Launch of e-Discussion: ‘Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Poverty and Hunger’

26 February 2007

To participate in the e-Discussion, send an email to mdg-net@groups.undp.org and undesa-experts@groups.undp.org to subscribe.

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are pleased to invite you to take part in a four-week-long moderated e-Discussion: ‘Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Poverty and Hunger’. This e-Discussion is a part of a larger process of global consultation - ECOSOC’s Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) - that assesses the progress in implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. The Concept Note outlining the AMR process and providing background to the thematic focus of this year’s AMR is attached at the end of this message.

Our focus of the next four weeks will be ‘Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Poverty and Hunger’. Halfway to the 2015 deadline to meet the MDGs, we are painfully aware that millions of people still live in extreme poverty and deprivation, in the regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia in particular. Despite initial progress, hunger is again on the rise in some regions, notably in some regions of Africa and Asia. If we cannot overcome poverty and hunger, we cannot hope to reach the other development goals. Efforts to achieve the MDGs must be redoubled. To this end, the AMR process will highlight success stories and promising innovations, identify problems still requiring solutions, and strive to improve global cooperation, coordination and coherence of efforts to meet the development objectives. The knowledge shared by practitioners and policy experts about country-level actions to reduce poverty and hunger will be indispensable in informing the global discussion, providing policy guidance and contributing to efforts to speed up implementation of the goals. Therefore, we look forward to drawing on your expertise and experience. Your views, positions, and ideas will contribute to focusing the substantive part of the AMR process and will be channeled to the Report of the Secretary-General on this same topic.

The thematic focus of this year’s AMR is broad. Therefore, we thought it might be helpful to indicate some priority areas for our discussion together with questions that can guide our interaction. Please, feel free to choose and address any of the priority areas and related questions based on your field of expertise, experience or interest. Please, select from the following:

1. Reduction of Jobless Growth:

� What national policies would assist developing countries to break the trend of jobless growth and generate youth employment in particular?

� In what ways can the broader international community support these efforts, including through trade policy?

� What are the existing useful diagnostic tools and methodologies used for identifying the constraints/challenges resulting in less optimal job creation and jobless growth?

2. Innovative National Policies to Reduce Rural and Urban Poverty:

� What national strategies and mechanisms work to reduce persisting rural poverty?

� Should rural-to-urban migration be discouraged? How can the urbanization of poverty be prevented?

� To what extent does the increase of asset ownership and access to financial services improves financial security and employment opportunities of the poor?

3. Global Governance of Trade:

� What are the critical changes that need to be made in the global governance of trade to enable equity and fairness in the international trading system?

� What innovative policies and strategies can countries use to ensure that the benefits of globalization are both inclusive and equitable, disproportionately benefit the poor and effectively shield them from its perils?

4. Short-term Response to Long-Term Solutions to Hunger:

� How can developing countries shift from short-term responses to hunger and food insecurity to long-term solutions? To what extent can biotechnology contribute to this end?

� What steps can developing countries take to mitigate and adapt to climate change, which threatens to affect food production?

5. Scaling-Up the Response:

� What are emerging opportunities and approaches for countries to increase fiscal space available for development through domestic resource mobilization?

� How can the international community best scale-up its financial support for the MDGs, and improve the effectiveness of aid?

We look forward to a lively debate around the questions raised in this message! The Guest Moderators will stand by to respond to your questions and guide the e-Discussion.

Warm Regards,

Guest Moderators:

Nora Lee, Director, Poverty Group Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP

Donald Lee, OIC, Social Perspective on Policy Branch, Division for Social POlicy and Development, DESA

Duncan Campbell, Director, Policy Integration Department, ILO

To participate in the e-Discussion, send an email to mdg-net@groups.undp.org and undesa-experts@groups.undp.org to subscribe.