ENDING poverty - Save the Children

3 CREATING SUPPORTIVE AND
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS
Save the Children’s six priority goals were
presented in Chapter 2. These goals are
informed by extensive experience working
on child development around the world.
They are the building blocks of a healthy and
productive life.
In this chapter we present four additional goals,
which will help to create a supportive and sustainable
environment for human development, encompassing
resourcing and issues of environmental sustainability,
disaster reduction and energy access. Our proposals
are complemented by, and in places heavily draw on,
the work of other specialist organisations, such as
environmental agencies. They also build upon preexisting
initiatives and commitments, such as the
United Nations Secretary-General’s Energy for All
initiative, and the Global Partnership for Effective
Development Cooperation.
GOAL 7: BY 2030 WE WILL HAVE
ROBUST GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
FOR MORE AND EFFECTIVE USE OF
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Adequate resourcing is not sufficient in itself to
ensure human development, but it is certainly
necessary. Low-income countries by definition
are working with an income of less than about
$1,000 per person per year, which generates
massive challenges of a type largely forgotten in
developed countries.
In 2005, additional funding necessary to meet the
MDGs was calculated at $50 billion per year. Through
such calculations and related political pressure, the
existence of the MDGs appears to have led to an
uplift in funding, both from domestic sources and
from donors. 1
For developed countries, finance here is most
obviously about aid. At its best, aid comprises
finance specifically targeted at human development.
Developed countries committed in the 1970s to
give 0.7% of their national wealth as aid. A handful
of countries have passed this target – for example,
Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden – and a handful
of others, including the UK, are on track to reach
it soon. 2 It is vital that others follow suit. In some
low-income countries aid provides a quarter of the
education budget. 3
The quality of aid is as important as its quantity.
Ensuring quality is vital for making the most of the
resources available. If all countries provided aid
transparently the efficiency gains could be equivalent
to an additional US$3 billion. Untying aid can increase
its value by 15–30%.
However, international finance for development is
no longer solely about developed countries giving
aid to developing countries. South–south financial
co-operation, where southern countries negotiate
financing deals for mutual benefit, is increasing rapidly.
It was believed to be around $12–14 billion in 2008,
although a lack of available data makes the overall
value of this activity hard to estimate. 4 Foreign direct
investment (FDI) is also a key driver of development
– stimulating local economic growth, job creation and
infrastructural development. In 2010 FDI overtook
overseas development assistance as the primary
source of international capital into Africa. 5
The role of the private sector is clearly important, and
questions remain over the nature and extent of the
benefits of FDI in low-income countries in particular. 6
Three steps to ensure a more positive development
impact can be identified:
1. measures to ensure all firms apply a ‘do no
harm’ approach to their core business (through
evaluating and disclosing social impacts of their
products, such as breast milk substitutes); to
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