Baby Baskets And Gambling Dens In Deauville

DEAUVILLE - For NGOs seeking to get their voice heard at a G8 summit, staging stunts is often the most effective way to attract media coverage. There have been a few good ones this time round by several of InterAction’s members attending this year's summit in Deauville, the pretty seaside town in northern France.

On Wednesday, World Vision delivered a “maternal health” basket to the venue of a reception hosted by France’s First Lady Carla Bruni, who herself is pregnant if news reports are to be believed.

World Vision also wrote an “open letter” to G8 spouses, urging them to discuss food security issues when they enjoy the fabulous food from the Normandy region at their social and official gatherings.

In another stunt which got widespread play, Oxfam International activists posed as British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, wearing giant caricature masks at a poker table in a gambling club in Paris. The inference there is that by not fulfilling pledges in areas such as food, agricultural assistance and maternal health, G8 leaders are gambling away people’s futures.

That NGOs have to resort to stunts to get life-and-death issues in the media, can be frustrating but it has become an important tool to revive interest in our areas when the official discussion is focused elsewhere.

On the agenda at the G8 today is Japan, nuclear safety and climate change. The French presidency has also tagged the Internet (and possible regulations) as a core topic.

Development and aid have slipped off the G8 agenda in recent years but in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring”, a major theme is going to be an assistance package (aid, debt forgiveness and perhaps trade) for Egypt and Tunisia. Leaders from both of these countries will be welcomed at the summit on Friday along with a group of other African leaders.

While leaders are focusing on the state of the global economy, we would also like them to consider how their decisions affects billions of poor people, especially in this era of spiraling food prices.

 So we’ll keep talking about food security, maternal health and accountability issues even if they are not on the official agenda. Keep watching this space for more blogs as the summit unfolds.