Financing for Development-From October 23-24, the General Assembly held the third High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, leading up to next year’s Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar. The meeting opened with statements from the Secretary-General and leaders from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization amongst others.  Six interactive multi-stakeholder round tables were also held on the development themes of mobilizing domestic resources, mobilizing international resources and foreign direct investment, international trade as an engine for development, increasing international and technical cooperation, external debt and enhancing the coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial and trading systems in support of development.  Civil society participated in the High-level Dialougue as well as holding informal hearings on October 22^nd on the theme, “Civil Society Perspective on the Status of Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and Tasks Ahead.”

The implementation of the Monterrey Consensus has been mixed by all accounts but plays a critical role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Of particular interest to UNANIMA members is the next step on the “Road to Doha,” which is the fifty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women on the theme “Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women”.

If you’d like more information on the Monterrey Consensus and Financing for Development, visit http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/.