Financing for development (FfD) is about how domestic and international resources contribute - or don't, in some cases - to ensure that all countries are able to meet the Millennium Development Goals and eradicate poverty. It encompasses aid, trade, debt relief, international and national finance, domestic budgeting and global governance. At the Monterrey Conference in 2002, wealthy and poor countries pledged concrete actions towards funding development. Progress was reviewed in Doha between November 29 and December 2, 2008. Ahead of this U.N. summit, a parallel process of multi-stakeholders, the U.N. Development Cooperation Forum, took place in July. Even though gender equality is essential to ensure poverty eradication, women's empowerment, and effective development, the FfD process has not yet led to any substantial change in the feminisation of poverty. As 2008 was a year of stock-taking, activists seized their chance. Gender was high on the FfD agenda.