GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
September 2010
In this edition
The Millennium Development Goals Summit
Nine organisations in the ageing sector write to UN Secretary General on the MDGs
MDG Gap Task Force Report 2010 – released September 2010
UNICEF work on social protection
The Millennium Development Goals Summit
The Summit has concluded. About 183 national leaders spoke. Each speech was recorded and canbe viewed on the UN website. In addition to the speeches there are recordings of side events,“media stakeouts” and speeches by global leaders including the UN Secretary General, thePresident of the World Bank, head of the World Trade Organisation etc. You can see what yournational leader said by visiting
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2010/09/openingstatements-mdg-debate.html
What can be said about the Summit? The editorial in the Financial Time (25th September 2010) wasentitled “Too many promises made at UN summits are empty ones”. The editorial was critical of the“cynical made-for-the-media announcements that routinely disfigure summits. Too few development
campaigners were prepared to challenge the rhetoric..” Further, “Development charities have askedtoo few questions of the plans. True the activists were somewhat better on this week’s aid
announcements, treating the $40bn – a masterpiece of vaguery, relabeling and double-counting –with deserved contempt. But still enthusiastically cheer-led a $750m commitment to ‘basic education’by the World Bank.” The editorial concluded, “If there is one thing these summits need, it is to havesuch fictions exposed. There was too little of that this week.”
ICSW has long held that we need a dynamic civil society to move people out of poverty. We needstrong civil society organisations to influence governments in determining their national budget
priorities in a transparent way. Few donors, international agencies and international NGOs seem tohave any understanding of the need to build national civil society. Too much money is wasted on
discursive non structural approaches to civil society that falsely increase hope but provide no longlasting change or support to underresourced indigenous organisations.
Civil society organisations in the global North are also at fault as they allow their governments tocontinue policies that increase poverty in the global South. Just two examples. USA farm
programmes push subsidised cotton on to world markets causing further impoverishment of African
farmers. Donor governments have policies that require a large proportion of their development
expenditure to be directed to consultants and suppliers in the donor country.
I have listened too often to politicians saying they are elected and national civil society leaders do
not have the same legitimacy. This is arrant nonsense. Curiously the same accusation is not madeof corporate lobbyists. Civil society is part of society and has a legitimate voice.
Denys Correll Editor and Executive Director

More on the Summit
The Development Goals (MDG Summit) was held from 20 to 22 September 2010 in New York.
The UN Secretary-General proposed and the General Assembly decided to convene the MDGsummit. The primary objective was to accelerate progress towards all the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) by 2015, taking into account the progress made towards the internationally agreed
development goals.
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It is ten years since the original adoption of the MDGs at the 2000 Millennium Summit. Despite
progress in some countries, many countries are falling short in their achievement of the goals. Theshortfalls have been further aggravated by the combined effects of the global food, climate, energy
and economic crises. Improvements in the lives of the poorest had started to improve in many
countries but the impact of the crises has dumped many back into poverty.
In the documents circulated before the Summit the UN said “If the MDGs are to be achieved by 2015,
not only must the level of financial investment be increased but innovative programmes and policies
aimed at overall development and economic and social transformation must be rapidly scaled up
and replicated. The MDGs are achievable, but there is clearly an urgent need to address challenges,
acknowledge failures and come together to overcome the obstacles to their achievement. This will
require the embrace of pioneering ideas and political will on the part of governments and theirdevelopment partners.”
Civil society organisations were included in the hearings of the General Assembly as part of theofficial process. These were held from 14 to 15 June 2010 in New York.
Papers including the Outcome Document can be found on the summit website at http://www.unngls.org/spip.php?page=amdg10&id_article=2233

Nine organisations in the ageing sector write to UN Secretary General on the MDGs
The organisations wrote to the Secretary General before the MDG Summit and the International Day
of Older Persons (1st October). The following are extracts from the letter. “As a group of NGOs in
Consultative Status with the UN working on strengthening older women and men’s rights globally,
we are concerned about the continued exclusion of older women and men in the MDGs and the lackof recognition of, and support to, the critical contribution they make towards their achievement.”“Older people remain invisible in efforts to achieve the MDGs.”“You recognised in the MDG Global Report 2010 that ‘it is clear that improvements in the lives of thepoor have been unacceptably slow”. Poverty affects whole households and is transmitted acrossgenerations. Old age can be a period of extreme vulnerability to poverty, ill health and socialexclusion. It has been estimated that currently less than 20% of older people in the world arecovered by pensions which suggests that as many as 607 million people aged 60 and above lack
income security. Furthermore research found that in 11 out of 15 low-income sub-Saharan Africancountries the incidence of poverty among households with older people is on average 15% higher
than the national average which highlights the risks of intergenerational poverty traps.”“Despite this, older people are not explicitly mentioned in any of the MDG targets or indicators tomeasure their progress.”“As a result most development policies and programmes focus their efforts on children, youngpeople and the working age poor, lacking any understanding of the critical social, economic andcaring contributions of older people. Even though the UN Madrid International Plan of Action onAgeing (2002) recommended that older people be included in policies and programmes to achieve
the poverty reduction target in MDG1, there is scant acknowledgement of and action to addressunprecedented demographic ageing which now means that 66% of the world’s older people live in
low and middle-income countries, with this set to rise to 80% by 2050.”“The contribution older women and men make to society is invaluable. Many poor older people
continue to work well past usual retirement ages to support themselves and their families. In someparts of sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, 80% of men and 70% of women over 60 work for a living.
Older people are also central to the response to HIV and AIDS: in seven sub-Saharan Africancountries up to 40% of people living with HIV were being cared for by older people and in Tanzania
and Zimbabwe as many as 40-60% of orphaned children are cared for by their grandparents.”“When older people’s rights are respected and their efforts supported, the contribution they make iseven greater and significantly contributes to achieving the MDGs.”
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“In order for progress towards the MDGs to be accelerated we, therefore, urge you to support thefollowing:
The explicit recognition in the High-level Plenary Meeting in September 2010 in New York and inyour address on the International Day of Older People of the critical role which older women andmen play in accelerating progress towards the MDGs. The adoption of a more inclusive, rightsbased approach to ensure all those living in chronic poverty, including older women and men, bereached. The inclusion of age disaggregated data in the UN MDG database to ensure the effective
monitoring and evaluation of the MDGs for all age groups.”

MDG Gap Task Force Report 2010 – released September 2010
The MDG Gap Task Force, which integrates more than 20 United Nations
agencies, as well as the World Bank the International Monetary Fund(IMF), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) has released the MDG
Gap Task Force Report 2010 entitled The Global Partnership forDevelopment at a Critical Juncture. In addition to the usual stuff about
falling short of the goals the report states, “The international community
should recommit to the United Nations aid target of 0.7% and set a time
path for its realisation, ensure transparency in individual donor pledges;

urgently replenish the multilateral and regional development funds; fully deliver the committed
additional resources to priority country groups (e.g. the least developed countries (LDCs)); increase
the share of aid provided as budget support and ensure that earmarking of ODA is consonant withnational priorities of recipient countries; deliver on aid effectiveness commitments and set newtargets.”
To read the report and other recommendations the report is
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/mdggap/mdggap2010/mdg8report2010_engw.pdf

available

online.

UNICEF work on social protection
Each month Global Cooperation will try to bring you something new on the social protection floor
initiative. This month we feature initiatives from UNICEF. UNICEF is doing critical work to highlightthe importance of social and economic policy issues on children all over the world. The following arereports and papers prepared by UNICEF.
Social Protection: Accelerating the MDGs with Equity, Isabel Ortiz, Gaspar Fajth and Jennifer
Yablonski, UNICEF
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_55915.html
MDG progress is measured in terms of national averages but these statistical averages often
disguise that progress has not accrued to those at the bottom -- arguably those who need it
most. Social protection is essential to accelerate MDGs with equity by facilitating access to essential
services and decent living standards. Specifically, there is strong evidence that social protection
contributes to MDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 -- with stronger impacts for the disadvantaged. In theaftermath of the global crisis there is a historical opportunity to expand social protection indeveloping countries.
Conditional Cash Transfers: A Global Perspective, Gaspar Fajth, MDG Insights
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_52916.html
Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) are social protection programmes that transfer cash based on
the premise that households – typically those with children and young family members – will use
health, education or other services that policymakers consider of public interest. The increasing
popularity of CCTs is one of the most significant developments in global social policy since theexpansion of social security in industrialised countries. Following decades when combining
economic growth with provision of basic social services was considered the hallmark of development,
CCTs have focused attention on addressing the demand for these services and barriers to access.
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This shift is highly relevant for the Millennium Development Goals. Over the last two decades, poorand disadvantaged populations have benefitted little from economic growth and improving services,
undermining countries’ progress on nutrition, education and health-related goals in many countries.
Recovery for All: A Call for Collaborative Action, UNICEF
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_55305.html
This concept note outlines a Recovery for All strategy to assist countries to meet their CRC
obligations through a robust social and economic recovery. It builds on UNICEF’s progress inadvancing upstream social and economic policies, as well as ongoing technical assistance tointerested protection and pro-poor socio-economic policies. At the same time partnerships areessential — the approach is premised on strong collaboration among UN agencies and otherinternational agencies that work closely in supporting governments. Ultimately, Recovery for All
seeks to avoid retrogression in the realisation of children’s rights and to ensure that recovery efforts
benefit the most excluded children and families, rather than accentuating social and economic
disparities
Joint Statement on Child-Sensitive Social Protection Available in
English http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_53801.html
French http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/CSSP_joint_statement_French.pdf andSpanish http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/CSSP_joint_statement_Spanish.pdf
In recent years, social protection has emerged as a major new focus in efforts to reduce poverty
around the world. Social protection is generally understood as a set of public actions that address
poverty, vulnerability and exclusion as well as provide means to cope with risks throughout the life
cycle. Investing in social protection not only supports progress towards a range of Millennium
Development Goals, it has the potential to reduce poor people's vulnerabilities to global challenges
such as aggregate economic shocks, instability in the price of food or other essential commodities,and climate change.
Child sensitive social protection systems mitigate the effects of poverty on families, strengthenfamilies in their child care role, and enhance access to basic services for the poorest and mostmarginalised, including at-risk children living outside family care. UNICEF works together with alarge number of partners - central and local governments, civil society organisations, the private
sector and international agencies - for enhancing crisis support and making social protection morechild, age and gender-sensitive in all major regions of operation.
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll, Executive Director.
ICSW C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org
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