SOCIAL WATCH E-NEWSLETTER - Issue 115 - December 14, 2012

Political disputes and security challenges have hindered the stability required for the development of Iraq, according to the Iraqi Al Amal Association’s contribution to the Social Watch Report 2013. To get on the right track, says Al Amal, the Iraqi government must conduct the census that has been delayed since 2007, to collect reliable information for the design of comprehensive, effective and appropriately funded development plans.

Quality of life has fallen: poverty is not reduced, the educational system draws back and women are becoming more and more vulnerable. The inequalities persist between cities and rural areas and between men and women, summarized Manal J. Putros Behnam,main author of the Iraqi report.
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The first leftist government in El Salvador has been devoted, in the last three years, to support marginalized populations such as the elderly, women, children and the rural population, says the Salvadorean contribution to the Social Watch Report 2013. Improvements in health and education are apparent, but structural changes are needed to ensure the sustainability of the social programs, including a tax reform to finance them with the national budget without relying on external funds.

Successful educational programs include the delivery of educational materials to 1.3 million students, the creation of 60 full-time inclusive schools, providing lunch at schools, strengthening the early childhood education, improving the infrastructure and a National Literacy Plan through which more than 141,000 youth and adults learned to read and write and eight municipalities were declared "free of illiteracy."
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The lack of political will seems to be the main obstacle on Ghana’s road to development and human well-being, but it is not the only one, according to the contribution from civil society organizations of this West African nation to the Social Watch Report 2013.
Ghana has walked a long way towards poverty eradication, food security and education to all, but not all the people have access to medical services, and not all pregnant woman benefit from free health care, so maternal mortality remains very high, aggravating the endemic gender inequities. With this social landscape as a backdrop, the economy experiences a sustained growth, notes the report.

In 2007, Ghana was hailed as one of the first countries in Sub-Saharan Africa on the right track to reach the MDG target of poverty reduction. Between 1992 and 2006 the proportion of those living below the poverty line fell from 36.5% to 18.2%. Enrollment has increased in primary and secondary education. Thus from 1991 to 2008 the levels of registration in kindergarten increased from approximately 56% to nearly 90%. In the same period primary school enrollment increased from 74%d to nearly 95%, and at the level of junior high school it increased from 70% to 79%.
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