On behalf of teachers around the world, Education International has joined more than 100 civil society organisations in signing an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on his review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The letter is a response to the report by the UN chief entitled ‘Keeping the Promise’, which presents an update on the progress made so far in achieving the MDGs. It provides a comprehensive review of not only successes, best practices and lessons learned, but also states the obstacles and challenges.
The letter includes a series of recommendations for an MDG Breakthrough Plan as a key outcome of the High Level Plenary (HLP) in September when more than 100 leaders are expected to come together to review progress, identify gaps, and commit to a concrete action plan to achieve the MDGs.
Sub-divided into nine thematic sections, the letter presents key recommendations such as the meaningful participation of civil society and binding timetables towards the attainment of Official Development Assistance (ODA) targets, including the 0.7 per cent committed by many OECD countries.
The response also calls for a global audit to measure the extent to which achievements under the MDGs process have reached marginalised and excluded communities. The Breakthrough Plan must contain the key element of inclusion and equality as discrimination and exclusion cut across all MDGs as major obstacles.
The civil society response also asks that fully-funded national plans to achieve universal health, lifelong education, water and sanitation amongst others are a core part of the MDG Breakthrough Plan.
In the current global crises, the education sector and the next generation of children and young people are being made to pay the price for unwise economic decisions. EI stands behind each education personnel in their commitment to education as a basic human right which should not be jeopardized for short-termed financial quick-fixes. To this end, EI will participate in the ‘Interactive Hearings of NGOs, civil society and the private sector’ between 1-15 June in New York. There will also be a UN Summit called MDG+10 from 20-22 September in New York to review the progress made so far.
For more information about the MDG+10 Summit and the open letter, please click on the links below.