UNRISD Research Coordinator Yusuf Bangura participated in an Expert Group Meeting on Poverty Eradication organized by the Economic Commission for Africa and the Department Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in Addis Ababa from 15 to 17 September 2010. The meeting was part of DESA’s preparations for the 49
th session of the Commission for Social Development, scheduled to take place in New York in February 2011.
Participants from the World Institute for Development Economics Research, the Economics and Social Commission for Western Asia, the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, Oxfam, Argentina, Malawi, South Africa, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, India and the United States served as panelists. The sessions covered poverty reduction in Africa, poverty reduction in other developing regions, country experiences, the impact of the global crisis on poverty reduction, social and macroeconomic policies, and accelerating progress.
Drawing on the 2010 Flagship Report,
Combating Poverty and Inequality, Yusuf Bangura presented on the politics of poverty reduction in a panel on social and macroeconomic policies, Bangura was voted overall Chair of the Group Meeting and he co-chaired the press briefing, in which more than 20 national and international journalists took part.
In his report, Bangura concluded that “Power relations lie at the core of development. They determine which actors are in a position to define policies and influence development processes and outcomes. Strategies that seek to bring about changes in poverty outcomes must therefore consider ways to shift the balance of power. Group organization, contestation and claims-making are important in generating such shifts and ensuring that governments respond to social needs.”