us down in Johannesburg but it’s also a time of intense preparations for some busy months head.

To keep you inspired in planning your lobbies and mobilisations, remember to use the fabulous 2007 GCAP Activity Report, which has been translated and is ready for download. Regional secretariats should coordinate printing the reports locally and disseminate to their constituencies for outreach and mobilization.

What’s been happening?

This week’s failed conclusion of the Doha Round of trade talks, begun in 2001, is hugely important for GCAP. As many of the campaigners were saying throughout the Geneva talks, “No Deal is better than a bad deal” this came as no surprise but throws up the question of where we go now in our quest for global trade justice that favours development. GCAP Arab Region issued a statement, highlights are copied below, calling for a new approach to trade that focuses on policies that promote people-centered ecologically sustainable development and could form the basis for our demands going forward. GCAP is finalizing a press statement on the outcome based on comments and views collected from regions and constituency groups.

The LAC Regional Assembly took place in Asunción, Paraguay July 24-26 during which Héctor Béjar (GCAP Peru) and Viviane Castro (GCAP Chile) were elected to represent the region in the Global Council. It was also decided to continue to have the secretariat in El Salvador until April 2009, at which point the Chilean coalition will assume the role until 2011.

What’s coming up?

ACCRA AID EFFECTIVENESS MEETING

The CSO Forum will take place August 31^st and Sept 1^st. Co-chairs Adelaide Sosseh and Kumi Naidoo, as well as several other people from the Arab region, Africa and Europe will represent GCAP. GCAP will be joining the Better Aid platform at the Civil Society Forum and a communiqué will be issued to media on September 1^st. Civil society reps with accreditation to official Summit (Sept 2-4) will also be active in workshops and side sessions and a final reaction statement will come out on the 4^th.

POVERTY HEARINGS

In collaboration with the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) Africa, the African Monitor (AM) and the GCAP Africa Secretariat, GCAP is facilitating up to 14 poverty hearings in some Asian and African countries. These countries have been chosen primarily based on the interest of the national coalition as well as ensuring sub-regional representation and linguistic balance. They include, The Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Senegal, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Zambia, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The poverty hearings will be held throughout August and September and the findings centralised so the demands, recommendations and concerns of people living in poverty will be used to lobby governments at the High Level Meeting on the MDGs in September. The culmination of these hearings will be in New York on September 23^rd when Mary Robinson and Ela Bhatt (www.theelders.org) will judge a Hearing on hunger, health and gender.

Contact Joe Donlin (joe.donlin@civicus.org)
Read about the first poverty hearing in South Africa

IN MY NAME AND THE MDG MEETING, SEPTEMBER 25TH

There is an exciting and groundbreaking new interactive initiative called In My Name, launching on September 25th in New York. It’s based around a pledge that people can make to hold their leaders to account.

The tools are open for all our coalitions to use, and to link with a very cool song and video, which is being made for the launch in New York. Singers from the Black Eyed Peas and well known names join anti-poverty activists and people from around the world to make a pledge to do something to help achieve the MDGS. They will make a big deal about this public pressure tool when they launch their song on the 25th outside the UN. GCAP activists, young people and people living in poverty will come to New York so their voices are heard at the summit. Contact Helena Suarez (helena@civicus.org) for more details.

PLANNING FOR 2010 AND BEYOND 2015

GCAP hopes to lead an important meeting of leading civil society representatives in New York on September 26th. The purpose of this meeting is to map out other civil society initiatives on MDGs and possibilities of partnership and engagements and discuss the Civil Society events and strategies of engagements (civil society, UN, communities, constituents etc.) that might be appropriate to mount in 2010. The meeting will also generate critical thinking on key challenges and key action points for 2010 and up to and beyond 2015. We need help finalising the logistics and possible attendance of this meeting in the coming weeks so please contact Ben Margolis (ben@whiteband.org) and Irfan Mufti (irfan.mufti@civicus.org) if you can be a contributor to this.

STAND UP

If you are one of the millions planning to Stand Up and Take Action between October 17-19 you can download newly designed materials on and you will soon be able to register your event on www.standagainstpoverty.org. The mobilisation guide covering the events for the rest of 2008 is being finalized this week and will be translated and mailed out to everyone on Monday August 3. It will also be posted on the website. If you have any questions mail Ben Margolis (ben.margolis@whiteband.org). More information will be posted on www.whiteband.org.

EVERY HUMAN HAS RIGHTS MEDIA AWARDS

As part of GCAP’s commitment to linking poverty and human rights in this year, the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, we have circulated details of a Media Awards competition which coalitions should forward to journalists they work with. It is a chance to get recognition for the work of the media, particularly at a local and community level, in raiseing awareness of fundamental rights. Yhe prize will see 30 journalists travel to Paris for a special event in December.

New Structures:

The process of registering GCAP Global Foundation continues in The Hague, Netherlands. A nine-member board has been constituted following Global Council approval. A three-year fund-raising plan has also been approved by the Global Council to help guide GCAP fundraising efforts in the coming months and a team, including a part-time fund-raiser, is currently mobilising resources for the next three years.

The Strategic Direction Group has finalized the text of the 3-year strategic framework for GCAP. The framework will be sent to regions, constituency groups and partners by mid-August for their input. We request all the regions and coalitions collect views from their members on the 3-year strategic directions and role of GCAP and submit those to global secretariat as soon as possible.

The Monitoring, Learning and Accountability (MLA) group is drafting a concept paper for a comprehensive learning exercise to be conducted at the end of 2008. In the meantime, a small team is reviewing reports from coalitions, regions and constituency groups sent to funders and global support team in the last three years. The review will help extract the key lessons from 3 years of GCAP work and identify case studies, success stories and weaknesses. We will appreciate your suggestions in this process.

Regional information

Arab region

Points from the GCAP Arab Region statement issued in advance of the WTO negotiations in Geneva:

• The nature of the whole "Green Room" process, which involves just a small group of countries and excludes the vast majority is undemocratic. The WTO DG put forward his own text for negotiations with less than 24 hours for delegations to review it.
• On industry: What matters is the percentage of tariff cuts that will result from the negotiations; developed countries are pushing developing countries to cut their tariffs twice as much as they would. This would lead to massive job loss and deindustrialization in multiple sectors. Also, developing countries will lose a significant amount of tariff revenues, which are needed for their health and education budgets. They will lose future policy space for developing strategic industries necessary for industrial development.
• On agriculture: The Doha Round will not solve the food crisis. The model of trade under Doha Round will make food prices more volatile, increasing developing countries’ dependence on imports, and strengthening the power of multinational agribusiness in food and agricultural markets. Developing countries are likely to lose further room for policy measures in their agriculture sector. There is need for increased policy tools that would help developing countries preserve food security, farmers’ livelihood, and rural development.
• On services: The current negotiations continue to support developed countries’ attempts to significantly expand the level of liberalization being demanded. These demands are contrary to rules of General Agreement on Trade in Services that leave countries free to choose which sectors to liberalize. It would result in making the current liberalization and privatization of services, including public services, extremely hard to reverse.
• The Doha Round will not alleviate poverty or promote development. Under the World Bank scenario, global gains projected for 2015 from the current trade model are US$96 billion, with $16 billion going to the developing world. This represents 0.2% of developing country national income, or less than a penny a day per person in the developing world. Half of all the benefits to developing countries are expected to flow to just eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. The Middle East and Africa would be the biggest losers from this deal. The costs far outweigh the projected gains.
• The current Doha package is a bad deal. It is time for a new approach to trade that focuses on policies that promote people-centered ecologically sustainable development.

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The GCAP IFT Support Team

Irfan Mufti, Campaign Manager 

Ciara O'Sullivan, Media and Communication Coordinator (E-letter editor) 

Ben Margolis, Interim Outreach and Mobilization Coordinator

Helena Suarez, Web and New Media Coordinator 

Caitlin Blaser, Campaign Officer

Joe Donlin, Intern

GCAP IFT support team

C/O CIVICUS 
PO Box 933, Southdale 2135 
Johannesburg – South-Africa 
Email: info@whiteband.org 
Tel: + 27 11 833 59 59 Fax: + 27 11 833 97 79

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.