Philippines: Fighting poverty is still post-2015 priority

The post-2015 development agenda should focus on poverty reduction to improve the quality of life of the poorest and most marginalized people, according to the Philippines’s civil-society organizations (CSOs). 

About 250 Philippine CSOs have come together to form the Beyond 2015 Philippines as a response to the global civil-society campaign pushing for a strong and legitimate successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  

In a media roundtable held in Pasig City, Beyond 2015 Philippines presented the position paper they developed in preparation for the high-level panel meeting and officially turned it over to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) through Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

The manifesto is a product of a series of national and sub-national CSO consultations on post-2015 development agenda conducted from November 2012 to February 2013 as part of the global Beyond 2015 campaign with the assistance of the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund.

The Beyond 2015 Philippine National Hub targeted, consulted and made sure of the wide participation of grassroots organizations, representatives of the environment sector, activists and practitioners in the human-rights community, women’s movement, disability sector, older people’s sector, socially excluded minorities, trade unions, social movements, academia, local governments, faith groups, small, medium and microenterprise groups. This ensured a participatory, open and inclusive opportunity for these sectors to chart the next development agenda post-2015.