Greece’s dramatic debt crisis earlier this year drew attention to the failure of the international financial architecture to deal with sovereign debt crises in an orderly, fair, and transparent way. Yet Greece ’s problem isn’t new. Many impoverished nations struggle under crushing debt burdens, risking default or paying debts at the expense of critical domestic needs.

However positive, past debt relief initiatives were far from a panacea for dealing with entrenched debt challenges for impoverished countries. Many countries struggling with massive poverty were excluded from these initiatives and the underlying issues that created the debt crises remained — and in some cases worsened due to the economic crisis.

This timely roundtable discussion will explore alternative proposals for fair and transparent arbitration, as well as strategize on ways that civil society can influence the renewed debate on how to approach sovereign debt workouts.

Roundtable panelists:

• Collins Magalasi, Executive Director of AFRODAD
• Tirivangani Mutazu, AFRODAD Program Officer responsible for Fair and Transparent Arbitration mechanism on debt campaign (FTA)
• Gail Hurley, Policy Specialist on Development Finance at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Please RSVP to Julia Dowling at julia@jubileeusa.org or 202.783.0214

*Feel free to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments will be provided.

This event is sponsored by Jubilee USA Network, New Rules for Global Finance, Africa Action, Institute for Policy Studies, and TransAfrica Forum.