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Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
is spearheading in a new global initiative titled
Southern Voice on Post-MDGs. The initiative involves 49
think tanks drawn from South Asia, Africa and Latin America.
All these think tanks are awardees of the Think Tank
Initiative (TTI) – a facility created through contributions
from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation and bilateral donors, and managed by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa.
As the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches the deadline
of 2015, the international development community is focusing
on the one hand, on the experiences gathered so far
regarding the implementation of MDGs, and, on the other,
articulation of post-MDG framework, issues and targets.
Taking note of the global power imbalance, knowledge
asymmetry and MDG delivery experience, the Southern Voice
on Post-MDGs seeks to channel its inputs from developing
countries’ perspectives into the ongoing global discussions
on post-MDGs (2015). This initiative intends to leverage the
evidenced-based knowledge and policy experience in the South
on think tanks to influence the emerging global development
agenda.
The initiative was first
conceived in a meeting of Southern think tanks in Cape Town,
South Africa in June 2012. Since then, CPD has further
conceptualised the initiative and prepared its programme
document. This was followed by two Webinars (web-based
conferences) involving experts from three continents in
November and December 2012. The Southern Voice
initiative was launched to the official stakeholders as well
as to the larger development community. Dr Debapriya
Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD is the Convener
of the Southern Voice on Post-MDGs
In order to take the
initiative to its next level, an expert group meeting is
being convened in Dhaka on 11-13 January 2013. The meeting
will articulate the agenda and identify a set of activities
to be undertaken by the Southern Voice on Post-MDGs
in 2013 and 2014. Immediate inputs for the official (UN High
Level Panel’s) consultation process on post-MDGs will also
be considered at the meeting. Besides researchers of a
number of Southern think tanks, UN officials and a number of
experts having demonstrated expertise on MDG-related issues
are to take part in the Dhaka meeting.
The various sessions of the
two-day event will cover areas such as (i) Framework, Issues
and Challenges of Post-MDGs; (ii) The Unfinished Agendas of
MDGs; (iii) Issues for the Future; (iv) Prospects of Global
Partnership and Resource Mobilisation for Post-MDGs; and (v)
The Ongoing Consultation Processes and Interface with the
Southern Voice on Post-MDGs Initiative. The meeting will
also endorse the activity plan of the initiative and the
immediate inputs to be sent to the UN High Level Task Force.
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