Visitors to the UN stand were asked to express their views as to which areas the UN and the EU may focus their attention in their joint work which already spans over 100 countries improving lives of many millions. Following are some of the suggestions, ideas and messages in their original form:
- More coordination among stakeholders and of course women’s rights;
- Increased safety in refugee camps to protect women and girls vulnerable to sexual violence;
- Gender equality and improved education for girls and women;
- Fighting poverty / Youth issues / Global governance / Global public goods / Invest more in agriculture for food security;
- Improve aid effectiveness, transparency and policy coherence;
- Equality between all countries;
- Always have a human rights based approach in development cooperation and strategies;
- Investing in children’s rights means investing in the present not only in the future;
- More donor coordination;
- Better bottom-up approaches and participatory development of areas to prioritize;
- The United Nations should definitely prioritize female primary and secondarily education as this is a proven asset which can help develop many communities;
- The EU and the UN should teach and not just preach;
- The Millennium Development Goals;
- Priorities: 1) agriculture by peasants, small farmers and traditional methods; 2) fight against corruption; 3) access to quality education/equality and equity; 4) real donor coordination; 5) develop an alternative model of development with partners
- Act on policy coherence between development and trade and fiscal policies e.g. pro-poor tariff policies and combating tax havens
- The United Nations and the EU should work for the rights of migrants all over the world together
- Policy coherence, i.e. the right hand does not undo what the left hand just did;
- Financial transparency, stricter regulations for multinational corporations and extractive industries;
- Support developing countries in mobilizing domestic resources.
