"Millennium Development Goals"
GCAP Info – 01.02.07
Stand Up, Speak Out!
Last year tens of millions of people took action as part of the
Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP). In just one
day, 23.5 million people in more than 100 countries around the world
participatedto the “Stand up Against Poverty”.
This year GCAP national coalitions will unite again under the White
Band symbol. Throughout 2007, GCAP will be out in force and on the
streets demanding action on extreme poverty and inequality. On
October 17 2007, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty,
we will come together for a day of global action – Global
White Band Day 2007. A GCAP Poverty Requiem will also be performed.
Together we will show the breadth and depth of support for our call.
Join us and demonstrate your outrage at the injustices that perpetuate
extreme global poverty and inequality, by taking part in Global
White Band Day 2007 actions.
Global White Band Day – October 17 2007
GCAP will aim to demonstrate mass visible public support for the
eradication of poverty and inequality during Global White
Band Day – October 17 2007. Building on last
years mobilisation, we will be asking people to ‘Stand-up
and Speak Out’! People will be standing up against poverty
and making their voices heard by speaking out to demand action from
their governments and world leaders.
People will unite together in villages, schools, churches, mosques
and workplaces all over the world. In cities, massive White Band
rallies and protests will take place across the world. These protests
will demonstrate the global outrage at the failure of governments
to deliver rights, end inequality and make real progress towards
the MDGs.
GCAP launched its 2007 mobilisation plans at the World Social Forum
in Nairobi, Kenya January 20-25. GCAP is working on a more
detailed set of global actions for 2007, which will be released
in the form of a campaign planning toolkit in March.
Other key mobilisation moments for GCAP in 2007
During 2007, national and regional GCAP coalitions will mobilise
also around regionally or nationally relevant moments. Key dates
in the GCAP calendar this year include, among others:
8 March: International Women’s Day –
led by the GCAP Feminist Task Force a day of mobilisation around
gender equality will take place on international women’s day
2 June: GCAP G8 actions will be sending the ‘voices’
of civil society and the poor to G8 leaders to demand that they
are held accountable for their part in ending poverty. A massive
‘Voices against Poverty’ global petition will be presented.
07/07/07: Marking the mid-point of the MDGs, GCAP
national coalitions will be evaluating their government’s
progress on meeting the MDGs.
For more information, please visit www.whiteband.org
November 2006
• World Bank sees MDG progress in Africa
Fewer conflicts and increased economic growth has made 2005 - dubbed
"The Year of Africa" - a turning point for the continent,
the World Bank has said. read more on <http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=138312>
• People Stood Up Against Poverty. Official World Record.
Read more: <http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/>
MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN - Voices against
Poverty
(A Power Point Presentation)
Achieving
the ICPD, ICPD+5 and Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)
"Greater
investments in health and education services for all people, in
particular women, to enable the full and equal participation of
women in civil, cultural, economic, political and social life
are essential to achieving the objectives of the Programme of
Action."
-- Preamble, Para. 2, Key Actions for the Further Implementation
of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development, adopted by the twenty-first special
session of the General Assembly, New York, 1999.
The international
community has committed itself to an ambitious goal: cutting in
half the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015.
To do this, world leaders have adopted specific targets for life
expectancy, education, housing, gender equality, openness of trade,
and environmental protection.
But success
in achieving these goals depends upon several conditions:
- The first condition rests on
respect for national sovereignty: each country will assess its
own needs.
- The second condition is that
all of the Millennium Development Goals are interrelated and
strategic efforts must be made to achieve all of the targets
at the same time.
- The third condition is that these
goals remain the starting point, and not the final steps, for
eradicating poverty. Efforts in other areas not mentioned in
the list of goals should be made. These include debt relief
and changes in trade regimes and investment arrangements as
well as development assistance.
Practical efforts
to eradicate poverty rest directly upon the enforcement of basic
human rights. These rights are the starting point from which goals
were set in the ICPD Programme of Action and the follow-up goals
that came out of the ICPD+5 conference in 1999.
Poverty cannot
and will not be eradicated without achieving ICPD goals. Universal
access to education and reproductive health care are crucial steps
that can help to eradicate poverty. Meeting these ICPD goals will
pave a straight road directly toward reaching the Millennium Development
Goals.
____________________________________________________
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- To halve the number of people
living on less than $1 a day and the number of people living
in hunger, universal access to reproductive health care for
men and women is imperative.
- The ICPD Programme of Action
and ICPD+5 benchmarks aim for universal access to voluntary
reproductive health services, including family planning. Access
to these services will give their users fundamental choices
that will change the repetitive cycle of poverty. With access
to family planning, women and men can decide if, when and how
many children they want.
- Lower fertility results in slower
population growth and opens a "demographic window"of
opportunity for economic growth and poverty reduction, as the
ratio of dependants to working-age people declines.
- Large families dilute the assets
of poorer households, and unwanted births deepen household poverty.
Smaller families allow more investment in each child's education
and health.
____________________________________________________
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
- To achieve universal primary
education, the gender gap must be closed.
- The ICPD Programme of Action's
goal of basic education for all boys and girls by 2015 can be
supported through the empowerment of women, training teachers
to be gender sensitive, promoting the value of educating girls,
postponing early marriage and childbearing, allowing pregnant
teens to continue studying, providing scholarships, providing
universal access to reproductive health, and lowering fertility,
morbidity and mortality rates.
____________________________________________________
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
- Ensuring gender equity and equality,
and the empowerment of women depends in part on overcoming cultural,
social and economic constraints that limit women's access to
education, as well as providing universal access to reproductive
health services that allow them to control their fertility.
- Combating violence against women,
and removing social and family barriers to women's wider social
participation are essential.
____________________________________________________
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
- A healthy mother is the first
step towards a healthy child. Infant and child mortality are
highest for the youngest mothers and after closely spaced births.
High fertility reduces the provision of health care to children.
- Unwanted children are more likely
to die than wanted ones. Providing universal access to reproductive
health care will help to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
- The death of a mother increases
the risk that her children will die.
____________________________________________________
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
- The highest proportion of women's
ill health burden is related to their reproductive role. Universal
access to reproductive health care--including family planning;
care in pregnancy, during and after childbirth; and emergency
obstetric care--would reduce unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion
and maternal death, saving women's lives and the lives of their
children.
- Promotion of delayed marriage
reduces the risks associated with too-early childbearing. Enabling
women to have fewer pregnancies reduces the lifetime risk of
maternal death and illness.
- Women's empowerment will enable
women to address the social conditions that endanger their health
and lives.
____________________________________________________
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases
- Universal access to reproductive
health care is critically important in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
- The ICPD notes that better information
on HIV/AIDS can prevent transmission of HIV and other STIs.
- Half of new HIV infections are
among young people. Preventing infection means enabling young
people to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.
This includes teaching abstinence outside marriage, fidelity
within it and responsible behaviour at all times, including
the responsible use of condoms.
- Poor countries need an adequate
supply of reproductive health commodities, including male and
female condoms, and strengthened systems for their supply and
distribution.
____________________________________________________
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
- Balancing resource use and ecological
requirements will depend critically on population growth, location
and movements, on patterns of resource consumption, and management
of waste.
- The ICPD acknowledges that rapid
growth of poor rural populations puts enormous stress on local
environments. Poor people need better education and health services,
including universal access to reproductive health care and family
planning, to improve their health and well-being.
- Appropriate policies will reduce
urban migration and promote sustainable rural population growth.
- The sustainable improvement of
the lives of slum and shanty dwellers will depend on policies
to address high urban growth rates, which result from both natural
increase and migration.
____________________________________________________
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
- Population and reproductive health
programmes have lagged in the least-developed countries, especially
those with high levels of mortality and unwanted fertility.
These countries will benefit most from higher international
assistance and debt forgiveness, as well as domestic resources
for health and education. They need universal access to reproductive
health care coupled with affordable prices for essential drugs
for treating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and a secure
supply of contraceptives and other reproductive health commodities.
- The ICPD called on international
donors to provide one third of the support needed for reproductive
health programmes in developing countries worldwide: $5.7 billion
(of the $17 billion total requirement) in 2000, rising to $7.2
billion by 2015. Current international support is less than
half of this required level.
Preliminary Reflections
In April we sent different questionnaires to the coordinators
of JPIC committees and networks of both Popular and Formal Education.
Through this communication we hoped to establish a connection
with the coordinators and increase our understanding of the Society’s
rich diversity. Aware that differences exist between Provinces
and the structures each uses to foster apostolic life we were
attempting to identify the following:
* what structures existed to promote JPIC issues
* where provinces had developed new integrated commissions
* what links already existed between JPIC, Non formal and Formal
Education undertakings within provinces
* what, if any, might be an emerging focus for our global efforts
in the area of JPIC
* how JPIC goals were set and evaluated in each province
* what international organizations the Society had already begun
to work with in different provinces
* how committees and link person saw the work of Sophia assisting
them
* begin a conversation that would let us begin to depth issues,
integrate our experience and move forward together
-
- It was also hoped that the questions themselves would stimulate
discussion within commissions and committees at a provincial
level.
We have been pleased by the number and quality of the responses
that we have already received. We still await responses from
Provinces that do not have reliable access to e-mail. Some smaller
provinces and areas that do not have committee structures took
the trouble to respond with personal accounts of the way JPIC
issues are incorporated into apostolic life. Other provinces
abandoned the questionnaire format to indicate a more integrated
approach to mission. Many responses indicated that considerably
time had been given to gathering information, reflecting and
responding. Some excellent concrete examples of activities were
sited. Thank you to all those coordinators whose efforts have
helped us build the mosaic that is our changing reality.
Real regional differences exist in support structures as well
as the JPIC foci due in part to some of the following influences:
* Number of RSCJ, age range and opportunities available within
a province
* Social, political and economic realities as well as the cultural
identity of each country
* Presence or absence of an institutional base within a province
* Geographic isolation or proximity to other provinces allowing
regional interaction
* Access to information through rapid communication Some observed
trends were:
* A need for ongoing theological reflection that underpins our
practical response to build a more just and peaceful world
* A need for a new horizontal structure that both focuses and
supports our efforts internationally
* A desire to integrate JPIC with our service of education
* A desire for greater provincial and international communication
* A desire to collaborate more effectively with other people
and organizations
* A need to more clearly articulate our goals and develop the
means to evaluate our predetermined outcomes with regard to
JPIC issues It was clear that some regional collaborative efforts
have already begun to give focus and energize:
* In Latin America the Popular Education network has begun the
process of “systematization”
* Educational institutions are meeting both regionally and internationally
to promote collaboration and strengthen networks.
* The recent meeting of African-European principals of Sacred
Heart Schools resulted in the undertaking of concrete projects
with the schools in Africa and greater reciprocity between these
regions
* All the European provinces have AEFJN representatives that
meet together annually (http://www.aefjn.org)
While there is a diversity of local and regional organizations
with which we work effectively, in many parts of the world we
collaborate with Pax Christi, Red Jubileo, and Amnesty International.
It therefore seems important to continue the Society’s
conversation regarding a more formal collaborative working relationship
with Pax Christi.
In some provinces the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals are not considered and we possibly need to make these
more central as we move forward. Little attention has been given
to the International Year of Rice despite stated concerns regarding
sustainable agriculture and fair trade agreements. For some
provinces the World Forums are a significant reference.
It is evident from practical examples given that our schools
and colleges are becoming more attentive to include issues of
JPIC across the curriculum. Students are also increasingly being
required to participate in service opportunities.
We had not specifically included collaborative efforts with
alumnae or associates but these were mentioned as important
in several different provinces. At this time alumnae are looking
for ways to collaborate and their websites are featuring more
JPIC information and ways to become involved.
On their questionnaire the JPIC coordinators were asked to express
their hopes of the Sophia Commission. We found there was continuity
between what they expressed and what was written in the Provincial
evaluations of the work of the Justice and Peace Commission
and the documents of the Chapter 2000 regarding JPIC. Six themes
reoccur.
1. Providing the membership with appropriate information about
global JPIC issues as well as those critical to particular provinces
2. Fostering intercommunication that helps us to depth our spirituality
and energizes our apostolic life
3. Facilitating theological reflection on JPIC
4. Integrating JPIC and our educative service
5. Prioritizing with a global perspective without losing the
concrete local dimension
6. Networking among ourselves and with other organizations for
more effective service As the various responses only reached
us a week ago we need more time to study and reflect on their
content. Questions are just beginning to surface.
Through dialogue with you we will need to continue to confirm
and amplify the information collected through the questionnaires.
A synthesis of this information, shared on the web page, will
allow us to depth our corporate experience, raise issues, broaden
the conversation to our collaborators, develop action steps
and move forward together. In the process there will be an opportunity
to share with you some provincial structures that seem to be
generating a more dynamic involvement of the membership.
At the end of July the Sophia Commission will be meeting with
Lolín Menéndez rscj and Cecile Meijer rscj in
Rome. During a week together we hope to unify and focus our
collaborative effort, clarify lines of communication and hopefully
remove unnecessary overlapping in requests made to you.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
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