2004/10/20
Funds tighter for basic services, used for debts
Having said earlier that sharp disparities in income and continuing civil strife in parts of the country will make it unlikely for the Philippines to attain its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Prof. Leonor Briones, coconvenor of the Social Watch Philippines, had more bad news on Tuesday. She said continuing deterioration of basic social services and increasing debt payments would add to the difficulty of reaching the MDG.

2004/10/19
Licking poverty “unlikely“
Sharp disparities in incomes, education and health, combined with unrelenting civil strife in parts of Visayas and Mindanao, make it very unlikely for the Philippines to attain key targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a public administration expert said on Monday.

2004/09/25
Social Watch Africa Regional Meeting in Tanzania
The Social Watch Africa Regional Meeting was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from September 22 to 24, 2005.

2004/09/21
Ghana's Housing Sector, Who Cares for the Poor
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to which the Ghana government is a signatory, in Goal 7, Target 11, commits governments to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Judging by the pace of progress in the delivery of housing in Ghana, it is doubtful that this goal would be achieved.

2004/08/31
Paraguay invests only U$S 140 per person in social spending
Asunción, Aug. 27. "Paraguay has a large outstanding debt to itself: its extremely high spending on defence is scandalous in comparison with its low social spending, in a situation of growing poverty and inequality,” said Patricia Garcé, executive secretary of the International Secretariat of Social Watch, speaking at the launching of Social Watch’s Report for 2004, “Fear and Want: Obstacles to human security”.

2004/08/27
US: Ranks of Poor, Uninsured Rose in 2003
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (AP)- The number of Americans living in poverty and without health insurance rose for the third straight year in 2003, the Census Bureau reported Thursday in a pair of reports that delivered a double dose of bad economic news for the Bush administration.

2004/08/26
When the interest is bigger than the loan
NGOs demand that development aid projects cease being a ‘political football’ and start reaching the people who most need them. For every euro received by poor countries as aid, they end up giving back at least the same amount in trade obligations or in revenue evasion in tax-free havens. Development aid, supposed to show the commitment of international organisations and developed countries to narrowing the gap between North and South, the rich and the poor, is coming increasingly under question. The same hands that reputedly give, later take away even more.

2004/07/28
The 2004 Social Watch report was launched in Quito
The 2004 Social Watch report titled "Miedos y miserias. Obstáculos a la seguridad humana” was launched at the FSA on July 28. Salil Shetty, director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign, Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, Karina Batthyány, Social Sciences Head Researcher, and Iara Pietricovsky, from INESC/Social Watch Brazil, were present at the event.

2004/07/02
Zambia: Finance Minister debates Social Watch findings
The launching of the Social Watch report 2004 in Zambia sparked a nation-wide discussion on poverty in the country. Finance Minister Ngandu Magande argued there is now plenty of food in the country and even stone crushers have bank accounts and questioned the accuracy of the Social Watch indicators. In an editorial comment, the influential Zambian daily "The Post" advised the minister "to look at his own government's statistics on poverty produced by the Central Statistical Office" and argued that "the issues raised in the 2004 Social Watch report are true and deserve our government's and indeed all our politicians' most serious considerations".

2004/07/02
German Social Watch Report 2004 launched in Berlin
The German edition of the 2004 Social Watch Report was launched at a press conference in Berlin on July 1, 2004.