The Co-chair of the UN High-level panel on UN Post 2015 Development Framework, Her Excellency President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia has said that the new global agenda will draw from the voices of the people. Speaking in her office in Monrovia to a group of African CSO Leaders who paid a courtesy call on her, the Co-Chair said that she would pursue a participatory and inclusive leadership in the process. “ At my meeting with fellow leaders in Addis, I will let them know that the successor agenda to the MDGs cannot be hatched from the ivory tower. It has to come from engaging the people from the grassroots. I really believe in this.”

‘The Co-chair is clearly well informed of the responsibility bestowed on her as Co-Chair and is aware of the need for working fast in view of the constraints imposed by the short timeframe for delivering the report, which should be on time for the 2013 UNGA in spite of the slow start in putting the supporting structures and resources in place, said Salina Sanou of ACORD.

The co-chair accepted the idea of a need to have her-own local secretariat working with the UN global secretariat and is taking steps to ensure the necessary capacity.

President Johnson Sirleaf welcomed the initiatives taken by African CSO coalitions to launch consultations and dialogue ahead of the formal UN process. These post-2015 consultations must also be an opportunity to bring urgency to the achievement of the MDGs in the remaining time. “The remaining three years are ample time enough to make significant progress”, she said.

She welcomed the offer by the CSO delegation to establish a secretariat to channel CSO voices and inputs and look forward to engaging.

The President also welcomed the plans, announced by the delegation, to organize a pan-African CSOs conference on the post-2015 development agenda and proposed that the timing be moved from September to October when she would have met with the other co-chairs and will be better prepared to engage meaningfully.