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FINANCING FOR GENDER EQUALITY & DEVELOPMENT - NGO'S - GENDER +

 

http://www.iwtc.org/333.html

 

IWTC - International Women's Tribune Center

Globalnet - March 28, 2008

Looking Forward - From CSW 52

In a CSW 52 - 2008 (UN Commission n the Status of Women) de-briefing with Ambassador Olivier Belle, Chairperson for CSW, and Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division on the Advancement of Women, held in New York on March 20, civil society representatives raised the issue of the weakness of the CSW process in terms of influencing global policy decisions. NGO representatives expressed concern about the uncertainty on the inclusion of the Agreed Conclusions in the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, which will be held in Doha, Qatar, from 29 November to 2 December 2008. Civil society participants at CSW called the fact that there is no separate output document on the review theme “unacceptable”. Carolyn Hannan responded to these concerns by saying that the Agreed Conclusions will be presented to the General Assembly and the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality. In a separate conversation, Ambassador Belle remarked that Member States could use highlights from the discussion on the review theme in their statements at the anniversary of SCR 1325 in October 2008.

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http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/doha/index.htm

Follow-up International Conference on Financing for

Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus

29 November - 2 December 2008, Doha, Qatar

In accordance with General Assembly resolutions 61/191 and 62/187, the review conference should address progress made, reaffirm goals and commitments, share best practices and lessons learned. The conference should also identify obstacles and constraints encountered, actions and initiatives to overcome them and important measures for further implementation, as well as new challenges and emerging issues.

http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/civilsociety/csngos.htm

Civil Society in the Follow-Up Process on Financing for Development

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WIDE is a European feminist network of women´s organisations, development NGOs, gender specialists and women´s rights activists. WIDE monitors and influences international economic and development policy and practice from a feminist perspective.

http://www.wide-network.org/index.jsp?id=338

 

Financing for Development's Road to Doha

By Nerea Craviotto, WIDE newsletter, December 2007

This month the UN General Assembly adopted the "Resolution on the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to review the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus" (FFD Resolution).

The follow-up conference will be held in Doha, Qatar, on 29 November ­2 December 2008. In terms of the level of participation, as stated in the FFD Resolution "the Conference will be held at the highest possible political level, including the participation of Heads of State of the Governments, ministers, special representatives and other representatives, as appropriate". The Conference will include "plenary meetings and six interactive multi-stakeholders roundtable on the six major thematic areas of the Monterrey Consensus". The conference will result in an "intergovernmentally agreed outcome".

This review conference "should assess progress made, reaffirm goals and commitments, share best practices and lessons learned and identify obstacles and concerns encountered, actions and initiatives to overcome them and important measures for further implementation, as well as new challenges and emerging issues."

The Resolution requests the President of the General Assembly to "continue direct intergovernmental consultations of the whole with the participation of all the States and the major institutional stakeholders involved in the Financing for Development process on all the issues related to the Review Conference". This will include "six substantive review sessions [...] on the six thematic areas of the Monterrey Consensus [...] with representatives of civil society and the business sector during the period from January to June 2008". It also calls for "regional consultations". Results from both consultation processes should inform the first draft of the Doha outcome document to be ready by the end of July 2008, followed by "informal consultations and drafting sessions [...] in September 2008 until the holding of the Review Conference".

Seeing the outcomes of the Resolution, CSOs are rather disappointed with the relaxed formulation "highest possible" regarding the level of participation that would allow for Ministerial or Summit level representation. Since the possibility of Heads of State is mentioned, this would call for further lobbying for representation to be at the Head of State level.

CSOs welcome the nature of the outcome document and the language on participation for civil society. In principle in Doha there will be access not only for NGOs with ECOSOC accredited status but also for others who will need to request accreditation for this very specific conference. The Resolution also seems to present an improved process for CSO participation on the road towards Doha (in the consultations). The Resolution not only describes the consultations as "inclusive and transparent" but also notes that they must be "scheduled in advance".

WIDE expects that the commitments made in the Resolution will materialise. It will coordinate with other women´s organisations and CSOs to ensure our concerns are part of the discussions in Doha.





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