Social investment is the key to a just and effective solution to the current economic crisis, says citizens' alternative report
PITTSBURGH, USA (September 23): Robust social investment programs should be enacted in order to effectively stimulate the global economy and mitigate the impacts of the financial crisis on workers, women and the poor, concludes the international civil society network Social Watch in its 2009 Report. This will not only satisfy criteria of social justice but also is sound economic policy, states the Report, titled People First. The report will be launched today, September 23 at 12 noon at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Hotel (107 6th Street) in the run-up to the G-20 summit.
SODNET launched the Open Budget Index (OBI) Report in February of 2009 in Nairobi inviting participants from Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya. The Index is a measure of the level of accessibility of the budget to the citizen. 
SODNET is an indigenous organisation, established by Non-governmental Organization (NGOs) workers from Kenya as a facility for reflection and action by local groups on causes and consequences of poverty and disempowerment of communities. It aims at facilitating effective strategic alliances among interested people’s and social movements to influence policy-on issues of social development, in particular on resource management, globalisation and information. 
