UNDP will hold Panel Discussion on 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor', Oct 16th

UNDP will hold a panel discussion on 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor' on 16th October, at the UN HQ, in conjunction with a debate of the same topic by the General Assembly. Official announcement here. 

Because it is such a relatively new endevor by the UN, the discussion topics are still very broad, and include:

• How can legal empowerment of the poor support the achievement of MDGs?
• How can property and land rights and tenure security as well as labour rights and rights to entrepreneurship play a critical role in securing the livelihoods of the poor?
• What factors and strategies will determine the success of legal empowerment initiatives and reforms on the ground?
• What are some of the approaches taken in implementing legal empowerment initiatives around the world and what are the lessons learnt?
• How can a stronger partnership among the national government, NGOs, CSOs and CBOs and the private sector be developed to foster legal empowerment of the poor?
• How best the international community can mobilize and channel resources to support national and sub- national level efforts for legal empowerment of the poor?
• What specific role the UN can play in promoting legal empowerment of the poor?

I will be interested to see if any concrete outcomes result from the discussion.