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Africa: New Development Goals
AfricaFocus Bulletin
February 8, 2014 (140208)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Global income inequality stands at a very high level: eight per
cent of the world's population earns half the world's income, with
the remaining 92 per cent earning the other half. Such a
distribution is rightly viewed by global civil society networks as
unacceptably high, as it is both unjust and undermines development
progress." - Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
The process of gaining agreement on goals by international
conferences and debates is inevitably messy, as well as obscured by
compromise language and a plethora of acronyms. Agreement,
moreover, is no guarantee of implementation. Still, the effort to
specify measurable outcomes other than those within the dominant paradigm of
macroeconomic growth has made significant progress, setting
alternate frameworks for judging both national and international
progress or lack of progress.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) added elements such as
health, education, gender equality, and poverty to the agreed
international agenda. But the debate on the post-2015 agenda has
revealed major gaps that are now on the agenda for possible
incorporation in the next round. These include, for example, goals
that apply to all countries, not just to developing countries;
greater prominence and more explicit attention to sustainability,
and particularly the issue of climate change; and, notably, a
strong emphasis on the fact that gross inequality as well as
poverty must be eliminated. While the primary emphasis is on
inequalities within countries, global inequality is also being
explicitly targeted by many in the debate.
Among the multitude of agencies involved in international debates,
the UNDP has been the most consistent in challenging conventional
wisdoms and in opening up new topics for debate, such as through
its annual Human Development Reports.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from a recent speech by
Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP, at the London School of
Economics, highlighting key elements in the post-2015 development
agenda.
Other relevant sources are listed at the end of this Bulletin.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on economic issues, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/econexp.php
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"The next global development agenda: From aspiration to delivery"
21 Jan 2014
Helen Clark
The London School of Economics, International Growth Centre Public
Lecture
[Excerpts. Full text available at: http://www.undp.org / direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/on3sych]
...
My topic today is: "The Next Global Development Agenda: from
aspiration to delivery". Discussion on the renewed agenda is well
under way, with a view to it succeeding the MDGs from 2016.
The signs are that this agenda can be bolder than the MDGs were,
responding to the challenges faced by developed and developing
countries alike. It will be a sustainable development agenda with
poverty eradication as a central imperative.
The MDG agenda largely set targets for developing countries to
meet, with a partnership goal outlining measures which would
support development - from better trade rules to debt relief. A
Sustainable Development Goals agenda could be more transformational
- encouraging transitions to sustainable economies and societies by
all, and supporting developing countries with the means to make
those transitions.
Already the UN's Member States have agreed that the agenda should
have a "single framework and set of goals - universal in nature and
applicable to all countries, while taking account of differing
national circumstances and respecting national policies. It should
promote peace, and security, democratic governance, the rule of
law, gender equality, and human rights for all." Those were the
words of the outcome document of the leader-level meeting on the
MDGs and post-2015 last September in New York.
That document expresses a high level of ambition. The world would
be a better place if its aspirations could be delivered on. Are
Member States likely to agree on that agenda and on what it would
take to achieve it? What are the world's peoples saying about it?
What stands in the way of meeting them? Those are some of the
issues I will address in my lecture tonight.
The Global Challenges to Sustainable Development
These encompass but go well beyond the major environmental
challenges to include:
Persistently high income inequality, inequality of opportunity, and
other non-income disparities, together with significant numbers of
people still living in extreme poverty.
Equality was highlighted as a fundamental value in the United
Nations Millennium Declaration in 2000, when world leaders
acknowledged that: "in addition to our separate responsibilities to
our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to
uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the
global level."
Yet little progress has been made in combating inequality in its
various forms. Global income inequality stands at a very high
level: eight per cent of the world's population earns half the
world's income, with the remaining 92 per cent earning the other
half. Such a distribution is rightly viewed by global civil society
networks as unacceptably high, as it is both unjust and undermines
development progress.
Evidence suggests that income inequality impedes long-term growth;
is associated with poorer health outcomes; generates political
instability; contributes to higher rates of violence, including for
homicide; erodes social cohesion; and undermines the capacity for
the collective decision-making necessary for effective reform.
Economic exclusion compounded by political exclusion can be a toxic
mix - as a number of uprisings in recent years suggest.
Beyond income inequality, gender-related discrimination, and
inequalities related to geography, ethnicity, religion, age, and
disability - to name just a few - plague countries in both North
and South, and are detrimental to all. Using the inequalityadjusted
Human Development Index, which takes into account not only
the average achievements of a country on health, education, and
income, but also their distribution, the 2013 Human Development
Report concludes that the average loss to human development
worldwide due to inequality was 23 per cent.
The jobs crisis:
The ILO estimates that more than 34 million workers lost their jobs
with the onset of the global recession of 2008, and an additional
185 million workers joined the ranks of the working poor who
subsist on under US $2 dollars a day. Despite a moderate pick-up in
output growth expected for 2013-14, the number of unemployed
worldwide was projected to rise by 5.1 million last year to more
than 202 million, and by another three million this year. Six
hundred million more jobs are needed over the next fifteen years
just to keep unemployment rates at their current level.
Environmental degradation, including to climate, ecosystems, and
disasters associated with this:
These threaten the health and livelihoods of people around the
globe. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel
on Climate Change, issued last September, considered new evidence
and painted a grim picture. It noted that: "Continued emissions of
greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all
components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will
require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas
emissions."
The cost of action is high, but as Lord Stern and others have long
pointed out, the cost of inaction is higher. Natural disasters,
many, but not all of which are climate related are estimated to
have cost $2.5 trillion this century. The poorest people and
countries suffer the most impact.
War and Conflict:
The terrible events in the Central African Republic and South Sudan
in recent weeks have demonstrated yet again how devastating violent
conflict is for development. Syria is estimated to have lost 35
years of human development progress since its conflict began. Its
crisis has spillover effects in its sub-region. The destabilisation
in the Sahel following Libya's upheaval also shows how the impacts
of conflict are not neatly confined within national boundaries.
The World Bank estimates that more than one and a half billion
people around the world are living in countries affected by armed
conflict and fragility. But the ripple effects go much further - as
seen in the attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall, the London
underground, the Twin Towers attack, and more. Violent conflict is
a global concern wherever its origin.
As well, scarce resources needed for development are impacted on by
the scale of humanitarian relief required to save life and limb
where there is conflict and where peacekeeping forces are deployed.
The budget for UN peacekeeping operations for July 2013 - July 2014
was more than US$7.5 billion. The force in Darfur alone costs
US$1.36 billion per annum, in DRC US$1.46 billion, in South Sudan
close to US$ 1 billion, and over half a billion US dollars each in
Haiti and the Ivory Coast - the list goes on.
The cost of crime and citizen insecurity also has to be factored in
to the challenges faced globally. Many countries have precious
resources diverted from development to law and order enforcement.
Funding more comprehensive and developmental approaches to tackling
these problems was the subject of a UNDP Human Development Report
for Latin America released late last year.
Taken together, the big challenges facing us as a global community
call for a shift in the way we think about and do development: one
which brings together economic and social progress with
environmental sustainability, and specifically recognises the role
of peace and security, democratic governance, the rule of law,
gender-equality, and human rights - as was recognized by leaders
last September.
As well the absolute size of the emerging economies and their
populations and the interconnectedness and universal nature of
global challenges mean that the full engagement of both the world's
North and South are needed on new pathways to development which are
sustainable and inclusive.
The Global Conversation About the Next Agenda
Although the MDGs were derived largely from the intergovernmentally
negotiated Millennium Declaration, their targets and
indicators were largely determined by a relatively small group of
insiders.
...
A review of "What Makes International Agreements Work" done by New
York University and the Overseas Development Institute last year
concluded that, "multilateral agreements that bring a range of
actors into the process to support the accord, including domestic
actors like government officials and civil society groups, are more
likely to be agreed and implemented." This was precisely why the UN
development system's initiated the "global conversation" on what
people want in the post-2015 agenda.
To date, over 1.7 million people from more than 190 countries are
estimated to have been engaged - through national consultations,
consultations on major themes which could be included in the
agenda, and through the global MY World survey which asked people
to rank their priorities for the new agenda. Among the main
messages were the following:
1. Don't give up on the MDGs. Eradicating poverty and hunger,
achieving gender equality, and improving health and education
services remain very high in people's priorities. They want these
issues to continue to be addressed directly now and in the future.
At the same time people ask that we learn from and build on the
existing goals. They call for a greater emphasis on the quality of
basic services — not just access to them. It is not just the number
of children in schools that matter, but what they learn. People
have also expressed a clear desire to 'raise the bar' for the next
set of goals. In education, for example, people are calling for the
next framework to include early childhood and secondary education
and vocational training.
2. Tackle inequalities in all their dimensions. In the 88 national
consultations, people aired their frustration with inequality in
all its forms, and expressed their desire for dignity and respect
for all. In recognizing the multiple dimensions of poverty, they
conveyed a clear sense that our world is deeply unfair, and that
the dynamics of power and exclusion have left certain people,
groups, and countries behind. These groups become invisible when
numbers, percentages, and rates of progress are reported. As one
leader in Ghana noted, "I can't very well go back and tell my
village that they are seven per cent better off than they were last
year."
The clear message was that governments and all their partners and
stakeholders should work to reduce inequalities between women and
men, rural and urban areas, ethnic and religious groups, rich and
poor, and on all other dimensions. A compelling call was made for
the empowerment and advancement of women and girls, investment in
their education and health, and for ensuring that their rights,
including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, are
upheld.
3. Prioritise decent work and livelihoods. Another strong call was
for opportunities for decent work. People spoke of the impact of
breadwinners having to leave family members behind on small plots
of land, while they went elsewhere for work. They spoke of the
impact on young people of a lack of work and livelihoods. People
reported taking jobs — any jobs — regardless of dangerous
conditions, mistreatment, or whether the job was just for a day or
a few hours. The strong message was to include decent work as a
core development objective in the new framework.
4. A desire for better governance. In almost all countries and
across the thematic discussions, people called for more honest and
effective government, and for a say in the decisions which affect
them. They want governments which can deliver decent public
services, manage natural resources sustainably and fairly, and
facilitate peace and security. Participants from every region have,
in the global MY World survey, consistently ranked honest and
responsive government among their highest priorities.
5. A call for a more transformational and universal agenda. People
are seeing the way the world is going as unsustainable. They cited
the rapid onset of climate change and mismanagement of natural
resources as reasons why their societies were becoming more unequal
and less secure. They want environmental sustainability
incorporated alongside economic and social development in the new
framework.
People were well aware that addressing growing inequalities and
unsustainable practices will require transformational change by all
countries and co-ordinated global action. They want action on
carbon emissions and all other forms of environmental degradation.
They want the new agenda to be based on the universal values
expressed in the Millennium Declaration - including human rights,
equality, and justice. They want factors damaging the global
economy, like excessive volatility, illicit financial flows, and
tax havens operating with impunity, to be acted on. In this and
other ways, the call is for a new agenda which reflects new
realities and tackles shared challenges.
6. The call for an accountability revolution. Those who've been
engaged in the conversation want to stay engaged to ensure that
their views are taken into account, monitor the real time progress
in their countries, and to hold their governments accountable for
results. Echoing the Secretary-General's High Level Panel, they
have called for a revolution in data, - so that regularly updated,
reliable, and disaggregated data is available about their
communities, countries, and world. They see a data revolution as
the foundation for an accountability revolution.
...
The Process from here?
Since early last year, an Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals, appointed by the UN General Assembly, has been
meeting to formulate proposals for post-2015. It is expected to
report by September this year. Parallel to that an expert group on
financing for sustainable development is also meeting.
Before the end of the year the UN Secretary-General will bring a
synthesis report to the General Assembly on all the inputs to date
to support the Member State negotiations to be launched next
September. The aim is to have world leaders agree on a new agenda
at a world leader's summit in September 2015.
...
While much of the detailed work to establish practical goals,
targets, and a supporting framework is yet to be done, a number of
themes are clear.
1. "Leaving no one behind" has a lot of traction - as it should
have. That could include goals to eradicate poverty by 2030, to
eliminate chronic hunger, to end avoidable child deaths, to extend
access to essential services like health cover to all citizens, and
more.
But delivering on such goals requires reaching those living in
fragile countries and remote areas, and all those affected by
violence, discrimination, exclusion, and extreme poverty. Estimates
of the extent of the concentration of extreme poverty in fragile
states range upwards from one-third of the global total today, to
projections of fifty per cent by 2018, and two-thirds and upwards
by 2030. The eradication of extreme poverty cannot be achieved if
parts of our world continue to be wracked by violent conflict and
fragility - and by gross inequality, including that based on
gender.
...
2. Tackling inequalities, however, is a broader agenda than
"leaving no one behind." Many types of inequalities have been
increasing, including where economic growth and poverty reduction
have been rapid. The problem affects countries across the
development spectrum. It cannot be satisfactorily addressed only by
social policies endeavoring to mitigate its effects. Inclusive,
job-rich growth models are needed, along with fairer sets of rules
at the global level in a range of areas from trade to finance to
tackling climate change. In these ways, the ambitions which
post-2015 and the SDGs are likely to express are linked to progress
being made in other multilateral forums and to the development of a
more people-centred globalization.
3. This must be a truly sustainable development agenda, which
promotes economic and social progress without wrecking the
ecosystems we all depend on. Environmental sustainability must be
one of the cornerstones of the new agenda, and be integrated
throughout it. The growing problem of unsustainable production and
consumption patterns needs to be directly addressed.
The earth's resources ultimately sustain all life. Freshwater
resources will be shared between an additional two billion people
and the industries which service them by 2050. Providing sufficient
food, water, nutrition, and energy to all people in all countries
is a pressing global challenge now. Failure to provide these basics
has human development and even security implications.
...
Advancing the agenda; some key points
1. Target setting: The MDGs were time bound, measurable, and easy
to communicate. That helps an agenda get traction. But the targets
have not always been a good match with national or local contexts,
because they were established as global targets and on the basis of
global trends. To be most relevant, targets often need to be
localized to reflect what can be achieved - which may be more or
less than the indicative global targets suggest.
...
2. Partnerships and mutual accountability: Big partnerships across
governments and many non-state actors - civil society, NGOs,
academia, the private sector - are needed to make a global agenda
move. Should an accountability framework go beyond the usual
suspects - governments - to include the non-state actors? The High
Level Panel argued that as the number and importance of non-state
development actors grows, including them is essential for the
effectiveness of the agenda. They suggest indicative targets to
incentivise businesses, for example, to adopt transparent and green
accounting practices and codes of behaviour which strengthen
accountability norms.
For Member States it will be important to define what "common but
differentiated responsibility" for a universal and transformational
sustainable development agenda means. It could mean, for example
that:
- developing countries, particularly the poorest, look for a
commitment from developed countries to provide "bedrock" public
financing for sustainable development, which would be used in a
catalytic way to attract and grow new sources of financing. That
would mean the provision of reliable and sufficient levels of ODA,
along with specific funding to enable poor countries to deal with
pressing global and developmental challenges, including climate
change. At some point, this must mean taking an overview of all
funding streams - climate finance for addressing adaptation and
mitigation, for example, is directly related to advancing
sustainable development.
- developing countries could commit to implement and fund,
according to their abilities, transitions to sustainable
development - raising and allocating their own resources, but with
funding support for poorer countries as outlined above, and with
middle income countries assuming a greater share of the burden of
tackling global challenges. All developing countries, however, will
want to see firm commitments made by developed countries to
technology transfer, knowledge sharing, and capacity building. The
developed North will also need to lead the way in adopting
sustainable consumption and production patterns at home.
...
Sources for More Information
High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development
Agenda
http://www.post2015hlp.org/
The World We Want
http://www.worldwewant2015.org/
On-line consultations on post-2015 development agenda
Millennium Development Goals and post-2015 Development Agenda
http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml
Development goals post 2015: Reduce Inequality, by Lars Engberg-Pedersen
Danish Institute for International Studies Policy Brief, April 2013
http://tinyurl.com/my4wslx
Recommends national and global use of the "Palma ratio," that is,
the income share of the top 10 percent to that of the bottom 40
percent.
"Righting" the Development Agenda, by Robert Bissio
Development Dialogue Paper September 2013
http://tinyurl.com/n8w7zqq
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