The International Association for Community Development (IACD) welcomes the adoption of the Doha Political Declaration, as part of the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) 4-6^th November. We acknowledge this Declaration as a clear indication of renewed international resolve to advance social justice and inclusion, building upon the commitments made at the 1995 Copenhagen Summit.

Drawing on our earlier submission to the UNRISD consultation, which reflected the collective experience and concerns of our global membership, we recognise the Declaration’s strengths while also calling for concerted action in areas critical to achieving truly equitable and sustainable development.

What We Welcome in the Declaration

The Doha Declaration affirms several core principles that directly align with IACD's mission and the foundational elements of our engagement with the WSSD process:

1. Re-Centring Social Development and Justice

We welcome the Declaration’s explicit renewal of commitment to the Copenhagen pillars: poverty eradication, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and social inclusion. This re-assertion of social issues at the heart of development policies and agendas is critical. We particularly welcome the shared pledge to protect human rights, combat discrimination, and tackle inequality, recognising that social justice requires respect for the dignity and diversity of all people

2. Commitment to Climate Action and Marginalised Groups

We welcome the recognition that current global crises, especially climate change, are compounding social vulnerabilities. The Declaration's call for urgent climate action and its emphasis on ensuring that Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, young people, and other marginalised groups are meaningfully engaged in shaping policies is a vital acknowledgement that global progress must be holistic and inclusive of those most impacted.

3. Broadened Vision for Poverty

The commitment to adopt and implement multidimensional poverty measurements is an important step forward. As a Community Development organisation, we recognise that poverty is not solely a matter of monetary metrics but a complex issue encompassing exclusion, lack of rights, and diminished political power.

Areas for Concerted and Committed Action

To move from aspiration to accountability, the IACD calls for concerted and committed action in three core areas, which echo the necessary commitments we set out in our earlier consultation statement:

1. Adopt and Resource Community Development

The Declaration mentions civic engagement and inclusion but misses the opportunity to name Community Development as a core process for achieving these goals.

Concerted Action: Heads of State must commit to formally Adopt and Resource Community Development in policy and practice.

• This means championing community empowerment, collective action, solidarity and agency as a deliberate strategy to achieve equitable social development and positive change.
• It requires moving beyond ad-hoc participation to ensuring participative democracy is structurally embedded in decision-making, utilising appropriate quality framework mechanisms and national and international Community Development Standards to support this.

2. Implement Financial Justice and Systemic Reform

During the consultation phase we stated clearly that equitable progress has been held back by the dominance of neoliberal economics and ideology. The Declaration's calls for reforming the global financial architecture must be translated into firm, action-oriented policy shifts.

Concerted Action: Prioritise public funding for universal social services and end harmful 'private finance first' models.

• Governments must pursue progressive and gender-responsive tax reforms to mobilise domestic resources and address the deep-rooted income and wealth inequality.
• There must be urgent global action to address the debt crisis that forces low-income countries to spend more on servicing debt than on public health and education.

3. Ensure Accountability and Climate Justice

While welcoming the call for urgent climate action, the IACD notes that the Declaration currently lacks new, binding indicators or obligations for monitoring.

Concerted Action: Establish a clear roadmap with explicit, measurable targets to reduce inequality and institutionalise Clmate Justice.

• The international community must insist on measurable targets for inequality reduction, ensuring the rhetoric of ‘leaving no one behind’ is backed by quantifiable goals.
• Climate action must be reframed through a Climate Justice lens, ensuring that finance and policy initiatives prioritise protection of the natural environment and those communities most adversely impacted by the climate crisis. This requires investment in resilient, publicly funded essential services as the foundation of a socially just transition.

In conclusion, the Doha Declaration is a welcome renewal of commitment. However, it will only succeed if world leaders and Governments mobilise the political and financial will to embed genuine people-powered strategies into global and national policy. The IACD remains committed to engage further, advocating for Community Development as the key to unlocking the full potential of this Declaration and building a fairer, more inclusive world for everyone on the planet.