Background
In March 2002, the UN convened an International Conference in Monterrey, Mexico on the topic of Financing for Development (FfD). The Conference was the outcome of a decade of advocacy by the G77 (the negotiating bloc at the UN comprising developing countries plus China). The Conference resulted in the adoption of the "Monterrey Consensus", covering six thematic areas of financing for development, 1) mobilizing domestic resources, 2) mobilizing international resources, 3) trade, 4) international cooperation, 5) external debt, 6)systemic issues as well as the subject of "staying engaged". In the context of the preparations for the Doha Review Conference on Financing for Development, (29 November to 2 December, 2008), the subject of new challenges and emerging issues was added to the sixth thematic area. This includes the multiple crises of food, energy, and global finance, as well as climate change and gender equality.
Civil Society was actively engaged during the review process from February to September 2008, leading up to the Doha Review Conference. Their interventions during Preparatory meetings are synthesized in a set of Key Recommendations organized around the six thematic area of the Monterrey Consensus: