Christian Aid response to High Level Panel report

 

Friday May 31 May 2013

HIGH LEVEL PANEL: A GOOD START, BUT INCREASING INEQUALITY CAN'T BE IGNORED

 

Responding to news of today's High Level Panel report on the global plan that should follow the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015, Helen Dennis, Christian Aid's Senior Adviser on Poverty and Inequality, said:

'The Panel has made an encouraging start on a new global master plan to tackle poverty. Its recommendations on promoting women's equality are especially strong.

'Recommendations on protecting the environment, which include the phasing out of subsidies for fossil fuels, are also welcome.

 'We are also pleased to see a reference to tackling illicit finance flows and tax evasion, which will be especially important for long-term financing of sustainable development. Global action in both developed and developing countries will be needed to make sure that poor communities don't lose out from tax-dodging.

'Disappointingly, the Panel has shied away from suggesting action that could address increasing economic inequality in many countries. This is an awkward subject for some but sustainable development will only be achieved if we reduce the gap between the haves and the have-nots.  

'The Panel's report is a good one. We hope that governments around the world will now build on this work as they negotiate a new global plan to replace the Millennium Development Goals.'

For more information, contact the 24-hour press duty phone: 07850 242950.  

Notes to Editors:

1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in around 50 countries at any one time. We act where there is great need, regardless of religion, helping people to live a full life, free from poverty. We provide urgent, practical and effective assistance in tackling the root causes of poverty as well as its effects.

2. Christian Aid has a vision, an end to global poverty, and we believe that vision can become a reality. We believe that the underlying causes of poverty were made by, and can be ended by, human action. Our strategy for building the power of us all to end poverty is embodied in a new report 'Partnership for Change': http://www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/2012_strategy.pdf

3. Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of more than 130 churches and church-related organisations that work together in humanitarian assistance, advocacy and development. Further details at http://actalliance.org

4.Christian Aid is a member of Beyond 2015 which is a global campaign with over 600 participating organisations in nearly 100 countries. Beyond 2015 is calling for an ambitious post-2015 agenda in line with our vision of a more equitable and sustainable world. Beyond 2015 has been calling for the High-Level Panel report to deliver recommendations that are fit for purpose and in line with this vision."

5. Christian Aid is a member of the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign, a collection of more than 180 agencies in the UK that is calling on governments to address some of the key factors causing global hunger, which at present afflicts nearly a billion people. As well as providing aid, it wants governments to stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, prevent poor farmers being forced off their land, particularly by biofuel concerns, and insist on greater governmental and business transparency.

6. Follow Christian Aid's newswire on Twitter: http://twitter.com/caid_newswire

7. For more information about the work of Christian Aid visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk

 

 

 

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Women Deliver 2013 Concludes with a United Call to Invest in Girls and Women

 

Women Deliver 2013 Concludes with a United Call to Invest in Girls and Women

 

World leaders and advocates demand girls and women are prioritized in lead-up to 2015 Millennium Development Goal deadline and beyond

 

Jill Sheffield and Melinda Gates present first-ever Women Deliver Rising Star Awards to young leaders fighting for progress for girls and women

 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 30 May 2013 — Women Deliver 2013 concluded today with a call for continued investments in girls and women. The conference was the largest of the decade focused on girls' and women's health and rights, bringing together more than 4,500 leaders and advocates representing over 2,200 organizations and 149 countries.

 

The final day of Women Deliver 2013 focused on the critical need to prioritize girls and women in the lead-up to the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) deadline and beyond. The morning plenary speakers—including United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark, Former President of Finland Tarja Halonen, African Women's Development Fund CEO Theo Sawa and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark—addressed the importance of placing girls and women at the center of the next development agenda, and discussed advocacy strategies to keep girls' and women's needs in focus.

 

The appeal for action came one day before the United Nations' High-Level Panel is expected to announce its recommendations for the post-2015 development framework. With progress lagging on the MDGs relating to women, policymakers and activists provided insights about how the next set of development goals can adequately and effectively address women's health and empowerment.

 

In her remarks, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark called for a global development agenda "which gives priority to gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women to make their own decisions about the lives they lead."

 

In the conference's closing plenary, Women Deliver President Jill Sheffield and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair Melinda Gates recognized the next generation of leaders for girls and women and presented the first-ever Women Deliver Rising Star Awards to three emerging voices in the field of women's health and rights:

·         Senator Pia S. Cayetano is the youngest woman elected in the history of the Philippine Senate, a champion of the rights of women and children and a staunch advocate for health. Armed with the training of a lawyer, discipline of an athlete and heart of a mother, Senator Pia excelled in her first term as legislator and was reelected to a second term in 2010.

·         Imane Khachani, MD, MSc. is a Resident in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Maternity Hospital Les Orangers, in Rabat, Morocco. She has extensive experience in sexual and reproductive health research and advocacy, particularly for adolescent and young women; and has collaborated with several UN agencies, including UNFPA, WHO and UNAIDS. She currently sits on the Women Deliver and the Guttmacher Institute Boards of Directors.

·         Remmy Shawa works at Sonke Gender Justice in Cape Town, South Africa, and coordinates a project to strengthen work with men and boys in the promotion of gender equality and in ending violence against women in Africa.

 

Jill Sheffield and Melinda Gates also recognized the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders, an international group of activists under 30 who received scholarships to attend the conference because of their work on behalf of women and girls. The need to engage and include youth in the next development framework was a key theme throughout Women Deliver 2013, and young people's voices and perspectives were highlighted throughout the meeting.

 

"This week at Women Deliver 2013, we have changed history for girls and women everywhere. We renewed our commitments, shared lessons learned, and listened to those leading the way on women's health and rights, including young people who will carry this important work forward for years to come," said Women Deliver President Jill Sheffield. "Most importantly, we have joined together to raise our voices in a single call to action—girls' and women's health and rights must be prioritized today, tomorrow, and every day until our work is done. Because we know, when girls and women survive, all of us thrive."

 

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About Women Deliver: Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that brings together voices from around the world to call for improved health and wellbeing for girls and women. Launched in 2007, Women Deliver works globally to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal #5—to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health. Building from the groundbreaking conferences Women Deliver convened in 2007 and 2010, Women Deliver harnesses commitments, partnerships and networks to help prevent the approximately 350,000 deaths of girls and women from pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes that occur every year. Women Deliver's message is that maternal health is both a human right and a practical necessity for sustainable development. Invest in women—it pays.

 

For live webcasts and archived videos of conference plenaries, presidential sessions and press conferences, please click here. Images are available on the Women Deliver Flickr page, and additional content is available here.

 

To access the full Women Deliver 2013 schedule, please click here.

 

For more information on Women Deliver, please visit: www.womendeliver.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Use the hashtag #WD2013 to join the global dialogue.

 

Top CEOs, Government Officials, and NGO Leaders to Gather in Chicago for CGI America 2013

May 30, 2013

Contact: press@clintonglobalinitiative.org

Top CEOs, Government Officials, and NGO Leaders to Gather in Chicago for Clinton Global Initiative Meeting on Boosting U.S. Economy 

Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the President, the White House; Todd Park, chief technology officer of the United States, the White House; Ellen Kullman, chair of the board and CEO, DuPont; Jim Rogers, chairman, president, and CEO, Duke Energy Corporation; and Bill Simon, president and CEO, Walmart U.S., Walmart Stores, Inc. are among the latest leaders to join President Bill Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and top American innovators at third meeting of CGI America, June 13-14

Mayor Greg Ballard, City of Indianapolis; Mayor Alvin Brown, City of Jacksonville; Mayor Mick Cornett, City of Oklahoma City; Mayor Greg Fischer, City of Louisville; Mayor John Marchione, City of Redmond, Wash.; Mayor Michael Nutter, City of Philadelphia; Mayor Annise Parker, City of Houston; Mayor Kasim Reed, City of Atlanta, and Mayor Scott Smith, City of Mesa, Ariz., to join Mayor Rahm Emanuel, City of Chicago, for next meeting of the Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force

NEW YORK—Today, new participants and program details were announced for the 2013 meeting of Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America), to be hosted by President Bill Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Clinton Foundation Board Member Chelsea Clinton June 13-14 in Chicago. Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Chief Technology Officer of the United States Todd Park, Chair of the Board and CEO of DuPont Ellen Kullman, Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy Corporation Jim Rogers, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon, and leading U.S. mayors are among the latest participants slated to join nearly 1,000 business, government, and civil society leaders at the annual gathering dedicated to accelerating economic recovery and promoting the long-term competitiveness of the United States.

Other newly announced CGI America participants from the business and nonprofit sectors include some the country's leading innovators and experts on sustainable economic development, such as James Anderson, director of government innovation, Bloomberg Philanthropies; Janie Barrera, president and CEO, ACCION Texas, Inc.; Mike Brady, president and CEO, Greyson Bakery; Nikki Cicerani, executive director, Upwardly Global; Harold DePriest, president and CEO, EPB; Liz Dwyer, education editor, GOOD Magazine; Carly Fiorina, chairman and CEO, Carly Fiorina Enterprises, chairman, Good360; Sara Martinez Tucker, chief executive officer, National Math + Science Initiative; Tracey Nichols, director of economic development, City of Cleveland; Rex Northen, executive director, Cleantech Open; Katie Rae, managing director, TechStars Boston, founder, Project 11; Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez, founder and CEO, Hot Bread Kitchen; Davier Rodriguez, winner of CGI University's Commitments Challenge and co-founder, DREAMzone; Beth Shiroishi, vice president, sustainability and philanthropy, AT&T Services; and Laysha Ward, president, community relations, Target Corporation.

For the first time, CGI America will feature Broadcast Conversations, programming produced in conjunction with and broadcast by CGI media partners, which is now a regular feature of the CGI Annual Meeting in September.  At this year's meeting of CGI America, Bloomberg TV anchor Trish Regan will host sessions where top government, business, and nonprofit leaders will address the U.S. economy, including how to improve access to capital for small businesses and how the U.S. can enhance its energy production in a way that's sustainable for the environment and beneficial to the economy.

CGI America 2013 will also serve as the site of the next meeting of the Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force (IFC Task Force). Launched in April and chaired by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel with the co-leadership of President Clinton, the IFC Task Force is a collaborative effort by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and CGI to spur investment into job-creating public infrastructure projects. Task Force mayors participating in CGI America 2013 include Mayor Emanuel; Philadelphia Mayor and USCM President Michael Nutter; Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard; Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown; Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett; Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer; Redmond, Wash. Mayor John Marchione; Houston Mayor Annise Parker; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed; and Mesa, Ariz. Mayor Scott Smith.

Today's list of new participants join the business, government, philanthropy, and nonprofit leaders announced May 2, including Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey; Jacob J. Lew, United States Secretary of the Treasury; Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers; Jim Gibbons, president and CEO, Goodwill Industries International, Inc.; Anne R. Pramaggiore, president and CEO, Commonwealth Edison; Jessica Jackley, venture partner, the Collaborative Fund; Eva Longoria, founder, the Eva Longoria Foundation; Janet Murguía, president and CEO, National Council of La Raza; and Lucien Vattel, chief executive officer, GameDesk.

For more information, including the full program and list of participants, visit cgiamerica.org. Follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative for meeting news and highlights. The event hashtag is #CGIAmerica.

Sponsors for CGI America 2013 include: J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation; Allstate Insurance Company; American Federation of Teachers; APCO; Chevron; Diageo; ExxonMobil; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold; The Joyce Foundation; MacArthur Foundation; Peter G. Peterson Foundation; and Toyota.

Media registration is now open and press planning to cover must be credentialed by the Clinton Global Initiative. To apply, please complete the form at: cgilink.org/17T5nSR. The deadline to apply is June 10. If you have any questions, please contact press@clintonglobalinitiative.org or visit press.clintonglobalinitiative.org/cgiamerica.

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About CGI America
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. Established in June 2011 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America) addresses economic recovery in the United States. CGI America brings together leaders in business, government, and civil society to generate and implement commitments to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, and support workforce development in the United States. Since its first meeting, CGI America participants have made more than 200 commitments valued at $13.4 billion when fully funded and implemented. To learn more, visit cgiamerica.org.

CGI also convenes an Annual Meeting, which brings together global leaders to take action and create positive social change, CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world, and, this year, CGI Latin America, which will bring together Latin American leaders to identify, harness, and strengthen ways to improve the livelihoods of people in Latin America and around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

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