Letter from the Editor

Dear JCTR Bulletin Readers:

We are exhausted with our role as the scribes situation of the poor. Every meeting is just another forum for the recital of the litany of our problems and for the sharing of more negative statistics and insights about suffering.  This business of only speaking of human suffering through statistics must come to an end!  In how many different ways can we describe the reality of poverty!  When are we going to see change?  Real change for that matter!   Presently, we have a broad understanding of the many causes and faces of poverty.  It is time to stop talking.  It is time to take action!

The above sentiments capture the mood of many African civil society members who represented their organizations and countries at the Africa Regional Social Watch meeting held from 22 to 24 September 2004 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  The meeting was held to discuss, among other topics, security and development in Africa, gender and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As a little background, Social Watch is a monitoring network that was formed by civil society organizations in 1995 following two monumental conferences, the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Beijing Conference (World Conference on Women).  Its major areas of concern include social development and gender discrimination.  The thrust of Social Watch is to monitor the implementation of the agreements made at these two meetings.

These commitments agreed upon in Copenhagen include a promise to promote full respect for human dignity, to achieve equality and equity between women and men and to enhance the participation and leadership of  women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life and in development; to create an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that will enable people to achieve social development; to eradicate poverty in the world, through decisive national actions and international cooperation, as an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind, etc. Complete letter

For your personal copy subscribe to:
JCTR Bulletin 
P. O Box 37774  Lusaka, Zambia

This bulletin has been published since 1991. Come into our offices to get a copy of the others. Online we have
Bulletins: 50 | 51| 52| 53 | 54 | 55 |56|57|58 |59 |60