- ATD Fourth World

After 10 very charged and chaotic days of meetings, demonstrations and deliberations, the World Summit on Sustainable Development that took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26th to September 4th finally ended.

The goal of the Summit was to revisit and reinvigorate the goals and formalize targets for implementation of the Agenda 21 action plan that was adopted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Approximately 100 heads of states finalized the following outcomes of the Summit: The Plan of Implementation, a Political Declaration and the tangible partnership initiatives. Even so some progress has been made, these outcomes sound more like proclamations than decisions.

ATD Fourth World Participates at the Johannesburg Summit

Niek Tweehuysen, the Regional Project Manager of ATD Fourth World in East Africa, and Erasto-John Ndimisho, a member of the Movement in Tanzania, represented ATD Fourth World at the Johannesburg Summit. In addition to making many new acquaintances and connections with government and other NGO representatives, Niek presented ATD Fourth World’s contribution entitled, “Partnerships with People Living in Persistent Poverty: the Missing Partners in Sustainable Development”. This was presented at the Economy, Environment and Society World Forum on Sustainable Development, which was organized by the International Research Foundation for Development (August 27-28).