The Hunger Project’s Executive VP, John Coonrod, has moved from New York City to Washington, DC to strengthen THP’s seat at the table of international development. Each week, John sends us insight into issues of health, policy, human rights and more by way of the Washington Weekly.
THP Kicks off UNDEF Partnership
Experts from ten agencies came together at THP’s Washington Office last week in our first consultation to build a global community of practice on strengthening participatory local democracy. Present in the meeting were representatives from CDI, Gallup, Global Integrity, ICMA, IFES, InterAction, MSI, National Endowment for Democracy, QED, and Tostan.
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The two-year initiative is funded by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and this first phase is supported by a team of three graduate students from George Washington University as part of their capstone project.
Leanna Beaber, project manager, has published a summary of the meeting on our new website.
A major task of the initiative is to develop a multidimensional Participatory Democracy Index and publish an annual State of Participatory Democracy Report. The good news from this first consultation is that a great deal of the data we need for the index may already be available from multiple sources, including people’s perceptions of the effectiveness of local government from Gallup’s World Poll.
The MDGs are in our reach, says Bread for the World
This week marked the launch of Bread’s annual Hunger Report, which this year focuses on the progress being made towards the MDGs, and what this implies for the post-2015 Global Development Goals. The launching event at the National Press Club featured a panel including (left to right) the Ambassador of Tanzania, the President of World Relief, Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of Voice of America, Bread President David Beckmann and the US Special Representative on Global Food Security, Jonathan Shrier. The report also has some great infographics.
Upcoming Events
November 25 –December 10: 16 Days Against Gender Violence
December 1: World AIDS Day
December 10-12: G20 CSO Joint Strategy Meeting in Moscow
February 6-15, 2013: UN Conference on Social Development
March 4-15, 2013 – UN Commission on the Status of Women
April 19-21, 2013 – World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington
April 29-May 1, 2013 – InterAction Forum, Arlington, Virginia
May 28-30, 2013 – Women Deliver Conference, Kuala Lumpur
June 2013 – Civil20, Business20, Youth20 Summits in Saint Petersburg, Russia
June 27-28, 2013 – International Conference on Population and Development, Paris
September 2013 – Leaders G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia
October 5, 2013 – The Hunger Project Fall Event