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From Rhetoric to Action: Delivering Equality & Inclusion

The flagship report of the Pathfinders Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion is about the solutions that will deliver equality and inclusion. It is the culmination of several years of research and mobilization undertaken by a unique partnership of ten countries, the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, Oxfam, and CIVICUS, along with numerous partners and international experts. The report constructs a bridge between the rhetoric of “build back better” and action: a bridge between promise and progress.

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Our Common Agenda: A Quick Scan

On Friday, September 10, Secretary-General António Guterres presented Our Common Agenda, his response to the request made by UN member states for recommendations in the 75th anniversary declaration adopted in 2020. The secretary-general does not mince his words about the problems the world is facing, from the pandemic that is upending our world, conflicts that continue to rage and worsen, and the disastrous effects of a changing climate—famine, floods, fires, and extreme heat—that threaten our very existence.

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Sep 20, 2021
Liv Tørres, Maaike de Langen, Sarah Cliffe, Paige Arthur, Karina Gerlach, Leah Zamore, Daniel Mack, Alisa Jimenez, Bojan Francuz
Global Governance, United Nations
Humanitarian Crises, Promoting and Defending Multilateralism, Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies , Prevention and Peacebuilding

Taking a Reality Check on President Biden’s August 31 Afghanistan Speech

Perhaps the most discordant note in President Biden's speech last Tuesday was the contrast between the deep empathy for US service members and their families, and the apparent lack of empathy for those left at immediate risk in Afghanistan, let alone the country’s larger population. It was jarring to see him tack back and forth between soft empathy and a harsh and palpable anger. Reading the transcript alone does not do it justice.
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Sep 10, 2021
Paul Fishstein
afganistan, president biden, US administration
Afghanistan Pakistan

Open Letter from CIC Fellow Rina Amiri: Can We Act Urgently to Prevent Kabul Becoming the Biden Administration's Srebrenica Moment?

We need immediate measures, including air strikes to hold the Taliban outside of Kabul while evacuations continue and leverage all our political capital to reign in the Taliban.

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Aug 13, 2021
Rina Amiri
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Crises
Afghanistan-Pakistan Regional Project

From Regressive Subsidies to Progressive Redistribution: The Role of Redistribution and Recognition in Energy Subsidy Reform

Energy subsidies are one of the few domains where there is a near full-throated consensus among progressives, governments, and economists over the need for reform. Nearly everywhere, energy subsidies are regressive, vastly favoring the car-and energy-consuming parts of the population that are the least in need. The costs of these subsidies can vary, but in many countries, they represent a large fiscal burden. Prior to its 2005 reforms, for example, Indonesia's fuel subsidy was nearly the same amount as its health budget and its targeted anti-poverty programs combined. From the perspective of global climate change, few economic policies are as damaging as the direct and indirect contributions of fossil fuel subsidies.

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Sep 23, 2021
Tara Moayed, Scott Guggenheim, Paul Von Chamier
Central Asia, Latin America

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