Progress in Haiti are Lessons for the Millennium Development Goals

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Today is the day that bloggers participating in the Bloggers Unite for Haiti event submit their posts. Their badge is at the right hand column. I already did a couple of posts but with this one I want to try it more directly with the Millennium Development Goals.

The events in Haiti are now moving from the emergency response stage to the rebuilding stage. Numerous problems arose during the massive effort to respond to the disaster that will be the source of lessons to take forward. The biggest issue to my mind was that again it was using a pound of cure instead of an ounce of prevention which would have been the case if the Millennium Development Goals had already been made a reality. It is not only a matter of how well developing countries would be able to address major disasters themselves but how well a global cooperative effort would be able to do so.

One of the problems was the cessation of planes from the United States carrying earthquake victims to Florida hospitals. SHAILA DEWAN of the New York Times wrote about the Cost Dispute Halts Airlift of Injured Haiti Quake Victims: The United States has suspended its evacuations of critically injured victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care in Florida and other states is settled. The number and complexity of the cases the medical care was costing the state of Florida millions. Florida Governor Crist’s requested the federal government to shoulder some of the expense

“Florida stands ready to assist our neighbors in Haiti, but we need a plan of action and reimbursement for the care we are providing,” Mr. Ivey spokesman for Mr. Crist said.

I am not going to fault Florida because I agree that this and similar issues should be addressed at the national and global level. It is an inefficiency of the system that it overburdens a component of the system with relatively limited resources. The structure necessary to bring about the Millennium Development Goals would not only help developing countries to establish their own economic and infrastructure systems to weather disasters, it would also help establish a more robust cooperative system between nations.

The ongoing funding of the relief efforts is also penny wise pound foolish. The idea now is to forgive Haiti's debt. ONE is organizing an international campaign ONE | Help Haiti: Drop the Debt to persuade world leaders to cancel Haiti’s $1 billion international debt and give the country a chance for significant and lasting recovery. This blog also supports a similar effort by Change.org whose widget is at the right hand column if anybody wants to add their support.

Tom Hart, Director of Government Relations at ONE, personally delivered more than 150,000 ONE member petition signatures from to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging debt cancellation for Haiti. Because of this effort and others, the IMF, Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. Treasury and other key players say that they want to find a way to cancel Haiti's debt. At least one has spoken up is support of this.

IMF: Haiti needs a Marshall Plan
The International Monetary Fund says Haiti will require an effort along the lines of the Marshall Plan for long-term reconstruction.

"My belief is that Haiti -- which has been incredibly hit by different things: the food and fuel prices crisis, then the hurricane, then the earthquake -- needs something that is big," the managing director of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund said.

"Not only a piecemeal approach, but something which is much bigger to deal with the reconstruction of the country -- some kind of a Marshall Plan that we need now to implement for Haiti," he said, referring to the US initiative launched in 1947 to rebuild war-ravaged western Europe. Google/Agence France-Presse

ONE wants to raise the number of signatures to 200,000 and deliver it to the world financial leaders when U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and other G7 finance ministers will be meeting in the Arctic Canadian town of Iqaluit. Right now, they are at 175,377 signature.

The question is how much more effective would those dollars have been if they had been invested before the disaster to build Haiti rather than rebuilding a shattered landscape. There isn't really all that much of a commitment coming from the G7 since Haiti was extremely poor before and now is devastated and its ability to repay the debt is basically nil. Fulfilling the promise of the Millennium Declaration would have far more lasting effect.

I am not going to try to claim that the Millennium Development Goals will solve the world's problems or eliminate the tragedy of disasters but they would help the world by making both the ability to withstand them and to address them more equitable and more efficient.

Committment to Global Food Security Sadly Lacking

Sphere: Related Content This post is made up from a number of sources provided by Avaaz, which sometime ago sent a request to join in the call urging world leaders to make good on their promises to tackle the world food crisis by delivering a strong agriculture and food security package for developing countries.

Zunia provided a link to E-Learning: Food Security Information for Action. The link leads to information on the work that the FAO and European Union are doing together on Food Security Information for Decision Making. The goal is the Linking Information and Decision Making to Improve Food Security. The program offers self-paced e-learning, developed by international experts to support capacity building and on-the-job Training and Workshops at national and local food security information systems and networks. You can try a sample lesson "What is Food Security?"

This is one of the times that the effort did not reach its goal either in numbers or in effect. World leaders who met in Rome in November of 2009 for the World Food Summit, backed out on a pledge to fund lifesaving food production. The countries of France, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan all backed out on a $20 billion promise made earlier this year. Only $3 billion or Only 15% of G8 pledge was new money, according to Reuters.

The BBC reports Global Hunger worsening, warns UN's annual report on global food security which confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished. This is a scandal with literally millions facing life-threatening hunger especially when the economic crisis has only made the situation wors and billions were found to help out the banks. Although the world produces enough food to feed everyone, according to this report for World Food Day: There is enough food grown in the world for everyone (Op-ed), Oxfam International: chronic hunger across the planet has reached the record-high figure of 1 billion this year.

Change.org, even more recently shifted the focus back to the United States and President Obama with the message: Feed the Hungry Instead of Wall Street

Most of the time, broken promises from politicians barely raise an eyebrow.

But what if a broken promise condemned one sixth of the world's population to chronic hunger?

The world's most powerful leaders, including President Obama, did just that in November when they refused to even show up for the Food Security Summit in Rome.

And just four months after promising $22 billion to fight hunger, the G8 leaders still haven't spelled out how they will fund it.

Don't let world leaders get away with ignoring the problem of global hunger.

Ask President Obama to take the lead and demand world leaders make good on their promise >

- The Change.org Team in partnership with ActionAid

They are working with the anti-poverty organisation ActionAid, which brings over 30 years of knowledge and experience in fighting poverty by applying the following principles:

• Work together with poor people, local partners and organisations in combating poverty
• Focus on fighting against the causes of poverty, not just the results.

Their efforts are prioritized into five areas of work to make the most difference:

1. education,
2. hiv and aids,
3. food rights,
4. emergencies,
5. women and girls and
6. governance.
   

Here is ActionAid's HungerFREE Scorecard which sees small scale farming systems being critical in tackling hunger and poverty:

This is an in-depth investigation into what 50 governments (poor and rich) are doing to tackle the billion hungry. Giving them each scores based on their achievements and policies.

While some of the poorest countries in the world have been able to reduce the number of hungry people, many of the richest countries lag shockingly behind.

More information about ActionAid´s HungerFREE global campaign:

• # The ActionAid HungerFREE campaign aims to put the issue of hunger to the top of the political agenda. The right to food has been sidelined for too long!
• # We are a global campaign that lobbies governments to deliver on their commitment to halve world hunger by 2015.
• # We want to ensure that corporations are held accountable for abuses of the rights to food, water, land and seeds
• # We believe that low-impact farming by small-holder farmers is the best way to tackle hunger. A UN study found sustainable agriculture increased crop yields in Africa by an astonishing 116%.
• # We’re teaming up with hungry people and communities, individual farmers, farmers’ groups, supporters, celebrities, artists, influencers and sympathetic politicians – all with one thing in common – we are determined to end hunger.

There is growing evidence, like this article from Greenpeace, showing that intensive farming models are not only ineffectual in countering hunger, they have a highly damaging affect on our environment. However, as strange as it may sound to some, an argument could be made that it makes more sense to work with businesses than governments. UN meets with food businesses to discuss food security Reuters(11/12)

Private sector, governments, non-government organisations should work together to solve long-term problems in developing countries and eradicate hunger in the world, said Ertharin Cousin, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food agencies in Rome.

A Coalition of Advocates (and me) Supporting the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy

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ONE is joining forces with the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN)—including:

• Bread for the World
• Women Thrive Worldwide
• Mercy Corps
• Center for American Progress
• Oxfam America
• Publish What You Fund
• RESULTS
• Save the Children
• American Jewish World Service
• CARE
• Americans for Informed Democracy and
• International Women's Health Coalition

They are combining efforts across the Aid Advocacy community to help elevate the call for development and foreign assistance reform for President Obama and his key advisors through the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy.

Tom Hart, Director of Government Relations at ONE.org advised in an email:

Right now, President Obama and his senior advisors, led by National Security Advisor James Jones and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, are preparing a Presidential Study Directive that will shape the future of U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity for the world's poorest people.

The petition they want us to sign, with my two cents added, reads:

Please create a U.S. global development strategy giving development a strong voice in foreign policy decisions and coordinating efforts to alleviate global poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity.

This would be the strongest message that you could send to the rest of world supporting the vision you put forth when accepting your Nobel Peace Prize. It would also be one of the most significant actions the United States could take in supporting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals especially to end poverty.

MFAN will deliver the petition to key White House contacts on December 18. They are looking to get 25,000 signature and so far they have 23,989 with 3,999 from California. So this time I am getting this out about a week early giving anyone who reads this an opportunity to add their voice so that they reach their goal.

Getting Americans more educated to become more globally engaged to take greater leadership

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Change.org is providing an opportunity for participation through the U.S. Center for Citizen Dipolomacy in an arena that is vital if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved. We are pressed to take a leadership role in the Millennium Campaign because we have the greatest level of resources, we use the greatest amount of resources and we are still seen by the world as being among the primary leaders in the world, and in my view, we have the greatest capacity for leadership.

America's image abroad is improving, numerous polls and studies prove anti-American sentiment still exists around the globe. We need to dramatically increase our capacity to reach out to the rest of the world to foster mutual understanding and find common interests and values.

US. Center for Citizen Diplomacy is calling on all Americans to sign a Letter to the President urging President Obama to convene a National Summit on Citizen Diplomacy in order to bring this issue to the forefront and provide opportunities for global engagement at all levels of American society The idea is to encourage more Americans to reach out to the rest of the world and foster mutual understanding.

Tremendous opportunities exist to involve many thousands more Americans in this vital work, contributing as citizen diplomats in a variety of ways. A program that expands and utilizes their talents and expertise will greatly help the United States regain its stature as a respected, positive force throughout the world. Much of our thinking builds on the successful models of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, and leaders such as J. William Fulbright.

The goal is to multiply the connections between American citizens and their counterparts overseas fourfold by 2016.

Change.org wants us to ask President Obama to expand resources for bringing Americans together with others to promote shared values and understanding >

One of the goals of the Millennium Campaign is 2. Universal Education, but the truth is that we are as much in need of education as those in developing countries. The fourfold increase by 2016 is laudable and matches fairly closely with the 2015 goal to end poverty, but it raises the question how many connections exist now. This blog provides me a platform to interact with like minded people in India, Australia, Brazil and other countries as well as in the United States through communities like Change.org, Orkut and Facebook.

The Common Ground Blog (which I will be adding to the blogs to which this blog links) has a post and a question on the subject US CENTER FOR CITIZEN DIPLOMACY: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SHOULD SUPPORT CITIZEN DIPLOMACY OVERSEAS

Question to the Blogosphere:

What can the Obama administration do to encourage Americans to engage in efforts to strengthen America’s international relationships? Should public high schools in the United States be provided with funds to send young people to different parts of the world? What types of development assistance and community-based initiatives would be most useful in promoting international understanding? What can be done to involve the older generations in the United States in citizen diplomacy?

Final of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

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This video is the last of an incredible video series on the MDGs provided by the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

We hope that this series has given you a better understanding of not only the issues behind the goals, but more importantly the implications it has for individuals all around the world. We hope you have enjoyed the videos. Stay tuned for an exciting update this week..

The "first" day video is here. The second day video is here. Third day video here. Fourth day video here. Fifth day here. Sixth here. Seventh here.

UN Millennium Campaign Goal 8 Global Partnership

x

Somewhat Related Posts:

The Ledger of Human Development - Accounting For Change

Millennium Project on Trade Fair & Free

Obama best for the Globe according to Europe

Refugees Across the Globe - A Millennium Problem

Financial Fears * Global Challenges * Some Potential Answers

Making Hope Last Longer Than Hunger

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Tomorrow is the day to Unite For Hunger and Hope but I will be at work so I am writing tonight. This is a natural for this blog as it involves the first of the Millennium Development Goals 1. End Hunger and on a global level it will involve 8. Global Partnership. While I fully support charitable efforts such as that being put on here by Heifer International, it will be a collective, collaborative, sustained effort by governments, NGOs, change-agent organizations, of us to bring about a lasting change. It cannot be just through well meaning donations during particular times of the year, we have to change how we do things both locally and globally. Others will be able to write far more eloquently about the suffering wrought by hunger than I will. I look for change that can be made manifest.

It is of particular concern to the UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN's to get the G20 to address this need in the current economic crisis, despite the valiant $42.6 million, three-year immediate plan of action by the FAO last year. The FAO or Food & Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, is one of the primary global organizations addressing this issue.

I have written about World Hunger Notes before and will provide a link to the post below, so here are some bullet points.

• The world produces enough food to feed everyone.
  
• Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.
• An estimated 982 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1 a day or less (World Bank, Understanding Poverty, Chen 2004).
  
• Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty.
  
• Hunger is also a cause of poverty.
  

Another global agency address hunger is the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which provided a plan of actionable objectives in its Challenge of Hunger 2008

Combating the food crisis will require

1. More food aid for poor people;
2. Much greater investments in agriculture - especially the small farm sector;
3. More investment in social protection programs and social sectors - education & health;
4. Reforms to create a fair world trading system;
5. Changes to biofuel policies;
6. Measures to calm global food markets;
7. Better data collection and improved monitoring of the food and nutrition situation;
8. More support for nongovernmental organizations that work on behalf of poor people in developing countries.

All of this has been talked of before and will be talked about again and again. Often repetitive actions are necessary to bring about change. Each time we talk or write maybe one more person listens, but if a thousand small voices speak up that is a thousand more added to the effort to change the world.

What more can be done in the future? Starting on October 16, which is also World Food Day, people will once again be Standing Up To End Poverty. You can join that effort now and start organizing now to make a difference to bring real hope and stamp out hunger for the next millennium and beyond. The growth of the Stand Up Campaign is exponential. From 2006 to 2007 it achieve 46% growth, from 2007 to 2008 62% growth, and now 2008 to 2009 depends upon what happens in 2009. Could we hope for even greater growth of 75% or 80%? That could be 170,000,000 or 190,000,000 or even break 200,000,000. Maybe it is a bit unfair to use this forum to promote another event, but those are inconsequential details of who and when, the important thing is the what - ending hunger.

Related Posts:
FAO not Schwartz part 1 - Global Plan of Action Addresses a Global Challenge Hunger
FAO not Schwartz part 2- Opposing Pathways to Ending World Hunger and Malnutrition
FAO not Schwartz part 3 - A World Tragedy Too Long
Financial Fears * Global Challenges * Some Potential Answers
Blog Action Day Is Today The Struggle Continues
Taking the Measure of Chronic Poverty

The People of the United States Stand Up Speak Out

March 25 Online live chat on maternal health

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This is another example of focusing on getting the word out more than on analyzing or commenting on a particular subject. This one came from the UN Millennium Campaign - www.endpoverty2015.org. This involves a number of the Millennium Goals - 3. Gender Equity 4. Child Health and 5. Maternal Health.

On March 25 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time, Womens' eNews' Kimberly Seals Allers will moderate a live chat with Annie Raja, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, and Dr. Jemima A. Dennis-Antwi, the International Confederation of Midwives' Regional Midwifery Adviser for Anglophone Africa.

Dear friend,

Do you know what the number one killer of young women in the developing world is?

It's not a disease whose cure eludes us, or a condition which the world lacks the resources to treat. It is pregnancy and childbirth.

Every year, 500,000 women die while trying to give life. That's one every single minute.

The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. As part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of promises made in the year 2000 to eradicate extreme poverty, improve health, education and the environment and create a global partnership for development - 189 world leaders have pledged to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. But maternal health has seen the least progress of all of the MDGs, and the Goal is unlikely to be achieved unless urgent action is taken now.

In today's story on Women's eNews, Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Deputy Director for Africa at the United Nations Millennium Campaign -- which supports citizens' efforts to hold their leaders accountable for meeting the MDGs - shares a personal story of losing his sister during childbirth last month, and calls on the leaders of developing countries to mobilize domestic resources to ensure that mothers get the proper medical care they need.

Now, amidst this global emergency, the UN Millennium Campaign has partnered with Women's eNews, the online source of substantive information about issues of particular concern to women, to host a live online chat about maternal health. On March 25 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time, Womens' eNews' Kimberly Seals Allers will moderate a live chat with Annie Raja, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, and Dr. Jemima A. Dennis-Antwi, the International Confederation of Midwives' Regional Midwifery Adviser for Anglophone Africa. Both women will share their firsthand experiences from the front lines of the fight against maternal mortality, and discuss the importance for the world's women of achieving the MDGs.

About the moderator: Kimberly Seals Allers is Editorial Director of the Black Maternal Health Project, generously funded by the W.K.Kellogg foundation to raise awareness of U.S. maternal health deficits. She is also founder of Mochamanual.com.

Please visit www.endpoverty2015.org or www.womensenews.org to register in advance to log in to this event online. Questions for the panellists can be emailed in advance to maternalmortalitydebate@gmail.com or typed in during the event.

We hope you will join us online on the 25th for this important discussion!

Best wishes,
Salil Shetty, Director, UN Millennium Campaign
Rita Henley Jensen, Founder and Editor in Chief, Women's eNews

/ Copyright 2004 - 2007 UN Millennium Campaign

The Ledger of Human Development - Accounting For Change

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To talk of achieving accurate measurements of aid program inputs and outputs and striving to enhance human development might seem mixing the profane and sacred, but the two arguably must work together to bring about change. There is also the seemingly vast distance between the individuals struggling daily with the challenges dealt with in this blog for survival and the global programmatic policies of world-spanning organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. This expanse is mediated by the interventions of organizations such as ONE, ActionAid, Global Call To Action Against Poverty or Oxfam UK, among many others, which though large still must struggle against the entrenched system of government and financial powers.

One path that developing countries can take is the HIPC Initiative or Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the major debt relief system launched in the late 1990s by the International Monetary Fund.

The HIPC Initiative is a comprehensive approach to debt reduction for heavily indebted poor countries pursuing IMF- and World Bank-supported adjustment and reform programs. To date, debt reduction packages have been approved for 33 countries, 27 of them in Africa, providing US$49 billion (net present value terms as of the decision point) in debt-service relief over time. Eight additional countries are potentially eligible for HIPC Initiative assistance and may wish to avail themselves of this debt relief.

To be considered for HIPC Initiative assistance, a country must:
(1) Be IDA-only and PRGF-eligible;
(2) Face an unsustainable debt burden, beyond traditionally available debt-relief mechanisms;
(3) Establish a track record of reform and sound policies through IMF- and IDA-supported programs; and
(4) Have developed a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) through a broad-based participatory process.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are prepared by governments in low-income countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders and external development partners, including the IMF and the World Bank. A PRSP describes the macroeconomic, structural and social policies and programs that a country will pursue over several years to promote broad-based growth and reduce poverty, as well as external financing needs and the associated sources of financing.

diigo tags: prsp, mdg, mdgs, millennium development goals, hipc, development, IMF

The approach of the IMF is not without criticism from all points along the political spectrum, but the need for measurement is widely recognized. While the viability of the measurement of human development can be debated , both in application and precision, it does create a metric by which to test relative effectiveness. It can serve to provide both short term program objectives and longer term policy goals. It can help to create a strategic paradigm through which to organize continuing efforts which will be explored further in the next post.

Related posts: Human Development - The Measurement of Human Endeavors

Collaboration Tools for the Millennium Development Goals.

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This blog takes two approaches. One, learning more about the UN Millennium Development Goals and related programs. Two, learning more about using Web 2.0 tools to learn more about and to promote the UN Millennium Development Goals. These basically include so far blogging and social-tagging. This has been the subject of discussion at the End POVERTY / Fim POBREZA forum Leveraging Social Media. Last month I found some great resources that were featured in the post Implications for Aid Practice - From the Citizen Perspective and The Global Perspective. Afterward, I received some kind appreciation from Elizabeth Corley of the Development Gateway Foundation.

Dear Brian,

We appreciate the links on your blog to dgCommunities and Development Gateway.

Elizabeth Corley
Director of Communications
Development Gateway Foundation
1889 F Street NW, Second Floor
Washington, DC 20006 USA

Information Tools. Global Partnerships. Effective Aid.

Those resources have already been described as extensive and expansive, but they go even further than that. They begin to meet the challenge of making the web a collaborative platform for these efforts, and does so in a way that is of educational use for the learner and of practical knowledge for the practitioner. It fulfills one of the wishes from the forum discussion, finding better means of collaboration.

Once these ideas were in mind, similar resources began popping up. Some from the European Forum on International Co-operation or EUFORIC. EUFORIC introduced me to ComPart, who introduced me to ICCO.

ComPart provides the Web 2.0 tools, and the site itself is a PBwiki site, providing directions on Working with this site and ComPart, providing information on how to Get trained on ComPart, Linking & Learning Wiki and the ComPart Learning Blog. I also downloaded their toolbar, which features ICCO Alliance feeds.

The ComPart system is being developed within the ICCO-Alliance as to sustain the COMmunication with PARTners. It is a combination of (mostly) free Internet based applications that are all user friendly and stimulate participation and collaboration.

The ICCO applies those tools through a variety of different partnerships in fulfilling its mission which is:

The ICCO Alliance’s mission is to strive for a world in which people can live in dignity and well-being. The Alliance focuses on three main themes:

• Fair Economic Development
• Democratisation and Peacebuilding
  
• Access to Basic Services

The ICCO Alliance works on these themes in over 50 countries through the ICCO Alliance Operation Plan 2007-2010 (pdf)

With ICCO, I took advantage by downloading their search tool, which features not only Google searches, but icco alliance, euforic, focuss and Wikipedia searches as well.

Maarten Boers, the administrator of ICCO-Alliance Learning Network, explains below how Compart is suppose to work as a collaborative tool. I received a response from Mr. Boers regarding joining the ICCO-Alliance, but have not been granted access just yet.

Finally, both introduced me to Dgroups.

Welcome to Dgroups, the starting point for fostering groups and communities in international development. We are a partnership which caters to both individuals and organisations by offering tools and services that bring people together. Whether you are trying to support a team, a group, a network, a partnership or a community, we hope to provide you with the capacity to do this in an environment which is simple, non-commercial, respectful of privacy, and targeted at low bandwidth users in the South. Learn more here.

Again, this is collaborative effort with numerous current partners including Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, ICCO, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS and WorldBank. Member organizations include CGIAR, CIDA, CTA, Danida, FAO, IDRC, INASP, KIT, SNV, Sida, SDC, and UNECA.

So now my list of what I can learn about the Millennium Development Goals and related organizations, program, projects, and Web 2.0 tools has grown expontentially. My latest endeavor is signing up for a PBwiki account. Finally, I decided that all this rates having its own section on this blog - Collaborative Tools for the Millennium Development Goals.

World Wide AIDS Day Business Struggles Business Answers

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This blog holds the belief that it will be impossible for governments or with entities substantially dependent upon governments to succeed alone in meeting any of the Millennium Development Goals. It also holds the belief that implementing global health care systems to address challenges such as HIV/AIDS will require sound business practices. Those business practices in turn require global reach into some of the poorest countries and that can be provided through United Nation resources, many of which are highlight within these posts. It is going to require a partnership, it is going to required thousands of partnerships.

One of the resources of this website is the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, found under Global News Sources, which reports on both the good and bad acts of businesses around the world. The articles below are a sampling taken from their site.

They reported on 11/28/08 that Levi Strauss & Co. Commemorates World AIDS Day 2008 by making a grant to the HIV Collaborative Fund to support people living with HIV/AIDS around the globe in their fight for treatment, care and support.

The role of businesses in addressing AIDS is not limited to large American companies. While we may think of AIDS in Africa being an affliction of the absolutely destitute, business enterprises in Ethiopia are also exploring means of addressing the challenge by translating intent into action in Ethiopia 11/27/08.

The Ethiopian Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS(EBCA) [a subsidiary of , GTZ Engineering Capacity Building Program, the World Bank Institute and the Rapid Results Institute implemented a pilot programme to achieve rapid HIV results within businesses in Ethiopia in 100 days Tadesse Tekallign of Crown Cork and Can Share Company [said],The pilot project is creating new best practices on HIV in Ethiopia's private sector. The companies are finding their own solutions and tackling challenges quickly.

This article is from Tanzania. 18 media houses launch HIV/Aids policies [Tanzania] 16 Nov 2008.

A landmark step in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Tanzania's media industry is to be marked today when 18 media houses launch their workplace policies on HIV/AIDS…The policies…[will address] prevention, treatment, care, support and reduction of stigma and discrimination within the media houses.

This report from two days earlier on 11/26/08 is on the views of a United Nations Development Programme expert on HIV/Aids in the Arab region who urged a private sector role in Aids awareness [Qatar]. UNDP Regional HIV/Aids and UNAIDS Joint United Nations Program on AIDS are two of many programs of the United Nations addressing global health and HIV/AIDS.

Speaking at a Qatar Petroleum HIV/Aids workshop, HARPAS UNDP Regional HIV/Aids [of the UNAIDS Joint United Nations Program on AIDS] programme co-ordinator for Arab states Dr Khadija Moalla said it is high time for the private sector to get 'smart' and make interventions on HIV in order to halt the spread of the disease among young adults social and health planning adviser at Dr Laila Ishrair the General Secretariat for Development Planning hinted that a draft law on human rights of people living with HIV will be sent[to] the Minister of Health, the law include[s] rights to work, to housing, to treatment as well as protection against discrimination.

Again, these are only some of the examples that can be found on the web. Other avenues of inquiry could include what is the economic impact of fighting against AIDS in a developing country. Jeffrey Sachs chaired a World Health Organization commission looking at the links between epidemic disease and economic stagnation, and to play a part in the setting up of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Here are other HIV/AIDS articles from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

Related posts
World Wide AIDS the Tragedy
World Wide HIV/AIDS Looking For Solutions

World Wide HIV/AIDS Looking For Solutions

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This final post in the series looks at global resources available to help overcome this challenge. The resources cited below were found at SciDev.Net of Science and Development Network, which "is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative information about science and technology for the developing world."

AIDS Education Global Information System

AEGiS, a non-profit organization that is a web-based reference for HIV/AIDS information. AEGiS is a virtual HIV/AIDS library containing reference materials and late-breaking information from HIV/AIDS-specific publications and news sources from around the world. [I must admit to having seen an article on SciDev which raised some ethical concerns, but I can't find it now]

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

IAVI’s mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. IAVI is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. Founded in 1996, IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts policy analyses, and serves as an advocate for the field with offices in Africa, India, and Europe.

The World Health Organization's approach to HIV/AIDs is to recommend that Universal voluntary testing, immediate treatment can reduce HIV cases

26 November 2008 | GENEVA -- Universal and annual voluntary testing followed by immediate antiretroviral therapy treatment (irrespective of clinical stage or CD4 count) can reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years, according to new findings based on a mathematical model developed by a group of HIV specialists in WHO. The findings were published in The Lancet¹ today to stimulate discussion, debate and further research.

Finally, what of the future? One perspective comes from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Health equity, the financial crisis and Obama: Where next?

Amartya Sen put it succinctly when he commented on the report; ‘this WHO Commission has concentrated on the badly neglected causal linkages that have to be adequately understood and remedied’.

Global health debates too often focus on biomedical aspects of health and those working in this area rarely have space, place, opportunity or desire to link up with those working on the social science aspects.

During his campaign, for example, Obama pledged to increase spending on child and maternal health, and not at the expense of related important areas like HIV and AIDS. These policies are reinforced by a focus on health infrastructure (see the policy for Global Health Infrastructure by 2020), which will be vital to ensure equitable and context-specific service delivery. Another area in which the Obama administration is singing in tune with the Commission’s report is the focus on improving health-care systems to prevent the ‘brain drain’ of health human resources i.e. health professionals leaving the South for better pay in richer countries.

Finally, a story on a private/public partnership with community-based focus as a model for the future to address global health care. DHL partners with UNICEF to empower communities to improve child survival in Maharashtra via India Press Release by R & PM Edelman on 11/18/08. DHL's grant will fund a three-year UNICEF project to empower communities to improve child survival rates in 1,000 villages in Maharashtra.

"The partnership with DHL is a good example of the private sector taking the initiative to champion developmental concerns in rural India complementing the Government's commitment to 'inclusive growth'," said Mr.Vijay Satbir Singh, Secretary of Women & Child Development in Maharashtra, at the partnership ceremony launch.

"Community involvement is the key to sustainable development. If we are serious about improving child survival and reducing maternal mortality, we must give youth and their families the tools that will enable them to survive and lead healthy lives," said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Representative in India.

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Despite current economic climate Science moves forward Will USA provide leadership for a better world?

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One reason for maintaining my support for the free enterprise system despite the current economic crisis, which I blame on what I am calling uber-capitalism, is that I still see free enterprise as the best means of fueling innovation, including scientific innovation. That may be in part why SciDev.Net calls for the United States to take a lead role in advancing science as a means of addressing the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals.

SciDev.Net says that according to an editorial in Nature,science is on the rise. "Science and innovation continue to grow in developing countries, despite the current economic climate."

Quotes: Science on the rise, despite current economic climate - SciDev.Net

• According to a report published by TWAS, The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, even smaller countries such as Chile, Malaysia, Rwanda and Vietnam are prioritising investment in higher education and technology.
• Whereas countries borrowing from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were previously told to cut back on government spending, now there is talk of rebuilding and strengthening public institutions. And this is likely to be the case for both richer and poorer nations. Read more »

The same SciDev.Net makes the case that the world's poor deserve better US leadership. Not just more funding, but the vision of leadership. "The US election has implications for science and foreign aid policy, and so for the poorest people across the developing world."

Quotes: The world's poor deserve better US leadership - SciDev.Net

• Enhancing efforts to tackle global poverty will be particularly important; not just by providing direct assistance like food aid, but also by helping poor countries improve their science and technology capacities.
• The more that the United States becomes identified with such efforts, the less it will be accused of merely pursuing its own commercial and military interests. And the more that such countries generate sustainable economic growth, feed their people and create new jobs, the less they will become breeding grounds for fundamentalist-driven protest. Read more »

To do this the US science office must promote global collaboration according to SciDev.Net."The White House science office must boost science and technology for international cooperation on many fronts, says Rodney W. Nichols."

Quotes: US science office must promote global collaboration - SciDev.Net

• In November 2008, a report from the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC (OSTP 2.0) outlined best practices for global responsibilities in the OSTP. These include: leading international S&T policy and activities in organisations such as the G8, World Bank, and all major bilateral and multilateral S&T initiatives; and working with the State Department and USAID, as well as other parts of the US government, to put S&T at the heart of development strategies.

• In the United States, as in most developed countries, tight science budgets are subject to increasingly stringent tests to justify their contribution to national wealth or productivity — leading to international cooperation being seen as either "giving away knowledge" or a "humanitarian luxury". Such scepticism is unwarranted. A rising tide of international research collaboration — for example to develop safe and reliable nuclear power — will help lift all the national boats of economic development. Protectionism and hyper-nationalism are the enemies of the world's scientific progress. Almost all private companies — from General Electric to Microsoft, from Intel to Pfizer — realise that cross-national collaboration in research, development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution is essential. It is time the government does too.

• Modern research and development (R&D) toward socio-economic goals absolutely demand global links, and this need intensifies every day.
• The government's next big hurdle is reforming the entire ensemble of US foreign aid, which totals almost US$25 billion, to infuse S&T into all goals aimed at improving the lives of people in the developing world. Read more »

Change Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls Investing in the Girl Effect

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The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre featured an article back on 10/21/08 on the World Bank Launches Private-Public Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls

The World Bank joined governments and the private sector today to launch the Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI) to promote the economic empowerment of adolescent girls in poor and post-conflict countries...The AGI is being piloted in Liberia through a partnership between the Bank, the Nike Foundation...It will be expanded in the coming year to include Afghanistan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Sudan......Every global company should invest in the girl effect. Economists have demonstrated that it is the best possible return on investment, said Mark Parker, President and CEO of Nike...

Somebody else who was impressed with this campaign was Nathaniel Whittemore. He discusses the power of good design in social ventures and Social Entrepreneurship at Change.org and he was surprised by the video's upbeat tone:

1. How refreshing that the viral nonprofit video of the last few years doesn't have a single picture of war, poverty, disease and death, and its message fundamentally comes down to "the solution may not be simple, but the start of the solution is."

The approach has not, however, been without controversy.

3. Dream

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There are now 7 days (by my count) until Blogging Action Day Poverty. I am still doing posts on the 6 different ways to make Blogging Day unforgettable that Easton Ellsworth provided in his Action Blog post.

This time it is number 3. Dream.

While there is no claim as far as being brave or original, my way of making the world a little better and myself is through knowledge and participation. Blog Action Day 2008 is one way, but that is one day, so I need to find others. That will not be hard to do. There are countless opportunities.

There is, to my mind, a difference between dream and vision. I can agree with Easton Ellswoth that, "There is no such thing as a lack of opportunity - only a lack of vision". To implement vision though takes strategy and commitment. Below are some of the groups featured at the right hand column under Supporting Millenium Development Goals "In the Trenches", who have the dream, the vision, the strategy and the committment.

• ONE

• More than one billion people around the world live on less than $1 per day. Securing their basic necessities like clean water, food, education and health care, requires financial assistance from external sources delivered efficiently and effectively. The United States has a long tradition of helping people help themselves. By contributing our share – roughly an additional 1% of the federal budget – in partnership with other nations, we can:

• Put 77 million children, most of whom are girls, in school
• Provide access to clean water to 450 million people
• Prevent more than 5.4 million young children from dying each year from poverty-related illnesses
• Save 16,000 lives a day by fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
  

• Oxfam UK

• Human first, amazing second

  Oxfam is a vibrant global movement of dedicated people fighting poverty. Together. Doing amazing work. Together. People power drives everything we do. From saving lives and developing projects that put poor people in charge of their lives and livelihoods, to campaigning for change that lasts. That’s Oxfam in action.

• Concern Worldwide
  

• Concern works as both a fast response emergency agency and a facilitator of long-term development projects. Concern recognises that there is a strong link between poverty and the impact of emergencies and maintains a clear mission to respond to emergencies alongside its established development work.
  

• Fully Belly Project

• Vision: The vision of the Full Belly Project is that the residents of rural communities in developing countries live lives of abundance - that they awake each morning to days of economic possibility and go to sleep each night with bellies that are full.

• Mission: The Full Belly Project designs and distributes income-generating agricultural devices to improve life in developing countries

• Clinton Foundation

• Transforming Ideas Into Action: Clinton Global Initiative

• The Clinton Global Initiative is a project of the Clinton Foundation that brings together a community of global leaders, university students, and private citizens to identify and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, including poverty alleviation, climate change, global health, and education.

Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals

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I think that we can be comfortable that Barack Obama supports the Millennium Development Goals. At least his heart seems to be in the right place. This seems pretty clear from both ends of the political spectrum.

According to today's TEDBlog, the two major US presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, released statements yesterday detailing their plans for fighting TB.

Barack Obama Statement at the TED Conference on Commitment to Fighting TB October 3, 2008

Today, I congratulate the TED Conference and James Nachtwey on their efforts to highlight the importance of preventing the spread of tuberculosis. TB claims 1.7 million lives each year, and eliminating it will be a global challenge - but it's a challenge we must take on. When I am President, I will strengthen the health care infrastructure crucial to reducing the spread of tuberculosis and increase U.S. funding for the Global Fund - a partnership that's already saved millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. We'll meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving the number of tuberculosis deaths. And we will live up to our commitment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The annual TED conference brings together great minds and leaders in a mission to advance the American idea. It's time you had a Washington that did its part. As President, I will live up to our commitment to fighting this epidemic, and together, we will make it clear that America is ready to lead again.

This was spurred by the work of James Nachtwey's powerful photographs and RESULTS.org.

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy In Media wrote back on February 12, 2008 that Obama’s Global Tax Proposal [was] Up for Senate Vote. This article seems to be mostly referenced by conservative blogs or websites with a few exceptions. Despite that I found it informative and found little ("the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP") to complain about. The only difference that, unlike most of Mr. Kincaid's readers, I support the bill.

It is good news that Obama and Biden support funding the Millennium Development Goals. Bad news they want a tax to do it, which means it might never happen in today's economic environment. Seems that my worry is justified, moderator Gwen Ifill asked each candidate what priorities and campaign promises his or her ticket would have to abandon due to the $700 billion rescue package. Palin did not answer the question directly, but Biden did. And, to be honest, his answer was somewhat disappointing. Biden (echoing what Obama told Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation last week) said that the Obama plan to double the amount of American foreign development aid (it is currently at $25 billion) would likely have to proceed slower than expected.

tags: politics, economics, development, obama, politics, economics, mdg, mdgs, millennium development goals

Report for the World's efforts on mdgs: What we did last week

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According to the Oasis California News Blog the U.N. declares MDG event 'exceeded our most optimistic expectations'.

[T]he U.N. announced new contributions and commitments that it said could amount to $16 billion or more. That total included $4.5 billion to get 24 million more children in school by 2010 by way of the Education for All campaign, $1.6 billion to foster food security, $3 billion to launch the Malaria Action Plan, and almost half a billion dollars in new pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, $2 billion related to child mortality and maternal health, and as well as pledges to support national health plans and access to clean water and sanitation, and education.

The complete list of the pledges, which come from government, private sector, non-governmental organizations and other advocacy groups, is available here

Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation held a World MDG Blogging Day on 25 September 2008. They endeavored to be collaborative. In the last week 43 videos were upload to the In My Name YouTube site. In My Name is an ongoing collaborative effort.

The United Nations Blog on High Level Event MDGs came to an end.

Where do we go from here? That's a question I have been asking myself. We have heard well intended platitudes and promises from governmental officials before. There was little mainstream news coverage on the "High Level" event. The issue did not warrant a question in the first presidential debate. There is still Blogging Day and the Stand Up event coming up next month.

The cause did show some ability to organize a response in a short period of time, but despite all the promise of Web 2.0 these efforts still seem somewhat fragmented and unfocused. I have more to read and think about. Did find another mdg blogger :::the:::mdgs::: . As far as where the United Nations are heading:

No other formal statement was issued at the end of the day, but there appeared to be support for Ban's proposal to hold a MDG review summit in 2010.

General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann announced the start of a consultation process to develop a resolution to outline the process for that meeting, according to a U.N. news release.

In the meantime, I can learn more, write more and connect more.

A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S President

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Nancy Birdsall, editor for Center for Global Development provided on 8/22/08 The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President.

The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President shows how modest changes in U.S. policies could greatly improve the lives of poor people in developing countries, thus fostering greater stability, security, and prosperity globally and at home. Center for Global Development experts offer fresh perspectives and practical advice on trade policy, migration, foreign aid, climate change and more. In an introductory essay, CGD President Nancy Birdsall explains why and how the next U.S. president must lead in the creation of a better, safer world.

Center for Global Development on 8/22/08 also provided The White House and the World Policy Briefs:

These Global Development Policy Briefs present the key facts and recommendations drawn from chapters of The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President.

The following briefs are available now:

• Healthy Foreign Policy: Bringing Coherence to the Global Health Agenda By Ruth Levine
• Global Warming: An Opportunity for Greatness By David Wheeler
• Power and Roads for Africa: What the United States Can Do By Vijaya Ramachandran
• Don't Close the Golden Door: Making Immigration Policy Work for Development By Michael Clemens
• U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century By Sheila Herrling and Steve Radelet

For the next U.S. president, effective development policy is not only the right thing to do, it is crucial to the future well-being of the American people. [The] new CGD volume, The White House and the World, offers practical suggestions.

Sounding the alarm against further erosion of the Millennium promises by nations of developers

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Two articles today in the Los Angeles Times demonstrate that the struggle to implement the Millennium Development Goals are not only a matter of realizing the so far broken promises, but to also prevent receding even further from those goals.

Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer on September 8 2008 wrote on

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Dharavi, India's largest slum, eyed by Mumbai developers
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The rich of Mumbai want to turn the prime real estate into high-rises and parks. The poor but industrious residents won't go without a fight.

MUMBAI, INDIA; Reincarnation is Kallu Khan's stock in trade.

While Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, covers a story across the globe in Europe on the same day.

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Spain's environmentalists sound alarm

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A building boom is endangering some of the most precious flora and fauna in Europe, and sucking an already arid region dry.

TOLEDO, SPAIN; A frayed copy of "Don Quixote" was tucked under the front seat of Roberto Oliveros' battered white truck as he sallied forth through the fast-changing plains of central Spain.

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

These articles bring into question the viability of Millennium Development Goal number 8. Global Partnership. Although Global Partnership refers more particularly to debt cancellation and fair trade, if the poor have no true voice their ability to negotiate on their own behalf and benefit is meaningless. In regards to the environment, we have 3 types of resources, those that can be renewed, those that cannot be renewed and those that can only be squandered.

Millennium Project Late Start

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This blog is in actuality a learning tool for myself, I am simply making it available to others who are also interested in learning about the same issues. I had gathered a good deal of resources before starting this blog. Those resources helped me find yet more resources on the web including Rav Casley Gera's African Development for the Completely Bloody Ignorant. Rav not only provides even more resources, he does a good job of putting those resources into context. I already blogged (re-blogged?) on Rav's latest post.

In one of his earlier posts, he wrote on Millennium Project: Getting Started. I am going to skip the depressing parts of his post and go to the crux.

The goals remain the most comprehensive and internationally supported development framework ever agreed. So even if 2015 is unachievable, aiming for 2017 seems better than giving up.

This is were my skeptical, fledgeling, libertarian sympathies get mixed with my usual progressive views. I don't believe that governments are going to succeed or even make a true effort to accomplish the millennium development goals. What will be accomplished is greater awareness of the need of the goals and the failure of existing governments to act. I have far greater faith in an increase in social-entrepreneurship in the world by private citizens and organizations. The term non-governmental organization (NGO) seems inane to me. That will not stop me though from supporting positive approaches to bringing the Millennium Development Goals about. Rav tries to look on the bright side and so shall I. Truth is that, despite being positive, Rav also puts forward a pragmatic, dare I say, business-like view of what needs to be accomplished.

So let's pretend that, a little behind schedule, the world is now eager and ready to fund and support the UNMP's recommendations. Where do we start?

1. Every developing country that wants to be eligible for support should prepare an MDG-focussed poverty reduction strategy, a plan to achieve the goals complete with precise costings and measurements of the aid required.
2. Fast-track countries, that are most suitable to receive support, should be identified (more on this below).
3. International agencies should immediately begin working with poor countries to train thousands of teachers, doctors, planning professionals, engineers, and "village specialists" in health, agriculture, forestry, road maintenance and other basic skills. This is to ensure that once infrastructure projects such as new schools and hospitals begin, they aren't messed up by lack of staff, as has often been the case in the past.
4. The "quick wins", cheap interventions proven to be effective, should be implemented in all as widely as possible. It would take just two years, the report argues, to distribute anti-malaria bed nets to all at-risk African children.
5. Middle-income countries like China and South Africa, while they have their own poverty issues, should also be invited to join the coalition working towards the goals for poor countries. While their ability to contribute financially may be limited, they can offer expertise, training and certain key cheap materials - for example, China produces artemisinin, a key ingredient of anti-malaria medicine. (p50-55)

Each of these can be explored more deeply, as can the five separate systems that Rav provides that have recently assessed poor countries' governance and economic policies according to fairly strict standards. I am only going to focus on one though for this post.

• The US' Millennium Challenge Account, an aid initiative launched by the Bush administration which has some of the highest standards , with just 19 of Africa's 54 countries having so far qualified, including Ghana, Mozambique and Niger.

Because it wouldn't be fair to depend on Rav for all the links, here is one to the Millennium Challenge Corporation. It is the government corporation responsible for using the business-like approach to implementing the millennium development goals for the United States. What is of note to my progressive leanings is that this was started by the current Bush Administration, but when I read about it in the press names like Madeleine Albright and Ben Affleck pop-up. This needs to be studies more. What is more notable is the lack of support from Congress. Another resource of this blog is the the Center for Global Development who provides a couple of reports on the subject, Senate Takes Earlier MCC Haircut to Full Out Decapitation and Responsible Appropriation? Another Look at the Senate's MCA Slashing all posted by Sheila Herrling.

Getting the Dragon and the Elephant to work together

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China and India in some ways hold both the promise and challenge of the Millennium Development Goals to a far greater degree than any other countries. They face the challenge of fulfilling the promise for their own people, but they are also developing the economic viability on their own to bring it about. The 8th millennium development goal calls for Global Partnership. Turan Khanna's book calls for global partnership between these two raising economic powers.

CII Karnataka via India Press Release wrote a review on 7/18/08 on Tarun Khanna's book BILLIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS. The author is a Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School.

For the first time since the rise of Western capitalism, entrepreneurs in China and India can ignore New York and London—and still build companies worth billions. Thanks to social and economic revolutions, Asia has captured the best minds and money from all around the world. Billions of Entrepreneurs is a compelling account of how China and India are reshaping business, politics and society around the world.

Tarun said China and India are radically different –one was top down and the other bottom – up. "How they will complement each other when they have two different political and cultural systems is a question to analyse and understand. "

India is argumentative; China is about force. If a road has to be laid, it is laid. In India; you'd have a hundred disputes. But we have to work around these," Tarun said.But Kiran Mazumdar – Shaw said India and China must work together. "How when we have different systems do we turn partners in growth? I reason that we are competing when it comes to marketing and manufacturing, but a great opportunity lies in research. How do we synergise when we are countries with a vast cultural divide? Source: Press release distribution via India PRwire

Another perspective on the book is taken by the Harvard Gazette - Economies in Asia: The dragon vs. the elephant. Quoting Tarun:

"I think there's a lot of truth to the characterization by most mainstream Americans and American social scientists that China is winning the 'race,' whatever that means," says HBS professor Tarun Khanna.

But Khanna, who's spent some years comparing the economic development of these two emerging nations and is at work on a book on the subject, cautions that while China has successfully leveraged its governmental structure to attract the foreign companies fueling its manufacturing boom, India's indigenous entrepreneurship is thriving in a way that cannot be ignored.

CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process.