ECOSOC informal event for the 2007 Annual Ministerial Review

“Eradicating poverty and hunger – Joining forces to make it happen”

Monday, 2 April 2007

New York

Overview

On 3-4 July 2007, ECOSOC will hold its first Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) in Geneva . The AMR is a new function mandated by the Heads of State and Government at the 2005 World Summit. Its objective is to advance and assess progress made in the implementation of the UN development agenda, including the MDGs , defined through a series of landmark UN conferences and summits held since the 1990s. By serving as a high-profile forum for political engagement and knowledge exchange the AMR can help advance implementation by promoting synergies and linkages and by identifying successful approaches and lesson learned which merit scaling up.   

Copyright © 2006 WFP/Anne Poulsen

In 2007, the AMR will focus on “Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development” . The choice of the theme is particularly timely as - midway to the target date of 2015 for the achievement of the MDGs - the world as a whole still lags in the race to achieve all of the MDGs. Instead of declining, the number of people living on less than 2 dollars a day grew last year to reach 1.37 billion people and an estimated 854 million people worldwide are undernourished. To turn the implementation record around and bring us back on track in the fight against poverty and hunger, at the first AMR, political leadership backed by financial resources will be required addressing this formidable challenge. An effective global partnership must be a cornerstone of a joint effort to reach the MDG on poverty and hunger.

Mobilizing Member States, the UN system as a whole, other major institutional stakeholders, as well as non-governmental organizations and the private sector to join forces in the fight against poverty and hunger will be a key element for the success of the AMR. This will require extensive preparations.

On Monday, 2 April 2007, ECOSOC held a half-day informal event on the theme “Eradicating poverty and hunger – Joining forces to make it happen” . The meeting, which was opened by an address by the H.E. Mrs. Asha-Rose Migiro , Deputy-Secretary-General of the United Nations, allowed Member States, UN System Organizations, other major institutional stakeholders as well non-governmental organizations, academics and foundations to explore the issue and to prepare the ground for the discussion of Minister during the high-level segment of ECOSOC in Geneva in July.

To strengthen the link between global level discussions with national implementation an invitation had also been extended to the national Economic and Social Councils. The Secretary-General of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AESCSI) made an intervention on behalf of the association during the plenary.

Following a short plenary the meeting split up into two parallel roundtables on “Are we making poverty history?” and “How are we doing in the fight against hunger and malnutrition?” which were led by renown policy makers, practitioners and academics. At the midway point to 2015, the aim of the roundtables was to assess how we have done to date in the fight against poverty and hunger; what lessons we can draw; how we can build on past experiences and which approaches merit scaling-up to alleviate the plight of those living in extreme poverty.

For further information on the meeting please contact Nikhil Seth, Director, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (phone: 212-963-1881, fax 212-963 1712, email: ecosocinfo@un.org )