International Conference on Making Development Inclusive: MDGs and Beyond

Hunger, human poverty, and inequality still remain among key challenges for economic development today. Even as economic growth in China and India has brought more than 500 million people out of poverty, questions are being raised about veracity of those figures, on estimations of poverty, and sustainability of such economic growth and implications for climate change. Life expectancy at birth in many countries south of the Sahara today is lower than it was four decades ago mainly due to HIV/AIDS. To what extent can communities, civil society institutions, and nongovernmental organizations influence and shape the necessary change remains an issue.