Who speaks for the poor, and why does it matter?

AuthorMcKeon, Nora
PositionAHEAD OF THE CURVE

The UN Chronicle has evolved over the past years into an increasingly attentive and inclusive journal. The focus of each number on a specific issue, like climate change or disarmament, makes it possible to examine these questions from a variety of viewpoints. Its contributors testify to its broad geographic outlook. Recent issues have featured articles by academics, UN officials, government representatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and recently, the fanciful innovation of testimony by novelists. What are largely missing, however, are the voices from people's organizations directly representing those sectors of the population most affected by the issues under discussion.

Not surprisingly, these same voices are generally missing from the current debate around the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were crafted a decade ago in a process from which civil society was excluded despite its intensive participation in the Summits of the 1990s from which the goals were distilled. There was only token civil society participation in the Millennium Summit and the subsequent Millennium +5 Summit, although the 2005 scenario did see the introduction of an interactive dialogue between civil society and the General Assembly three months before the main event. The situation is a little better in 2010--selected civil society representatives have participated in the MDG Summit Roundtables on 20-22 September 2010, and the outcome of the interactive dialogue held from 14-15 June 2010 was considered as a formal input to the preparation of the Summit outcome. However, if we look inside the "civil society basket," we find that the overwhelming majority of spokespersons come from NGOs. They are often articulate advocates of important values and positions but do not have a mandate to speak for those most directly concerned by the MDG targets. Out of the fifty-two speakers at this year's interactive dialogue, forty-five were from NGOs, and only seven from people's organizations: five representing rural and indigenous women, one from an international trade union, and one from a disabled people's organization.

What does it matter who speaks, one might ask, so long as the "right" views are voiced? For one thing, people who take it upon themselves to speak on behalf of others often get it wrong, however well-intentioned they may be. The advocacy platforms of international NGOs may contain planks that contrast with the agendas of the sectors of the...

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