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Six Things You Can Do to Hold Governments Accountable
What really matters is what happens for girls at home – on the ground – in their communities, schools, and families. Promises made during the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) must be translated into national level legislation, policies, and programs. Taking it home is all about building the political will necessary to hold governments accountable for promises made in New York. It is up to us to continue to build public support for girls’ and their rights and fundamental freedoms.
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Commit to working with and for girls everywhere. Listen to them. Invite girls to join your work and support each others efforts to hold governments accountable for promises made.
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Study the Agreed Conclusions carefully. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the decisions made at CSW 51. Identify exactly what you and your friends can do to move the girls’ agenda forward. Identify the benchmarks by which you will measure progress for girls at the international, national, regional, and local levels. Remember we’ll be back in New York in three year’s time assess progress made on the implementation of the outcomes of the 2007 CSW meeting.
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Distribute the Agreed Conclusions, and your comments about it, as widely as possible. Advocate with policy makers and government ministries—those that have responsibility for girls’ and women’s issues, as well as those that deal with labor, finance, development, education, and even foreign affairs. Ensure that the agenda for girls is integrated into national plans for development, official development assistance (ODA), and national and local budgeting processes.
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Work with local United Nations agencies to implement CSW decisions. Visit the offices of UN Development Group, UNICEF, and the UN Development Program. Build relationships which will help move CSW decisions into their programs and policies. Offer your expertise and experience. Make sure that all agencies clearly understand that each bears responsibility for girls.
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Use existing mechanism and procedures to ensure that the needs and concerns of girls are represented and adequately addressed. Develop alternative reports for the Committee on the Rights of Child and the Committee on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women.
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Finally, use the Media to build support for girls’ rights!
Add Your Voice—Global Campaigns that Promote Girls’ Rights
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The Millennium Development Goals – In 2000, 189 heads of state and government signed onto the Millennium Declaration and committed the world to a set of eight time-bound targets that, when achieved, will end extreme poverty worldwide by 2015. The achievement of these goals which include achieving gender parity in education, improving child and maternal health, providing safe drinking water and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS would go a long way to ensuring girls’ rights.
You can learn more about the MDGs and about various campaigns to guarantee that the MDGs are met at:
Education for All – Is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. The movement was launched at the World Conference on Education for All in 1990, when representatives of the international community agreed to universalize primary education and massively reduce illiteracy by the end of the decade. Ten years later, with many countries far from having reached this goal, the international community met again in Dakar, Senegal, and affirmed their commitment to achieving Education for All by the year 2015.
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You can learn more about EFA and join others who are working to guarantee education for all at:
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