In 2005, as a result of this unprecedented public pressure, leaders of the world's wealthiest countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia, known as the "Group of 8" or G8) made an historic set of commitments to Africa, promising substantial resources and setting ambitious targets to fight extreme poverty. Meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland at the G8 Summit, each head of state personally signed a Communiqué outlining their individual and collective commitments on development assistance, debt, trade, health, education, water and sanitation, governance and peace and security. If kept, these commitments will save tens of millions of lives and will help Africans promote their own economic development.
DATA knew that the Gleneagles commitments alone were not enough to "make poverty history", as the t-shirts and placards demanded. Nonetheless we applauded the G8's commitments because, if fully delivered, they will help Africa make serious progress towards halving extreme poverty and tackling disease in the best-governed African countries.
If the G8 keep their Gleneagles promises, it will mark a turning point for the continent and for the West's relationship with Africa.
The 2007 DATA Report is the second annual report monitoring the G8's progress in delivering its commitments to Africa by 2010.
Significantly, this year's report measures progress in 2006 - the year when policy changes agreed in 2005 should have begun to take effect.
This report is a measure of how seriously the G8 are taking their promises.
Visit the
DATA Report website to find out more about the report, it's findings and where the G8 must go from here.
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