ISTANBUL, May 12, 2011 (IPS) - Civil society groups have vowed to mobilise citizens of the world's poorest nations to take to the streets, rejecting the Istanbul Programme of Action agreed today by the Fourth U.N. Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

"The plan of action has no teeth and appears to have left the people living in the least developed countries in a worse position than before," said Arjun Karki, the spokesperson for the civil society forum at the conference, known as LDC-IV. "We are appalled and disillusioned," he said.

More than 800 million people live in the 48 countries are classified as least developed; 33 of these are found in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Programme of Action for the decade 2011 to 2020 declares that the ownership and primary responsibility for development lies with the least developed countries themselves. LDCs are called on to incorporate the Programme of Action into their national development strategies, plans and programmes and identifying the domestic authorities responsible for overseeing implementation and multi- stakeholder engagement by parliamentarians and the private sector.