UN Hosts Historic Hearings with Civil Society

CEDPA Joins Governments, Private Sector to Address Development Challenges

Jun. 24, 2005—CEDPA partners and alumni challenged governments to address women’s reproductive health needs at historic United Nations hearings held June 22-23 in New York City to review progress in addressing poverty and improving lives around the world.

The civil society hearings were the first of their kind at the United Nations, bringing governments and non-governmental organizations together in a review of progress toward ending extreme poverty. They were held as part of the five-year review of the Millennium Development Goals, a world pledge to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.

Today, more than one billion people worldwide exist on less than $1 a day, and 2.7 billion live on less than $2 a day. But poverty means more than a lack of income. Each year, six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. And, more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year, most from developing countries.

In the face of these challenges, the world community adopted the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 with yardsticks to achieve significant, measurable improvements in people’s lives. They established targets to measure results, not just for developing countries but for rich countries that help to fund development programs and for the global institutions that help countries implement them.

This September, governments will come together at the United Nations for a high-level 2005 World Summit to measure progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The June civil society hearings provided a venue for non-governmental organizations to recommend to governments further actions needed to eradicate poverty.

CEDPA sponsored a delegation of women’s leaders from developing countries, who advised their governments at the hearings. The CEDPA delegation called for increased focus on reproductive health within the Millennium Development Goals.

The delegation included:

• Mufaweza Khan, Concerned Women for Family Development, Bangladesh
• Virginia Falcao, Advocate on Gender-Based Violence, Brazil
• Hoda Rashad, Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, Egypt
• Manju Agrawal, Mahila Samkhya, India
• Jacqueline Adhiambo Oduol, Kenyan Women’s Political Caucus, Kenya
• Josephine Ojiambo, Kenya Medical Women’s Association, Kenya
• Adenike Esiet, Action Health Incorporated, Nigeria
• Grace Delano, Association for Reproductive and Family Health, Nigeria

The CEDPA delegation joined 200 other non-governmental organizations and 1,000 observers at the civil society hearings.

For more information about the Millennium Development Goals, see:

• The UN Millennium Project: www.unmillenniumproject.org
• United Nations Population Fund: www.unfpa.org/icpd/goals/index.htm
• The Millennium Campaign: www.millenniumcampaign.org

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