Held in Paris each May to coincide with the annual OECD Ministerial
Council Meeting, the OECD Forum has emerged as a major
international stakeholder summit. Leaders from all sectors of civil society
gather to debate the most pressing social and economic challenges confronting
society. Together with current and former heads of state and government, Nobel
Prize winners, top CEOs, leaders of key non governmental organisations and
trade unions, and prominent members of academia and media ... YOU TOO can play
your part in helping shape responses to global challenges.
The big question at this year’s OECD Forum
is
‘what is the greatest challenge we face today – jobs, inequality,
economic growth?’
A great deal was packed into
the two days so we hope this article helps you to identify your areas of
interest and navigate your way through the different sessions.
Hello Wikiprogress followers and welcome to
this Week in Review! This week’s highlights include a UN report on human
rights in the context of the post-2015 agenda, an update from UNICEF on global
progress on sanitation and drinking water and an Oxfam report on risk and
poverty reduction.
Released this week, the UN’s Who
will be Accountable? – Human Rights and the Post-2015 Development Agenda – calls on
countries to ensure that the post-2015 development agenda focuses on equality,
social protection and accountability, noting that one billion people around the
world are still living in poverty.
“The
rise of inequality has severely undermined the achievements of the Millennium
Development Goals, or MDGs,” UN Spokesman, 21st May 2013
The “OECD E-Government Review of Egypt” assesses
Egyptian e-government policies and implementation, and makes recommendations
for future actions. The report highlights Egypt’s progress and proposes that to
enhance the use of ICTs in the public sector Egypt should undertake a number
of measures. Find out more!
No
Accident - Resilience and the Inequality of Risk – This report from Oxfam
stipulates that governing bodies and aid agencies must challenge the politics
and power at the heart of the increasing effects of climate change, growing
inequality and people’s vulnerability to disasters. Oxfam highlights the
increasing threat of various major external risks and points out that the
majority of these are actively dumped on poor people, with women bearing the
brunt because of their social, political and economic status.
Progress
on Sanitation and Drinking Water - 2013 Update – UNICEF’s annual report
card presents country, regional and global estimates on improvements (or lack
of them) in access to drinking water and sanitation. According to the
publication, the world will not meet the MDG sanitation target of 75% and if
current trends continue, it is set to miss the target by more than half a
billion. To find out more about sanitation inequality, read our recent Progblog
article on the subject.
The
right poverty measure for post-2015 – is part
of a series of blogs that debate how a post-2015 framework ought to measure
poverty. This article by Stephan Klasen, Professor of development economics and
empirical economic research at the University of Göttingen, puts forward a
proposal for internationally coordinated national poverty measurement.
Thanks for checking in - we are pleased to inform you that our theme of the month in June will be Environment so we look forward to bringing you articles, blogs and Week in Reviews related to the subject in the coming weeks!
Last week, Wikigender attended the 11th
meeting of the OECD
DAC Network on Gender Equality. Among the discussion topics on the agenda,
participants exchanged their thoughts about the “unfinished business” of the MDGs and the post-2015 development agenda. Here I would like to share with you some of the
points and questions raised during the meeting and invite your comments below this blog post.
Participants capitalised on the positive lessons learnt from the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and identified areas of improvement for the post-2015
agenda.
On the positive side for example, it was mentioned that MDG3 was at the
heart of poverty reduction strategies and therefore helped to get the dialogue
started on gender equality issues - for example we have seen very good results in terms
of girls’ education, especially at primary level. Many participants agreed that
having a standalone goal on gender equality as well as comprehensive
mainstreaming of gender equality across all of the goals was the best way to
achieve visibility in the post-2015 framework. This should be accompanied by
concise and strategic language around the goals as well as key partnerships.
Also, goals should reconcile the human rights based approach with the
development practical approach – so that, through the intrinsic value of gender
equality and women’s empowerment, we can reaffirm policy commitment and funding
and continue to rally gender equality advocates.
In terms of what could be improved, it was mentioned that there
should be more focus at sub-national level, in particular to address the needs of specific
populations such as ethnic minorities. On content, it was agreed that MDG3
was too narrow and there were serious omissions, such as gender-based violence
for example. Some priority areas outlined for post 2015 included women’s
choices and capabilities, violence
against women and women’s participation in the household, including unpaid
work and decision-making in both the public and private spheres.
Overall, there was agreement that we need to address the structural
drivers of gender inequality (such as violence against women, early
marriage, etc.) now (why wait until 2015 when we can act now?); use
what worked as “pivot points”, as some can have a multiplier effect and can
help in prioritising the actions needed; and further improve data collection,
reporting as well as quality and coverage.
What are your experiences in your country? Which areas of the MDGs can we build upon and where can we be transformative or innovative?
Welcome to another Week in Review! This week’s post includes a ‘Resource Governance Index’, a ‘World
Health Statistics’ report and World Telecommunication & Information
Society Day.
State of Civil Society Report 2013 by CIVICUS calls for an enabling environment for civil society, it includes nearly 50 contributions from experts and civil society leaders from around the world. These experts highlighted good practices and challenges on the horizon for citizens and civil society globally.
"57% of the world’s population live in countries where basic civil liberties and political freedoms are curtailed"State of Civil Society Report 2013
The
2013 Resource Governance Index Report measures the quality of governance in the
oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries. The RGI scores and ranks the
countries, relying on a detailed questionnaire completed by researchers with
expertise in the extractive industries. According to this year’s study there is
a major governance deficit in natural resources around the world, and the
deficit is largest in the most resource- dependent countries, where nearly half
a billion people live in poverty despite that resource wealth.
Wikigender
Special Focus: Women and Elections – As part of our focus on Governance,
Wikigender is currently spotlighting the critical role that women have to play
in elections to have their voice heard, both as voters and elected representatives.
This ‘Special Focus’ looks at the role of women in elections, drawing on
articles from various situations around the world.
World
Health Statistics 2013 – this report contains WHO’s annual compilation of
health-related data for its 194 Member States, and includes a summary of the
progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and associated targets.
World
Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is on 17 May - The purpose of WTISD is to help raise
awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other
information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and
economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. Make sure you follow the#WTISD for updates!
Finally, don't miss World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development - The day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and raise awareness about the importance of intercultural dialogue, diversity and inclusion.
We look forward to checking in
next week to bring you more highlights from the world of well-being and
progress.
“Education
is our top priority but, once educated we want to be trained, enabled – and
funded – to take action to address the challenges faced by our generation
through youth-led development. We want, in Gandhi’s words, to ‘be the change’
we want to see in the world…” World
Youth Congress, Hawaii, 1999
On the
same day that the Bank of England upgraded its economic forecast, stating that
inflation is expected to drop within the next two years, the Trades Union
Congress reported that UK unemployment figures grew by 15,000 in the first
three months of 2012 to 2.52 million. Rising employment numbers in the latter
months of 2012 had offered a level of respite for the British government
following a bruising financial year, however, today’s findings show that
joblessness is still extensive.
The issue
remains embedded among young people, with jobless rates soaring towards the one
million mark and standing at 21.2% across the country. The TUC is concerned that while
employment prospects for older workers have been improving, those for young people are far worse, and have deteriorated further since mid-2010. The damaging
effects of unemployment on young people are well documented, and there is an
increasing risk that the UK’s current 15-24 year olds will suffer lasting damage to their
earnings potential and job prospects throughout their lives.
Global
figures are equally gloomy. Over the last few years we have been inundated with statistics on the deteriorating
situation in Europe (particularly Spain) for young job seekers and in Africa
well over half of 15-24 year olds are currently out of work. According to a UN led report released last week, the weakening world wide recovery has further
aggravated the youth job crisis and as a result the problem will continue
growing over the next five years. The International Labour Organization’s ‘Global Employment Trends forYouth 2013: A generation at risk’ estimates that 73.4 million young people (12.6 percent) are expected to be out of work in 2013, and by 2018, this will have reached
12.8 percent.
Graph taken from ILO Report 2013
The
report stipulates that young people face persistent unemployment, a proliferation of temporary
jobs and growing discouragement in advanced economies; and poor quality,
informal, subsistence jobs in developing countries:
“The economic and social costs of
unemployment, long-term unemployment, discouragement and widespread low-quality
jobs for young people continue to rise and undermine economies’ growth
potential,” ILO - Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013 report.
Despite
vocal concern around the issue, it seems that governments and organisations
have struggled to find an effective means of combating youth unemployment. The
recent World Economic Forum in Davos touched upon the subject on a number of
occasions with some leaders suggesting that a global fund for unemployment be
implemented. Yet there have been murmurings among critics that such steps are
simply inadequate when faced with the ‘tidal wave’ of jobless young people
sweeping the world’s nations. Lynda Cratton of the London Business School
believes that in a similar way to global warming, the sheer complexity of the
challenge renders it almost impossible to solve.
Following
the release of ‘A generation at risk’ the ILO’s assistant director-general for
policy José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs stated, ‘These
figures underline the need to focus policies on growth, massive improvements in
training systems and targeted youth employment actions’.
Two recentWikichildSpotlight reports look at tackling youth unemployment through effective governance.
- Developed
byUNICEFandSave the Children,
Children's Rights
and Business Principlesprovides a comprehensive
framework for understanding and addressing the impact of business on the rights
and well-being of children. The Children’s Rights and Business Principles are
built on existing standards and practices and helps to explain the opportunities
for business of investing in children.
- First
published in Nairobi last year, UN-HABITAT’s State of the Field
in Youth Development sheds light on how youth are positively
impacting communities around the world. As part of wider series, this
particular report stresses how young people can be beneficial to communities,
and how local, national and international governments can implement, engage and
support youth and youth led initiatives.
Both
reports look to brand young people as ambassadors of change. ‘Children’s
Right’s and Business Principles’ recognizes that children are among the most
marginalised members of society, yet when provided with the agency to
participate, they have shown that they can offer vital alternative viewpoints
and make effective contributions. Similarly, ‘State of the Field’ emphasizes
the need to have faith in the power of young people to contribute
constructively to the good of society. It seems that both publications hope to
change the attitude of governing bodies towards young people by showing that
they themselves have placed youths at the center of their own projects. The
‘State of the Field’ report lists countless examples of how initiatives led by
young people have positively benefited society.
Youth
unemployment is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing governments this
century and will worsen as populations swell and education becomes more readily
available. However, the two publications featured provide hard facts about
how the integration of young people in a country’s workforce can catalyse economic
prosperity. With the development of more projects similar to the ones mentioned
in the ‘State of the Field’ it seems that we can go someway to combating the
problem.
