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GCAP G8/G20 Working Group |
لا يوجد حاليا أي الترجمة المتاحة لهذه الصفحة
One hundred twenty participants gathered in one of the largest Global Campaign Against Poverty (GCAP) G8/G20 working group meetings ever convened Jan 27 and 28 in Paris.
France's plans as host of the 2011 G8 and G20 summits was a key element in the meeting, in which a multi-sector group including campaigners active on education, health, debt, food sovereignty, financial transparency and anti-corruption issues shared intelligence and coordinated advocacy plans. The shift of power from the G8, a traditional hub for anti-poverty advocates to solicit commitments from donors for ODA and development aid/policies, to the G20, which carries a mandate to promote global financial and macroeconomic stability, was one of a multitude of changes in global political and financial dynamics the group addressed.
The G20 has working groups on development and anti-corruption, providing advocates with channels to direct their related concerns. The broader implications of a body of twenty countries shaping and enforcing adherence to global economic and financial policies invites greater creativity and analysis, invigorating the debate and bringing some new actors into the constellation. For example, while the meeting was dominated by anglophones and representatives of French civil society, it also included Korean CSO representatives eager to share their experience advocating to their government and creating space for CSOs in Seoul's G20 summit, as well as an impassioned plea from one of fewer than ten representatives from the global South, for greater solidarity and reflection of the struggle for survival in the global South in the GCAP G8/G20 advocacy agenda.
One primary point of focus is on the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) which French President Sarkozy has been promoting among his G20 colleagues. Among the various mechanisms to tax the financial sector, global CSOs strongly favor an FTT as the most-inclusive instrument to provide incentives against risky financial transactions with no social benefit and to generate revenue for development. The USA and Canada's absolute refusal to adopt any taxation of the financial sector is motivating CSO advocates to reach out to a coalition of those G20 countries willing to be early adopters of FTT mechanisms at the national and regional level. Momentum is gaining in Europe where there are campaigns to encourage other countries to agree to an FTT to generate revenues for the global effort to eradicate impoverishment. GCE Secretariat and Board encourage our global membership to engage actively in FTT work in your home country and to support those countries making advances in this area of innovative finance. A Global Day of Action on FTT is scheduled for February 17 and includes courtesy calls and advocacy visits to embassies of G20 countries to show strong global CSO support for action on this initiative at November's G20 summit.
Civil society out in force at the EFA Working Group
The annual Education For All Working Group meeting was held 3rd – 4th February in UNESCO, Paris. A number of GCE members, including Board members, were present and urged continued efforts to hold the global community accountable for promises made in Dakar, especially given that the deadline of 2015 is now looming large being just 4 years away. The meeting was attended by a wide range of stakeholders including education ministries, donors and international organisations. The new EFA Global Monitoring Report was discussed, with participants considering recommendations to protect education from conflict and promote its pivotal role in peace-building. Sessions were also held on ‘Making the case for education’, Quality and Learning in EFA, and financing.
The EFA High-Level Group meeting will be hosted by the Government of Thailand in Jomtien, Thailand, 22nd – 24th March. It will focus on stocktaking progress since the first conference on Education For Fall held also in Jomtien in 1990.
Teachers’ Task Force adds impetus to the call for a professional teaching force to achieve EFA
The Teachers’ Task Force, created by the Oslo EFA High-Level Group Meeting in 2009, met in Nairobi, Kenya 18th – 20th January, followed by a conference on Teachers for EFA in Africa. Ministers from Kenya, Niger and Indonesia were present, as well as representatives from teacher unions, civil society, academia and international organizations. The meeting discussed current challenges in social dialogue, training and financing of teachers, hearing many perspectives from around the world. A strong call for more action on the teacher gap was sent from the meeting to the High-Level Group to be held in March.
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