MDG Call to Action
UKWN and DFID meeting
Wednesday 16th July 2008
DFID participants
Sanjay Wijesekera New Head of Water Team –
Heather Pillans
Sara Godfrey
Peregrine
Beth Scott (Consultant on Health, Hygiene and Sanitation)
Sue Cavill (Consultant)
Guy Howard
Gemma Ellwood
Ceridwen JohnsonFreshwater Action Network
Sol
Chris Tydeman
Srnivasan, Malaiappan
Bloomfield, Steve
Lucy
Richard Clarke Tearfund
Mari Williams
David
Laura Hucks WaterAid
Sally WarrenWaterAid
Oliver CummingWaterAid
Elena Lopez- GunnLSE
Objectives of the meeting were to share information on progress of the MDG Call to Action and consider potential work in the lead up to the High Level Event to be held in New York on 25th September 2008
Heather Pillans, from the DFID Call to Action Team gave some back ground on MDG Call to Action (see attached paper)
Call to Action is DFID’s lobbying campaign to build momentum and galvanise action around the MDGs, launched an year ago. A high level event is planned for New York in September to look at where progress has been made, what has worked / what has not worked and to set out a road map / milestones to get back on track.
The “High Level Event”, to be hosted by the UN Secretary General aims to produce an action plan. This is the same week as the UN General Assembly.
22nd September is Africa day where there will be a meeting of NEPAD. This will be attended by African Heads of States and Robert Zoellick, President of WB.
There will be a range of “Partnership Events” on specific MDGs throughout the week., as well as 3 roundtables discussions. DFID suggested but could not confirm that the roundtable discussions will be attended by the Prime Minister. Partnership events will also have ministerial level attendance
Roundtables - 25th September
health and education (Water and Sanitation are down to be discussed here)
poverty and hunger
Environment sustainability (Water Resources, including water resource Management issues will be discussed)
DFID expects that outcomes of the partnership events will feed into the roundtable discussions. Roundtable discussions are expected to summarise previous commitments as well as announce future commitments for action. Outcomes of roundtable discussions are expected to feed into a final statement/speech by Ban Ki-Moon
Background papers for the roundtables are not yet released. DFID were unable to provide information about when they would be released, who was leading or whether they would be public. We understand UNICEF have a key role in drafting the papers.
The partnership event on water and sanitation (24th at lunchtime) is being organised by Japan with Netherlands and Tajikistan as co-convenors (possibly Spain too although not confirmed) and supported by UK ( (). There will be two parts to the event; the first part will be given over to more formal speeches (led by prince of Orange) and the second to a broader discussionand the launch of the UN’s GLAAS report (Global Annual Assessment on Sanitation and Water).
The GLAAS report is expected to set the tone of the discussions, and Southern participants from GLAAS report are expected to discuss successes and challenges.
An official declaration will come out of this partnership event. Not yet agreed what will be in it. DFID hope that it will include an agreement for yearly high level meetings (that can have serious impact) on watsan, for developing country governments to commit to get on track with national plans, donors to support national plans and to get on track on sanitation, and restate that NGOs, Foundations, faith groups, etc have also an important role to play in this process.
DFID are billing this as the first high level meeting on watsan, part of their 5 ones. High level ministers from UK will be in attendance. Gates are expected to be at the meeting as is the chair of AMCOW (African Ministers Council on Water). ANEW will probably be invited to this event.
DFID are currently lobbying the UN for a clear idea on how the partnership events can influence the roundtables.
Outcomes from the roundtables and partnership events will be summarised in event statements
Currently, DFID suggest that UKWN / CSOs continue to try to raise awareness in UK and pressure governments, push on what we would like to see coming out of the water event.
DFID have agreed to keep in touch as and when they receive more information.
They suggested a meeting with UKWN attending Stockholm Water Week for a further update