2007/03/07
Report of the Linking & Learning Programme on ESC Rights for the Latin America region
From 2nd to 10th November 2006 representatives from Latin American Human Rights organisations gathered in Quito, Ecuador, to attend a programme on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). More than 25 participants from civil society organisations attended the course and discussed issues like their rights to education, health, housing, food, and the conditions of life of afro-descendents, women, indigenous, children, farmers, disable people, amongst others, in the continent.

The course was organized by CDES Ecuador, COHRE, Dignity International, Equipo Pueblo Mexico and Social Watch.

2007/03/05
Did Malta deceives the World?
While EU figures rank Malta as the new member state with the highest percentage of its Gross National Income (GNI) given to international development aid, the local Social Watchers claim that this goal was achieved “deceptively”. SW Malta’s Report was quoted in: Maltastar.com

2007/03/02
Social Watch at WSF 2007: Workshop on Alternative budget and Budget monitoring
During the World Social Forum held in Nairobi, Social Watch organised a workshop focused on of how to monitor state budgets and how to develop feasible alternatives to them from a civil society point of view. More than 60 people participated to the discussion..

2007/03/02
Social Watch at Alliance 2015 Meeting in Brussels
Facilitated by the European External Policy Advisors (EEPA), Alliance 2015 held an Expert meeting in Brussels on “Measuring the Contribution of General Budget Support to Social Sectors”. Founded in 2000, the purpose of the Alliance is to fight poverty by supporting the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Karina Batthyány, coordinator of the SW Secretariat Social Sciences Team, gave a presentation on the Social Watch indicators and methodology, in particular in relation to the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) and the Gender Equity Index (GEI) under the title “Measuring Progress in Social Sectors: the SW Indicators”.

2007/03/01
UNDP and BRIDGE/IDS Panel Discussion on Gender Indicators
Social Watch participated in a panel discussion on “Gender Sensitive Indicators and Measurements of Change” organized by the UNDP and BRIDGE/IDS as a side event of the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations.

The speakers were: Rachel Mayanja, (Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues - OSAGI), Dr. Caren Grown (Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, NY), Dr. Annalise Moser (Consultant), Hanny Cueva Beteta, (United Nations Development Fund for Women - UNIFEM) and Cecilia Alemany (Global Networker, Social Watch).

The event took place March 6, 13.15 to 14.30 at Conference Room A, UN Secretariat, New York.

2007/01/25
AFRICA: Help Africans to feed themselves, governments urged
NAIROBI - Eighty percent of Africans who experience frequent food shortages live on poor land in rural areas - neglect of such communities is one of the main causes of hunger on the continent, campaigners for the right to food said.

2007/01/21
Social Watch at the World Social Forum. Nairobi, Kenya
Our network had a major presence at the WSF in Nairobi, Kenya, with a series of workshops and activities addressing the different areas that our work has emphasized in the past years. In addition to organizing a number of capacity-building workshops (the Use of Social Indicators, Poverty and ESC Rights, Budget Monitoring), round tables and Watchers coordinating meetings during the Forum itself, we subsequently held another meeting of our Coordinating Committee to decide upon the guidelines for our work in the future.

2007/01/20
New Publication: Multistakeholder Partnerships - Future Models of Multilateralism?
In times of growing dissatisfaction with the groaning pace of the global negotiation process, and the current difficulties on the part of governments to engage in new compromises, multistakeholder initiatives and policy networks between private and public actors are experiencing a boom which appears to be expanding unfettered within the United Nations system.

2007/01/19
ICAE World Assembly in the framework of the WSF
From 17 to 19 January, in the framework of the WSF, the ICAE will be holding its 7th World Assembly, "Adults' Right to Learn: Convergence, Solidarity and Action", with the participation of some 200 educators from around the world.

2006/12/14
The Right to housing in Spain, still lots to build
From 20 November to 1 December 2006, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari, conducted a mission to Spain to examine the status of realization of the right to adequate housing, paying particular attention to aspects of gender equality and non- discrimination.