Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 241 - December 4, 2015

As part of its mandate to develop an indicator framework by which to monitor the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda, the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDGs (IAEG-SDGs) held its second meeting in Bangkok, 26-28 October 2015. The objective was to seek agreement on the proposed indicators for each target–keeping in mind that indicators alone can never be sufficient to fully measure progress on the goals. More specifically, it was to move provisional indicators marked yellow–needing further agreement–to either green–agreed by all parties–or grey–no agreement possible. As a result, there are now 159 green indicators (including 52 moved from yellow and 9 new ones), and 62 greys (including 28 moved from yellow plus 5 new ones). Read more

New study, released today by Global Policy Forum, examines the role and impact of philanthropic foundations in development. It addresses the impacts and side effects of philanthropic engagement by taking a closer look at the priorities and operations of two of the most prominent foundations, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in two crucial sectors, health and agriculture. So far, there has been a fairly willing belief among governments and international organizations in the positive role of philanthropy in global development. But in light of experiences in the areas of health, food, nutrition and agriculture, which are discussed in this working paper, a thorough assessment of the impacts and side effects of philanthropic engagement is necessary. The important role being allocated to the philanthropic sector in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda makes the discussion of its role a matter of urgency. Read more

Next year marks the beginning of a second major period of expenditure contraction globally. Not only in Europe, but mostly in developing countries, according to IMF fiscal projections.
The findings are of great relevance to human rights everywhere. While the global financial crisis of 2008 may seem far behind, the world economy never quite recovered since then. Projections and statements by IMF officials at the last IMF/ World Bank Annual Meetings (held in Lima) keep downgrading growth forecasts seven years after the crisis started. Read more