A civil society platform on Monday said it was going to send 11 proposals to the UN for inclusion in the post-Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agenda. The platform, People’s Forum for MDG (PFM), announced this at a meeting on “People’s report on post-2015 development agenda”. The meeting was organised by Palli Karma Sahayok Foundation (PKSF) in cooperation with Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) at its auditorium at Agargaon here.
PKSF chairman Prof. Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmad made a presentation on a synthesis of position papers prepared for PFM.
He said extreme poverty, which is defined as a daily income below $2 per person, would be eliminated by 2030 by focusing on the reducing the vulnerabilities of systematically-deprived populations.
According to the second proposal, steps should be taken address the problem of underweight and stunted children below five years.
Universal targets should be set for balanced and adequate nutrition for children and adolescents under 15 years of age, working people and women in the reproductive age.
PFM would also propose to set a target to complete compulsory education of acceptable quality for all children up to the prohibited age of child labour (14 years).
All youths and adults would have opportunity to participate in lifelong learning related to livelihood, work, citizenship and personal fulfilment, the PFM added.
Besides, it would propose to ensure access to basic health care of acceptable quality for all children and adults, especially mothers.
Executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Mustafizur Rahman said Bangladesh would be one of the nations to come out of the less-developed country list by 2021. So, the targets should have to address issues related to migrant workers, he added.
BRAC University VC Prof. (Dr) Ainin Nishat emphasised on maintenance of natural resources for sustainable development within a post-MDG time frame.
Planning Commission member Dr Shamsul Alam said Bangladesh has achieved some of the important targets of MDG and the rest, except the environmental goal, would be achieved within the stipulated time. He added that the government had sent post-MDG targets to the UN headquarters on June 6.
The meeting was presided over by CAMPE executive director Rasheda K Choudhury. VC of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Dr Nurun Nabi, joint editor of the daily Prothom Alo, Abdul Qaium, and ASA University VC Prof. Dalem Chandra Barman, and PKSF managing director Abdul Karim addressed the meeting.
-With The Independent input
