On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty civil society organizations all around the world launch a
global campaign calling for a public support for firm political commitments that will make development aid truly work (
Sign the petition here).
Monday, 17 October 2011, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, civil society organizations all around the world launch the ’Better Aid for The World We Want’ campaign, mobilizing public support for the civil society asks towards the upcoming High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea in November this year.
“This is the crucial time for governments to make sure that development cooperation actually delivers- reducing inequalities and promoting human rights, resulting in better lives for all,”says Katarzyna Staszewska from Women In Development Europe (WIDE) and the BetterAid platform of civil society organizations (CSOs).
US$ 130 billion is given each year in aid for development. With the current global finance, climate change and food crises hitting the poorest hardest, there is an even greater need for this aid to work for the most deprived. Governments committing to using this money more wisely could help to do this by making every aid dollar spent count. Moreover, cooperation between governments and civil society organizations that represent the very people that aid is meant to support is vital for effective development.
“Recent evaluations have shown the scale of underperformance by donors on commitments that were not sufficient in making effective development possible in the first place. Many donors are now even abandoning their promises on making aid effective,” says Jenny Del Rosario Malonzo from Reality of Aid Philippines.
The High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan is where decision makers from countries all over the world will come together to look at how well they have kept their aid effectiveness commitments, and to make new ones for the coming years.
Campaign events, led by Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), in cooperation with the BetterAid platform and the support of Open Forum, will take place 17 October in Uganda, Liberia, Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, India, Argentina and Nicaragua. The public are encouraged to sign a petition asking governments to ensure that citizens’ voices are heard in development and aid decisions. The signatures will be collected on campaign postcards as well as online at
www.betteraid.org/campaign.
“This campaign is part of the wider ‘The World We Want’ actions that are being taken across the world on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – and puts citizens at the forefront of the effort to hold governments accountable to meet their promise to end poverty and inequality,” says Deo Nyanzi of GCAP Africa. “The aim is to collect 10,000 signatures globally by the end of November, when the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness starts.”
At the 4th High Level on Aid Effectiveness, civil society organizations are calling for governments to:
1. Fully evaluate and deepen existing aid effectiveness commitments (Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action)
2. Commit to a human rights based approach to development and development cooperation with gender equality, decent work and environmental sustainability at the centre
3. Support CSOs as independent development actors in their own right, and commit to an enabling environment for their work in all countries
4. Initiate fundamental reforms for fairer aid governance at the crucial High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness which starts in November in Busan, South Korea.
SIGN ON TO CIVIL SOCIETY KEY MESSAGES FOR HLF4.
Who we are:
BetterAid unites nearly one thousand development organizations from civil society worldwide, and has been working on development cooperation and challenging the aid effectiveness agenda since January 2007. BetterAid is leading many of the civil society activities including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring in the lead up to the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Busan on 29 November - 1 December 2011.
www.betteraid.org
Open Forum for CSO
Development Effectiveness is a global, fully participatory consultation process run by and for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to build an international CSO consensus on common development effectiveness standards and enabling conditions required from governments and donors. Based on consolidated inputs from thousands of CSOs worldwide, the Open Forum has finalized the International Framework for CSO Development Effectiveness – an integral part of CSO Key Asks for the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that details the role of CSOs as independent development actors, and a distinct long-term reference for the development work of CSOs worldwide.
www.cso-effectiveness.org.
The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)works to challenge the institutions and processes that perpetuate poverty and inequality across the world in order to defend and promote human rights, gender justice, social justice and security needed for survival and peace. GCAP works through national coalitions, constituency groups and supporting organization located in 100+ countries. On the ground, GCAP has mobilized over 173 million people through actions such as ‘Stand Up’, Poverty Hearings and Women’s Tribunals.
www.whiteband.org
Press contact, BetterAid: Clare Birkett +32 (0)487270536 cbirkett@eurodad.org
Press contact, Open Forum: Olga Kozhaeva +32 (0)2 743 87 89 / ofassistant@cso-effectiveness.org
Press contact, GCAP: Rajiv Joshi (New York) +1 9175456101 /
rajiv@whiteband.org
