Advancing the Business and Human Rights Agenda: Key to Reform Financial Sector The faltering dreams of Tunisian girls CIVICUS releases an open letter requesting the Indonesian Parliament to reject the proposed ORMAS law and create an enabling environment for civil society MDGs: The case for collective global action Experts provide input on HLPF Africa: WACSI Holds Policy Influence Conference European Union: Citizens’ initiatives flounder one year after launch World Bank Group: Access to land is critical for the poor Leveraging private finance with public money: Positive innovation? Corporate welfare? Citizen participation and accountability  Read this issue online or subscribe to receive all future issues.

African Ministers, parliamentarians and policymakers met in Hammamet, Tunisia, to ensure that Africa plays a proactive role in shaping the future global development agenda.

The year 2015 was set by the members of the United Nations in 2001 as the target for fulfilling the targets agreed to in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for eliminating extreme poverty.

A conference on Vietnam's national consultations for the post-2015 development agenda was jointly held by the United Nations (UN) in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment here on Wednesday, the state- run Vietnam News Agency reported.

The Global Thematic Consultation on Conflict, Violence and Disaster in the Post-2015 Development Agenda has culminated with final, high-level meeting, which recognized that conflict, violence and disasters mutually reinforce each other, and recommended addressing them simultaneously within the post-2015 agenda.

GWP Southern Africa has participated in national and international dialogues focusing on water in the post 2015 development agenda.

A widely-acknowledged limitation of the Millennium Development Goals is a neglect of inequality – it is argued that the targets encouraged a focus on ‘low hanging fruit’, those people that were easiest to reach.

As debates about the post-2015 development framework rumble on, there appears to be considerable agreement that in education a refocusing from access to learning will be needed.

On the 17 of March 2013, Commissioners at the 7th Meeting of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development adopted a gender target on access to information and communication technologies (ICT).

The ongoing process to shape the post-2015 framework includes an interesting angle whereby citizens around the world are asked to rank their top priorities for what development goals will come after 2015.

Last month I joined a team of 13 VSO employees, partners and volunteers at the Asia Pacific Regional Thematic  Consultation on Education in the Post 2015 Development Agenda in Bangkok.

The vision of education in the post-2015 development agenda must reflect two fundamental principles, said UNESCO's Assistant Director-General, Qian Tang.

A new international alliance of research institutes has identified eight major shifts that must take place for humanity to achieve sustainable development.

A group of 90 academics, economists and development experts have written to the members of the High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda to ask that they put tackling inequality at the heart of any new framework.

The new development agenda to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire in 2015, should focus on how countries can achieve growth that includes everyone, going beyond poverty eradication and international aid, according to an early snapshot of consultations with people around the world.

The United Nations' Organisation (UNO) has nominated Ghana to play a lead role among 30 member-states from five regional blocks, to develop Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will be universally applicable, through the Open Working Group (OWG) initiative.

UN Women Deputy Executive Director John Hendra participated in a panel on the “Key gender equality issues to be reflected in the post-2015 development framework” on 7 March during the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57).

Emele Duituturaga (far right), Executive Director at Pacific Islands Association of Non Governmental Organisations in Fiji, sits in a plenary session with other CSO leaders at the 2nd Global Assembly of the Open Forum in Cambodia in 2011.

From subjects to citizens – accountability in the post-2015 development agenda Aspiring to greatness – little by little Civil society and its environment – Driving sustainable development? Civil Society communiqué: The Global CSO Forum on the Post-2015 Development Agenda Bali Youth Multi-stakeholder Meeting on Post 2015 releases a communiqué A red flag for the Post-2015 High Level Panel Eradicating poverty through environmentally resilient development: the way forward Post-2015 Africa: African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) finds Zimbabwe guilty of torture Honduras: Women raise banner of women’s rights in Honduran popular movement Nepal: Civil society, peace process, Marx and Hegelian theory Stop the suffering in Syria Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion Planning, Programming and Monitoring Projects: A five-day course Transparency International: Group Director, Resource Development and External Relations (Apply by 16 April 2013) Read this issue online or subscribe to receive all future issues.

 French | Spanish   On Monday 8 April 2013, the CIVICUS Board of Directors invites members of the CIVICUS alliance to join and interact with them in an open online meeting.

10:00-12:00 am, Tuesday 9 April 2013, at the United Nations, New YorkConference Room 4, North Lawn Building CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations warmly invite you to attend the presentation of findings from the forthcoming 2013 State of Civil Society Report, followed by a panel discussion on the links between an enabling environment for civil society and the successful implementation and integration of key global development agendas.

Education experts gathered in the Senegalese capital Dakar this week to discuss what priorities should look like once the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015.

The Global Consultation on Population Dynamics in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda recently published its final outcome document: “A Call to Integrate Population Dynamics into the Post-2015 Development Agenda” after its Dhaka meeting in Bangladesh from the 11-12th of March 2013.

The 2015 deadline to the current Millennium Development Goals has led to a flurry of activities on what the post 2015 development agenda should look like.

African policymakers met in Hammamet, Tunisia, to put forward Africa’s voice in shaping the post 2015 development agenda.

In the wake of last week's meetings at the UN on the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a group of international scientists have published a call in the journal Nature today, arguing for a set of six SDGs that link poverty eradication to protection of Earth's life support.

The process of establishing a post-2015 development agenda must include youth input and participation to reflect the issues that concern them, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Envoy on Youth stressed today in his first press conference since he assumed office.

This week in Dakar, Senegal, where the Education for All goals were first defined in 2000, education partners are getting together again to discuss the post-2015 agenda.

On March 14th, the UNDP released the 2013 Human Development Report, entitled “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”.

The final meeting of the Post-2015 Thematic Consultation on Governance took place from 28 February-1 March 2013, at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa.

On 25 March, IIASA, UKP4, INCASA and UNORCID will co host a High-Level Panel academia stakeholders consultative event on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The current UN under-secretary general for Economic and Social affairs [Wu Hongbo] has revealed the UN is working on a new set of development plans once the current window for the Millenium Development Goals is reached in 2015.

The MDGs have been a powerful tool in influencing the policy agenda with a strong human development focus.

Dr.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have achieved much for children all over the world.

In 2000, 164 governments met in Dakar, Senegal and pledged to achieve the six "Education for All" goals by 2015 committing to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults.

A roundtable meeting to discuss development issues in the Pacific, particularly after the conclusion of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme in 2015, was held last month in the Timor-Leste capital of Dili.

The President of the General Assembly on Thursday called for the participation of all nations in crafting a sustainable development agenda after 2015, the deadline for fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Global Consultation on Education will take place from 18 to 19 March in Dakar, Senegal.

Minister of State Dr Maitha Al Shamsi led the UAE delegation to the 2-day Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics and the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, which concluded in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Global Compact Network Pakistan in collaboration with Employers’ Federation of Pakistan is organising a private sector/ stakeholders consultation meeting on Post-2015 Development Agenda on March 21, 2013.

The second round of consultations in China on the Post-2015 Development Agenda took place on Monday in Beijing.

Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a speech at the Conference on International Cooperation in 2020 in the Hague on 7 March 2013, said that “economic growth and trade — as a driver of growth — deserve a prominent place in the post 2015 development agenda.

As part of the national consultations on the UN post-2015 development agenda (www.

It is about 1,000 days until the end of 2015 and the culmination of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — the targets set in 2000 for environmental stability, child and maternal health, poverty alleviation, education, gender equality and HIV/AIDS reduction.

This week in Helsinki, the global community continues to consult on how it will follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set to expire in 2015.

The global leadership meeting on population ended in Dhaka on Wednesday with a call on the countries to address and integrate population dynamics into the post-2015 development agenda when the current MDGs will expire.

The 2015 deadline for the current Millennium Development Goals has led to a flurry of activities on what the post-2015 development agenda should look like.

As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, the United Nations, Member States and civil society have started consultations on a new development framework that will succeed the MDGs.

More than 100 delegates from over 20 countries met in Helsinki today to discuss how to make sure countries around the world can better prevent the fallout of conflicts, war and disasters from reversing the gains in development, economic growth and provision of services to their people in the future global development agenda.