 |
"Creating
an environment at the international, national and
local levels and in the Family conductive to generating
full and productive employment and decent work for
all, and its impact on sustainable development."
That
is our global challenge! |
Dear
Members, Friends and Visitors,
Those
three first months of 2006 were months of intensive internal
work in order to translate the directions approved by the
General Assembly last December into a concrete program and
calendar for our activities according to WFO's new Strategic
Framework 2006 -2009.
The
newly elected Executive Board members in this period had
the mission to conclude detailed strategies to prepare the
WFO Regional and National Structures to develop their duties
at the Regional and National Levels, directing a strong
component towards the Local Level.
We
start our reflections at three important meetings.
The
Brazilian Government, in partnership with the United Nations
Informal Regional Network, the International Association
of Economic and Social Council and Similar Institutions
(AICESIS) and WFO Latin America Region held an Expert Round
Table on the development of new academic programs, pedagogical
tools and educational software, for promoting the advancement
and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, according
to the directions of the Millennium Project and the WFO
Practical Plan of Action approved in Aracaju.
In Europe the Austrian Government who is presently presiding
the European Union held a Conference in Vienna promoted
by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Security and
Consumer Protection, which was a very good opportunity to
exchange with Ministers and High Level Government representatives
for Family issues at the European Union. We were able to
consolidate the common understanding of the European Members
on the essential programs, projects and activities to be
developed by WFO in multilateral partnership with the European
Union as well as bilaterally with each Government.
In
specific conferences in Tunis (Tunisia), Tripoli (Libya)
and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) WFO Arab Region and WFO
African Region members had the opportunity to meet and reflect
together the reorganization demanded in the Regions in order
to respond to the new challenges comprehended in the Strategic
Framework 2006-2009.
With
those Regional inputs consolidated the Executive Board Secretariat
(held on February), followed by an Executive Board Ordinary
Session on March 28, was able to fulfill its first duty,
to finalize the policies to be followed in this mandate.
Once
those missions were accomplished, our next step was to bring
the results to the United Nations level (Preparatory Meeting
held on April 4-5, New York), in order to prepare our comprehensive
participation at policy coordination and program implementation
at the Global level.
Although
this work demanded a lot of time, letting our Members, Friends
and Visitors without updated feedback, we are happy to announce
that we are now opening an exchange channel, which will
be active until the end of June, when the final results
will be presented at the High Level Segment of ECOSOC, validating
the Aracaju Practical Plan of Action 2006-2015 to be executed.
Two
important partnership agreements were signed at the 5th
Forum of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty, held
in Valencia. One with the UNDP Hub for Innovative Partnerships
to promote the MDGs at the Local Level through the GOLD/ART
Program, and another with the World Alliance of Cities Against
Poverty, to strengthen our work towards Municipalities,
specially in the African Region.
Recently,
another important alliance was concretized between the UNDP
Hub for Innovative Partnerships representing Governments,
UN-NGO-IRENE representing NGOs and WFO representing Families,
to promote the MDGs at the Local Level and the partnership
between Local Authorities, Local NGOs and Families.
In
order to start the implementation of the Sanya Declaration
and the Aracaju Practical Plan of Action 2006-2015, the
approach chosen was to work each one of the MDGs combined
with the MDG 8, considering the International Agreements
and applying this to the Local Level. Therefore, we are
starting with the MDG 1 (Eradicate the Extreme Poverty and
Hunger) and 8 (Develop a Global Partnership for Development).
“Creating
an environment at the national and international levels
conducive to generating full and productive employment and
decent work for all, and its impact on sustainable development”
will be theme of the High Level Segment of ECOSOC to be
held in Geneva from June 28 to July 4. As you can see in
the title of this text, we are applying the proposed concepts
to the local level and the Family.
To
reduce poverty, the promotion of "family-focused"
social policies is imperative. We need to create a new cycle
of opportunities targeting the consolidation of public policies,
human rights, partnership with social institutions and market
solutions. The only way to balance family needs is to create
a sustainable and enabling environment to allow people to
earn a decent living.
This
concept is strongly supported by the International Labour
Organization in their excellent strategy described as "Decent
Work".
In
the next few weeks we will present and discuss in this space
the concepts of this strategy and the ways that WFO will
approach its activities towards the implementation of the
MDGs by strengthening family-focused policies at the Local
Level.
Our
website is being completely reconstructed. We would like
to ask for a little patience from our Members, Friends and
Visitors while the changes are in process, responding to
the new challenges of this mandate and Strategic Framework
2006-2009.
I
would like to invite you to meet our newly elected Executive
Board Members for the Mandate 2006-2009 (LINK) and to join
us in the challenge embraced by WFO: to promote and implement
the Millennium Development Goals at the Local Level and
in the Family.
Local
Authorities and Families, the Perfect Combination!
Contact
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