In Ghana groups have been celebrating the day for the past 8 years, advocating for youth empowerment in the country through youth friendly policies and programmes by government.

This year’s celebration was unique because it coincided with the launch of the long-awaited National Youth Policy. The celebration was on the theme “The Youth as a Channel in Efforts at Achieving the MDGs – The role of the National Youth Policy”. 

The day was marked in collaboration with the Ghana MDGs/GCAP Campaign Coalition through its Youth Platform, IDAY Ghana, AYICC Ghana and the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

Mr. Kenneth Nana Amoateng, the acting Chief Executive Officer of Abibimman Foundation welcomed all to the event and expressed confidence that the outcome of the celebration will be used to influence national policies and programmes at addressing the needs of young people in the country.

“As part of efforts to make the voices of young people be seen and heard, the Foundation for the past 6 years has been engaging government’s and youth leaders of the various political parties in formulating a national youth policy for the country,” he said, “It is very encouraging that the national youth policy is been launched after many years of advocacy. It is rather unfortunate that government did not consult the various stakeholders in finalising the policy before launching it and this will not ensure ownership and sustainability.”

The Chairperson for the dialogue, Sonia Kwami of GCAP in her opening remarks noted that “no society can develop without adequately resourcing its young people to contribute towards development efforts,”

A dialogue on 3 key themes followed – 1) decent work, 2) Ghana’s oil find and youth development , 3) Climate change and an Action Plan for moving forward was also developed. 

Decent Work

 Unemployment and underemployment are forms of exclusions that affect many people in Ghana. Employment has not featured as an important macroeconomic variable over more than two decades of macroeconomic stabilization, structural adjustment and economic liberalization. The absence of reliable data on employment exposes the neglect of employment issues by successive governments. On youth employment situation in Ghana, the most recent data on unemployment and underemployment may be found in the Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire survey ( CWIQ) conducted in 2003 by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). In the survey, unemployment was defined to include all “persons 15 years or older who did not work in the last seven days preceding the survey and looked for work in the same period”. Underemployment was defined to include all “employed persons aged 15 year or older who worked for 35 hours or less in the last seven days preceding the survey and sought to increase their earning” There is therefore a decent work deficit- challenges, gaps and exclusions that working people face in the world of work. These deficits negate government effort of eradicating poverty and achieving the MDGs.  CSO’s should vigorous advocate for decent work   targeting young people, decision makers, employers, government etc.  The campaign must use different tools and strategies adapted to different audience including: A media campaign to make decent work a recognizable concept among citizens and employers.

Ghana's Oil find and young people 

Addressing the prospects and threats for the youth in connection with Ghana's oil find, Mohammed Amin Adam of Publish What You Pay Ghana (PWYP) noted that the youth of Ghana embraced the discovery of oil with varying expectations. There are some who are expecting jobs from the sector. There are even those who expect the cost of public services such as transportation, electricity, school fees to be reduced. Whiles these expectations may be genuine, the realization of these expectations are far from reality. The investment policy adopted by the government for the oil and gas revenues will play a crucial role in determining the future of the youth in this country. One way the youth can benefit from the oil find is through public investment in sectors that directly impact on the youth.

Since the petroleum revenue management bill provides for a heritage fund to ensure inter-generational equity, it will serve the youth of today and the future if they through advocacy based organizations upgrade their knowledge and skills to monitor the management of petroleum revenues, inflows of revenues, and to ensure the managers of these resources are held accountable.

However, the omission of the youth from the proposed Public Interest and Accountability Committee which will be set up to provide public oversight over the management of petroleum revenues very unfortunate.

Climate Change, Young People & MDGs

Mr. Samuel Confidence Dotse, Country Coordinator, Climate Action Network, addressed the youth on the role they could play as ambassadors of climate change in Ghana. Climate change has great significance for sustainable development plans, life and livelihoods and it is seen as a development issue for Ghana. It affects such important economic areas and sectors like water resource, natural resource management and biodiversity, human health, food security, settlements and infrastructure and desertification, coastal erosion and sea level rise.

Young people have the greatest stake in whether or not the world succeeds in its quest to address climate change within the context of sustainable development. The youth have the most to lose if world leaders and politicians including Ghana fail in addressing climate change adaption and mitigation responses. Youth are a key segment of society and have proven to be

an important group on actions and programs to address environmental issues. Youth are also a key point of influence for other segments of society such as families and communities. Young people are an important source of creativity, enthusiasm and drive for any actions to address climate change.

Emerging Issues/ Action Plans

· Young people should review the launched Youth Policy for engagement

· Government should set up a fund to educate young people on oil and gas. They should be integrated into oil gas development processes

· Educational material and action kits on decent work to be distributed at youth events; Popular mobilization in demanding for decent work. Advocacy aimed at key decision makers (government, policy makers, employers,) should be embarked upon.

· Young people should monitor and advocate for the effective use of national resources for development

· Demand world leaders to keep promises they made to fulfil the MDGs by 2015

· Government and development partners should make the MDGs youthful friendly for their engagement

· Young people should be agents of climate change and green revolution

As part of this effort, there has been widespread engagement with the MDG monitoring and reporting processes and the identification of future priorities for action at the national and regional level. Globally, a consolidated response to the UN Report on the MDGs was submitted to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; followed by the development of a co-ordinated civil society reaction to the Zero Draft of the Outcome Document and subsequent efforts for advocacy and engagement with the Co-facilitators of the review and other Member States.

A ‘The World We Want 2015: Outlining Future Strategies on the MDG Agenda’ event will be organized on the concluding day of the MDG+10 Review (22^nd Sep, Wed) in New York and is planned as an opportunity to bring together and consolidate the diverse efforts that have been organized across the year; and serve as the starting point for a renewed phase of public action and advocacy efforts on the MDG agenda in the next five years.

The experiences and expertise of civil society groups at the MDG+10 Review will be an important basis for the discussions that will be held as part of the day-long events which will also bring together a broad spectrum of social leaders and activists as well as representatives of the UN, governments and the media.  The side events which will be taking place on 20-21 September will also play a key part.

The release of a ‘New York Declaration on the MDGs’ outlining the priorities for public action and governance accountability will be a key outcome of the initiative.

The day’s event will close with a press conference in which high level civil society representatives will present their perspectives on what the MDG+10 Review has achieved and outline key areas of the agreed strategies for the way forward to 2015.

Please block your date for this important discussion; and contact Fionuala Cregan, GCAP Mobilization Co-ordinator at fionuala.cregan@whiteband.org to confirm your participation and find out how you can be involved with this effort.

Auditorium of the International Social Justice Conference

221 E 52nd Street, New York

September 22, 2010 - 9:00am-6:00pm

However, the constitution has no timeframe for the realisation of these targets. The MDGs mitigates or breaks the Constitutional silence on timeframe and facilitates a national review of policy effectiveness and introduce reforms to achieve the goals.

In 2005, South Africa produced the country report on the MDGs, primarily coordinated by the presidency, with mostly government input and little reference to the data and contribution of civil society. The report was highly exclusive and insensitive to the local realities of people and led to civil society organisations, including the SAHRC and SANGOCO, producing a shadow report on the MDGs.

The non‐recognition of civil society organisations as partners in development and weak multi‐stakeholder involvement continued in subsequent years. The presidency submitted NMDGR on behalf South African government in two consecutive years (2007/8) without civil society participation and these reports were later rejected by the United Nations, as this practice undermines the principles of the NMDGR set by United Nations members. In both instances civil society organisations did not produce a shadow report.

In the 2010 NMDGR process South African civil society organisations are witnessing a similar conduct of the government and its agencies in the form of Statistics SA and the Presidency along with their partner, the UNDP. In this instance, civil society has made an ongoing effort to engage meaningfully, seeking meetings and opportunities to influence the process and outcomes but to no avail, hence they have met and published a resolution.

Download and read the full resolution

Members from Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy, Oxfam India, Right to Food Campaign, United Nations Millennium Campaign, etc. were part of the delegation. In the context of the high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals that is scheduled to be held in New York during 20-22 September 2010, where Dr. Singh is expected to head the official Indian delegation and will participate in an evaluation exercise to take account of the successes and failures thus far, civil society organisations requested him to include representatives from civil organisations that have been committed in providing assistance to the government in its endeavour to achieve the MDGs by the set target of 2015.                                                                                        

The memorandum made several other general and goal specific recommendations that pushed for modifying policy making processes and for passing and properly implementing several social sector legislations that were drafted following promises of the government but haven’t been introduced and passed in the Parliament on account of several political pulls and pressures. The recommendations that related to the former included the following: the setting up of core\ad-hoc parliamentary committees on MDGs to oversee and monitor the implementation of all MDGs related legislations and to ensure that they are compatible with the latest up-to-date research and arguments of civil society organisations committed to the work on MDGs; pre-budgetary and pre-legislative participation of and consultation with civil society organisations in budget and policy making processes; setting up of monitoring and evaluation programmes at the district level; developing a national breakthrough plan to accelerate the progress made towards MDGs.

The recommendations that related to the latter, i.e. the goal specific recommendations included the following: introducing and passing the Right to Food Act; amending the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act to make it more inclusive; passing the Women’s Reservation Bill; introducing and passing the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill, 2007; and the finalisation of the National Health Bill, 2009. Ms. Nisha Agrawal, CEO, Oxfam India, said, “it is essential that the government increase budgetary allocations to the social sector, ensures governance accountability and provides access to natural resources like land, water and forests.”

Ms. Supriya Sule, highlighted related concerns of malnutrition and urged the Prime Minister to personally look into the matter.

Dr. Singh assured the delegates that the government was committed to the MDGs and was working towards their achievement by 2015. He took note of all their concerns and said that the government will consider the civil society demand for inclusion of civil society representatives to the UN General Assembly Meeting in September 2010 and said that he would personally look into matters of malnutrition, health, education, gender equality and work towards breaking down action plans to the district level.

Wada Na Todo Abhiyan Secretariat

Adelaide Sosseh, copresidenta del GCAP, fue la oradora principal en el Festival Anual Big Tent.  Adelaide, una reconocida activista originaria de Gambia, inauguró el Festival el pasado 23 de julio, dirigiéndose a los y las participantes del festival, en una presentación conjunta con Malcolm Fleming, el Gerente de Campañas de Oxfam Escocia. El tema del Festival fue Moviéndonos con África, y las discusiones versaron sobre la necesidad de una solidaridad mundial y de justicia climática, con un enfoque central en el impacto sobre las personas más pobres en el mundo.

 Anuncio de Adelaide Sosseh como oradora principal del Festival Big Tent | Adelaide Sosseh en la apertura del Festival (video) |

By Sonia Kwami

The progress towards tackling maternal mortality has been disappointingly slow as Africa accounts for more than half of the global maternal deaths. This is very alarming as most of these deaths can be prevented through improved access to quality healthcare.

Convened by GCAP’s partner UNMC Africa, GCAP joined other CSO organizations in Africa to present issues to members of the Network of Parliamentarians for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  CSOs represented included, Oxfam International, Abantu for Development, Fair Play for Africa Campaign, and more. The caucus group members of the network were from Uganda, Senegal and South Africa.  Some were also members of the Pan African Parliament.

Launched in Nigeria on March  29th, 2010 by UNMC Africa, the Network started with members of Parliament from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Through this network, they committed to speak with one voice to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are achieved.  Participating in the round table were GCAP Members from Senegal, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria. It was sad to note that only three out of the 52 African states had fulfilled their commitment of spending 15% of their GDP on health as pledged in the Abuja Declaration. Presenting the issues from GCAP were: Seth Abloso from the Global Council and the African Governing Council (AGC),  Muleba Matafwali from GCAP Zambia and Deo Nyanzi from GCAP Uganda and the AGC.

Commenting on the discussions, Honorable Toure (MP) from Senegal reiterated that CSOs must increase pressure on African Governments to to support health personnel to work effectively and monitor governments to deliver on meeting the Abuja declaration of spending 15% of their GDP on health. She also stressed the need for CSOs to share findings from evidenced based research to enable MPs utilize the results in approving government budgets and plans. This, she stressed, will ensure that more resources will be allocated towards meeting the MDGs.

Having equipped themselves with information from CSOs, the MPs pledged to engage governments during the AU Summit. Copies of the key issue document presented by GCAP were made available to the MPs in English and French.  

GCAP Africa sees this as a strategic opportunity to partner with MPs to engage African governments to adopt pragmatic measures to meet the MDGs by 2015.

Sonia Kwami is GCAP’s Project Accelerate Africa  Coordinator and can be reached at sonia.kwami@whiteband.org

GCAP Calls On AU To Deliver On Its MDG Commitments | Raising Our Voices | Somalia, Maternal Mortality Dominate Start of AU Summit

By Glenn Farred

An insightful overview of the G20 was provided Jinho Song (GCAP Korea), Jasmine Burnely (Oxfam International) and Chan-Geun Lee (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions). Dennis Howlett (Make Poverty History Canada) and Masaki Inaba (Africa Japan Forum/GCAP Japan) provided valuable insights into the organisation and engagement between civil society and previous Summits of the G8. Delegates had an opportunity to develop issue specific positions on areas such as Finance and Economic policy; Development and Gender as well as Labour and the Environment. These views were consolidated into the “Seoul Declaration” which is currently being finalised for endorsement by the organisations present.

The workshop also had an opportunity to engage with the Korean Sherpa who gave a presentation on the Korean government’s approach to the key issues on the agenda of the Seoul Summit. A question and answer session was held with the Sherpa and it reflected that many civil society issues on the process, substance and governance of the G20 need greater refinement to effectively impact on the G20 leaders.

Glenn Farred is GCAP’s Project Accelerate G20 Coorddinator and can be reached at Glenn.farred@whiteband.org

MDGs target indeed achievable: UN | Asia-Pacific Civil Society Charter | “Citizen Monitoring is Crucial to End Poverty” Civil Society tells Asian Leaders

Discussions on it in the UN GA will begin again end of August when member states return but introduction of new concerns or text will be almost impossible. Member states want the document closed by September 1^st.   Very few new issues have been added to the updated draft – strong G77 and EU tensions throughout the discussions.  The only thing they have been able to agree on is that the message they want in the document should be “The MDGs are achievable. They must orient development activity and investment.  Let’s do it now.”

READ NOW: Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the MDGs

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The Pakistan MDG Report for 2010 covers the four years since 2006 in which numerous and far reaching developments have taken place which have transformed the social, political, and economic landscape of Pakistan, all having an impact – some favourable, others not so – on the outcomes, achievements and targets of Pakistan’s Millennium Development Goals. GCAP-Pakistan has facilitated a Civil Society Consultative Process across the country on MDG Review Report 2010 and has coordinated to ensure that these inputs are submitted to the Planning Commission of Pakistan, which is the coordinating agency for the National MDG Report.   Two l consultative meetings have already been heldat Peshawar and Karachi, and will also be held in Lahore and Quetta. GCAP-Pakistan is also developing a Civil Society Perspective Report on official MDG Report. 2010.  

A final consultative meeting will be held at Islamabad on 14th  August.-

For more information, please contact Mohd. Zia-ur-Rehman at zia@gcappakistan.net

Within this framework, ANND launched an analysis report entitled “Assessing the MDG Process in the Arab Region; Survey of Key Issues”. Prepared by eminent researchers and activists from various countries in the Arab region, the publication delves into the three areas of official development assistance, gender issues and the MDGs, and the mainstreaming of MDGs in national policy making. The publication establishes the state of affairs, identifies the challenges, and suggests workable recommendations on these issues. One of the main objectives of this work is to contribute to enhancing the advocacy role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Arab region.

In regards to mainstreaming the MDGs in national planning and policy making, the report notes that Arab governments are still weak on mainstreaming development goals. MDGs are not top priority for policy makers, academia, and various social actors. Moreover the economic and social priorities are not properly identified in many countries. Social and economic policy-making is often top-down and not based on effective inclusion and consultations with various social stockholders.

ANND has worked with several CSOs from the Arab region, many of which have been actively engaged with GCAP activities in the region, to prepare seven case studies that shed the light on the progress- and lack of it- on achieving the MDGs in the Arab Countries. These cases provide an assessment from the perspective of civil society groups active at the grass roots level and with international campaigns like the GCAP, and provide analyses and recommendations as well as a broader reflection on the way forward.

For more information, please contact  Kinda Mohamadieh at kinda.mohamadieh@annd.org

In an attempt to assess the performance of the Union government during the first year of its tenure, civil society groups associated with Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (GPCA India) released a Response on 1^st Year of UPA-II in June. The response was termed as a rejoinder to the recently published report card by the Government on its own performance during the first year of its tenure.  The consultation determined that in its second term, the government has largely failed to protect the common people from the vagaries of inflation in essential commodities during the first year of its reign, and has also failed to comprehend adequately the needs of the masses in getting basic services like education and health in a right based perspective.

“The popular mandate to the UPA government in 2004 can be viewed as a success of the UPA to highlight the aspiration of the masses and the rejection of the communal politics by Indian populace as well as civil society. This calls for more proactive engagement between the government and the civil society on policy issues,” said Vergese K George, a speaker at the gathering.

A key campaign issue across all the GCAP coalitions present – Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania – is the lack of progress on MDG 5 on maternal mortality as thousands of women continue to loose their lives while giving birth.   In Malawi 807 out of every 100,000 women die during child birth while in Kenya the figure is 14,000 women a year.

In this context a number of activities were organised to raise awareness of the issue and demand action from leaders.

On 19 July, GCAP Uganda brought together UN and Civil Society experts in  pre AU Summit public dialogue to provide concrete proposals to leaders on how to tackle preventable deaths caused by lack of access to adequate health services for pregnant women.

Seth Abloso of GCAP’s Global Council provided the opening remarks reminding participants and leaders that the issues of health – including that of women and children – could not be seen in isolation from the broader global economic model .  

“Unless we also look at economic, financial and trade issues, such as the  so called “Economic Partnership Agreements” being negotiated with the EU, we will not be able to seriously tackle the issue of adequate and accessible health services,” he said while also adding  “We must also look at the way in which Africa is subsidising health systems in other regions such as Europe as African nurses and doctors upon finishing their training, emigrate overseas to work.”

Representatives of the panel then provided their inputs.  This included Dr Rose Mukisa of the African Reproductive and Sexual Health, Dr Naamala Hanifa Sengendo from Save the Children, Thomas Deve from the UN Millennium Campaign , Rita Aciro from Uganda Women’s Network and Dr Wilfred Ochan from the United Nations Population Fund.

All panellists agreed that during the AU Summit, leaders would come up with renewed policy and financial commitments to prevent women and children dying from preventable deaths but affirmed that the challenge would be on how to transform those commitments into action.   In addition, many of the panellists noted that unless the approach to maternal health in particular was not a holistic one – focusing on “gender and power dynamics “and “changing mind sets” – deaths during child birth would continue to occur.  An integrated approach to maternal health must also look at gender based violence, including sexual violence, cultural practices and education. One member of the panel noted that the AU summit would bring together 52 men and only one women to discuss the issue .

A public dialogue then followed with inputs from a number of representatives from the floor.  One participant highlighted that maternal mortality had actually increased in Africa in the past decade with health services in many places deteriorating. 

Debbie Salami from GCAP Nigeria called on the audience to recognise that men contribute  to maternal mortality and reiterated the need  to tackle gender based violence while Sonia Kwami from GCAP Global  Secretariat said in Ghana civil society organizations had successfully campaigned for universal free delivery services for women, a service that has since saved lives.   “Accessible, quality and appropriate services for pregnant women including free delivery as well as free pre and post natal service with skilled health care workers must be made available to women in every African country,” she said.

On 20 July, GCAP and a number of African journalists visited a hospital 85km from Entebbe Aiport in the rural town of Gombe where a press conference was held with local media.  A tour of the hospital revealed that despite the challenges staff face -  lack of medicines,  basic and often inadequate facilities and serious staff shortages as the hospital meets just 35% of its staff capacity – the commitment of the staff to saving lives and ensuring the best possible access to health for the local communities is saving lives on a daily basis.

On the ward  GCAP met  20 year old Juliet Nakasage who had just given birth to twins and was accompanied in the hospital by her husband, mother and sister.  Juliet and her twins were healthy and happy and she was due to return home in the next few hours. Unfortunately this is not always the case,  Dr Haruna, one of the head doctors of the hospital explained.  Many women arrive at the hospital with serious complications due to lack of pre-natal care or due to the long distance needed to travel to the hospital or lack of support from their spouse, many of whom refuse to pay the US$2 delivery charge or necessary medicines.

Another issue of serious concern was malaria – affecting young children in particular. According to the doctor, in 2009-2010 the hospital treated 20,000 children under 5 and 50,000 over 5 for malaria.  “The Government urgently needs to focus on increased prevention mechanisms including free repellent treated mosquito nets for under 5s,” he said.

During the press conference GCAP outlined specific demands to AU leaders including:

-          A holistic approach to maternal health must be taken which addresses the inter-linked root causes of maternal mortality such as early and forced marriages, lack of adequate representation of women in decision making in the health sector and the feminisation of poverty.

-          There must be increased investment in prevention including free malaria treatment  for the under 5s  and subsidised ones for the rest of the population , and there must also be free provision of mosquito nets and legal enforcement of their use for under 5s.

-          To ensure achievement of the MDGs there must be a robust, credible, transparent and inclusive accountability and monitoring framework at the national level involving all key stakeholders

-          Civil Society has a key role to play in implementing and achieving the MDGs and must be actively involved with key processes.

-          The African Union should press for full member of the G20 to give voice to Africa and play a key role in decisions being made around the global economic and financial architecture, while at the same time reaffirming that the G192 is the only legitimate space for such decisions to be made.

-          African leaders must also explore additonal ways of raising domestic sources of funding to achieve the MDGS and eradticate poverty.

While in Kampala, GCAP National Coalitions met with Parliamentarians for the MDGs

and Developed a Draft African Charter The World We Want 2015. More information on these events will be posted later.

With just under 3 months to go to the MDG Review Summit 21-22 September 2010 - there is no time to loose!!

We urgently need to pressurize leaders and make them isten to our demands for a radical MDG Breakthrough Plan as the outcome of the Review Summit to ensure the MDGS are achieved and exceeded by 2015 and we have begun to build The World We Want.

Please download the 5-Point Action Plan called "Mobilising Towards the World We Want" which includes ideas and guidance on how to carry out advocacy and build  mass mobilisations over the next 3 months.

The plans is available in French and English, with Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic versions coming soon to the MDG Mobilisation space on whiteband.org.

If you would like to participate in the information sharing and coordination space around the summit - the mdg2010[at]whiteband.org listserve - please email GCAP's Mobilisation Coordinator Fionuala Cregan on fionuala.cregan[at]whiteband.org

MDG 5-point Mobilisation Plan - Towards The World We Want (PDF)

Plan d'action en 5 points - la mobilisation en faveur du Monde que nous voulons (PDF)

Africa, composed of 52 countries, has only one country (South Africa) which is a member of the top 20 richest countries. This alone is a clear indication that African nations are struggling to bail people out of poverty. The gesture by the Canadian Government to invite some African leaders to the summits is very encouraging in view that issues regarding the continent have been dominating the agenda of such summits.

So far, activists from non-governmental organisations, trade unions, companies/businesses, students and faith community among others have been meeting to strategise their engagement with the G8/20 leaders as a way of reminding them of their role in the development of the planet. Strategic conferences, press conferences, marches / demonstrations, banners, signing petitions, handouts etc have been the order of the day. The message is clear, people want a just world.

But, are the G8/20 leaders listening to the cry of over 3 million children who are expected to die of malnutrition in the next 12 months? Are they watching on TV that the world will loose close to 500,000  mothers in the next 12 months due to maternal mortality if support is not provided?  Are they reading in the papers that over 700 million people are taking unclean water everyday and will die if safe water is not provided? Are they aware that Malaria will kill over a million people in the next months if nothing is done to arrest the situation? Well, the answers will come out on Sunday, 27 June.

There is a lot of talk surrounding issues of meeting previous commitments on aid, maternal issues, new born, child health, women empowerment, environment and others, more importantly MDGs which are only five years away from the deadline. Very few people, if any, are anticipating new commitments from these summits considering that most of the previous  commitments are mostly being ignored. Although most of the promises seem to be living their expectancy, the time is now to fulfill them so that poorer nations are not forced to choose which MDG targets to meet due to resource constraints. The world has enough resources for everyone and the leaders should not shelve their promises if a just world is to be realised.   

The world is watching Toronto and hope better deals will be agreed upon by the end of the summit to effectively enhance global development agenda.   

By Simekinala Kaluzi
GCAP Malawi facilitator, AGC member, CONGOMA Program Office