Back to Index

Civil society Millennium Development Goals mid-term report
National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in Zimbabwe (NANGO)
August 03, 2008

The meeting broadly recognised the imperative for Civil Society to have a greater say in national processes to achieve the MDG. In pursuance of this objective the Civil Society Report will become the fulcrum of the intensification of collective advocacy processes for favourable national policies and actions that enable rather than constrain the achievement of the MDGs. This Report will amongst other things:

• document a broad qualitative and quantitative assessment of the real state of progress in achieving the MDG
• highlight Civil Society initiatives in promoting and implementing the MDG
• provide Civil Society with a platform to voice their concerns, alternatives and policy asks around the MDGs
• provide Civil Society with a basis to hold government accountable for progress in achieving the MDGs

Why we are doing the report
The Report considered the motivation in compiling a Civil Society Mid Term Report on the MDG and noted the following:

• the need to present an alternative perspective to the State Party Report being compiled by the Government with a view to capturing the voices of the various constituencies represented by Civil Society
• to take advantage of the privileged position and attention that the MDG will get on the occasion of the UN Summit in September
• to produce a tool that can be utilised to inform relevant policy processes and national/local budgeting processes
• to build Civil Society consensus on the MDG and create room for collective advocacy and mobilisation processes on common positions
• to make public the Civil Society positions on the MDG to various stakeholders including policy makers, donor community and the people of Zimbabwe

National State Party report
Bearing in mind the fact that the Government of Zimbabwe is currently compiling the State Party Mid Term Report on Progress in achieving the MDG, it was emphasised that Civil Society should also input into that Report by submitting positions to the relevant authorities and where possible attending ongoing Consultative processes. However it was noted that the Civil Society Report would not necessarily be a shadow report to the State Party report, rather it would be an alternative report to the more formal State Party Report in light of the objectives stated above.

Structure and content of the Civil Society report
The meeting considered the most feasible structure and content of the Report. In principle the meeting endorsed the principles of broad based consultation, representativeness and ownership is instructive of the process and outcomes of the Report. The meeting also emphasised the need to benchmark the analysis of the key issues with the tenets of the Paris Declaration which focuses on issues around accountability and international relations as well as the Millennium Declaration itself which focuses on the link between democracy, development and human rights.

Bearing in mind the contestations around the available development data sets, time frame limitations and capacity gaps within Civil Society and decided as follows:

• the Report will dedicate a single chapter to each of the eight MDG and specific sections to cover crosscutting concerns of the youth and disabled
• the Report will largely focus on the key issues impacting on Zimbabwe's achievement of the MDG including but not limited to democracy, accountability, governance, external support, social service delivery, corruption, decentralisation and localisation
• where possible the Report will give quantitative and statistical analysis and interpretation of the MDG goals and targets
• the Report will detail the overall Civil Society position and policy asks on the MDG

Process and time frames
In light of the limited timeframe for the completion of the report, the following compilation process was adopted:

• All representative Organisations will submit a three page reaction detailing: Their analysis and perspective on the real state of progress in achieving the specific MDG within their sphere of influence; ongoing CSO initiatives to promote the achievement of the MDG; concerns, alternatives and policy asks for the achievement of the Goal(s); images, statistics and other relevant information
• A minimum of 1 000 citizen MDG scorecards to be administered to as cross-sectional and representative a field as possible to capture citizens perspectives
• An online debate will be initiated to gather additional information on the MDG
• A four member drafting team supported by a Research Assistant will compile all the information from the 3 page reactions, citizens score cards and online debate as well as literature review and produce a draft for review by August 20
• A Report Review workshop will be held on Tuesday 2 September to review the draft.
• The Report will be finalised for launch on Thursday 11 September
• Organisations are encouraged to use the Report to enhance ongoing advocacy and lobbying activities by amongst other things furthering the CSO policy asks detailed in the report within their own spheres, posting the Report on their website, participating in collective advocacy efforts centred on the Report

Advocacy, awareness raising and lobbying activities
The meeting made a commitment to ensure that the Report will not just be produced for the filing cabinet by endorsing the possibilities of the following advocacy, awareness, raising and lobbying activities drawing from the Report:

• A national high profile launch event and press conference
• Embassy actions to lobby the international community to support CSO initiative to advance the MDG
• Dialogue and engagement meetings with policy makers and line ministries
• Public awareness raising campaign utilising the mass media and schools e.g through an Essay competition
• Initiating debate on the online discussion forums and public meetings

Visit the NANGO fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP