Sunday, July 22, 2007

A Few Good Ideas! That’s all it takes!

In the last few months I have repeated over and over again the same message about the core theme of WUF3 – ” Turning Ideas to Actions”. Already in the first few days of the Forum, participants from many different cultures and circumstances have come together and are networking together to do just that, and they are beginning to change the world in the process.

The ideas don’t have to be grand programs with huge budgets to be considered. Sometimes, it’s the modest, down to earth suggestions borne of necessity that can bring together to most unlikely of partners in common cause to make a difference.

A few recent examples come to mind.

In South Africa, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who is a speaker at WUF3, forged a formal partnership with the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP), a Shack Dwellers International affiliate in South Africa. The partnership will be supported by roughly R230 million in subsidies to buy land and to build housing in communities whose daily lives are plagued by unprotected exposure to the elements, by insecurity and poverty.

As Madame Sisulu stated, it’s a new way of doing things and the partnership is built on an understanding that “each of us have a responsibility toward changing the fortunes of the poor.…The message is out, we are in this together.” WUF3 Commissioner General Charles Kelly.

Commissioner Kelly’s Blog


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