Participation

Despite the fact that there are still some signs of the earthquake that devastated Haiti’s capital city, nearly three and a half years ago, new buildings are going up everywhere and the sounds of drills and hammers provide an apt soundtrack everywhere we go. There is a sense of ordered chaos in Port au Prince, where the traffic jams last for miles and people hop on and off Tak-Taks that lurch from the pavement and back into the traffic with little notice, if any, given to other drivers.

With results finally confirmed in Somaliland’s local elections, held on November 28th 2012, the international election observation mission assembled by Progressio, DPU and Somaliland Focus (UK) congratulates the people of Somaliland and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on a lively and enthusiastic election campaign and voting process.

However, in advance of writing our final report, to be released in mid-2013, we must also report a number of substantial concerns.

A new Progressio project in Malawi aims to prevent political intolerance and violence in the build up to the country's next elections in 2014, and to help ensure peaceful, transparent and non-violent political processes in Malawi long into the future.

What do we mean when we talk about getting people’s voices heard in the places where decisions are made?

We had a chance to do just this in November when the UK hosted a high-powered UN panel who’ve been asked to kick off the planning process for developing new poverty reduction goals. Progressio was lucky enough to get a last-minute invitation to the sessions that panelists as diverse as the activist Tawakul Karman from Yemen, South Africa’s Graca Machel, and Unilever’s Chief Executive Paul Polman held with civil society organisations.

This week the High Level Panel (HLP) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda is meeting in London. Each of the Panel’s co-chairs will host a meeting discussing a particular theme, which will inform the Panel’s final report, to be published in May 2013. First up is David Cameron who will host the HLP in London between Tuesday and Friday, when discussions will focus on ‘household poverty’.