Post-2015 High Level Panel to prioritise the perspectives of voiceless people

Andrea Rigon

Yesterday afternoon during the Civil Society Pre-Meet to the HLP, Nelson Muffuh, the Outreach Coordinator of the HLP updated civil society representatives on the HLP process. Mr. Muffuh said that there is little time and there are many stakeholders. Therefore, the HLP will prioritise the perspectives of voiceless people. Yesterday evening at a press briefing, David Cameron, one of the three co-chairs of the High Level Panel (HLP) on the post-2015 development agenda stated that, “Above all we need to listen to those whose lives are blighted by poverty”.Mr. Muffah emphasised that his secretariat will help panel members to reach those who are normally excluded by such global processes and meetings. He added that the question of how to ensure that those living in poverty are heard is on the top of the HLP agenda and thus he welcomes the Participate initiative.

Participate hopes that this HLP’s commitment will lead to a deeper thinking on how it is possible to make global policy-making genuinely inclusive and participatory. As Elizabeth Mills outlined earlier this week, there is a difference between having voice, and being heard in these spaces. The participatory research driving the initiative illustrates the interconnectedness of different development issues and challenges established assumptions on the solutions to global development problems.

Today, Participate co-directors, Danny Burns and Joanna Wheeler from IDS and Amy Pollard from CAFOD, who is a co-chair of Beyond 2015 campaign, will present the initiative to the HLP  (the challenges of which Joanna Wheeler and Thea Shahrokh have outlined) and ask its members to engage with Participate and open themselves to the knowledge from the margins generated though participatory research. One of the avenues through which Participatewill facilitate this process of learning for the HLP members is to ask them to take part in immersions -living for a few days with a family living in poverty to experience first-hand their realities.

Andrea Rigon is a Participate, Policy and Advocacy Advisor and CAFOD COMPASS 2015 Research Coordinator.

Read other recent blog posts from Participate:

• You have 9 minutes to talk to the High Level Panel: what would you say?
• On having Voice and Being Heard: Participation in the Post-2015 Policy Process
• Post 2015: What do policymakers know about poverty?

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