Report student workshops CONCEPT

Content
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 3 th th Workshops 22 and 23 of February 2010 ............................................................................................. 4 Results workshops .................................................................................................................................. 6 Personal remarks on workshops ........................................................................................................... 14 Interview reports .................................................................................................................................... 17

Summary
A group of 16 students from all over the world (Uganda, Iran, Srilanka, Kenia, The Netherlands many other countries) joined the two day preparation workshop for the WACAP forum on 22nd 23rd February. After the introduction of the program by Liese Vonk from the departement of Youth, Education Society the students introduced themselves by questioning each other about their lives experiences. and and and and

The main question and theme of the preparation workshops was: Do you believe that poverty can be solved? And the students answered: Yes, thats why Im participating in the conference! Seppe Raaphorst, director Development from the department of Social Affairs and Employment of Municipality of Rotterdam, first spoke to students. He analyzed the ambitions of the WACAP forum and the new method to fight poverty, which focuses on taking care of all the aspects of society and with an important role for partnerships on international and local level. He also mentioned the companys social responsibility and he emphasized that students are the ambassadors of the future fight against poverty. Harrie van Onna told the students about the WACAP in general and poverty policy in Europe. The inspirational session was lead by Carolien Hoogland, transition scientist affiliated to the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Carolien has a background in Environmental Psychology. Her basic idea was Lets try to live one year without money doing what I really love to do, which provoked several reactions from the students. After dinner the students started the Discover and Dream workshop. They were divided in groups of four and discussed the information and data that triggered them about poverty from the reader. They obtained some important elements to help create a sustainable society. The second night Mohand Cherifi talked about reducing the number of people who are currently living in extreme poverty. He said that poverty is not only rural, but also in cities. WACAP is a broad network of cities that want to prevent poverty. There are a lot of causes of poverty: climate change, water crisis, financial crisis and of course food crisis. He mentioned the importance of the students participation in the conference and urged them to converse with other participants, because this will help provide a broader view of poverty in the world. Poverty expert in Rotterdam Marcel Castelijns stated some facts about poverty in Rotterdam. The problem of poverty is wider spread in Rotterdam than it is in other Dutch cities. Then the students played a role play game The village of WacapWacap , the purpose of which was to achieve the most sustainable village. The participants were divided in 4 groups (Farmers, Local government, NGO and Entrepreneurs) with the aim to trade goods and discuss priorities and the basis of a sustainable village.

After dinner the students participated in the workshop Design and Deliver. They tried to come to a real solution and an intervention plan to solve the problem of poverty. You will find these plans encloses in this report. In addition to these plans, some students also conducted a few interviews with some participants of the conference, the results of those are also included in this report.

Workshop 22th and 23th of February 2010

Discover Dream Design Deliver What information about poverty triggers you? Elements of a new sustainable society What is your solution? Which interventions are needed to achieve the goals?

Groups with 4 students; carrousel Discover (60 minutes) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Write down on the post-its some information or examples of poverty that triggers you Stick the post its on the flip-over and discuss it with your group, dont change anything Change flip- over with another group Look at the discoveries in the other group, discuss it and add at most 2 new discoveries Change groups and divide the discoveries on the post its into groups Change groups and give a pitch of the discoveries, appoint the similarity and the differences between the different flip-overs.

Dream (60 minutes) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Write down some individual dreams on the post its Discuss the individual dreams and divide them into groups on the flip-over. Label the groups Write down some elements for a new sustainable society Prior the elements in a top 3, write it down on the form Set a goal (local or global) with using the PPPtriangle! Look for a goal with intertwining between different sectors 7. Give a short presentation to the group of your dream and goal (maximum 5 minutes)

Design and deliver (100 minutes) 1. Design a solution tot the goal youve set yesterday. 2. Make an intervention plan (advice) Set actions on micro, micro and meso level and write down who are the main corporation partners who you want to involve. Think about the PPP triangle! 3. Give a short presentation ( maximum 5 minutes) about the intervention plan (1 each group).

Results workshops
GROUP 1 Jorren Scherpenisse Dhamikka Wijaysinghe Adil Yassin Kim Potter

Discoveries Its important to know the roots of poverty Poverty is multidimensional We focus on what we dont have, we should focus more on actions that match our skills Mismatch between policy and implementation causes poverty Context specific poverty

Elements of a sustainable society 1. Develop strengths and weaknesses, but focus more on strengths. 2. Forming synergy to achieve development goals 3. Possibility for participation for local people ( in decision-making). Goal Create and stimulate the possibilities that a country has to develop. Specific goals: - improve education - stimulate and organize partnerships - create and mobilize economic opportunities Interventionplan When you want to choose interventions, youll have to make an analysis about the problems and opportunities of the specific country/region/city. This can be done on the micro, meso and macro level, bottom-up. The focus should be on the strengths, because thats where the opportunities can be realized. Improve education - Building schools - Providing free education for people that cant afford - Invest in teachers (educate them, better salaries) - Improve infrastructure in rural areas - Provide internships for local citizens, so they can learn practical skills Stimulate and organize partnerships - Make a database, where countries share knowledge and experience, benchmarks and best practices. This can be realized by the UN. This database can be broadened to local parties. This makes knowledge more accessible and reduces transaction costs Create and mobilize economic opportunities - identify the economic possibilities (like tourism, agriculture, small/medium enterprises) and create opportunities for local people to develop these possibilities

GROUP 2

Agnes Grace Nalubiri Luna Bajracharya Patricia Makau Ganesh Khedoe

Discoveries Life with a long term vision on life and its environment Basic needs choosing: food; clothing; sanitation; basis healthcare Infrastructure Participation (involvement in solution finding) Pilitical will Tot be able to develop potential Ownership empowerment No domination Economic independence Accountable government State intervention Human dignity

Elements of a sustainable society 1. Basis needs 2. Develop capacities/talent; evoke potential 3. Responsibility to proper use of capacities Goal Develop peoples capacity to afford basic needs in socially and environmentally responsible manner. Intervention plan

Basic needs

Personal Care/Nutrition Housing Sanitation Energy Waste removal Communication Healthcare

Local Markets LocalManufacturing/Industry Sanitary infrastructure Energy infrastructure Waste infrastructure ICT Clinics/Hospitals Professional education Academics Social Responsible Entrepreneurship (MVO) Corporate Governance Sustainable water treatment Sustainable Energy Cradle-to-cradle E-for-@ll Insurance schemes

Primary sector Secondary sector Tertiary sector

Capacity building Primary education Vocational education Social Environmental Responsibility work for each other Improve as you came in

Quarternary sector

Government

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GROUP 3

Anika Nasra Hague Ricarda Dahlheimer Isabel Ruiz Almeyda Jimmy Baluku Pedram Zand

Discoveries We believe that everyone has the equal right to access basis services Developing pro poor policies Identifying gaps between policy formulation and implementation Ensuring public participation at the grass root level (bottom-up approach)

Elements of a sustainable society 1. Inter sectoral integration 2. Public participation 3. Corporate social responsibility

Goal Minimizing poverty and making the society more sustainable through public participation, corporate social responsiveness and intersectoral integration.

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Interventionplan
Element Public participation Actions Participation of NGOs in agenda setting Micro level In the communities Meso level Bottom-up to local government level (municipality) Community representatives Macro level Country level Stakeholders Civil bodies

Focus discussion

Group

Community level need identification

e-participation

Awareness campaign Corporate social responsivene ss Mainstreaming environmental and social measures in a corporate strategy Education Make programs according social needs

Local villagers and community representative s General public & related organizations Policy makers. Public, private sector Government, private educational organizations, industry, etc International regulating organizations

Environment

KPI performance Indicators

Key

Environmental footprint GHG

International regulating organizations National government Local governments

Legal framework (conditions for licensing) Inter Sector Integration Communication between related sectors Feasibility study Project based

Project management

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GROUP 4

Yatra Sharma Famke Houthoff Olufemi Olalekan Adebajo Myra Bosman

Discoveries Social exclusion is also poverty Poverty is country specific & context specific Policy should be related to your perception of poverty Western world determinates how development aid is spend Developing countries are too dependent on aid (money)

Elements of a sustainable society 1. Basic needs for everyone (MDG 1) 2. People should be able tot participate in the political process (MDG 2) 3. Western consumerism should stop, theyre exploiting human, financial and natural resources (MDG 7&8)

Goal To provide basic needs for everyone through committed public participation and global partnerships. Interventionplan

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Personal remarks on workshops

Workshop A: Access to basic services, i.p. education and health care What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? During the workshop, several interesting facts about the relation between health and poverty were put forward by Mr Mackenbach. However, members from developing countries argued that these issues are primarily of concern to Western countries. It appeared that developed and developing countries are facing different problems, which Mr Mackenbach acknowledged. Unfortunately, the workshop was lacking interaction between the audience and the speakers. Moreover, there was no in depth discussion about the possible solutions to the problems of health and education. Gender was not an item in discussion but the reality in an lot of countries makes clear that many women suffer of a lack of chances for education and of violence. The quality of life and health for women need a more open discussion because resistances and discrimination often are based on ideologies and religious beliefs.

Workshop B - Access to basic provisions, water and sanitation What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? In our opinion, the subjects discussed in the conference are quite relevant to the poverty issues. We agree that poverty means lack of food, adequate housing, basic services, education, health facilities, employment, energy and ecological crises etc. We should focus on the access to the basic services to fight with the poverty. We think some of the representatives could not express the real picture of poverty in their countries, so those countries may be left out. The UN may focus only on the countries who have presented well in the conference. So we would like to suggest that the results of the workshop will be fruitful if the UN will do further research on the poor countries which were not highlighted in the forum, which will help alleviating poverty in on the whole. Its a critical matter in many developing countries specially African countries. It has a large consequences and negative impact on different aspect of their lives and its a barrier for economic development in these countries. In the workshop some representatives from number of areas in Africa clarified some improvements in the water and sanitation condition in their countries. They talked about some coming programs which if will be implemented will be a great and substantial change in the situation.

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Workshop C - Energy for all What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? To eradicate poverty sustainable methods of energy proliferation should be designed. The illustration from Mexico shows that it is possible. Poverty alleviation can never be achieved through simple transfer of funds or grants. Yes, they important in cases of emergencies but, otherwise it will simply elevate chances of corruption that is very common in our (developing) countries. What is more important is transfer of knowledge through partnerships and implementation of projects that could assist developing countries to build capacities. It is not because they lack resources that they are poor, it is either because they lack proper know how or the right attitudes. What is important to form synergy to fight poverty and build up their confidence through improving their knowledge and technology. I would like to see more partnerships building as a result of the workshop among local authorities, knowledge institutions and other active partners to bring out more actions rather than just elaborate reports.

Workshop D - Measures to improve social economic standards through insurance or other financial schemes What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? The Wacap conference was an indicator of the concern about eradicating poverty by the world and development actors. However, the discussion in the penal workshop were more of the stories of advanced countries telling the developing what they have done to fight poverty. Whereas, in the developed countries, it was clear that there was strong government involvement in the provision of social services- unemployment benefits, the governments in developing countries are constrained and are urged to liberalise there economies, almost everything has been commodified leaving the poor to the market forces is dangerous as they are being exploited. The presentations were inspiring but were skewed to North, not even a single person was picked to give his/her inspiration from the south???? That left a gap that the participants from the South came to listen to what the North has done in the fight against poverty.Confronting the crisis collectively: working together to end poverty was a nice theme if the organisors had involved the poorest of the people, all participants were speaking for the poor: where are the poor? Lets act now and listen to their voices directly and not by proxy. This is to suggest that the next Wacap workshop, should indeed capture the voices of the poor not for people to come shoping!!!!, imagine if the poor were to organise conferences what who be the agenda anyway. Jimmy Baluku: The Wacap conference was an indicator of the concern about eradicating poverty by the world and development actors. However, the discussion in the panel workshop were more about the stories of advanced countries telling the developing what they have done to fight poverty. Whereas, in the developed countries, it was clear that there was strong government involvement in the provision of social services- unemployment benefits. The governments in developing countries are constrained and are urged to liberalise their economies, almost everything has been commodified. Leaving the poor to the market forces is dangerous as they are being exploited. The presentations were inspiring but were skewed to North, not even a single person was picked to give his/her inspiration from the south? That left a gap, the participants from the South came to listen to what the North has done in the fight against poverty. Confronting the crisis collectively: working together to end poverty was a nice theme if the organisers had involved the poorest of the people, all participants were speaking for the poor: where are the poor? Lets act now and listen to their voices directly and not by proxy. This is to suggest that the next Wacap workshop, should indeed capture the voices of the poor not for people to come shopping! Imagine if the poor were to organise conferences what would be the agenda anyway. Famke Houthoff and Jorren Scherpenisse: The workshop made clear that micro finance can help poor people to take matters in their own hands. A lot of talented people have no opportunity to use these talents, MF can give them this opportunity. I think it was good to discuss MF and the way it should be implemented, especially because it is beneficial to women.

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Because of the interaction between the participants, the workshop succeeded in sharing experiences between Nothern and Southern countries. There were some discussions about giving business advise to loaners, helping them to get the right documents and about the role of the government and banks. Although some important issues were raised, unfortunately there was not enough time to come to practical (innovative) solutions to improve MF. But the discussion also made clear that there is a lack of good partnerships, between local governments and organisations, concerning MF. Although the representative from UNEP FI offered to organise this kind of network, the other parties didnt seem very enthusiastic about this. Therefore, the workshop didnt succeed in creating new partnerships. To conclude, the workshop succeeded in sharing experiences, but there were no new solutions or partnerships originated. Therefore, I doubt that this workshop will improve micro finance projects in the future. In future workshops, it might be better to focus more on creating new solutions or partnerships.

Workshop E - The new local/ territorial approach to climate change What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? The conference was fruitful for both who is efficiently adapting to climate change and also to those who are affected but have low capacity to adapt. Since, the developed countries shared their practices and also gave a guideline to combat with the problem. They cleared some misconceptions regarding funding, as the developing countries have an idea that they do nt have access to sufficient funds. Finaly, to me the panel was very well designed sine it represents member from all relevant organizations such as NGO, Private sector, Public sector, Government etc. Workshop F Partnerships; ICT for development The subject is very important and need to look into its financial suitability through building on the already existing knowledge and working with other development actors.

Workshop G - Vulnerable Groups and Poverty What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? From our perception, we feel that poverty is better experience than word of mouth. Most of the people that came for the conference are old, youth are very few, women voice were not all that echoed as the few involved were not given enough time to talk. We believe that conference of this nature should be slated for developing countries or less developed countries rather than any developed nation. Workshop H - Contribution of Trade for local development What are your personal thoughts on the subject discussed and the results of the workshop? Importance of trade on economic development is undeniable; however, we should be cautious of the imbalance of the international trade relationships between developing countries and developed ones that made developing countries dependent on agricultural activities as a mere means of transaction. Ways to be found out to create a balanced relationship if real concern is given to confront poverty in developing countries. Linkage between agriculture and industry should be created to augment the industry sector by supplying row materials from the agriculture sector. It is quite significant to ensure equal benefit of the producers in trade relationships.

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Interview reports
Informal Interview with the local government representatives from both developed and developing countries

Developed country Representative (Belgium): Well organized to combat poverty Give priority to a sustainable development and integrate inter sectoral activities. Local government have the autonomy to work for poverty alleviation at the local and grass root level, they can also access funds by themselves without the intervention of central government. They try to incorporate other best practices in their own way applicable to the context. From WACAP forum, they have learnt about the best practices of the present context and also had an opportunity to interact with other local government representatives. Wants to share expertise with UNDP. Developing countries representatives ( Bangladesh & Ghana): They are not well organized to combat poverty. They do not have any idea of sustainable development. There is lack of inter sectoral integration in both national and local level. They have learnt that funds are available if they have a concrete project, beforehand they had a misconception that there is lack of funds to combat poverty Bangladesh: The local government authorities do not have any autonomy to have an agreement by themselves, they hope to pass the ideas and proposals to the national government back home Ghana: Local government has the autonomy but still there is government intervention. They do not yet have any agreement , but they have talked with the representatives of other developed countries and hoping to extend the relationship and have some help in terms of aid to implement their projects. Both of them want UNDP to help them in poverty alleviation. M. Youssouf Coulibaly Mairie Mali

Which are the problems that Malis government face now? Shortage of: sanitation & hygiene as well as housing, innutrition (nourishment). How can these problems be reduced? By governments cooperation and transfer of resources. It is required a direct implication or involvement of local governments in the management (planning and city operations).

Mme. Diniz Ftima Diniz Association Nal des Municipalities Portugaises Which are the problems that Portugal faces now? Mayor problem is unemployment How can this problem be reduced? By increasing the level of education of the population, also with international exchange of information. Best practice learned in WACAP? As Princess Laurentine explained it in her presentation during the opening ceremony, reducing illiteracy is very important to integrate people as valuable members of society. Expectations from WACAP?

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Get to know best practices from other participants of the forum and apply them in Portugal. What do you require from UNDP? Portugal requires cooperation from UNDP in order to tackle reduction of unemployment.

M. Sidi Guindo PNDU Mali What is the main problem in Mali related with poverty? Main problem is low level of education (illiteracy), because in Mali many people dont go to school. In average 40 to 45% of kids go to school this low percentage is because the parents dont understand how important it is for the kids to get education. Health is another problem related with poverty, because many people dont have money to get health services. What do you expect to get from WACAP forum? Get experience of millennium projects (best practices of the 8 millennium development goals).

Ms. Huda Osman State ministry of Finance Sudan & Mrs Amira El Fadi Ministry of Social Affairs Sudan Which are the main problems related with poverty in Sudan? Illiteracy is a big problem because it also has the consequence of high level of unemployment. There is also the problem of migration from rural areas to cities and the effects of civil war; which had been a problem in the past. Stability is required to solve these problems and in that sense an agreement to stop conflicts was signed on the 23th of February 2010 (just one day before the forum started). With this agreement signed, now Sudan expects to have a socially stable situation and work in order to solve their main problems. How is the government of Sudan working towards the solution of their problems? The government had carried out a lot of efforts to alleviate poverty by improving and developing services as education, health care and also by creating jobs. They also had been working with the informal commercial sector. Microfinance had been used as a tool for poverty reduction. What do you expect from WACAP? Exchange experiences and make partnerships for future collaboration.

Ms. Alice M. Bouman-Dentener Women for water partnership Which are the main problems that your organization intends to solve? Women for water partnership is an organization that works towards the solution of Water and sanitation issues, those who most of the times come together with poverty. How are you dealing with those issues? Women for water partnership is a so called Mayor group conformed by millions of people from all over the world. Count now with members in 100 different countries. All these people work as volunteers and by first addressing water and sanitation issues; they organize themselves in order to solve these problems. Later on sometimes these organizations are used as a tool for empowerment of people in the communities and in some cases the scope of benefit of their activities (areas of development) can be upgraded (other than water & sanitation). What do you expect from WACAP? Show our organization as a successful best practice, in the field of Water and sanitation, where poverty related problems are been solved from the inside of the communities. Enlarge our network is one of the attractive possibilities of this event. www.womenforwater.org

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Sol Trumbo Vila Exchange MSc student in the Netherlands. Internship in ENVIU (Economics) Spain Which are the main problems related with poverty in Spain? Valencia is the 3rd. most important city of Spain and faces a lot of poverty in the streets. There is also a high-income difference (gap between low and high wages). What possible solutions could be implemented in order to tackle this problem? Implement re-distributive policies (taxes). Which best practices have you found in WACAP? Decentralization of government systems and empowerment to small communities, which has been done by giving to the municipalities (local governments) more flexibility and capability to decide. Increase the scope of production of Sustainable resources. What would you need from UNDP to fight poverty in your country? More cooperation and the opportunity to take part on it because it sometimes can be very elitist and make people inside of the organization hardly know how things are going on outside of the organization. For example by experiencing poverty.

Mr. Gerrit Van Veenendaal BSI-Consultancy Netherland Which are the problems related with poverty present in The Netherlands? Poverty in the Netherlands has a completely different scope than in other countries, however regarding education there is an important issue. System Technical oriented education is a problem. Because kids at short age (between 12 and 16 years old) are supposed to decide what they want to do the rest of their lives and this is of course a difficult.

Mr. Emrush Ujkani UNDP Kosovo Which are the main problems related with poverty in Kosovo? Unemployment accounts for 60% of people who is older than 60 years, and this can be translated into poverty. Still extreme poverty in percentage is small. Apartheid regime where people had been sent back is making problems like shortage of housing bigger. What can be a solution for these problems? The collaboration between Kosovo and UN will bring welfare for people in Kosovo. Which are the best practices that you had found in WACAP? WACAP is a unique opportunity to sit together and share for better or worse. It goes and remains in the hands of global actors, which means that UN has to establish a pragmatic approach (UN reform process)

Blanca R. Esponda Chief of Cabinet Chiapas, Mxico Which are your conclusions over the WACAP? WACAP was a Euro-centrist forum. The fact that poverty is addressed in the context of Europe is quite significant because this would not had happen 20 years ago. Aspects as Energy management, Water management, Cities management (organization), innovation and cooperation in a horizontal level are necessary in a multilevel government but with horizontal communication.

Isabel Ruiz Almeyda MSc Sustainable Energy Technology, TU Delft, Netherland Mxico Which are the main problems related with poverty in Mxico?

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Poverty can be seen as a consequence of many other factors (problems). Mxico is a country with around 100 million of inhabitants, and with a lot of natural resources. Even doe there is in Mxico an extremely big unequal distribution of money and welfare in society and this can be easily understood by mentioning how there are lots of people in extreme poverty and at the same time one Mexican is in the top 3 richest man in the world. Problems related with poverty in Mxico are such as illiteracy, corruption in the institutions, high level of informal commerce, big industries avoiding paying taxes, population un-empowerment, etc. Which can be possible solutions to these problems? Education, empowerment of people, making the government work for people (not enrich politicians), make companies and citizens pay the fair amount of taxes and get the benefit of that as well, make rural communities and small urban areas self sufficient in energy and food, improve the health care systems. I personally support the fight against drugs, but that is starting a civil war in my county and the president has not support form the members of the government, there is not solidarity towards this fight because there is so much people in all levels involved. Nowadays people is just dying everywhere because of this problem and this is bringing an atmosphere of insecurity and faithless mood. Given the circumstances I would even support the legalization of drugs in order to at least control how is sold and get the tax load from this activity instead giving the chance to have so much corruption due to this drugs traffic. (But I understand how delicate is dealing with these types of problems.) What do you expect from WACAP? I want to see how poverty is dealt in the context of international collaboration. I want to be part of this event from the inside, I want to grow my own network of action and enjoy the event. What did I get from WACAP? I could see how in principle there is willingness to help from rich countries to poor countries but I believe that the only solution is to give the population with the education, and services that allows them to create their own welfare. Networking between nations and organizations is really good, I also could grow my own network and I am sure positive things for me and for society will come from the partnerships that I had the possibility to do in WACAP. But the main thing is to work hard in what we want to achieve, and that of course does not come for free, and it is even more difficult when someone comes from a non developed country, but still not impossible. The fact that something is very difficult or has very few possibilities of succeed is not a reason to do not try to do it. It is always worth to try! What did I learn from best practices? I personally was very happy to see that Mxico brought the best practice of Juan del Grijalva, a sustainable brand new city. And the fact that everywhere (all over the world) things are going on towards sustainable development. Many things are going on and many more things will come in the future. What do I want form UNDP? I think what I want from UNDP as well as from all other participants of WACAP is collaboration, I want to make my own plans in life contributing to the sustainable development of society in the field of energy, and in some point they will take part on it somehow.

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