A High Level Event (HLE) on the Millennium Development Goals is being organized for 25 September at UN Headquarters in New York.
The HLE is being convened by the UN Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly.
The purpose of the HLE is to review the progress being made in achieving the MDGs; to identify the gaps and to seek out new commitments so as to ensure the MDGS are reached by 2015.
This one day event will bring together Heads of State or Government, the private sector and civil society organizations.
It is hoped that the event will provide an opportunity for plans to be put in place to ensure that the goals are reached.
The HLE will comprise of an opening and closing plenary and three roundtables.
These will be on:
1) health and education
2) environment
3) poverty and hunger
The roundtables are being coordinated by the Millennium Campaign which has also allotted limited civil society presence at the roundtables.
There are also a number of side events being organized by governments and civil society organizations for the High Level Event.
The final outcome of the meeting will be in the form of a summary from the UN Secretary General. This will undoubtedly highlight the commitments that need to be made to reach the goals by 2015.
IPPF Presence at the HLE
IPPF is working to develop its presence at the summit and intends to participate at a number of side events.
For example, we will attend a major side event being hosted by H.E. President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, H.E. President Tarja Halonen of Finland, and H.E. President Jakaya Mrisho Kikiwete of Tanzania on MDGs 4 and 5 in conjunction with civil society organizations that include the White Ribbon Alliance, the Partnership on Maternal Newborn and Child Health and Family Care International.
IPPF intends to use this event to highlight the importance of family planning to achieve the MDG 5 target (5b) on universal access to reproductive health.
Similarly, IPPF's Director-General has been invited to attend a lunch on gender being co-hosted by the governments of Denmark and Liberia.
The purpose of the lunch is to develop the Global Call to Action on MDG 3 - promote gender equality and empower women.
IPPF has been invited in recognition of the contribution our work makes to gender equality and women’s empowerment.