To ensure a sense and spirit of solidarity between women, faith and development agencies, Steering Committee members developed an Asia Pacific Breakthrough Declaration which was included in the printed Asia Pacific Breakthrough Program and read out at the Parliament of the World’s Religions as a statement of hope and vision:

We, leaders representing communities of women, faith, and development, commit ourselves today at the historic Asia Pacific Breakthrough Summit to join with one another in new ways to create a world in which women and men, boys and girls, everywhere can share equally in the care of their families, can exercise the right to dignity and freedom from violence, have opportunities for productive livelihoods, exercise decision-making that affects their lives, and have the joys of the human experience.

We know that women and girls must be at the centre of efforts to end global poverty and together we commit ourselves and call upon individuals, organisations and governments everywhere to increase resources for the advancement of women and girls.

We commit ourselves to examining our own histories, attitudes, policies, practices, and programs to ensure that we are responding to the voices of women and girls and shaping our work to engage them fully as creative agents of change in their own lives.

We claim our responsibility and our power to create a different world where women and men, boys and girls can grow into their full humanity.

As we gather here today, young and old, from all parts of the world, representing all races and all faiths, we make this promise to the children of today and the future:

No longer will a woman fear for her safety, no longer will a girl be shuttered from a school, no longer will a mother die in childbirth, no longer will a wife bear the mark of her husband’s hand upon her face, no longer will a single mother choose between food or shelter for her children, no longer will a woman be denied her right to have a job or be elected to lead her community, no longer will we deny the dreams and hopes of millions because they were born a girl.

We will work until it shall be.