ALL is set for the take-off of a two-day policy research seminar holding in Cape Town, South Africa, to assess progress Africa has made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The seminar titled, ‘Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa’, starts Monday. It is organised by Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR).
About 30 policymakers, scholars and civil society member from different parts of Africa, are already in Cape Town for the crucial meeting.
According to the organisers, the policy meeting will draw on the expertise of participants to explore systematically the chances that African countries will meet key targets.
The targets include halving poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education/gender equality, reducing child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and dealing comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries.
The seminar will suggest concrete ways of accelerating Africa’s progress towards the MDGs and supporting institutions, including the African Union (AU), the regional economic communities (RECs) as well as the African Development Bank (AfDB) in shaping the post-2015 development agenda.
“The seminar presents a unique opportunity to bring together relevant policy perspectives to assess the implementation of MDGs. CCR has commissioned eight papers to be presented by experts in their respective fields, which will culminate in the publication of an edited volume by 2014,” the organisers stated yesterday.
Drawing on the eight MDGs, organisers said five themes would form the basis for presentations and discussions during the CCR seminar. The themes are poverty/hunger/ education, child mortality HIV/AIDS/malaria/other diseases; gender equality/maternal health; environmental sustainability and global partnership for development.
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