What is GCAP?
GCAP is a network of over 18,400 civil society organisations (CSOs) organized in 66 National Coalitions and in constituency groups of women, youth and socially-excluded people, among others.
Read more about our work around Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, our current campaign Faces of Inequality and the People’s Assembly .
Our strengths
- Strong political leadership from the Global South.
- A focus on the structural aspects of inequalities.
- Proven ability to mobilise millions of people in support of rights-based advocacy.
- A solid grassroots foundation, consisting of thousands of small & mid-sized civil society organisations.
- A real bottom-up process led by marginalized groups and women’s organisations.
History
A Decade of Campaign Experience
In September 2003, prominent activist on women and children’s issues, Graça Machel, hosted a group of southern civil society activists in Maputo, Mozambique. It was here, that the idea of a Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) was first aired.
Launched in 2005 at the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre with the symbol of the whiteband, GCAP has mobilized hundreds of millions of people and co-organised the world’s largest single issues-based campaign to ‘Stand UP’ Against Poverty – certified by the Guinness World Records with 173 million people in 2009.
GCAP played a key role the creation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have organized community and national consultations in 39 countries since 2013. In 2015, we mobilized 32 million people to act against Poverty, Inequality and Climate Change.
GCAP has successfully insisted on the centrality of addressing inequalities and guaranteeing the active participation of people in the Agenda 2030. The standalone goal on inequalities, SDG 10, is one result.
On 25 September 2017, GCAP initiated in cooperation with the UN SDG Action Campaign the Global Day of Action – Act4SDGs to mark the anniversary of the SDGs. In 2018 a million people took part in 1662 actions in 143 countries.
Mission & Strategy
Mission
To build the movement for Global Justice and Solidarity – by fighting inequalities within and between countries to eradicate poverty in a bottom-up process, involving people facing discrimination and exclusion and with leadership from the Global South.
GCAP is a global civil society movement fighting for global justice to end poverty and inequality with strong leadership from the Global South, with the following aims:
- Ending poverty and inequalities: GCAP fights for social, economic and gender rights and climate justice to end poverty and inequalities. We advocate and mobilise for the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their principle of Leaving No One Behind, challenging practices, institutions and processes that perpetuate oppression, discrimination and the structural causes of poverty and inequalities.
- People’s voice: GCAP is primarily formed by many small and medium-sized civil society organisations with a strong grassroots connection, especially of people facing discrimination and exclusion. They organise themselves into democratic coalitions and constituency groups in a bottom-up process at national, regional and global levels to amplify people’s voices.
- Global solidarity: The character of GCAP is marked by global cooperation and solidarity with a majority leadership from the Global South to support peoples’ struggles as part of the global justice movement.
Themes
- Gender and Social Exclusion
- Role and Accountability of Private Sector
- Redistribution
- Climate Justice
- Civic Space and Human Rights
Main activities
- Research and Analysis: Inequality Reports and Faces of Inequalities publications
- Awareness raising and capacity building on inequalities and SDGs
- Mobilisation and campaigning in a bottom up process
- Advocacy and Monitoring
- Civil Society Coordination and Alliance Building
Annual Reports
