g20

The ONE team has arrived in Canada and is already hard at work raising awareness in the fight against extreme poverty with Toronto’s Mayor David Miller. We’re in town for the G8 and G20 Summits where maternal and child health and accountability are on the agenda. For several months, ONE has been actively engaging Canadian leadership to push for a robust maternal and child health initiative that includes accountability measures to make sure that country commitments are kept.

This morning I attended a bloggers roundtable discussion with Melinda St. Louis, Deputy Director of Jubilee USA, to discuss their new report on the G20’s commitments to the world’s poorest. The release of the report is obviously well-timed, with the G20 and G8 Summits in Canada just days away.

The Canadian Press reported over the weekend that Canada is planning to pledge $1 billion towards an initiative on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) at this month’s G8 summit.

The WHA is seen by some as an ineffective UN meeting but it has much greater legitimacy than the G8/G20 on account of its democracy. Unlike the rich countries' clubs of the G8 and G20, all countries, however poor, have the right to speak out and to vote.

As you’re probably aware, next month world leaders making up the G8 and G20 will convene in Muskoka, Canada. These Summits occur in a pivotal year: the final deadline for the historic 2005 G8 commitments, and five years left to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.