Our world is at a crossroads: will we in this 21st Century follow a path to peace, justice and progress – or to increasing inequality, conflict, gender violence and disaster? Our world has never been richer, yet the gap between rich and poor is widening – why is that? International development has risen up the political agenda, but it is more associated with Bono than with the systematic exclusion and disempowerment of citizens worldwide.
The 2005 Make Poverty History campaign broadened UK public support, but failed to deepen it - and politics was left out. There are signs of public impatience with inaction and failure of governments and leaders to make change happen in an increasingly affluent and divided world that leaves 1 billion people living on less than a US$1 a day, women systematically excluded by violence and discriminations, and a child dying every 3 seconds from preventable causes. Increasingly, the value of the contribution of non-government organisations (NGOs) is also being questioned.
There has been a plethora of mostly government initiatives – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Commission on Africa, the G8’s 2005 promises on debt relief and more aid, the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. But the fundamental issue – that poverty is caused by lack of power and voice – is ignored.
This lack of voice – of functioning, accountable and inclusive politics and democracy - is the Missing Goal that is undermining achievement of the official MDGs. Only by explicitly addressing power imbalances, by bringing democratic politics back into the discourse and practice, and by joining citizens South and North in a common struggle, can a just and equal world be achieved.
The PROBLEM
Poverty is rooted in exclusion from power and participation; lack of food, of access to education, of clean water and sanitation – these are symptoms.
Changing the balance of power towards the most marginalised – sustainable, democratic development - is a political process; to pretend otherwise is dishonest.
Yet politics and the views of citizens are often ignored in development “solutions”, and citizens often do not know their rights, or are even treated as “non-citizens”.
Women are systematically excluded, through violence and other barriers. 70% of those living on $1 a day are women – this isn’t coincidence.
Without inclusive politics, accountable government and women’s rights, the most marginalised citizens – disabled people, people living with HIV/AIDS, urban poor – will continue to have their rights denied.
Our SOLUTION
Change happens when citizens know and claim their rights, and hold their elected representatives and public officials to account at all levels.
We must seek, therefore, to make sure people know their rights, and to create the democratic spaces where they can engage with their governments –local, municipal, national – to exercise those rights.
People are their own best advocates; we must not presume to speak for excluded people, but to support them in creating spaces to speak.
To achieve real change, we must work in both the South and the North, because decisions made in the rich North – on aid, trade, foreign policy - have direct impact on those in the South.
Citizens South and North ultimately have common cause in creating a just and equal world, and by working together in networks, people’s organisations, representative political parties and social movements we can succeed.
Our Strategic AIM for 2013:
We will put democracy at the heart of development
By 2013, the Missing Goal of democracy – participation, accountability and women’s rights - will be the basis of our alternative, citizen-centred approach to development, where:
• excluded citizens can successfully engage with their governments to ensure their rights to just and equitable development are realised.
• women’s full participation is fundamental to achieving just and equitable development.
Our Strategic Objectives for 2008-2013
Building ACCOUNTABILITY
We will support innovative, bold initiatives by people’s organisations to engage successfully with their governments to hold them accountable for fulfilling basic rights.
We will advocate and campaign for stronger local, national and international policy, spaces, legislation and frameworks that promote accountable engagement between citizens and the state.
We will gather, document and communicate evidence with our partners on how and why such initiatives work and deliver justice and equality for excluded people.
Building CITIZEN CAPACITY
We will support and strengthen people’s organisations and social movements to advocate and engage in influential relationships with their governments at all levels.
We will support our partners in the creation, development and exploitation of spaces for their engagement with the state, including laws, policies and institutions.
We will create opportunities for our Southern partners to talk directly to decision-makers and those in power.
Building WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION
We will support and strengthen active women’s organisations and movements that promote women’s participation and empowerment.
We will advocate and campaign to remove barriers that exclude women from political participation.
We will advocate and campaign against violence against women as an issue of governance.
We will support action research to develop tools for women to monitor government and international commitments to gender equity and equality.
Building SOLIDARITY
We will actively participate in the global networks and social movements that genuinely campaign for global justice and equality.
We will act as a network node to help forge regional and international links between our partners to increase mutual support.
We will seek to link citizens South-South and South-North closer together by highlighting the common mutual and shared interests we have in creating a just and equal world and challenging global power imbalances.
We will campaign, independently and collaboratively, to influence key areas of public opinion in the North towards supporting our core aims.
To learn more about how we carry out these goals, please click here.