GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTERMay 2011
In this edition

ICSW launched in Middle East and North Africa
Civil Society Rejects 'Toothless' Istanbul Plan of Action
UNICEF Chairs the Global Migration GroupUNRISD Publications
OECD Publications
Strengthening the health workforce in Africa
ICSW launched in Middle East and North Africa

Mr Driss Guerraoui ICSW Regional President Middle East andNorth Africa and President of the Moroccan network of ICSW
welcomed delegates from 10 countries to the first meeting ofan Arab network of ICSW. The focus of the two day meetingat the end of May was social protection in the Arab region.
The building of a civil society network will strengthen theposition of social welfare and development in the Arabcountries. Mr Guerraoui said it is important for civil society tobe active in this time of change in the region.
Driss Guerraoui
The aim of this new civil society movement is to combat poverty, exclusion and build solidarity
between government and civil society
Christian Rollet President of the International
Council on Social Welfare in his opening address
spoke of defending social rights in the context ofthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR). Civil society has a role in specifying
national approaches to social protection. It is
important to have the Arab world involved inICSW. He said ICSW looks forward to seeing
national organisations established in eachcountry of the region to support social rights.

Christian Rollet – one of many media interviews

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The keynote address was given by Mr Martin Hirsch, member of the Social Protection Floor
Initiative Advisory Group. Before the current appointment, Mr Hirsch was appointed by President
Sarkozy to oversee social protection in France. He is also preparing for the G20 which is to bechaired by France.

Mr Hirsch said all countries are starting to transform
social structures and discuss social protection. Latin
American countries are revamping their social
security system. No country can say they have done
everything to establish a complete system of social
protection. There is an emerging consensus byeconomists that the widening gap between rich andpoor is a threat to growth. Countries cannot wait for ahigh level of GDP before introducing a comprehensivesocial welfare system. Social welfare is not a luxury:
it can serve the economy.

Martin Hirsch

Civil Society Rejects 'Toothless' Istanbul Plan of Action
by Claire Ngozo, Inter Press Service News Agency
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55605
ISTANBUL, 12th May 2011 Civil society groups vowed tomobilise citizens of the world’s poorest nations to take tothe streets, rejecting the Istanbul Programme of Action
agreed today by the Fourth U.N. Conference on the Least
Developed Countries.
"The plan of action has no teeth and appears to have left
the people living in the least developed countries in aworse position than before," said Arjun Karki, thespokesperson for the civil society forum at theconference, known as LDC-IV. "We are appalled anddisillusioned," he said.
More than 800 million people live in the 48 countries areclassified as least developed; 33 of these are found in
sub-Saharan Africa.

Credit: United Nations

The Programme of Action for the decade 2011 to 2020 declares that the ownership and primary
responsibility for development lies with the least developed countries themselves. LDCs are called
on to incorporate the Programme of Action into their national development strategies, plans andprogrammes and identifying the domestic authorities responsible for overseeing implementationand multi- stakeholder engagement by parliamentarians and theprivate sector.

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Civil society says the Istanbul Programme fails to live up to the mandate agreed ahead ofconference, which was to formulate and adopt renewed terms for the relationship between LDCs
and their development partners, and to mobilise additional international support and action insupport of the LDCs. At the beginning of the conference, civil society had expressed the need for aparadigm shift including the immediate and unconditional cancellation of debts owed by LDCs and areview of the mandate and operations of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. They
also wanted to see agricultural reform policies that would favour smallholder farmers, as well as
measures to regulate genetically-modified seeds, land grabs and large- scale biofuel production,and speculation affecting the price of staple foods.
"It’s very disappointing that they did not take into consideration our demands - which are people’sdemands. In the Istanbul Plan of Action, the northern elite has diluted its role towards equitable
and collective international consciousness," Dr Ihsan Karaman, chair of the organisation which
hosted the civil society forum, Doctors Worldwide. For the full civil society declaration go to
http://www.ldcwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197%3Athe-ldc-civilsociety-forum-istanbul-declaration&catid=24%3Acsf-announcements&Itemid=44&lang=en

UNICEF Chairs the Global Migration GroupFor the first half of 2011, UNICEF is chairing the Global Migration Group. UNICEF is working with all
member agencies to coordinate a common approach to major international events concerning
migration and promoting the GMG's practical approach to mainstreaming migration in national
development planning, with an emphasis on capacity development and support to institutions andgovernment stakeholders.

UNRISD Publications
The Power of Jurisdiction in Promoting Social Policies in Smaller States
On the basis of a global review of empirical material, this paper argues that a stronger appreciationof strategic issues, institutional practices, legal features, regulatory capacities and behavioural
response mechanisms would help in understanding why some small states succeed while others donot.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80
256B3C005BCCF9/search/D4C9913E82705AD9C125781F0061AE49?OpenDocument
Assessing the Structure of Small Welfare States: Social Policies in Small States Series,
No. 4
This paper examines how the characteristics of small states influence their pursuit of a welfarestate. Many of the small states discussed have not previously featured in mainstream thinking
about the relationship between country size and the extent of the welfare state.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80
256B3C005BCCF9/search/54BECD7260B25CACC125787700589AE4?OpenDocument
Religion, Politics and Gender Equality
Contrary to modernist predictions that religion would retreat into a private zone of worship andpractice, recent decades have seen religion become increasingly salient on the political stage
worldwide. Does this matter? From the point of view of women’s rights and gender equality, muchis at stake. UNRISD research shows that politicized religion impinges on women’s rights inproblematic ways. The challenge to gender equality comes not just from fundamentalist agendas,
but also from those who instrumentalise women’s rights for political ends.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80
256B3C005BCCF9/search/EE0F97F51F026825C1257894004E4F69?OpenDocument

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OECD Publications
OECD Health Policy Studies Help Wanted? Providing and Paying for Long-Term CareFrancesca Colombo, Ana Llena-Nozal, Jérôme Mercier, Frits Tjadens. OECD PublishingThis book examines the challenges countries are facing with regard to providing and paying forlong-term care. With populations ageing and the need for long-term care growing rapidly, this booklooks at such issues as: future demographic trends, policies to support family carers, long-termcare workers, financing arrangements, long-term care insurance, and getting better value formoney in long-term care
Availability: Forthcoming Publication date: 10 Jun 2011 Language: English Pages: 336 Tables: 20
Charts: 56 ISBN: 9789264097582 OECD Code: 812011031P1
Version: Print (Paperback) + Free PDF (Note from Global Cooperation editor - Unfortunately thisinteresting publication is absurdly priced) Price: €75 | $105 | £67 | ¥9700 | MXN1350 which puts it
beyond the budget of many NGOs. The OECD publishes much good material it is a pity they makethe cost so prohibitive to many in civil society.)
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=9789264097582

Strengthening health workforces in Africa
During the past decade, global AIDS donors’ attempts to strengthen thehealth workforce in Africa have been temporary and HIV/AIDS-specific,
doing little to address the long-term sustainability and capacity of theworkforce to handle all health needs. The policies and practices of themajor donors have included varying degrees of support for strengthening
human resources in health; most have been directed toward short-term
interventions such as in-service training for existing health workers andtemporary hiring in nongovernmental organizations or on special contracts
in the public sector.

Systematic monitoring and reporting of donor’s strategies, however, has been scarce. This reportfills the void by focusing on the workforce strengthening strategies of three of the major HIV/AIDSdonors: the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), and the World Bank’s Africa Multi-country
HIV/AIDS Program (the MAP). The report identifies six tasks for donors, national governments, andcountry stakeholders to undertake to reverse the severe shortage of skilled, motivated, andproductive health workers.
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424385/?utm_source=nl_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_weekly_09082010&
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
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Kampala Uganda
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