Effective Aid, Effective Advocacy: Development advocacy after the world summit: between high expectations and snoozing incrementalism
Presented by Ambassador Princeton Lyman, Greg Michaelides, Kathy Bonk, and Serge Duss, It has been tough going for advocates of the Millennium Development Goals these days. While the MDGs got perhaps more press than anticipated at the World Summit earlier this month, the stories were mostly about the political battle to strike them from the UN agenda altogether. The MDGs survived that assault, and some advocates regard the exposure they did receive as a good thing: at least the public heard something about these cooperative efforts to defeat poverty and fight disease.
But general public ignorance about the MDGs is mirrored by equal ambivalence about them in expert circles. Everyone wants to see these goals achieved (as Jon Stewart might deadpan: "You don't hate children -- do you?"). But there are plenty of voices among development researchers and advocates who question not only the practicality of the MDGs but also their effect on public expectations; some ask if we are promising more than we can deliver, with the risk that we will cement the cliché that we've already tried everything and nothing really changes. After all, Aunt Edna might say, "I still see pictures of sick and starving children on TV every night."
We at the Global Interdependence Initiative would like to continue this discussion by inviting you to our Effective Aid, Effective Advocacy meeting here at The Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 700, on October 11 from 10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The agenda is still taking final form, but featured speakers will include Ambassador Princeton Lyman, director of Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Global Development's Greg Michaelides, strategic communications expert Kathy Bonk, and a representative of the ONE Campaign. Lunch will be served.
With help from policy analysts and communications experts, our dialogue will try to find that elusive sweet spot between over-promising and leaving audiences passive and uninspired.
Click here to read a summary of the highlights from this meeting.
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