Browse by Theme: Social Accountability

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the first time a global compact on overcoming poverty has been created in the digital age. Harnessing the promise of technology will be key to transforming poverty and power in the next 15 years, but we must make sure the most marginalised are not left behind.

“What gets measured gets noticed,” said Hilary Clinton. True enough, which is why officials are meeting at the UN this week to thrash out how the proposed new Sustainable Development Goals will be resourced and implemented. The UN Secretary General has called for a Data Revolution. At CARE, we want a citizen-led revolution from the local level upwards to track progress against the new goals. How could this work in practice?

Violence against women and girls is one of the worst global epidemics. Studies show that gender-based violence (GBV) accounts for as much death and ill-health in women aged 15-44 years as cancer does. It is a greater cause of ill-health than malaria and traffic accidents combined. One in three women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. The shocking truth is that violence against women and girls takes place in all countries, in homes, workplaces, schools and communities.

Privately, everyone working in development talks about domestic workers' rights. Publicly, no-one does. Why not?

The UK government has just published its ‘Action Plan on Business and Human Rights’.  This is the keenly awaited guidance for UK business on how they should respond to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, this is a very sketchy Action Plan: for instance it does not discuss Gender, a key issue, in any detail. But more importantly from my point of view is that it gives no indication of any intention to give legal effect to the Guiding Principles requirements on companies: without this it is hard to see how the plan will make a meaningful difference. 

This week American stakeholders announced the formation of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and signatories to the European Fire and Building Safety Accord released their Implementation Plan. While both agreements represent steps in the right direction, to address the root causes of the Rana Plaza disaster, both initiatives must take further measures to build capacity and political will in the Government of Bangladesh.

This week American stakeholders announced the formation of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and signatories to the European Fire and Building Safety Accord released their Implementation Plan. While both agreements represent steps in the right direction, to address the root causes of the Rana Plaza disaster, both initiatives must take further measures to build capacity and political will in the Government of Bangladesh.