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CONTENTS3ContentsFOREWORDS8 A new transformative agendaBy Jan Eliasson, UN Deputy Secretary-General10 Delivering on bold ambitionsfor equity and sustainabilityBy Helen Clark, Administrator, United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP)12 A duty to societyBy Georg Kell, Executive Director, UN Global Compact16 A movement to save the worldBy Ricken Patel, Founder and Executive Director, AvaazINTRODUCTION18 From global goals to global actionBy Jeremy Greenstock, Chairman, UNA-UK andNatalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director, UNA-UKFUNDING DEVELOPMENT22 Financing development goalsThe Millennium Development Goals have achievedmore than most could have imagined. The SustainableDevelopment Goals aspire to much more.By Mahmoud Mohieldin26 Aid for development, not influenceThe effectiveness of aid has been undermined by its useas a foreign policy tool. How must the aid relationshipchange? By Talaat Abdel-Malek29 MDG 8: DEVELOP A GLOBALPARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT30 Relieving the debt burdenNumerous countries have been rendered incapable ofdevelopment through overwhelming levels of nationaldebt. By Cephas Lumina34 Tax systems to support developmentHow can an effective, fair global tax system be createdthat will allow funds to be retained for development?By Jo Marie Griesgraber38 Making decent work and inclusive growth a realityMeaningful, fair-paid and safe jobs should be at the heartof an inclusive, equitable and sustainable developmentagenda. By Guy Ryder42 Financing essential infrastructure in Latin Americaand the CaribbeanEncouraging private sector investment can transform thegrowth prospects of developing countries. By Arturo J.Galindo, Leopoldo Laborda Castillo and Verónica Zavala47 Quality financial services for allFinancial Inclusion 2020 – a world in which all peoplehave the tools they need to manage their resources.By Elisabeth RhyneFROM AID TO COOPERATION11050 Collaboration is the ‘new normal’As development goals become increasingly dependenton partnerships, how can the barriers be broken down toenable effective, concerted action? By Darian StibbeGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


CONTENTS5102 Where governments falter – the role of theprivate sectorIt is in the interests of the private sector to make up forthe shortcomings of the government. However, success isdependent on a multi-stakeholder approach and thereare dangers in assuming the role of the state.By Mark Moody-Stuart106 The scourge of illicit financial flowsStopping the illegal flow of money away from developingcountries is key to achieving the aims of peace, humanrights and development established at the UN’s creation.By Raymond Baker and Tom Cardamone110 Environment and economic growth:inevitable conflict?Green growth and deep decarbonisation will be key todetermining an inclusive and sustainable future for theplanet. By Germana Canzi and John Tkacik113 MDG 7: ENSURE ENVIRONMENTALSUSTAINABILITYSHARING KNOWLEDGE114 Access to medicines: collaborating on patents,investing in researchWhen the medicines required are the product ofexpensive research, what mechanisms can ensure theright to health of the world’s poorest? By MandeepDhaliwal, Katie Kirk and Tenu Avafia38155118 MDG 4: REDUCE CHILD MORTALITYMDG 5: IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTHMDG 6: COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA ANDOTHER DISEASES120 Harnessing the data revolutionWhat will it take to transform data and technology intoimproved development outcomes?By Nancy McGuire Choi125 MDG 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSALPRIMARY EDUCATION126 The foundation for developmentEducation is a powerful catalyst for developmentoutcomes – the post-2015 agenda should give it dueprominence By Pauline Rose130 Making Goal 16 workThe new set of Sustainable Development Goals includesa commitment to peaceful and inclusive societies, accessto justice, and effective and accountable institutions –how might this be put into practice? By Phil Vernon134 ICTs open doorsThe post-2015 agenda must foster smart technologypolicies for developing countries. By Brahima Sanou138 Strengthening water utilities throughpeer-support partnershipsAlthough the goal on water (MDG 7.C) was met fiveyears ahead of target, 700 million are still withoutdrinking water and 2.5 billion lack access to basicsanitation. By Faraj El-AwarGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


UNITED N ATIONS CONFERENC E ON T RADE A ND D EVELOPMENTTHE FORUM FOR GLOBAL INVESTMENT STAKEHOLDERS50WORLDINVESTMENTFORUM 2014High relevance: Forging investment solutions to meet globalsustainable development challengesHigh level: Government leaders, global corporate executives,heads of international organizations and thought leadersHigh benefit: Networking and global media coverageHigh value: No fee for participantsINVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTSee programme and register at http://unctad-worldinvestmentforum.org/. Organized by UNCTAD.For further information, contact the Division on Investment and Enterprise at wif@unctad.org.


8 FOREWORD© Jiro Ose/UNICEFGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FOREWORD9A new transformative agendaBuilding on the lessons of the MDGs, the world must now completethe task of ending extreme poverty. The complex and interdependentcontributing factors demand a collaborative and innovative responseBy Jan Eliasson,Deputy Secretary-General of the United NationsAt the beginning of the millennium, worldleaders launched an ambitious global missionto reduce poverty and enhance humandevelopment. The Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), an eight-point blueprint for a better world,aimed inter alia to provide basic education, healthcareand access to safe drinking water and sanitation for theworld’s poorest people by 2015.The good news is that during this period the worldhas succeeded in halving extreme poverty, thanks inlarge part to economic advances in the developingworld, particularly in Asia. Significant progress hasalso been made towards many of the other MDGs.Yet, with the 2015 deadline approaching, muchmore must be done, especially in and for the poorestcountries and those mired in conflict. We are countingon Member States, civil society, the private sector andother partners to redouble their efforts in the time thatremains. As we look ahead, we may face developmentchallenges that are more complex and daunting thanever before. There are still roughly one billion peopleliving on less than $1.25 per day, more than half ofthem living in middle-income countries.Further, the inroads against hunger and disease willbecome unsustainable if we do not take measures toslow and eventually halt environmental destructionand climate change. The poorest are the mostvulnerable to natural disasters and to extreme weatherand climate patterns. Sustained social and economicprogress depends fundamentally on the health of ourplanet and its ecosystems.Human ingenuity must rise to the challengeand provide solutions. Innovative public-privatecollaboration will be crucial. The resources of thepublic sector are outweighed by the vast wealth ofknowledge, technology and finance that exist withinthe private sector, foundations, charities, NGOs andindividuals. While public finance remains critical forhelping poorer countries and for creating the rightenvironment for private investment, we must do moreto harness these resources.Member States recently came together at the UnitedNations in an Open Working Group, as mandated atthe 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Developmentin Rio de Janeiro, to develop and propose a set ofSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the periodbeyond 2015.These new proposed goals are aimed at endingextreme poverty in less than a generation. They arealso focused on transforming economies, rising globalinequalities, climate change, degradation of the Earth’soceans and other ecosystems, and on the key role ofinstitutions and the rule of law in development.Cooperation and partnerships have played a vitalrole in our efforts to achieve the MDGs. Partnershipson maternal health, hunger, water, sanitation, energyand education have mobilised knowledge, expertise,and financial and human resources. Such inclusiveapproaches have also featured innovative mechanismsfor financing and accountability. They will remaincrucial for the success of the SDGs and the post-2015development agenda.It is no exaggeration to describe the gains throughthe MDGs as the most successful anti-poverty push inhistory. Our duty now is to build on that experience,take on the unfinished tasks, keep ambition high andarrive at a new transformative agenda that will inspireand mobilise the world.This will require new levels of investment andaccountability, as well as leadership and solidarity.As challenging as this will be, I am convinced thattogether we can build a peaceful, equitable andsustainable future – a world of dignity for all.Jan Eliassontaking part in a videomessage for the WASHprogramme (water,sanitation and hygiene)at Dima Guranda PrimarySchool, EthiopiaGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


10 FOREWORDDelivering on bold ambitionsfor equity and sustainabilityWith strong partnerships and goodwill, we can work fora world free from the tragedies that dominate today’s headlines© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FOREWORD11By Helen Clark, Administrator, United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP)The post-2015 development agenda needs tobe bold and transformational if the world isto succeed in eradicating poverty in all itsdimensions and in achieving sustainable development.The next global agenda must therefore notonly complete the unfinished business of the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also gofurther to ensure that no one is left behind. Currentproposals envisage a world free of extreme poverty,where no child is out of school, and no one is hungryor malnourished. There is broad agreement that itshould be a universal agenda, promoting sustainabledevelopment which delivers economic and socialprogress within nature’s boundaries.The level of ambition being expressed by UNMember States and stakeholders and citizens aroundthe world is encouraging. Yet, as the decisive year fornegotiations on the new agenda looms, importantquestions remain. Will the future agenda pursuesustainability based on inclusive, equitable, andpeaceful societies? Will it address high levels ofinequality and marginalisation around the world?Will it tackle vital issues like the rule of law, access tojustice, and accountable governance? Will it addressdisaster risk reduction and the drivers of conflict?These are important questions. Human developmentis not just about lifting people out of poverty. It isabout making their escape permanent and enablingthem to reach their full potential. Societies which arenot inclusive and stable, and which lack resilience toshocks, do experience development setbacks.In July 2014, the Open Working Group onSustainable Development Goals, appointed by the UNGeneral Assembly, completed its report on the shapeof the post-2015 agenda. It includes a proposed goal topromote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainabledevelopment; provide access to justice for all; and buildeffective, accountable and inclusive institutions at alllevels. The targets it recommends include tacklingcorruption, promoting the rule of law and participatoryand representative decision-making, and supportingand enforcing laws against discrimination. There arealso a number of useful references to the importance ofdisaster risk reduction to sustainable development.The report represents a welcome recognition of theneed to address the drivers of long-term development.If the cycle of major humanitarian crises is to bebroken, more peaceful, cohesive, and resilient nationsthat can sustain development progress need to be built.Significant deficits in governance, major inequalitiesand exclusions, and unmitigated exposure to naturaldisasters are setting countries back time and timeagain. But these deficits can be tackled.Prioritising these areas in the post-2015 agendawould be a major step in the right direction. UNDPknows that progress on these matters is possible. Manycountries, with UNDP assistance, are expanding accessto justice; establishing more effective institutions;conducting fair and transparent elections; promotingopen dialogue with civil society; strengtheningparliaments; and meeting their human rightsobligations. We see this work as an investment indevelopment, peace, stability and prosperity.So where next for the post-2015 agenda?The Open Working Group report is an importantstep on a long journey. The UN Secretary-Generalwill now produce a synthesis report on the post-2015 process so far. Member States will begin theirnegotiations. The aim is to have a new agenda forworld leaders to sign in New York in September 2015.I am proud to have been among those Heads ofGovernment who signed the Millennium Declarationin 2000, which led to the MDGs. As the currentgeneration of leaders strives to agree a new agenda, themagnitude of their task should not be underestimated.We live in a multipolar world with many fractures.The world needs a sea changein inclusive and effectivegovernance, equity, humanrights, and the rule of lawMultilateralism is under a lot of pressure. It has notproved easy to negotiate outcomes in major multilateraltrade and climate talks – to mention only a fewexamples. Many of the key issues involved in buildingpeaceful and cohesive societies and the rule of laware considered controversial in some quarters. Theongoing resistance by some to the full empowermentand equality of women, for example, or to sexual andreproductive health and rights, is disturbing.It is my hope that with strong partnerships andgoodwill, we can work to create a world where we nolonger see complex emergencies and crises like thoseof today dominating our headlines. To achieve that,the world needs a sea change in inclusive and effectivegovernance, equity, human rights, and the rule oflaw. It is to be hoped that the post-2015 agenda cancontribute to achieving that.Rescued migrantsfrom sub-Saharan Africaon board an Italiannaval vessel in theMediterraneanSea, south of SicilyGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


12 FOREWORDA duty to societyIn the post-2015 era, companies everywhere must do more ofwhat is socially just and sustainable, and put an end to what is not© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FOREWORD13By Georg Kell, Executive Director, UN Global CompactAs the UN embarks on the unique project todesign a set of global development goals thatwill meet the dual challenges of overcomingpoverty and protecting the planet, this process providesa historic opportunity to shape how business operatesand contributes to sustainability in the coming decades.Now, the challenge is to transition from incrementalprogress to transformative impact on marketsand societies. Doing so will require aligning andscaling up corporate sustainability efforts withina global architecture designed to drive businessaction and partnerships on a massive scale. The UNGlobal Compact is among the UN entities holdingconsultations on the post-2015 development agenda, toengage business participants and key stakeholders in itsdevelopment and implementation leading up to 2015and beyond.A global movement toward sustainabilityThe post-2015 development process occurs at amoment of transition for much of the businesscommunity. A global movement is underway, changingmarkets from within. In an interdependent andtransparent world, it is increasingly true that long-termfinancial success goes hand-in-hand with social andenvironmental responsibility and sound ethics.Environmental, social and governance challengesaffect the bottom line. Market disturbances, socialunrest and ecological devastation have real impactson business vis-à-vis supply chains, capital flows andemployee productivity.As traditional boundaries between public and privategoods have become blurred in a globalised world,business is expected to do more in areas that werepreviously the exclusive domain of the public sector– ranging from health and education, to communityinvestment and environmental stewardship. Asplanetary limitations put a premium on natural goodssuch as air, water and biodiversity, fundamentalquestions of valuation and accounting are gainingrelevance. This will only intensify the strategic natureof the movement.Understanding that business can no longer simplyoutsource responsibility and in-source economicbenefits, corporate foreign direct investment (FDI) hasundergone a transformation. Not long ago, companiesinvested to source cheap inputs from the developingworld. As economic growth has migrated to the Eastand South, companies are increasingly evolving frombeing resource takers to market builders, where theyhave a direct stake in building healthy societies.More and more companies see themselves asstakeholders in these societies for the long run,knowing that they cannot thrive in societies thatfail. Thus, issues like skilled labour, rule of law andresource scarcity are understood by business to bestrategic for long-term success.As a result, there is now an expanding group ofenterprises whose policies and behaviour are directlylinked to sustainable development. Fundamentally,they recognise that what is good for societies and theplanet is also good for business.Scaling up actionAt the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2013 inNew York, an ‘architecture’ was unveiled to engagecompanies large and small to advance the post-2015agenda. Individual companies, investors, governmentsand civil society all have a role to play when it comesto scaling up business action and contributing tosustainable development. The building blocks of thisPost-2015 Business Engagement Architecture set afoundation for long-term value for both business andsociety, and turning business into a truly transformativeforce in the post-2015 era.Business co-investment and collaboration in solutionsthat produce shared value for business and societywill be key to scaling up corporate sustainability. Aproliferation of networks and initiatives has emergedin the past decade designed to spur action and supportcollaboration among companies.Organisations like the UN Global Compact, GlobalReporting Initiative, World Business Council forSustainable Development and others, which facilitatecollaboration and collective action among companiesand other stakeholders based on issue, sector and/or geography, can provide meaningful platforms foraction and partnership on the path toward bringingbusiness engagement to scale:●●Issue platforms: Companies are collaboratingto tackle major societal challenges through issueplatforms and initiatives – for example on gender,peace, climate, water, food and children’s rights. Bypooling resources and sharing risks, issue platformsrepresent one of the key means by which companiescan come together to collaborate and co-invest insolutions to shared, systemic challenges. Our Caringfor Climate initiative and Women’s EmpowermentPrinciples are the largest business-led platforms intheir respective areas – bringing more than 1,000companies to the table.●●Local networks: The Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) will likely place even greater emphasisA child plays in foamon a polluted canal inJakarta, Indonesia. Oneway that companiescan address societalproblems is throughissue platforms, such ason water qualityGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


14 FOREWORDfacilitate partnerships in the areas of anti-corruption,climate and energy, social enterprise, water andUN-business, with more than 250 projects and 300organisations connecting online.UN-led multi-stakeholder initiatives, in which theUN Secretary-General has taken the lead on engagingbusiness and investors with government, philanthropyand civil society in areas such as women’s and children’shealth, sustainable energy, and food and nutrition; andbusiness-sector initiatives, where companies in variousindustries jointly tackle sustainability challengesspecific to their sector, are also energising business andhelping to scale up engagement and investments fromall participants.A survivor of the RanaPlaza factory collapse.The disaster, which killedmore than 1,130 people,was one of a series tohit the Bangladeshigarment industry. Inresponse, the Accord onFire and Building Safetyin Bangladesh, a legallybinding agreement toprotect workers’ safety,was set up betweenlabour organisations,NGOs and textileretailers. More than1,600 factories arecovered by the accordon national implementation than the MillenniumDevelopment Goals did. Multi-sector, responsible,business-led councils like the Global CompactLocal Networks have the potential to applypost-2015 elements to a country-level analysis ofpolicies and tactics. As such, they can lend notableassistance to governmental decision-making. Thislocal implementation of global goals will also placeemphasis on engaging small and medium-sizedenterprises and upgrading their capacities.●●Technology-powered partnership hubs:Technology-based platforms can add scale topartnership efforts by facilitating more effectivematchmaking and sharing of information –thereby delivering significant multiplier effectsand accelerating the rate of change. Partnershipscan leverage technology and unite parties aroundspecific projects and solutions that can be rapidlyscaled up by sector, issue and/or geography. TheUN Global Compact Business Partnership Hubutilises digital technology and map-based analytics to© ReutersToward 2015 and beyondIn order to make continued progress, companieseverywhere must do more of what is sustainable andput an end to what is not. Corporate sustainabilityshould be firmly embedded in the DNA of businessculture and operations. And companies will need topush beyond first-mover approaches and embracepartnerships and collective action initiatives that unitepeers and other stakeholders. Co-investing will allowcompanies to share the risks in navigating systemicchallenges that no single company can overcome, suchas corruption or water scarcity.Decisions by business leaders to pursue sustainabilitycan make all of the difference. The good news is thatenlightened companies – which comprise major portionsof the global marketplace – have shown that they arewilling to be part of the solution and are moving aheadregardless. What is clear is that they will only get so farunless actions are taken by a range of actors.On a promising note for the future of the business–society union is that, of 1,000 Global CompactCEOs surveyed last year, 84 per cent believe thatbusiness should play a leading role in addressing globalpriority issues.Hopefully, business will have an enormousopportunity to ‘make good’ on this commitment, as theSDGs are likely to call for even greater transformationin how the world collaborates on shared priorities.The post-2015 agenda has the power to spur actionby all key actors, with the private sector having animportant role. These goals and targets could resultin a framework for businesses to measure theirown sustainability progress and help them establishcorporate goals aligned with global priorities. Toensure their success, we must work together to makeresponsible business a transformative force in achievinga shared, secure and sustainable future.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


16 FOREWORD© UNICEF/NYHQ2014-0349/HoltGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FOREWORD17A movement to save the worldTo address the challenges we face and realise our vision of sustainabledevelopment, we need to build one of the largest, most comprehensiveand sustained political campaigns we have ever seenBy Ricken Patel, Founder andExecutive Director of AvaazSome 70 per cent of people believe the greatestchallenges that humanity has ever faced areconverging right now. Many experts agree,with thinkers like Jeremy Rifkin giving humanity a50/50 chance of survival over the next century. Withglobal warming alone, we are rushing headlong intocatastrophic feedback loops and tipping points in ourclimate system that could threaten human life on earth.At some deep level, I think we all know howenormously fragile, delicately interdependent, anddangerously unsustainable the civilisation we’vebuilt is. And that saving it is going to need all ofus to do better than we have. Choosing love overfear more often in our individual lives, collectivelyembracing a politics of community and cooperationover demonisation and division, and raising ourconsciousness to higher levels to understand all thevastly complex ways in which our fates our intertwined,not just with each other, but with the natural world.Tremendous progress has been achieved over thepast few decades. Democracy, poverty, literacy, thestatus of women, incidence of war and deaths inwar, even crime rates are improving at breakneck,historic pace. Our levels of education and emotionalintelligence are rising fast. There is every reasonto hope.But we are at a tipping point. The world isthreatened by multiple crises that require collectiveaction. They could split us apart or bring us togetherlike never before. Unless we offer a viable vision ofcommunity and cooperation that delivers the visionand results that people need, there is another kind ofpolitics waiting. The old politics of demonisation anddivision that blames the ‘other’ for the insecurity wefeel. That way, lies disaster.It’s the challenge of our time to meet this momentwith the best within us, and we can. The vision putforward by the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda is a beautiful one, and oneI believe the vast majority of people share. But nowcomes the hard part: getting our governments to getbehind this plan, first rhetorically, and then with actualbudgets and political will. And to stay behind it untilthe job is done.To make that happen, we need one of the largest,most comprehensive and sustained political campaignsthe world has ever seen. One that captures publicimagination like never before.It won’t be a single campaign or coalition that doesthis, but a vibrant network of governments, NGOs,businesses and individuals that come together aroundNow comes the hard part:getting our governments toget behind this plan… withactual budgets and political willthis shared vision and coalesce into fit-for-purposegroups as needed, to seize opportunities and meetthreats. These groups will need to use every tactic inthe book, because that’s what entrenched interests whooppose progress will be doing. The threads that tie allthis together likely won’t be a single brand, but memesand narratives that define and embody the zeitgeist.One popular meme, often offered tongue-in-check,is the idea of saving the world. It’s a narrative deep inour psyche, the theme of many of our most popularepics. But if ever there were a time to use this memeand its power in all seriousness, it’s now. It’s time for amovement to save the world.Refugees displacedby recent fighting queueto collect food rations inthe town of Mingkaman,South Sudan, a countrywhere some 4.9 millionpeople are in needof humanitarianassistance due toviolence and unrestGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


18 INTRODUCTION© ReutersFrom global goalsto global actionTo date, more than a million people, governmentsand organisations from across the world havecontributed to drafting Sustainable DevelopmentGoals. We must maintain and increase this engagementas we plan how to make the Goals deliverBy Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Chairman, andNatalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director,United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK)2014 marks the centenary of the First World Warand the 75th anniversary of the renewed outbreakof conflict in 1939. The experience of two ‘warsto end all wars’ in one generation spurred governments,even as they were still fighting, to begin to lay thefoundations for peace. In 1945, the United Nationswas born, conceived as a means for states to solve theirdisputes and to tackle problems collectively.The immediate challenges were immense. Largeswathes of Europe and Asia had been reduced to ruins.Millions were homeless and starving. Living standardsin what had been some of the wealthiest countries werepushed back by over a decade.War remains the greatest wrecker of development.Conflict-affected states take up most of the placesat the very bottom of the UN DevelopmentProgramme’s Human Development Index. They lag,or have fallen behind, on many of the MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG) targets. People in conflict-GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


INTRODUCTION19affected countries are more than twice as likely to beundernourished than in other developing countries andto see their children die before the age of five. Syria’sbrutal conflict is said to have put the country back by35 years in development terms.The UN’s mission has always been aboutdevelopment as much as peace. Today, it faces manyof the challenges it confronted in its early years – bigpower tensions, disease outbreaks and the largestnumber of refugees since 1945. The main difference,other than climate change, which is no longer‘existential threat’ but ‘existential reality’, is ourinterconnectedness.It is often said that we live in a ‘global world’, whereevents in any one country have the potential to affectothers. According to the 2011 World DevelopmentReport, countries lose 0.7 per cent of their annualGDP for each conflict-affected neighbour. Crop failurein Thailand could trigger rice shortages in Nigeria. Aflood in Bangladesh could affect the clothing industryaround the world. Investing in least-developedcountries, meanwhile, could contribute significantly toglobal economic growth.Our global world has given us strengths as well asvulnerabilities. The most serious challenges we facecannot be solved by any one country alone. There isgreat power in our collective capacity to think andact, particularly through our global institutions. Theachievements of the MDGs, listed throughout thisvolume, are an example of that. But as our contributorsalso argue, we can and must do better. Creatingpeaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies willbenefit us all.One major criticism of the MDGs was that they wereconceived behind closed doors at the UN with little inputfrom governments, experts and practitioners, let alone thepeople they were intended to serve. This is certainly notthe case with the post-2015 development agenda.To date, over one million people have taken partin physical and online consultations on priorities forthe next set of development goals. This has beensupplemented by government, business and civil societymeetings on everything from the needs of small islanddeveloping states to the development concerns ofindigenous peoples.UNA-UK’s own contribution to the process includedthe first edition of Global Development Goals, whichanalysed the successes, gaps and challenges of theMDGs to produce ideas on how to improve theirsuccessors. This new publication shifts the focus from‘what’ to ‘how’, with sections on financing, deliveringresults, sharing knowledge, widening participation andmoving towards a development agenda that is trulyshared, in terms of responsibilities and benefits.These various strands were partially, and many wouldsay unsatisfactorily, addressed by MDG 8 on a globalpartnership for development. One key element of theproposals put forward by the Open Working Groupon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is thesignificant expansion of the global partnership goal andits relative importance.In their pieces, Amir Dossal, Michael O’Neill andDarian Stibbe set out why ‘partnerships’ – a word thatmeans very different things to different people – willbe essential to realising the ambitious vision containedin the draft SDGs, but only if they work and deliver toeveryone’s advantage. Mark Moody-Stuart and AnthonyHilton make the ‘business case’ for private sectorinvolvement, while Martin Chungong, Sharan Burrowand Mariana Rudge look at parliamentary, labour andcivil society engagement.Talaat Abdel-Malek, Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell andCephas Lumina strike notes of caution, challengingconcepts such as aid and cooperation, and mechanismslike debt relief initiatives. Gunilla Carlsson, meanwhile,puts an institutional challenge to the UN, askingChildren swim in awater-filled bomb craterin Aleppo, Syria. Thebrutal civil war has putthe country back35 years in termsof developmentGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


20 introDuCtionGlobalisation means that national or regional disastershave worldwide impacts: floods in Bangladesh could affectthe global clothing industryLeading by exampleTo date, the UK has been a leading player in the SDG process, withthe Prime Minister serving on the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015Development Agenda. The UK has also led by example by becoming, forinstance, one of just a handful of countries to meet the longstanding UNtarget of allocating 0.7% GNI to development assistance.The UK can build on its development record and multiply its impactby ensuring its own best practices are reflected in the new goals, bysetting an example in terms of rich-country responsibilities and bypromoting coordination among UN frameworks.UNA-UK believes the UK should:• Set out its vision of the institutional reforms needed to underpinthe new agenda, including clear commitments to strengthen the UN.• Encourage the post-2015 meetings on financing to produce clearrecommendations on traditional and non-traditional sources offunding.• Champion opportunities and mechanisms for ongoing public andparliamentary involvement in local-level design, delivery andmonitoring of the SDGs.• Call for early discussions on how the SDGs will relate to and reinforcethe global climate agreement due to be adopted in 2015.• Embrace the universality of the new SDGs framework and lead byexample, including by committing to outline its plan to achieverelevant targets in the UK context.© Reuterswhether our global system is capable of delivering onthe goals.Ideas for what we should do on tax, trade,remittances and data come from Jo Marie Griesgraber,Arancha González, Laura Thompson and NancyMcGuire Choi. Practical examples come from BrahimaSanou on ICTs, Faraj El-Awar on water partnershipsand Veena Khaleque on community knowledge sharingin Bangladesh.In our final piece, Richard Jolly looks ahead to thenegotiations and to the role of Europe. Perhaps themost important shift from MDGs to SDGs is that thenew agenda will be universally applicable. How willwealthy countries like the UK approach targets suchas halving the proportion of those living in povertyaccording to national definitions? Or halving per capitafood waste at the retail and consumer level? The UNFood and Agriculture Organization estimates thatconsumers in rich countries waste almost as much foodas the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa.UNA-UK believes that the UK can build on itsstrong development record by leading by exampleand encouraging others to embrace the universality ofthe new framework. It should also continue to pushfor a progressive set of SDGs, with human rights andgood governance at its heart, as well as clear targets toaddress inequalities and specific actions for vulnerablegroups, including monitoring processes that bettertrack their progress.Developed and developing countries alike shoulduse the coming months to focus on the globalpartnership, looking at financing; the roles andresponsibilities of governments, business and civilsociety; and the institutional developments andmechanisms needed to deliver the new framework,including how it will complement and reinforce UNclimate change processes.In all of this, states must not lose sight of the needto support and strengthen our global system itself,with the UN at its heart. Global instability makes ittempting to turn inwards and focus on problems closerto home. But our challenges are shared and domesticissues increasingly have a global dimension. Any visionfor the SDGs must be underpinned by investment inour institutions.Finally, all of us must play our part in ensuring thatstates focus on the practicalities of implementing thenew development agenda, without losing the vision andambition the world needs.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


1 billion people have no choice but todefecate outside, onto the ground andin full view of other people.search


22 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTFinancing development goalsThe Millennium Development Goals, which were radical in their ambition at their inception,have achieved more than most could have imagined. The Sustainable Development Goalsaspire to much more: poverty eradication, social equity and environmental sustainability© ReutersBy Mahmoud Mohieldin, CorporateSecretary and President’s Special Envoy onthe Millennium Development Goals andFinancial DevelopmentUntil the Millennium Declarationwas endorsed by world leaders atthe UN in September 2000, fewdared to imagine goals such as eradicatingextreme poverty and hunger, universalisingaccess to education, or reducing childmortality could be possible. With fewerthan 500 days left until the end of 2015, theworld has already made notable progresstowards achieving the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs).Indeed, the goal of halving the numberof people living on less than $1.25 perday has been achieved with 700 millionfewer people living in extreme povertyby 2010 than in 1990. This is despite asignificant increase in global population.Some 2.3 billion people have gainedaccess to improved sources of water, theliving conditions of 100 million slumdwellershave been improved, and genderdisparity between girls and boys in primaryeducation has been reduced.Despite these achievements, progress onthe MDGs has significantly varied acrossand within countries. It has been slowerin countries affected by conflict, economicand environmental shocks, and weakerpolicy frameworks. Poverty rates remainthe highest in countries in sub-SaharanAfrica and South Asia, while 70 per centof the extreme poor are concentratedin just 10 countries. Within countries,poverty tends to be concentrated amongethnic minorities, women, people withdisabilities or certain geographicallydisadvantaged areas. Inequality of incomeGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT23Refugees displaced by fighting between theCongolese army and M23 rebels in the easternDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC hasone of the highest poverty rates in the world and ishome to 5% of the global extreme poorand opportunity remain a challenge forall countries, including high-income ones.There is still much to be done.A comprehensive visionGrowth has been a major driver of povertyreduction, and was instrumental in halvingpoverty in the last 20 years. Going forward,the effect of growth rates on povertywill diminish. Sustaining historic growthrates will not be enough to eradicateextreme poverty. In addition, growth isoften accompanied by environmentaldegradation, which diminishes humanhealth and quality of life, threatens watersupplies, and compromises ecosystems,impeding growth for future generations.Moreover, short-term growth that erodesnatural capital may be vulnerable to boomand-bustcycles, and cause people who liveclose to the poverty line to fall far below it.The post-2015 development agendapromises to accelerate the MDGs’ progressand formulates a more comprehensivevision of environmental, social andeconomic equity. The proposed SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) encourageevery country to take charge in eradicatingpoverty, promoting sustainability, andprotecting the natural resource base ofsocial and economic development.These goals will not be achieved with abusiness-as-usual approach. Success willdepend on world leaders’ ability to applylessons from past experience to developeffective policies and programmes, and findways to finance them.In a 2013 report entitled ‘Financingfor Development Post-2015’, the WorldBank Group points to four foundationalpillars of development financing: betterand smarter aid, domestic resourcemobilisation, domestic private finance, andexternal private finance.Overseas development assistance(ODA) will remain an important sourceof development finance, especially for thepoorest countries, where it constitutes morethan 40 per cent of government budgets.While the 6.1 per cent increase in ODAin 2013 is encouraging, there is concernabout the recent decline in aid flows tolow-income countries. ODA to sub-SaharanAfrica has dropped for two years in a row:down by eight per cent in 2012 and byfour per cent in 2013. There was also a fallin ODA to the least-developed countries.A further increase in ODA is critical toreinforce its role as a stable source offinancing for countries with the least accessto financial resources. Efforts to ensure aideffectiveness and a much more catalytic rolefor ODA need to continue.Creating the right climateIt is at the national level, however, thatwe need to see far greater mobilisationof resources, domestic and external.Developing countries need to take the leadin mobilising the domestic resources thatrepresent the largest pool of funds availableto them. In 2012 alone, $7.7 trillion indomestic resources were mobilised, largelythrough taxes, customs duties, and naturalresourceconcessions.While developing-country revenueshave grown 14 per cent annually since2000, average tax revenues in the poorestcountries stand at only 10-14 per centof GDP, compared to 16-20 per cent inmiddle-income countries and 20-30 percent in high-income countries. There isclearly scope to increase taxation capacity,especially in low-income countries, andimprove the efficiency of public spending.Development partners can be a greathelp by supporting capacity building forreforms in these areas. Resource-richcountries need to ensure that they derivethe best possible development impactfrom agreements with private investors inextractive industries.Governments also need to createan investment climate that allows theprivate and financial sectors to flourish,recognising that a dynamic private sectoris the locomotive of job creation andeconomic development. Developingfinancial institutions and markets facilitateseconomic growth by mobilising savingsAlso in this sectionAid for development,not influence 26Relieving the burdenof debt 30Creating effectivetax systems 34Decent work andinclusive growth 38Financinginfrastructure 42Financial servicesfor all 47GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


24 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTFigure: Poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (2005 ppp) (% of population) (Year 2012)No data0-00 - 6.146.14 - 18.618.6 - 43.343.3 - 92.6Source: 2012 The World Bank, All Rights Reservedand allocating them to the most productiveuses. Improving financial inclusion enablesbetter access to finance for small firmsand households. The private and financialsectors can help by behaving as responsiblecorporate citizens, fostering inclusion andcreating equitable opportunities. Countriesalso need to have capacity to mobilise moreexternal private financing, including formuch-needed infrastructure investments.Over the past decade, many developingcountries have increased their abilityto access international capital markets.However, considering that global savingsamount to $17 trillion and liquidity is atan all-time high, more could be done toattract greater resources for investments indeveloping countries.Appropriate regulations andinfrastructure are needed to developbankable high-quality infrastructureprojects. The availability of financial risksharinginstruments, with the support ofmultilateral development institutions, canhelp catalyse and draw in private financing.Finding solutions to attract financialresources from large institutional investorswill be essential to scale-up developmentfinance, and is an important challenge forpost-2015 development financing.Inadequate financing for global publicgoods – such as the control of diseaseand measures to address climate change– has disproportionately harmed theworld’s poorest people. Examples existof excellent solutions for global finance.The International Finance Facility forImmunisation, for example, receiveslong-term pledges from donors thathave underwritten ‘vaccine bonds’ soldin capital markets, generating majorfunding for immediate use by GAVI, theglobal vaccine alliance. Such innovation iscritical to maximise available resources.Multi-stakeholder financing partnershipscan help increase mutual accountability onthe achievement of the post-2015 goals.Countries need to set their own nationaldevelopment strategies and prioritiesbefore engaging the private sector, civilsociety and others, with the support ofdevelopment partners.The forthcoming InternationalConference on Financing forDevelopment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia inJuly 2015 – a follow-up to the MonterreyConsensus and Doha Declaration – willbe an extraordinary opportunity forglobal financial leaders to combine theirefforts within a common understandingon financing challenges and needs forimplementing the post-2015 developmentagenda. It will also be a timely and uniqueplatform for discussions on finance acrossgovernments, international financialinstitutions, development partners and theprivate sector.To achieve the greatest combinedimpact, they must each bring theirrespective strengths and act in partnership,to scale-up towards financing thetransformative development envisionedby the UN Open Working Group in itsrecently released proposal for SDGs. TheWorld Bank looks forward to playingits financing and partnership role and toworking closely with countries and otherpartners to ensure the right policy andinvestment conditions are established thatare most likely to drive the creation of jobs,and sustainable and equitable growth.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREThinking differently: innovatingto improve global public healthTXXXXXXXXXXBeyond the Millennium Development GoalsThe global health community has made great strides in advancingglobal healthcare over the past decade. Improved technologieshave allowed us to forward medical breakthroughs, while novelorganisations and policies have put these tools into the hands of morepeople in need than ever before.The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have played a keyrole in the progress we have made. With targeted, quantifiable objectives,the MDGs have served as a powerful force, bringing together public healthstakeholders from all sectors unified by a common cause.But the world is changing around us every day. The global healthcommunity must work to accommodate the dynamic essence of publichealth challenges. The 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs is fastapproaching, yet the world is on track to meet only a portion of what wehad set out to accomplish. This collective shortcoming signals the needto think differently. Going forward, we must find new models of thoughtand action that extend beyond convention to create novel health solutions,breaking down the barriers to scientific discovery and access that precludehealth for all.Janssen Global Public Health: working collaboratively towards changeAt Janssen Global Public Health (Janssen GPH), we are approachingseemingly intractable health challenges in new and creative ways. Everythingwe do is based on an ‘out-of-the-box’ approach – from research anddevelopment to access and policymaking – with the understanding that weneed to create actionable solutions to improve health worldwide.Collaboration is a powerful driver of change. Our company has a longlegacy of working with partners to improve health. We are fully committedto innovating and getting our tools to health systems and patients throughdiverse – and sometimes unexpected – channels. We are working in directpartnership with domestic and global researchers, implementers, andpolicymakers across sectors to deliver on our promises and to maximise ourimpact.●●Expanding access to all. Beyond the laboratory, we are reimagining howwe can sustainably deliver our medical tools to those in need. We havedevised innovative pricing schemes, results-based financing mechanisms,and commercial access models to enhance access to our HIV and TBmedicines for patients in resource-limited and emerging markets.●●Strengthening health systems. We are also creating sustainable, longtermsolutions based on country ownership and accountability for healthservices and outcomes. Working with local governments in public-privatepartnerships will not only allow us to get our health innovations topatients, it will also help build local capacity. Our partnerships strengthenlocal health systems through medical education sessions on appropriateuse of our medicines; disease management programmes that integratecomprehensive health solutions into local systems; and a pediatric HIVtreatment initiative that builds awareness and action around the importantissue.Our call to actionAt Janssen Global Public Health, we are a new model of collaboration andinnovation. We want to improve health for people everywhere by pushingthe boundaries of medicine. Our approach is constantly evolving to meet thechanging needs of health systems and the patients we serve.We believe there are countless possibilities ahead for us to make ameaningful difference in public health and a multi-sector, collaborativeapproach is the best way forward. We must be ambitious, creative andproactive – both for the long-term sustainability of our efforts, and moreimportantly for the people we are working to help. We are thinking – andacting – differently to advance health for all. Together, we can create ahealthier world.The content of this piece is written and supported by Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V.●●Research & development. Our dedicated teams of scientists and researchersare driven to create and deliver tailored therapeutic solutions tomeet local needs. Through collaboration, we are working to alleviate sufferingaffiliated with diseases that disproportionately affect people livingin resource-limited settings, including multi-drug resistant tuberculosis,HIV, and neglected tropical diseases.


26 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTAid for development, not influenceHistorically, the effectiveness of aid has been undermined by its use as a foreign policy tool.How must the aid relationship change in order to yield better development outcomes?By Dr Talaat Abdel-Malek, formerchair, OECD/DAC Working Party on AidEffectiveness, Paris; retired senior adviserto Ministers of Planning & InternationalCooperation, Cairo, EgyptThe debate on development aidhas been long and contentious,involving ever more stakeholdersand examining new issues for over sixdecades. Much has been written aboutthe urgent need to change mindsetsas a prerequisite for achieving realimprovement in aid effectiveness. Althoughthe title refers to donors, this article arguesthat such change is needed on both sides ofthe aid equation.First, a word on the term ‘donors’.Throughout this article, the formulation‘aid providers’ is used, to reflect the factthat development aid has never been astraightforward donation. Influence per sedoes not necessarily have a negative impacton development. We must distinguishbetween positive and negative types ofinfluence.It is unrealistic to think of developmentaid (or the development process for thatmatter) as devoid of political and otherinfluences exerted by aid providers andrecipients alike. It is recognised thatdevelopment is a multi-dimensional,political-economic-social process, ratherthan one where actors pursue mutuallyconsistent goals and approaches inmanaging aid.Much of this article deals with negativeinfluences. But an example of positiveinfluences on development is reflectedin the successful initiatives to establishpartnership-type relationships betweenproviders and recipients (replacingtraditional top-down donor-recipientmodels) to ensure better aid harmonisationand alignment to the recipient’s prioritygoals. Another example is the influenceby a few recipient countries to persuadetheir aid providers to use reformed localsystems in lieu of providers’ parallelimplementation units, which are costlyand undermine recipients’ ability to buildrobust institutional capacities.These influences are the outcome ofbetter mutual understanding and trustbetween the two sides and combinedpolitical will to carry out pledges.Factors undermining aid effectivenessThe factors negatively impacting aideffectiveness are found in recipient andprovider countries. The most importantamong these on the aid providers’ side are:●●the use of aid as a foreign policy tool;●●reluctance to untie aid;●●lack of transparency in aid allocation andmanagement;●●lack of medium-term predictability of aidcommitments;●●recycling of aid money throughcontinued use of costly provider-basedconsultants;●●interventions in recipients’ use of aidfunds; and●●evaluating aid results based on moniesdisbursed and outputs that these funded(number of schools or medical clinics built)instead of assessing aid’s contributions tosustained development outcomes.On the recipient side, issues include:●●lack of clear development goals andpriorities;●●overly ambitious goals relative toavailable resources;●●weak institutional and human resourcecapacities;●●corruption;●●poor oversight and audit institutions; and●●lack of stakeholder participation indevelopment processes – includingrestrictions placed on civil societyorganisations in performing asdevelopment actors close to society’sgrassroots.In fragile states, these factors areaggravated by insecurity, local conflict,breakdown of state institutions and inabilityto provide essential services.Active on both sides are powerfullobbyists and those interested inmaintaining the status quo to defend theirnarrow interests. A few examples illustratehow these influences affect aid effectiveness.Insistence to tie aid flows to a provider-sethuman rights agenda has not only divertedlimited recipient resources from moreurgent priorities, but also failed to producesustainable improvement in human rightsperformance. This is not to contest therelevance of human rights to sustainabledevelopment, but to illustrate that this andother agendas not embraced by the recipientcountry are bound to fail.The blanket application of the WorldBank Poverty Reduction StrategyProgram has backfired in cases wherelocal contexts were not duly noted,subsequently leading the Bank to admitfailure. Technical assistance practicesfocusing on human resource training andad hoc policy advice, claiming to supportcapacity building, showed modest resultsafter hundreds of millions of dollars/euros had been spent.Training was often conducted as astandalone activity rather than part of aninstitutional development plan, with theresult that many trainees sought betterpayingjobs elsewhere in the countryor abroad.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT27© ReutersExamples on the recipients’ side are noless prevalent. Political leaders siphoningoff aid money, extravagant expenditure onceremonies, missions abroad in the guise ofstudy tours, and purchase of luxury vehiclesfor senior officials not only waste scarceforeign exchange funds, but fly in the faceof massive poverty, which is supposedly thetop priority in using aid money.Frequent political interference, fuelled bypressure from vested interests, in technicaldecisions on development projects derailtheir objectives and implementation andlead to poor project outcomes. Weakdevelopment planning and implementationcapacities, inadequate monitoring of results,and failure to take ownership and assumeleadership of the development agenda lie atthe heart of many a lacklustre performanceof development aid.Redirecting development aidWhile the above examples are based onreal experiences and supported by muchevidence, the good news is that the pastdozen years have witnessed a change, albeitslow, in mindsets to address long-standingchallenges to aid effectiveness. And ‘ittakes two to tango’ for lasting change tobe achieved.Many recipient countries have movedtoward better governance, instituting morerealistic development goals and strategies;reforming public financial, audit andprocurement systems; and setting clear aidpriorities, in consultation with aid providers.A woman carries US food aid distributed by UNWorld Food Programme staff in South Sudan.US aid is still largely tied, although recent legislationhas created more flexibilitySurveys by the Development AssistanceCommittee of the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Developmenthave repeatedly acknowledged the healthypace of these reforms while pointing outthat most aid providers are lagging behind.Definite progress has been achieved in theuntying of aid, with some providers boastingthat 80 per cent of their aid is untied. TheScandinavians have led the pack by untyingvirtually all their aid years ago.But the percentage of untied aid doesnot tell the full story. A provider’s unofficialGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


28 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTpowers of suasion can prevail to maintainold procurement ties and continued use ofold-time expatriate experts. Providers alonecannot take the blame for this. Recipientsmust accept their share for failing to ‘say no’.More progress has been recorded ininitiating mutual accountability systems,creating a platform for dialogue betweenrecipients and their partners in reviewingresults and agreeing on remedial actions.While in its infancy, this initiative isparticularly promising in that it enhancesmutual trust and greater openness inaddressing bottlenecks to aid effectiveness.The work of the UN Economic and SocialCouncil Development Cooperation Forum(DCF) over the past few years has helpedobtain a clearer picture of the state of playin countries surveyed.A change in mindsetsLooking ahead, progress is needed inother critical areas, including greatertransparency and more predictability inaid allocations and management, moredelegation to providers’ country officestaff, and more harmonisation amongproviders in organising missions to assessneeds, carry out studies and evaluateproject impact.Similarly, aid fragmentation remains anissue that taxes recipients’ ability to managefunds received. It is caused by providers’insistence on earning credit for their aidinsufficient change in mindset by leadingplayers. This is required to make a lastingdifference and encourage others to followtheir lead. Ultimately, aid for developmentis the outcome of genuine interactionsbetween a recipient and its aid providers.The momentum generated by impressivereforms in many recipient countriescalls for reciprocity on their providers’side. No longer is aid effectiveness afunction of giving more aid, thoughthis is still needed. Emphasis is shiftingtowards improved quality of aid: heedingAid for development is the outcome of genuineinteractions between a recipient and its aid providerscontributions and their reluctance to placethem under a single provider’s leadership toachieve agreed goals more efficiently. Onecan imagine the tremendous pressure on arecipient country’s limited administrativeand technical capacities to cope withfragmentation and manage hundreds ofproviders’ missions annually, with eachmission requiring much the same type of databut using a different format and approach.Despite progress, much remains to bedone. The slow pace has been attributed toseveral factors, but the leading one has beenrecipients’ development priorities, ceasingcounterproductive practices of the typeoutlined earlier, and strengthening a truepartnership to share the risks and reward ofdevelopment aid.The negotiation of the GlobalPartnership for Effective DevelopmentCooperation at the High-Level Forumon Aid Effectiveness in December 2011was hailed as a breakthrough. By goingbeyond governments to include business,civil society, parliamentarians, internationalorganisations and foundations asThe World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategy Programentailed numerous obligations on borrowers, frequentlythe requirement to privatise water supply, as was thecase in Freetown, Sierra Leonedevelopment partners, the Partnershipwas created to usher in a new era of moreinclusive, more transparent and moremutually beneficial cooperation, basedon diversity of modalities and widerinteractions among stakeholders. Althoughit is too early to judge whether thisPartnership is delivering on its promises,there is no time to be wasted.A key challenge is the reluctance ofleading emerging economies (China,India and Brazil), which had endorsedthe Partnership accord, to play an activerole and share, as well as benefit from, theexchange of development aid experiences.We badly need a bold change in mindsetsby these providers as well as by majortraditional providers, who should perhapstake a back seat to encourage emergingeconomies to assume their rightful place inthis global setting.Failure to move ahead along theselines threatens the very goals for whichthe Partnership was established andlimits everyone’s benefits from examiningdiverse aid approaches and tapping theircomparative advantages.© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT298DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENTThe MDGs are an agenda rather than a development strategy that tackles structural causes of poverty and socialexclusion. This is very apparent in Goal 8, which reads like a list of items and where, in large part for politicalreasons, precisely defined targets remained elusive. Target 8B, for example, seeks to “address the special needsof the least developed countries” but gives neither a timeframe nor a quantitative target or indicator to monitorprogress. The post-2015 agenda should be stronger in scope and on the detail, and should emphasise theuniversality of both the challenges faced and action required.Official development assistance isnow at its highest level, reversing thedecline of the previous two yearsOfficial development assistance (ODA),from OECD-DAC countries, 2000–2013(Constant 2012 US$ billions)14012010080604020020002002200420062008Net debt relief grantsHumanitarian aidMultilateral ODABilateral developmentprojects, programmes andtechnical cooperation201020122013TARGET8.ADevelop further an open,rule-based, predictable,non-discriminatory tradingand financial systemProportion of developed country imports(excluding oil and arms) from developingcountries and least developed countries(LDCs) admitted duty free, 1996–2012 (%)9085807570656055501996200020042008Least developed countriesDeveloping countriesNote: This indicator is subject to the influence ofchanges in export structure and relative prices.2012TARGET8.B,CAddress the special needs ofthe least developed countries,landlocked developingcountries and small islanddeveloping statesNet official development assistance fromOECD-DAC countries as a proportion ofdonors’ gross national income, 1990–2013 (%)0.400.350.300.250.200.150.100.050.00199019952000ODA to LDCsTotal ODA200520102013 PreliminaryTARGET8.DDeal comprehensivelywith the debt problems ofdeveloping countriesThe debt burden of developingcountries is much lower than in2000, but is not declining furtherExternal debt service payments asproportion of export revenues, alldeveloping countries, 2000–2012 (%)14.012.012.0 11.5 11.111.410.08.06.04.02.00.0200020027.820047.820066.84.13.620083.83.020103.03.12012External debt service payments as proportion ofexport revenues, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (%)Small island developing states6.6Least developed countries3.83.95.0Developing regions3.03.03.12010 2011 20128.2Note: Data only cover the developing countries thatreport to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System.9.5TARGET8.FIn cooperation with theprivate sector, makeavailable benefits ofnew technologies,especially informationand communicationsEstimated number of mobile-cellularsubscriptions, internet users and fixedtelephonesubscriptions, 2005–2014 (billions)87.27 6.566.95432.22.921.21.111.0020052006200720082009201020112012PopulationMobile-cellular subscriptionsInternet usersFixed-telephone subscriptions20132014PreliminarySource: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014For related SDGs: 8, 9, 10, 16 and 17, see: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstmlGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


30 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTRelieving the debt burdenNumerous countries have been rendered incapable of development through overwhelminglevels of national debt. What can be done to honour these countries’ right to develop?By Dr Cephas Lumina, Research Professorof Public Law, University of Fort Hare, SouthAfrica and former UN Independent Experton the effects of foreign debtIn 2012, the total external debt ofdeveloping countries was estimated at$4,900 billion. During that year, theypaid $620 billion servicing their debts.To service their debts, governments areoften forced to divert scarce financialresources from essential investments inhuman, social and physical infrastructurethat provide the foundation for sustainableand equitable development. Debt servicingalso significantly reduces the capacity ofcountries to establish the conditions forthe realisation of human rights, particularlyeconomic, social and cultural rights. Inshort, excessive debt burdens can createconsiderable obstacles to development.While claiming that Heavily IndebtedPoor Countries (HIPCs) have beenable to increase their poverty-reducingexpenditure as a result of multilateral debtrelief, the World Bank and InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) have also notedthat these countries have made uneven,even limited, progress in achieving the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDGs). 1Furthermore, the policy conditionslinked to the provision of new loans anddebt relief by international financialinstitutions (IFIs) often have a negativeimpact. For example, the realisation ofmany basic rights may be hampered byrequirements to reduce governmentspending or limit investment in socialservices such as education and health.This undermines national ownership ofdevelopment strategies.According to the IFIs, these policymeasures aim to promote economic growthand prosperity, as well as to restore the debtrepayment capacity of recipient countries byreducing debt to levels deemed ‘sustainable’by the creditors. Nonetheless, the availableevidence demonstrates that the measuresin fact have a negative impact on therealisation of human rights in the longerterm and have contributed to increasingpoverty in many debtor countries.In Greece, for example, public spendingcuts implemented under the bailoutprogramme of the IMF, European CentralBank and European Union, and labourmarket reforms have resulted in increasedunemployment, homelessness, povertyand social exclusion, and severely reducedaccess to public services.It is widely accepted that countryownership of national developmentstrategies is the foundation of developmenteffectiveness. Nevertheless, policyconditions linked to new loans and debtrelief have left many poor countriesensnared in externally prescribed orapproved policy frameworks that underminetheir development and make it difficult forthem to comply with their human rightsobligations. Indeed, very high debt burdensleave countries subject to the control of IFIsand other creditors, eroding their abilityto freely determine and pursue policiesfavourable to their development.Illegitimate debtA substantial share of the debt owed bydeveloping countries – estimated at morethan $500 billion – is attributable toreckless or self-interested lending practicesby financial institutions in the developedcountries during the 1970s and 1980sfor unproductive investments; lendingby affluent countries to authoritarian orcorrupt regimes in return for supportduring the Cold War; and questionablepolicy prescriptions by IFIs. Many contendthat this debt is odious or illegitimate andtherefore unenforceable.Under international law, national debtincurred by a regime for purposes thatdo not serve the interests of the nation isunenforceable. Such debts are consideredto be the responsibility of the regime thatincurred them, not the state. As originallyarticulated by Alexander Sack in 1927,a debt was presumed to be odious if itmet three essential conditions: (a) it wascontracted by a despotic regime; (b) it wasnot used for the needs of the population ofthe borrower state; and (c) the creditor wasaware of the nefarious use of the funds.The odious debt doctrine has historicalprecedents. For example, after the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain contendedthat Cuba should repay the loans made toit by Spain. However, the United Statesrepudiated the debt, arguing that it wasimposed on Cuba by force of arms andserved Spain’s interest rather than Cuba’s,and that the debt therefore ought not tobe repaid.In 1998, the British House of CommonsInternational Development Committeeused the doctrine to recommendcancellation of Rwanda’s debt. In 2003,following its invasion of Iraq, the UnitedStates called for the cancellation ofthat country’s debt on the basis that itwas incurred by the repressive regimeof Saddam Hussein, but this argumentwas later abandoned to avoid settinga precedent. In 2005, the NigerianParliament requested the country’sgovernment to repudiate a debt that hadlargely been inherited from the militarydictatorship, particularly under SaniAbacha (1993–1998).GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT31© ReutersIn recent times, debt cancellationcampaigners have increasingly invokedthe concept of illegitimate debt to justifycancellation of debts incurred as a resultof profligate lending. While there iscurrently no universally accepted definitionof illegitimate debt, the concept is usedto refer to a broad variety of questionabledebts, including debt incurred byundemocratic means, debt incurred underpredatory repayment terms, and debtresulting from irresponsible projects thatdid not further development objectives orcaused harm to the environment. Thus, theconcept is much broader than the conceptof odious debt.Members of a Bambuti, or pygmy, community outsidetheir hut near the eastern Congolese (DRC) city ofGoma. Out of the 39 countries identified by the HIPCInitiative, 33 are from sub-Saharan AfricaA notable recent example of the useof the illegitimate debt concept is thatof Ecuador. In 2008, the commissionestablished by the government of RafaelCorrea Delgado to audit the country’sdebt reported that there were numerousinstances of irregularities and illegalitiesin the contraction of foreign public,commercial, bilateral and multilateralloans during the period 1976–2006, thatmany of these loans violated the principlesof international and domestic law andhad harmful impacts on the country’spopulation and environment. It concludedthat these loans were illegitimate.Based on these findings, in December2008, the government announced that itwould officially default on its global bonds2012 and in February 2009 it declared atechnical moratorium on global bonds2030. This reduced the country’s totalforeign debt by $2 billion plus $7 billionon saved interest until 2030. These savingshave enabled the government to scale-upits social spending.Nevertheless, other countries with debtsthat many consider odious or illegitimatehave opted to pay them, ostensibly becauserepudiation would be costly. For example,the Philippines, which in 2010 had anexternal public debt of $45 billion, ofwhich $21 billion was incurred duringthe corrupt regime of Ferdinand Marcos(1965–1986), continues to service that debtwhile government spending on educationand healthcare remains well below thebenchmarks set by UNESCO and theWorld Health Organization.Similarly, in 1993, South Africa inheriteda debt of $18.7 billion from the apartheidregime but the democratic governmentof Nelson Mandela opted to service thisdebt because default would be costly: thecountry’s credit rating would be adverselyaffected, foreign investors would bedeterred and the country would have topay more for future borrowings. Thegovernment settled the debt in August2001. Meanwhile, the vast majority ofSouth Africans remain deprived of basicpublic services to varying degrees.Multilateral debt relief:what has been achieved?Since the late 1990s, the World Bank andIMF have coordinated international effortsto address the external debt problems oflow-income countries through two mainmechanisms: the HIPC Initiative, launchedin 1997, and the Multilateral Debt ReliefInitiative (MDRI), created in 2005. Theaim of these initiatives is to reduce thedebt burdens of the beneficiary countriesto levels deemed ‘sustainable’ by the twoGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


32 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTinstitutions and to help fund ‘povertyreducing’expenditures and progresstowards the MDGs in these countries.In order to be eligible for debt reliefunder the HIPC Initiative, a countrymust meet specified conditions, committo poverty reduction through policychanges and establish a track record ofmacroeconomic stability.As a first step, a country must: (a) beeligible to borrow from the InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA), whichprovides interest-free loans and grants tothe world’s poorest countries, and fromthe IMF’s Poverty Reduction and GrowthTrust, which provides loans to low-incomecountries at subsidised rates; (b) havea debt burden deemed “unsustainable”by the World Bank and IMF and whichcannot be addressed through traditionaldebt relief mechanisms; (c) have establisheda track record of reform and “soundpolicies through IMF- and World Banksupportedadjustment programmes”; and(d) have adopted a Poverty ReductionStrategy Paper (PRSP) through a broadbasedparticipatory process in the country.Upon meeting or making sufficientprogress in meeting these four conditions,the World Bank and IMF formally decideon the country’s eligibility for debt reliefand creditors commit to reducing itsdebt to a sustainable level. At this initialstage, referred to as the ‘decision point’,multilateral and bilateral creditors beginto provide interim relief on debt servicefalling due.In order to reach the ‘completion point’and receive full and irrevocable reductionin debt under the HIPC Initiative, acountry must: (a) establish a further trackrecord of “good performance underIMF and World Bank programmes”; (b)implement to the satisfaction of the IMFand World Bank key reforms agreedat decision point; and (c) adopt andimplement its PRSP for at least one year.There is a commonly held perceptionthat debt relief entails outright cancellationof debt. However, the term refers to anytype of reorganisation of debt that lessensthe total debt burden of the beneficiary.Under the HIPC Initiative, debt relieftakes various forms including cancellation,restructuring and rescheduling.In addition, debt-relief resources donot constitute new money from externalsources. Their direct effect is to allowbeneficiary countries to retain generalbudget resources that would otherwisehave been spent on debt servicing. Forcountries that had not been servicing theirdebt in full, the fiscal space resulting fromdebt relief is smaller than the stated volumeof nominal debt relief. In short, “one dollarof debt relief does not necessarily translateinto one additional dollar of expenditureon poverty.” 2Furthermore, the portion of debt thatcreditors are asked to ‘forgive’ under theHIPC Initiative is calculated to bringthe country’s debt to the sustainabilitythreshold of 150 per cent of present valueof exports (or, in some cases, 250 per centof government revenue). Thus, debt reliefunder the initiatives does not necessarilyentail extinguishing all of a country’s debt.Rafael Correa during a victory celebration for theEcuadoran presidential election. The commission set upby his government to audit international loans declaredmany to be illegitimate – Ecuador defaulted on theseAs of March 2014, 35 of the 39 countriesconsidered eligible or potentially eligibleunder the HIPC Initiative had reachedthe completion point. One country (Chad)was in the interim phase, while three predecisionpoint countries – Eritrea, Somaliaand Sudan – had yet to start the processof qualifying for debt relief. According tothe World Bank and IMF, the Initiativehas significantly reduced the debt burdensof the participating low-income HIPCswhile enabling them to scale-up povertyreducingexpenditures.Nevertheless, it is difficult to establisha causal link between debt relief andincreased poverty-reducing expenditure.Indeed, the empirical evidence on thesocial impacts of the two debt reliefschemes presents an inconclusive picture.© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT33The impact of debt relief ondevelopment and on progress towardsthe MDGs is even less certain. In 2011,the World Bank and IMF noted that onlya quarter of completion-point HIPCswere on course to achieve MDG 1 oneradicating extreme poverty and hunger.Progress towards MDG 5 on maternalhealth was even less certain. In 2013,the IFIs reported that the majority ofcompletion-point countries were seriouslyoff track in halting HIV/AIDS and otherdiseases (MDG 6) and that many werestruggling to meet two key targets in Goals4 and 7, on infant mortality and access tosanitation, respectively.Shortcomings of debt relief effortsExisting international debt relief initiativeshave a number of shortcomings that havelimited their efficacy. These include anarrow conception of debt sustainability,the plethora of policy conditions whichthe recipient countries have to meet,and the voluntary nature of the two keyinitiatives, which has created opportunitiesfor ‘vulture fund’ lawsuits that erode thegains from debt relief. (On 9 September2014, the UN General Assembly passeda resolution to create a multilateral legalframework for debt restructuring processesthat would help to curtail such activity byfinancial speculators.)Perhaps the most important limitationis that the initiatives are entirely creditordriven.This is not only inconsistent withthe principle of shared responsibility buthas led to a misplaced focus on addressingpoor debt management on the part ofindebted countries rather than on theunderlying causes of the debt crisis.It is also evident that debt relief providedunder the HIPC Initiative and MDRIis not sustainable and has generally notreduced the vulnerability of HIPCs, withmany remaining deeply dependent onforeign borrowing and investment. In2011, the IFIs reported that a third of lowincomecountries were either in or at highrisk of debt distress, including a quarter ofpost-completion-point HIPCs. 3In addition, while the HIPC Initiativeaims to bring the net present value of thedebt/export ratio to below the 150 percent threshold, at least 13 HIPCs had ahigher ratio at completion point, withtwo (Gambia and Uganda) having ratioshigher than at decision point. Others haveseen their debt indicators deteriorate afterreceiving debt relief.For example, Uganda’s ratio swelled toover 300 per cent within three years ofits HIPC completion point. According toa June 2012 debt sustainability analysis,debt relief under the initiatives reducedTanzania’s debt burden to 20.6 per cent ofGDP at end-June 2007. Nevertheless, byend-June 2011, the country’s external debthad risen to 34.7 per cent of GDP.What next?Although reducing the debt burdensof HIPCs (in theory), the existinginternational debt relief initiatives do notappear to have been as successful as hasbeen claimed by the IFIs and participatingcreditors.According to the World Bank andIMF, the HIPC Initiative and MDRIare nearing completion. This offersan opportunity for the internationalcommunity to consider solutions thatcan help deliver an equitable and durablesolution to the debt crisis, as well as assistin the establishment of a truly equitableinternational economic order.There are two key actions that theinternational community can take. First,states should commit to the principle ofshared responsibility for preventing andresolving unsustainable debt situationsunderscored in the Monterrey Consensus.In that regard, they should commit tointernationally agreed standards byadopting the UNCTAD Draft Principleson Promoting Responsible SovereignLending and Borrowing, and byimplementing the UN Guiding Principleson Foreign Debt and Human Rights.Second, developing countries shouldreduce their dependence on internationalThere is a commonly held perception that debt reliefentails outright cancellation of debt. However, theterm refers to any type of reorganisation of debt thatlessens the total debt burden of the beneficiaryIn particular, they have failed to addressthe underlying causes of unsustainabledebt in low-income countries, includingunfair global terms of trade, narrowproduction and export bases, vulnerabilityto exogenous shocks and irresponsiblelending. Instead, the initiatives havefocused on reducing debts to a leveldeemed ‘sustainable’ by creditors, implyingthat the problem lies with imprudent debtmanagement and poor governance on thepart of the countries receiving debt relief.In their current form, these initiativescannot provide a lasting and just solutionto the debt crisis. This underscoresthe urgent need to rethink existingmechanisms and to devise strategies thatnot only place human rights and the basicneeds of people at the core, but also respectthe sovereignty of indebted countries.capital by enhancing their capacity tomobilise domestic resources throughincreased public revenue collection, andby ensuring a fair and mutually beneficialreturn on natural resource exploitation byforeign investors. And all states should stepup efforts to tackle illicit financial flowsand return stolen wealth to the countriesof origin.1 International Monetary Fund, “Heavily IndebtedPoor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and MultilateralDebt Relief Initiative (MDRI) – StatisticalUpdate”, 19 December 2013, p. 9.2 Kaddar and Furrer, “Are current debt reliefinitiatives an option for scaling up health financingin beneficiary countries”, pp. 1-9.3 IDA and IMF, “Heavily Indebted Poor Countries(HIPC) Initiative and Multilateral Debt ReliefInitiative (MDRI) – Status of Implementation andProposals for the Future of the HIPC Initiative”,8 November 2011.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


34 FUNDING DEVELOPMENT© GettyGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT35Tax systems to support developmentInternational aid is dwarfed by the financial outflows from developing countries. How can aneffective, fair global tax system be created that will allow funds to be retained for development?By Dr Jo Marie Griesgraber, Executive Director,New Rules for Global Finance CoalitionThe United Nations is preparingfor the third global conference onfinancing for development, as wellas the next intergovernmental sessionon financing the post-2015 SustainableDevelopment Goals.These preparations coincide withseminal reports by the UN SpecialRapporteur on extreme poverty aboutfiscal and taxation policies, by theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) on‘Growth, Redistribution and Inequality’and ‘Spillovers in International CorporateTaxation’, and by the International BarAssociation Institute on ‘Tax Abuses,Poverty and Human Rights’. Tax systemshave become core development work.Tax revisions are also important formajor aid donors, following the 2008financial crisis and the persistent GreatRecession. Aid budgets are likely tocontinue to come under pressure as donorsthemselves search for more income tocover the astronomical costs of salvagingthe financial sector and stimulatingdomestic growth. As the wealthy countrieswork on their own tax systems, they arealso eager for low- and middle-incomecountries to do the same.At the same time, campaigningorganisations in Europe, the US, Canadaand throughout the developing worldcapture popular anger when socialprotection programmes (such as education,health, pensions) are cut in the name ofausterity, while the richest individuals andHo Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Multinationalcompanies act as a conduit for massive capitaloutflows from developing countriescorporations avoid paying their fair share,hiding their money overseas. The time isripe for creating tax systems that supportdevelopment.The first appearance of tax (domesticresource mobilisation) as a coredevelopment finance was in 2002 atthe first Financing for DevelopmentConference in Monterrey, Mexico.Domestic taxes were the first of six sourcesof financing for development, the othersbeing: foreign investment, trade, aid,debt relief and ‘systemic issues’, or thecoordination and cohesion of all nationaland international efforts.Monterrey upgraded the ad hoccommittee of experts on internationalAs the wealthy countrieswork on their own taxsystems, they are alsoeager for low- andmiddle-income countriesto do the samecooperation into a permanent committee,with staff located in the UN Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs’ Financingfor Development Office.Last year, the G20 Summit countriesraised the tax agenda to its highest levelwhen they called on the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Developmentand IMF to conduct research and designan action plan on base erosion and profitshifting – strategies that exploit gaps andmismatches in tax rules to make profits‘disappear’ for tax purposes or movethem to locations where there is little orno real activity. The wealthiest countriesrecognised that high-wealth individualsand multinational corporations (MNCs)were consistently hiding their earnings inlow-tax jurisdictions (also called tax havensor ‘secrecy jurisdictions’).The scale of this problem was highlightedby US businessman and scholar RaymondW. Baker in his book Capitalism’s AchillesHeel. He estimated that nearly $1 trilliondollars annually was hidden from taxcollectors and roughly half of that likelycame from developing countries. Indeed,for every dollar of foreign aid going into adeveloping country, $5 was coming out (seealso his piece on page 106).Increasing tax revenuesThe main way money eludes the taxcollector is through transfer pricing.Formally, MNCs pretend that each of theirsub-units is a stand-alone corporation.Then guesstimates are made for the costsof goods and services exchanges amongthose sub-units, using the ‘arm’s lengthprinciple’, again guessing what those costswould be if all those sub-units interacted inan open and free market.The end result is that profits areattributed to tax jurisdictions where taxrates equal close to zero; while all lossesare assigned to the sub-units located inhigh-tax jurisdictions. Headquarters canbe located in Caribbean islands or otherlocations that have special laws whichattract phony corporate headquarters.This arrangement is especially harmful todeveloping countries that rely on miningand oil and other extractive industries.The UN Special Rapporteur onextreme poverty and the International BarAssociation’s Human Rights Institute bothdocument how human rights are violatedGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


36 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTin situations of extreme poverty. The UNtreaty on economic, social and culturalrights requires governments to make bestefforts to help provide food, clean water,housing, education, health and otherservices vital to survival for the poorest.When governments cannot or do notcollect taxes, it can lead to the denial ofthese basic rights due to lack of funds.When citizens pay taxes, they can feel moreempowered to hold their governmentsaccountable. Thus paying taxes alsopromotes civil and political rights.On the purely economic front, arecent IMF Policy Paper documents thatperiods of growth last longer in situationswhere inequality is less severe. Wealthdistribution through social programmesand progressive taxes actually prolongsWhen governmentscannot or do not collecttaxes, it can lead to thedenial of basic rightsperiods of growth, further reducinginequality. The IMF concludes thatprogressive taxes are not barriers to growthas argued in some economic theories.What exactly should developingcountries do to increase their tax revenues?The IMF recommends: resisting orwithdrawing from bilateral tax treaties,which restrict their ability to tax foreigncorporations; ending exemptions and taxholidays for investors; and (re)negotiatingmore transparent and more fair contractswith extractive corporations. Thesecontracts should provide higher paymentson what is extractive, including moreincome whenever prices go up, and use ofwithholding taxes.The G20 proposal for automaticexchange of information on taxes is apositive step. Developing countries willneed to have technical and financialsupport to receive and analyse all incomingdata as well as provide the requiredinformation on foreign corporations andindividuals operating in their countries.$1trillion$1,000,000,000,000hidden from taxauthorities annuallyHALF$500,000,000,000of annual tax evaded isthought to be lost fromdeveloping countries$1 aid$5For every dollar of foreignaid going into a developingcountry, $5 is coming outHowever, for developing countriesto benefit more from taxes, wealthycountries need to make the major changes.First, stop illicit outflows, by closing thesecrecy jurisdictions, and by not allowingany money to enter the major financialcentres (London, New York, Frankfurt,Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore)unless the recipient bank:1) can verify the true owner of the money(no phony shell corporations, trustswhere governments cannot identify thetrue or ‘beneficial’ owner);2) can verify how the money was earned;3) reports the interest earned on the moneyto the home and to the source country.This also means that states within the US(such as Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada),as well as British ‘crown dependencies’ (e.g.the Cayman Islands and Bermuda), andother offshore havens, such as Mauritius,Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands,should no longer incorporate such shellcompanies.Further, rich states should replacetransfer pricing and the fictional arm’slength principle that is overly complicatedand expensive for developing countriesto try to track. An alternative is to treatevery MNC as a single unit. Under‘unitary taxation’ the corporation wouldneed to report where its expenses andprofits actually occur, and pay taxes on anagreed formula, for example a combinationof the size of sales, the number ofpeople employed and the worth of theinvestments. This method of paying taxesis used for collecting domestic taxes on allMNCs operating in the US and the rest ofthe developed world.A comprehensive overhaul of globaltax systems would be ideal. The UN hasarticulated the goals through the systemof UN treaties. Researchers, civil societyand the IMF have made strong, clearsuggestions on essential first steps for bothdeveloped and developing countries.What is still needed is the political willand politicians who serve the electorateand the common good, not the peoplecontributing most to political campaigns.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Development frombelow and withinFundaciónIberoamericanapara el DesarrolloThe IberoAmerican Foundation for Development (FIDE), founded inSpain in 1991, provides people with the knowledge, methods and means toachieve development from below and within.Video and photos of FIDE Foundation projectsA method for sustained action is explained in 17books written by Antonio Vereda del Abril, Presidentof FIDE. We have applied this Methodology tocooperative projects in Latin America. FIDEFoundation has been working for 23 years on theeradication of poverty, the promotion of democracyand the right of all people to develop.The President and founder of FIDE has contributedsignificantly to the concept of “development frombelow and within”. During the 1990s, he created aconceptual framework to eradicate poverty andbegin development, based on the following concepts:Majority, Informal Economy, Development,Entrepreneurs, Microcompanies, Microcredits andManagement of R&D+i to configure networks ofsolidarity, knowledge, education and technology,and increase access to markets.Numerous important proposals for Latin Americawere made by the FIDE Foundation, to makethe region a place of solidarity, democracy anddevelopment. The decade before the economiccrisis was the right time to launch initiatives like:“Debt in exchange for Development”, since thedebt was blocking the development of poor andimpoverished peoples.Antonio Vereda del Abril proclaimed that we areliving in a new era of “globalidad” (universality)as a result of the revolutions in science, technologyand culture. The promise of the future rests withthose who have the imagination to build a different,better world. We must abandon the concept of“them and us” and embrace the idea of a “globalwe”, to create a new global civilization.www.fundacionfide.org


38 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTMaking decent workand inclusive growth a realityMeaningful, fair-paid and safe jobs should be at the heartof an inclusive, equitable and sustainable development agendaBy Guy Ryder, Director-General,International Labour OrganizationAs the UN explores and navigatesmyriad development issuesthrough inter-governmentaldiscussions, expert policy dialogues,analyses by senior political leaders andcountless multi-stakeholder meetings, onetheme has repeatedly been identified as akey priority for the future of sustainabledevelopment and inclusive economicgrowth: decent work.Tens of millions of people globally haveresponded to the UN’s call to voice theirhopes and aspirations for a future theywant. Their reply, overwhelmingly, has setaccess to a quality job as a top priority. In arecent speech, the UN Secretary-Generalsaid that “work is more than a source ofincome, it is a source of dignity”.Work connects people to their societiesand economies, and often shapes a person’sself-definition. Access to safe, productiveand fairly remunerated work – the essenceof decent work – is extremely important,assuring a sense of self-worth amongwomen and men. It enables them toprovide for their families while makinga productive contribution to the widersociety and helps to build the foundation ofstable communities.Societies’ capacity to offer opportunitiesto work in dignity will be central toshaping the kind of future to which wecan look forward. Deeply disturbed by thepresent trend toward growing economicinequality globally, Pope Francis recentlydeclared that the dignity of each humanperson and the pursuit of the commongood are concerns which ought to shapeall economic policies. For the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) the goal ofdecent work must help shape such policies.Decent work and inclusive growth aredirectly linked and mutually supportive.Economic transformation and growth canhelp to open up opportunities for decentwork while more and better jobs feedback into the growth dynamic, making itmore inclusive and sustainable. We haveseen that where jobs are scarce there isless growth, less security and less humanand economic development. Conversely,where jobs are being created incomes grow,stimulating consumption, which in turnhelps strengthen aggregate demand andenhance growth.The promotion of decentwork is indispensableif economic growth isto be more inclusiveHowever, decent work does not happenon its own. It requires job-rich growthstrategies, active labour market policies,economic diversification into high valueaddedsectors and improving workplaceconditions that nurture higher levels ofproductivity. Enabling conditions areneeded to facilitate the transition from theinformal to the formal economy and boostthe development and growth of micro-,small and medium-sized enterprises.For their part, businesses need toincrease investments into productivecapacities and actively promote creativityand innovation at work and, moregenerally, focus on investing in developinga well-trained workforce capable ofadapting to changing market conditions.An economically dynamic and inclusivefuture demands that special attentionbe given to youth. It is estimated that470 million young people will join thelabour force between 2015 and 2030.Their employability must be a priorityconcern. Looking over the horizon, it willbe difficult to imagine a sustainable andpeaceful world in 2030 if we fail to rise tothe youth employment challenge.Experience and research have longshown that investing in people, throughformal education, technical and vocationaltraining, social protection initiatives,application of rights and good conditionsat work can generate immense social andeconomic dividends. From a world of workperspective, developing human capital is akey to enhancing labour productivity andjob quality.Effective strategies to develop skillsfor employability and anticipating whichskills will be needed in the future willrequire inter-governmental coordination.Additionally, it will need the developmentof curricula in consultation with employersto better align education and trainingrequirements with real-world demands thatare relevant to local and global conditions.A solid foundation for economic growthis built on specific policy measures thathelp mitigate the effects of economicshocks and downturns, and, mostimportantly, help break the cycle of intergenerationalpoverty. Social protectionGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT39© Greg Funnell/ActionAidsystems, including national floors of socialprotection, contribute to economic andsocial development by ensuring that peopleenjoy a basic level of income security,have effective access to healthcare andother essential social services, and areempowered to take advantage of economicopportunities.Social protection plays a key role inboosting domestic demand, transformingnational economies, promoting decentwork, and fostering inclusive andsustainable growth. Recent evidence showsthat proactive wage and social protectionpolicies have contributed positively toreductions in income inequalities in severalcountries over the past decade.Respect for labour rights and ensuringthe safety of workers at work shouldalso be central to any future sustainabledevelopment agenda. Every year around260 million people are victims of workplaceaccidents – often preventable. The humancost exacts a monetary cost equal to fourper cent of global GDP. Investing in safeand secure work environments preventsaccidents and saves lives and also increasesproductivity and competitiveness.The current discussions on the post-2015 development agenda are focused notonly on what is important, but also on howthese goals can be implemented. The ILO’sinternational labour standards and policyframeworks can serve as a basis for thedevelopment of national policy responsesto development challenges.For example, the ILO’s Global Jobs Pacthas received wide support for its range ofpolicy options that promote job-friendlyeconomic recovery and inclusive growth.The ILO’s call for action on the youthemployment crisis presents an evidencebasedapproach to designing effectivestrategies and policies that generate decentSullayman, welding at an ActionAid-supportedtraining centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The centrehelps homeless orphans and war victims acquire theskills they need to find employmentemployment for young women and men.Also, the ILO’s recommendation onnational floors of social protection providesa policy framework to increase socialprotection coverage that can be adapted toa country’s specific circumstances.The promotion of decent work isindispensable if economic growth is to bemore inclusive, particularly in the face ofwidening inequalities. As the internationalcommunity’s new vision of developmentcomes into sharper focus, it should be ourobjective and collective determination toensure that decent work is at the heartof an inclusive, equitable and sustainabledevelopment agenda for this andsucceeding generations.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Closing theinequality gapKorea is a member of the OECD’s DevelopmentAssistance Committee. KOICA is a governmentdevelopment cooperation agency dedicated toinclusive growth toward shared prosperityThe Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was foundedon 1 April 1991, as a government bilateral agency responsible forgrant aid. It was created to support poverty eradication and socioeconomicdevelopment in developing countries, enhancing internationaldevelopment cooperation as well as strengthening partnerships withdeveloping countries.Korea is well-versed in the misery and pain of poverty. Following thedevastating 1950 Korean War, Korea became one of the poorest countriesin the world, with soaring unemployment rates and two-thirds of productioncapacity destroyed, meaning the country was reliant on foreign aid for manyyears. This aid at first helped the Korean people survive, providing basicssuch as food, clothing, medicine and raw materials. Until the reconstructionperiod between 1953 and 1960, more than 70 per cent of Korea’s importswere financed by foreign aid.In little under 50 years, Korea transitioned itself from a poverty-strickencountry to member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD). Korea then went on to join the OECD’s DevelopmentAssistance Committee (DAC) in 2009, the only country that has progressedfrom being a least-developed country to an OECD-DAC member.We believe our first-hand experience is our greatest asset and thisexperience has taught us that ‘ownership’ in the development process isessential for success.The role and programmes of KOICA: Create ownershipIn order to harness the Korean experience, KOICA plays a critical role inKorea’s implementation of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Itprovides various programmes in terms of integrated project and technicalassistance, instigating private-public partnerships to leverage the privatesector. KOICA sends 2,500 volunteers and experts overseas annually andinvites 5,000 people to Korea for training and scholarship programmes in avariety of sectors to help build capacity in partner countries.KOICA subscribes to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),which task the international community with halving the number of peopleliving in absolute poverty by 2015. The MDGs and discussion on the post-2015 agenda call for a global partnership to lift societies out of poverty andcreate a better future for humanity – tackling climate change, securing waterand enhancing governance are among the areas in which KOICA is investing.Respecting its partner countries, KOICA seeks to offer assistance in linewith the development priorities of partner countries, empowering partnersby sharing our own development experience, while giving them the freedomto decide how and where to apply it.KOICA strives to join the global efforts to increase the effectiveness offoreign aid and inclusive partnership, which are key concepts framing thepost-2015 development agenda. It also introduced Saemaul Undong (SMU,literally ‘New Community Movement’), a community-based integrated rural●President Young-mok Kim joins residents of Bulchana village, Ethiopia in chanting “Wecan do it!”. KOICA implemented the Integrated Rural Development project in this village,based on Korea’s own rural development experience, Saemaul Undong●The Central General Hospital in the Quang Nam Province is one of four nationalhospitals of Vietnam. The hospital, which can accommodate 500 patients, is alandmark project of KOICA, which provided $35 million in funding over four yearsdevelopment programme of the Republic of Korea that has turned out to bea great success. We believe SMU has many applications, not only for ruraldevelopment programmes, but also overall national development strategy, inorder to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.KOICA’s focus and expertise: Human and other intangible capitalsCurrently, KOICA’s volume of assistance budget is modest. However, KOICAis mobilising a large amount of human capital, providing developmentassistance by sending large numbers of volunteers and experts and havingthem engage with the people on the ground.Through its work, KOICA is committed to tackling the ‘inequality trap’,laying down the foundations of inclusive growth and shared prosperityby pooling tangible and intangible resources, something that has becomeparticularly important in the wake of the global economic crisis.KOICA concentrates resources on sectors in which Korea has greatestexpertise, including education and vocational training, with focus ontechnology, health and medical care, public administration, agriculture andfisheries, and information & communications technology.Alongside these physical aspects of assistance, KOICA also sharesexpertise and institutions to provide comprehensive support of thedevelopment of partner countries. KOICA believes developing humanresources and institutions are critically important in achieving sustainability.


SPONSORED FEATURE●As the first professional vocational training centre in Uzbekistan, this centre inTashkent provides unemployed young people with professional skillsStrategy for the post-2015 era: Achieving goals by inclusive partnershipAlthough Asia has made great strides in reducing poverty, thanks to higheconomic growth, two-thirds of the world’s poor still live in this region.This led KOICA to increase assistance in the area in 2009 for lessdeveloped countries. This focus on Asia has been maintained due toKorea’s close relationships in the area, including in economy, diplomacyand culture.Asia is the largest recipient of KOICA aid, which accounts for 46.9 percent of total spending in 2012. Africa (20.4 per cent) is the second largestrecipient, followed by Central and South America (11 per cent).KOICA’s remit has also expanded to Africa, which has high instancesof less developed countries, and aid has been provided, among others, inEthiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal and the Democratic Republicof the Congo. KOICA is concentrating on health, education and ruraldevelopment in these areas, working with other organisations that have anunderstanding of the needs of these countries.However, KOICA’s resources are limited. Without the support andparticipation of volunteers and the private sector, results obtained would notbe satisfactory, or be limited at best. Nor would we be able to reach out tothese countries and help people in a real plight.In this regard, KOICA is in the process of expanding partnerships withdonor agencies, international organisations and domestic and global privateplayers. Eradicating poverty is not just a job for aid workers, governmentand development organisations – corporations, financial investors and fundmanagers all have a part to play. Leveraging funding and expertise in theprivate sector will enable sustainable growth and socially valuable expansionfor all.Overall, KOICA will ensure Korea’s unique know-how and experiencegained from its own transition will translate into support for socio-economicdevelopment in partner countries, a closing of the inequality gap and thecreation of shared prosperity for all.Young-mok KimPresident of KOICA


42 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTFinancing essentialinfrastructure inLatin America andthe CaribbeanInvestment in infrastructure is a key driver ofdevelopment. Creating the conditions to encouragemore private sector investment can transformthe growth prospects of developing countriesBy Dr Arturo J. Galindo, Dr LeopoldoLaborda Castillo and Verónica Zavala,Inter-American Development BankInfrastructure is a key componentof economic prosperity givenits paramount role in fosteringproductivity and alleviating poverty.Latin America and Caribbean (LAC)countries traditionally have lagged behindin terms of the quantity and the quality oftheir infrastructure. For several decades,most of the region’s infrastructure wasfinanced with public resources, and,given a variety of macroeconomic andinstitutional disorders, these were scarceand inefficiently used.Under heavy fiscal pressure, shrinkinginvestment was usually the adjustmentmechanism adopted by governments. Inrecent years, the macroeconomic conditionof many countries has strengthened andnew opportunities to finance infrastructurehave arisen, providing countries with newGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT43© Reutersavenues to close the infrastructure gapscreated in the past.Table 1 shows a recent recovery ininvestment in infrastructure in largecountries in LAC, after a declining trendthroughout most of the last three decades.Investment in infrastructure decreasedfrom nearly four per cent of gross domesticproduct (GDP) in 1980–1985 to two percent between 1996 and 2001, and thento 1.5 per cent between 2002 and 2006.In recent years, after a relative bonanzafollowing the world financial crisis (2008–Table 1: Investment in infrastructure as % of GDP: selected countries1980–1985 1996–2001 2002–2006 2008–2011Public 3.1 0.8 0.6 1.6Private 0.6 1.4 0.9 1.2Total 3.7 2.2 1.5 2.8Note: Selected countries are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.Source: Calderón and Servén (2010), Perrotti and Sánchez (2011), and own calculations.2011), there has been a recovery, withinvestment in infrastructure increasing tonearly three per cent of GDP.In the early 1980s, governmentsmaintained high levels of infrastructureinvestment (about three per cent of GDP)and were the primary funding source of allinfrastructure projects. During the 1990s,a period of high macroeconomic volatility,public infrastructure investments reachedonly 0.8 per cent of GDP. The downwardtrend continued in the first years of the newcentury, and public infrastructure investmentA worker inside the Cuncas II tunnel, which willlink the canals being built to divert water from theSão Francisco river for use in four drought-plaguedstates near the city of Mauriti, Brazilhit 0.6 per cent of GDP. In recent years,and as the macroeconomic stance of mostcountries has stabilised and fiscal deficitshave reduced, public investment has risenagain, to 1.6 per cent of GDP.In the case of private investment, althoughits first significant push was in the late 1980s,the sector played a leading role in the 1990s,mainly due to privatisation and corporatetakeovers. As a result, private investmentreached 1.4 per cent of GDP between 1996and 2001 – considerably higher than the 0.6per cent of GDP achieved in the early 1990s.Between 2002 and 2006, privateinvestment dropped off abruptly incomparison with the previous period, fallingto 0.9 per cent of GDP. As economiesstabilised and the financial crisis subsided,private investment picked up, reaching 1.2per cent of GDP between 2008 and 2011.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


44 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTFigure 1 shows that the compositionof investment in infrastructure variessignificantly across countries. While inArgentina, Bolivia and Ecuador, investmentin infrastructure is mostly publiclyfinanced, in others such as Brazil andColombia, the major source of financingis private. Overall and throughout theregion, private sources of funding accountfor nearly half of the region’s investment ininfrastructure.According to several estimates, theinfrastructure gaps in LAC are high.For example, economists Perrotti andSanchez estimate that in order to closethe gap between demand and supply ofinfrastructure, the region will need toinvest an additional 5.2 per cent of GDPper year for more than a decade anda half. Investing this amount requiressignificant efforts that exceed publicfunds. In this context, the participation ofprivate capital in financing infrastructureprojects is key.The current view throughout thedeveloping world is that projects thatare managed and designed cautiously,involving the private sector, will leadto investments in which the benefitswill outweigh both the potential costsand risks of fiscal liabilities that maymaterialise during the investmentprocess. Because of this, the number ofinfrastructure projects in the developingworld involving the private sector hasincreased in recent years.As shown in Table 2, the preferred way toinvolve the private sector in infrastructureprojects in LAC is now through ‘greenfield’investments, a similar trend to the restof the developing world. However, thishas not always been the case. In the1990s the prevailing method for privatesectorinvolvement in LAC was throughconcessions (42 per cent of projects). Whilethe share of concessions has now fallen toless than 30 per cent of projects, greenfieldprojects have risen to 66 per cent.It is important to note that most of thegreenfield projects (91 per cent) take placein upper middle income countries, andthat 80 per cent of them follow one oftwo models:●●Build, operate and transfer (BOT),where a private sponsor builds a newfacility at its own risk, operates thefacility at its own risk, and then transfersthe facility to the government at the endof the contract period.●●Build, own and operate (BOO), wherea private sponsor builds a new facility atits own risk, then owns and operates thefacility at its own risk.A challenge for the region is to promotefinancing schemes involving the privatesector throughout the region and,where possible, to contain fiscal risks,particularly in lower-income countries,where private participation is scarceand can take place in a way that makesfiscal accounts more vulnerable. It isclear that public-sector risks may alwaysexist in infrastructure projects, but theseFigure 1: Investment in infrastructure (average 2008–2011)Total-LACBrazilColombiaPeruGuatemalaChileUruguayMexicoEcuadorArgentinaParaguayBoliviaPrivatePublic0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5% GDPSource: Barbero (2011) and own calculationsTable 2: Private participation in infrastructure (PPI) projects and PPItype in Latin America and the Caribbean1990-2000 2001-2012PPI Type Project Count % Project Count %Concession 376 42.15 227 27.92Divestiture 134 15.02 13 1.60Greenfield project 351 39.35 536 65.93Management and lease contract 31 3.48 37 4.55Total 892 100 813 100Notes: Concessions: A private entity takes over the management of a state-owned enterprise for a given periodduring which it also assumes significant investment risk. Divestitures: A private entity buys an equity stake in astate-owned enterprise through an asset sale, public offering, or mass privatisation programme. Greenfield projects:A private entity or a public-private joint venture builds and operates a new facility for the period specified in theproject contract. Management and lease contracts: A private entity takes over the management of a state-ownedenterprise for a fixed period while ownership and investment decisions remain with the state.Source: Author’s calculation using World Bank and PPIAF, PPI Project Database (2014).GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FUNDING DEVELOPMENT45© Reutersneed to be strategically chosen, andcontracts should be designed to properlymitigate them. In cases where the selfsustainabilityof the project is uncertain,governments may need to provideguarantees, or design the contracts insuch a way that the government will takethe risk until the income streams of theproject are known for certain. Doingthis requires not only the will to involvethe private sector, but also ensuring thatinstitutions are knowledgeable and matureenough to handle the challenges.Investment in economic infrastructureand related services in LAC has beeninsufficient. Although several factors wereinvolved (such as high macroeconomicvolatility, the lack of comprehensivepolicies and regulatory and financingissues), the effects of these physicalconstraints are clear and seriously threatenfuture development. Involving the privatesector in funding infrastructure projects iscrucial for the region.However, the design of such involvementneeds to be carefully done to ensurethat the private sector participants areexperienced and have a demonstrable valuefor money; the outputs are clearly definedand measured by third-party performanceaudits; sound procurement policies areguaranteed; and the maintenance costs areconsidered and incorporated in the contract;among others.It is also important to consider thatsimply making the estimated investmentsrequired, and selecting the mostappropriate funding model, does notguarantee that investment will lead togrowth. Rather, as Rozas and SánchezConstruction of the innovative public escalator atCommune 13, one of the poorest districts in Medellin,Colombia. The huge 384m (1,260ft) long outdoorescalator helps the 12,000 residents get around themountainside slum(2004) state, investment in infrastructure isa necessary condition for development, butit is not enough on its own.The impact of infrastructure investmenton growth will also depend on otherfactors, such as the extent of human capitaldevelopment, the availability of naturalresources or the access to technology.In short, the challenges of the regionlie not only in securing the best possiblefunding for investment, but also inproviding an adequate institutionalenvironment for the investments to takeplace soundly and effectively.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


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FUNDING DEVELOPMENT47© ReutersQuality financialservices for all“Universal access to financial services is within reach –thanks to new technologies, transformative business modelsand ambitious reforms… As early as 2020, such instrumentsas e-money accounts, along with debit cards and low-costregular bank accounts, can significantly increase financialaccess for those who are now excluded.”Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank GroupBy Dr Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director,Center for Financial InclusionFinancial inclusion is within reach.More than 40 years ago, themicrofinance movement began itsspread around the world, helping unservedand underserved communities gain accessto credit and other financial services.Through microfinance, hundreds ofmillions of clients who had been previouslyignored by mainstream financial institutionshave access to products that most of us takefor granted in our daily lives.Now, building on the success ofmicrofinance, the financial inclusionmovement has created a vision of a worldShobha Vakade, who took out a loan of 18,000 rupees($400) from a microfinance company to start herown business, strings beads into necklaces outsideher house in a slum in Mumbai, IndiaGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


48 FUNDING DEVELOPMENTwhere everyone has financial services tohelp them achieve their goals. While itmay seem daunting to reach the billionswithout access to quality financial services,new providers and new technologies aremaking it possible.Commercial banks, telecommunicationsproviders, insurance companies, paymentsproviders and others are entering themarket with a range of social and businessmotivations. New technologies arereducing delivery costs and leapfroggingthe barrier of physical access.Policy-makers are working withintheir countries and regions and throughglobal initiatives to create an enablingenvironment for financial inclusion.Microinsurance is now reaching halfa billion people, according to theInternational Labour Organization(ILO). Big data and use of alternative dataare revolutionising areas such as creditreporting. And rising incomes at the baseof the pyramid are creating demand fromnew customers.Many of these new customers are part ofthe fast-growing ‘vulnerable class’, definedas those having an income of $4 to $10 perday. These consumers are no longer poor,but they remain vulnerable to shocks. Astheir spending power rises they will beginto be interested in using formal financialservices to help manage their financialtransactions. From the start to the end ofthis decade, the ‘real’ spending power ofthe bottom 40 per cent of the populationwill nearly double, to $5.8 trillion.Financial inclusion 2020: enablingsustainable developmentThe Center for Financial Inclusion atAccion defines financial inclusion as astate in which all people who can use themhave access to a suite of quality financialservices, provided at affordable prices,in a convenient manner, and with dignityfor the clients. Financial services aredelivered by a range of providers,most of them private, to a financiallycapable clientele.This definition moves beyond accessto focus on quality, and it is this concernfor quality that is essential for financialinclusion to be an enabler for sustainabledevelopment goals.Financial inclusion enables people atthe base of the economic pyramid to makethe most of their resources, providing theinfrastructure that serves as the backbonefor the post-2015 development agenda.A microfinance loan does not create avegetable vendor’s market, but the workingcapital it provides may enable her to arrivein the marketplace with vegetables to sell.A savings account does not get a youthinto school, but it may enable his parentsto stockpile the money for school fees.Electronic money transfer services do notchange the amount a worker can set asideto send home to her parents, but theyenable the money to move faster and morecheaply. Microinsurance does not preventa baby from getting sick, but it allowsFinancial inclusionenables people at thebase of the economicpyramid to make themost of their resourceshis parents to pay for healthcare. And inthe face of drought, insurance enables asmallholder farmer to plant their next crop.Financial services assist people tomanage their economic lives across thebarriers of time and space and in the face ofrisks. This infrastructure is crucial in orderto achieve the transformative shift the UNseeks beyond 2015. Full financial inclusionfor all, which we believe is achievable by2020, will provide critical building blocksfor achieving sustainable developmentgoals in the post-2015 world, but only ifapproached with the needs of the excludedcarefully considered.As financial service providers beginto serve new first-time users they mustdesign and deliver quality products thataddress their needs, and invest in buildingfinancial capability so consumers areequipped to make sound financial choices.Most fundamentally, policy-makersand providers need to ensure that thesecustomers, who are inexperienced withfinancial services, are protected fromexploitation and abuse. Microfinance hasled the way, spurring a focus on responsiblefinance through initiatives such as theSmart Campaign (focused on consumerprotection), Microfinance Transparency(focused on pricing transparency), and theSocial Performance Taskforce (focused onmission fulfilment).Leave no one behindAs providers increasingly deliver services tothose whose incomes are rising, it will remainimportant not to leave behind groups thatcan experience exclusion, such as womenand youth, people in rural and remote areas,older adults and persons with disabilities.Australia, for example, is using its G20presidency to focus on remittances, whichmay help bring the financial service needs ofmigrants and refugees into greater focus.The older adult segment (ages 65+) isexpected to reach 1.5 billion people by2050. Both developed and less developedcountries are ageing at an astonishing rate.In 1950, one in 20 people worldwide waselderly; by 2050 it will be one in five.The rapid growth in older populationsmust be addressed by policy-makers andfinancial service providers, to serve thosewho are currently old and help thosepreparing for ageing.Persons with disabilities experience bothlow access to financial services and highunemployment – as high as 90 per cent in thedeveloping world. According to the WorldHealth Organization, more than one billionpeople worldwide experience some type ofdisability. New solutions are emerging toclose the accessibility gap, fuelled by assistivetechnology innovations as well as mandatessuch as the UN Convention on the Rightsof Persons with Disabilities.While these groups present specialchallenges, there are business models thatsuccessfully cater to each of them. Withpublic-sector leaders joining private-sectorinnovators, we can achieve the vision ofFinancial Inclusion 2020 – a world inwhich all people have the tools they needto manage their resources.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


50 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONCollaboration is the ‘new normal’As development goals become increasingly dependent on partnerships of diverseactors, how can the barriers be broken down to enable effective, concerted action?© ReutersBy Dr Darian Stibbe, Executive Director,The Partnering Initiative (TPI)In September 2014, the Open WorkingGroup on the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (OWG) will present its report tothe UN General Assembly. While specifictargets and indicators are still beingfinalised, one aspect is clear: partnershipswill be essential to achieving the goals, andthey will be needed at a level that dwarfscurrent collaboration.This is a heavy demand. While therhetoric around partnership may bescorching, the reality – particularly atcountry level – is still lukewarm. Partneringacross sectors with different interests,motivations, cultures and timescales,and often lacking in trust, is challenging.Too many existing partnerships are notdelivering fully on their potential and,with few mechanisms to support newpartnerships, the number of collaborationsis only scratching at the surface of whatis required.If we are to scale up and mainstreamcollaboration, we must do more to buildthe ‘partnership infrastructure’: thestructures, mechanisms and capacitiesneeded to make them happen at scale.Unfortunately, the issue of how this couldbe achieved is not touched on by theOWG’s latest draft.On the basis that ‘what gets measuredgets done’, The Partnering Initiative(TPI) believes that, as an essential deliverymechanism, specific ‘structural targets’should be included around partnershipsProcessing rice at a mill in Nigeria. GAIN, whichsupports public-private partnerships to increase accessto missing nutrients in diets through the fortification ofstaple foods, is one of a number of multi-stakeholderplatforms already in operation globallyin the post-2015 agenda, with indicatorsfocused on the degree to which the enablingpartnership infrastructure is in place.Towards a new infrastructure forcollaborationTo mainstream partnerships, concerted,collective action is needed at four levels:1. Systemic mechanisms: multi-stakeholderplatforms catalysing partnershipsA number of multi-stakeholder platformsare already in operation globally – forexample the Global Alliance for ImprovedGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION51Nutrition – as well as at country level,such as the Southern Agricultural GrowthCorridor of Tanzania and the newBusiness in Development Hubs that TPI isdeveloping in Zambia and Colombia.To systemise partnership development,such platforms need to raise awarenessamong all actors about the potentialfor partnership in a particular area ofdevelopment or geographic region; buildtrust and facilitate positive dialogueamong the sectors; broker potentialpartnerships (including building capacityfor partnering); and connect them withpossible sources of funding.Structural targets could be set forthe existence and quality of global-levelplatforms for each development area, aswell as country-level platforms that drivelocal action.2. Partnerships: improving quality andeffectiveness through international bestpracticeThe quality of partnerships needs to bemeasured and improved to ensure they aredelivering as effectively and efficiently aspossible. Partnerships need to:●●Be set up properly: they must be suited tothe context; have the right partners onboard; have defined objectives, roles andresponsibilities; and offer clear value toall partners.●●Operate effectively: this includes strongproject management, with partnersdelivering on their commitments,communicating well, tracking progressand conducting regular reviews.●●Manage the relationship: this meansensuring that the partnering principles ofequity, transparency and mutual benefitare observed, and that all partners areengaged and committed.Creating an agreed set of internationalbest practice standards against whichpartnerships can be measured would act asa tool for continuous improvement, as wellas help to build a common understandingof good partnering. Structural targets couldinclude the percentage of partnershipsoperating above a certain standard.3. Organisations: becoming ‘fit for partnering’Whether government or business, NGOor donor, UN or academic, one of themost common challenges to partnershipsis that organisations are rarely set upto partner effectively. Operational andadministrative obstacles can lead toconsiderable professional and personalfrustration, slow partnership developmentand missed opportunities.Through its work across sectors, TPIhas identified four key elements for anorganisation to be ‘fit for partnering’:●●Strategy: partnership must be built intoorganisational strategy, given an assignedbudget, and be advocated strongly byleaders at both international and countrylevel.●●Processes: from assessing a potentialopportunity through to appropriatelegal agreements, internal systems andprocesses must be designed to aid apartnership approach. In the case ofgovernment, this includes ensuring lawsand regulations are supporting and notobstructing partnerships.●●Skills: staff must have the right skills,guidelines and support, for example,through a dedicated partnership supportunit.●●Culture: organisations need a culture thatappreciates the strengths of other sectorsand includes a willingness to innovatethrough collaboration.TPI has worked with a number ofUN agencies and other internationalorganisations to create a Fit for Partneringassessment system, which could beused to provide a standardised rating ofdevelopment actors, with structural targetsset for the percentage of governments,institutions and international organisationsabove a certain rating.4. Individuals: building essential partneringcompetenciesAs mentioned above, building effectivepublic-private collaboration is challengingand requires a specific set of competenciesto ensure that they deliver. TPI structuresits partnering training courses around fourAlso in this sectionAfrican development inthe 21st century 54Building partnershipsthat work 58South-Southcooperation 62Investment insustainable trade 66Financialremittances 70GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


52 FROM AID TO COOPERATION‘MUST-have’ partnering competencies:a partnering Mindset; Understanding ofother sectors; relationship and negotiationSkills; and Technical knowledge of thepartnering process.The adoption of a common standardacross any organisation’s courses wouldallow the number of trained individualsto be tracked, and the setting of structuraltargets on that basis.Further, there is currently a major gapin general education around partnering.A target could be introduced around thenumber of business schools and publicpolicy schools incorporating conceptsof public-private partnerships fordevelopment into their curricula.Agreeing common definitionsOne issue affecting the wider adoptionof partnerships is the lack of clarity ofthe word itself. The term can be usedto describe a hugely diverse range ofrelationships. ‘Public-private partnerships’,for instance, include anything from asimple business-NGO partnership fordevelopment, to a profit-making regulatedarrangement for business to deliver publicservices or infrastructure.In general, governments are more likelyto have the latter arrangement in mind,while civil society actors are more inclinedto resist it as a form of privatisation. Thishugely muddies the issue and reducesthe acceptance of business as a legitimatedevelopment partner.A common set of definitions for differentforms of collaboration would reduce theconfusion. Meanwhile, international bestpractice standards could significantly improvethe time it takes to develop partnerships andthe quality of what is created.Measuring value and bridging theevidence gapEvidence of the effectiveness and efficiencyof partnerships in delivering sustainabledevelopment is limited. In some cases, thisis because they are tackling complex issuesthat require a partnering approach, sothere is no non-partnering alternative forcomparison. In other cases – just as with anydevelopment project – impact might comeA kindergarten run by Al Inshaat Charity with supportfrom UNICEF in the besieged city of Homs, Syria. ThePartnering Initiative has worked with a number ofUN agencies and other international organisationsto create a Fit for Partnering assessment systema significant time after implementation,making attribution difficult and data costlyor impossible to collect.Nevertheless, a well-conceivedpartnership will have specific, measurableobjectives and a clear theory of changeto describe the impact expected. Atthe very least, all partnerships shouldreport against these. We also need tomeasure more systematically the valueadded by partnerships – understandinghow the partnership approach hasachieved objectives in ‘better’ ways (e.g.more transformational, sustainable,integrated, context appropriate), as wellas appreciating the ancillary benefits thatmay come, such as capacity development,technology transfer between sectors,better trust between government andbusiness etc.While the sheer diversity ofpartnerships rules out a one-size-fits-allapproach to reporting, if partnershipsare to continue their rise as an essentialdevelopment approach, they must justifythe resources invested and demonstratethe value they are creating for bothbusiness and society.Post-2015 – an opportunity not tobe missedGlobal understanding of the role ofbusiness in development has changeddramatically since the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals were adopted in2000. The post-2015 agenda provides anincredible opportunity to change the waywe think about and ‘do’ development.By appreciating the interconnectednessof the prosperity of business, society andthe environment we can capitalise on thestrengths and resources of all sectors in away that achieves new levels of innovationand sustainable impact.And by building the infrastructure forpartnerships, we can genuinely achieve avision in which collaboration is the newnormal and business plays its full role as apartner in post-2015 development.© UNICEF/NooraniGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Responsible mining connects today’s prosperityto the promise of tomorrow.Sustainability, by definition, has no point of arrival. There is always thenext step to be taken, the next problem to be solved, the next hope to beembraced. At First Quantum, we don’t see this as a diversion from our realpurpose; it’s a fundamental part of doing business responsibly. And as wetake on the next set of challenges, we invite all of our stakeholders to sharetheir views, contribute their ideas and see firsthand how we’re working toensure that everything we do today has a positive impact on tomorrow.Griam Kipapa is one of many youngmen living near the Kansanshi minein Zambia whose lives have beentransformed through participationin the conservation farming programsponsored by First Quantum.WWW.FIRST-QUANTUM.COM/CORPORATE-RESPONSIBILITY


54 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONMyth-busting: a sine qua non forAfrica’s 21st century developmentPersistent misconceptions about the challenges that Africa faces are preventing progress.If the continent is to achieve development this century, the real issues must be addressedBy Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell, Founderand Director, Policy Centre for AfricanPeoples, London, UKBack in 2008, a group of like-mindedindividuals created the Policy Centrefor African Peoples to provide aplatform for the engagement and educationof Africans and key stakeholders in theUK, Africa and elsewhere. We weretired of how debates on African topicswere monopolised by non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs), celebrities,politicians and entrepreneurs purportingto seek the development of Africa when,in fact, their modus operandi and, in somecases, their existence, depended on theperpetuation of aged-old myths that werehindering this development.There will always be countless mythsabout all sorts of people and places.Thus, at first glance, it may seempointless and foolhardy to conditionAfrica’s development to the debunkingof widely held but false ideas. However,certain myths are so detrimental toAfrican development that rebuttingthem is imperative for Africa to achievedevelopment in the 21st century.Myths, foreign handouts andAfrican developmentProbably the most ingrained myth aboutAfrica is that its main challenge is poverty.In reality, Africa is the world’s mostresource-rich continent. Poverty is notits problem, but a mere symptom of thereal problem that has been gnawing at thiscontinent for centuries: the squandering ofits wealth by leaders and partners that areunaccountable to African populations.With a few exceptions, from the 16thcentury onwards, the most powerfulAfrican leaders have been those who havedisregarded their people’s interests tosatisfy their personal desires and thoseof their successive partners, includingslavers, colonialists and big businesses,both foreign and local.The corollary of the aforementionedmisconception is the ‘save Africa’ myth,which stipulates that poverty-strickenAfrica desperately requires aid fromforeign governments and charities to fulfilthe basic needs of its people, and achievedevelopment. In fact, foreign aid and whatcould be termed the ‘beggary industry’fomented by international NGOs aremajor contributors to Africa’s continuousunderdevelopment.slave-trading were fundamentally evil anddifferent from us. In fact, they were justnormal human beings who were as fallibleand motivated by misconceptions andself-interest as many of us. Furthermore,slave traders and owners were oftenconvinced that they were helping theslaves by introducing them to civilisation,Christianity, etc. In other words, foreignaid and charitable engagement, our mainpolicies towards Africa, are motivated bythe same thinking that made some peoplebelieve that slavery was good for Africans.Though these policies are happening inmodern times under the illusion of change,their repercussions are equally damagingto African populations and detrimental toAfrica’s development.The most pernicious consequence offoreign aid and charitable donations forCertain myths are so detrimental to Africandevelopment that rebutting them is imperativeIn the past, the lifelines ofunaccountable, self-interested Africanrulers were the weapons and goodssupplied by their slave-trading partners.Nowadays, they rely on foreign handoutsfor the subsistence of their populations,while they block their countries’development by wasting their wealth.This parallel between past slavers andmodern-day individuals and organisationsmay be difficult to accept because ofanother myth. We often assume that ourpredecessors who engaged in slavery andAfrica is that they are depriving Africancitizens of the basic human right to holdtheir leaders to account. In so doing, theymaintain the status quo by prolongingthe centuries-long oppression andunderdevelopment of African populations.The myth of Africa as a continentrepeatedly plundered by outsidersconceals the reality that throughoutthe centuries, some African elites havebeen agents and beneficiaries of thedomination of African populations andlooting of African wealth. Most of today’sGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION55© GettyAfrican leaders are the beneficiaries of afundamentally corrupt system wherebypower was generally handed not to themost principled, responsible or honestAfrican individuals, but to those who werethe most shameless, corrupt and eagerto serve their own interests and those oftheir foreign partners.Too often, those who point to Africanhistory to explain the current state ofaffairs are accused of playing the ‘blamegame’. This overlooks the uniqueness ofAfrican history. Africans have had theirsocieties and self-confidence completelyshattered by centuries of slave trade,colonisation and neo-colonisation. Thus,unlike the people of China, India, andother former colonies, they generallylack the basic self-assurance necessaryto design appropriate solutions to theirspecific problems and are more likelyto internalise foreign misconceptionsabout themselves.The way forwardThis does not mean that there is no hopeor way forward for Africa in the 21stcentury. Simply debunking harmful mythsRelatives of Congolese soldiers stand in the formerpalace of late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, in Gbadolite.Mobutu, who ruled Zaire (now Democratic Republic ofthe Congo) for 32 years, gained notoriety for the scaleof his embezzlement and luxurious lifestyleis not the endgame, but an indispensablefirst step on the long road to Africa’sdevelopment. This should address thefollowing five areas.Africans must realise that though thereis no single solution for all the 53 Africanstates, there is no template outside Africafor rebuilding and developing a continentGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


56 FROM AID TO COOPERATION© Reutersbroken by centuries of slave trade andbrutal colonisation. They must activelynurture their self-confidence and selfrelianceto devise and implement their owndevelopment action plans.To build up their self-confidence,Africans must counteract externalmisconceptions with their own narrativesbased on reality. For instance, rather thanallowing themselves to be lured into a falsesense of optimism by the current ‘Africarising’ discourse promoted by foreignanalysts, Africans could develop theirown realistic yet inspiring and powerfulnarrative: the ‘building Africa’ vision.Being an African in the 21st centuryis to have a unique opportunity to makehistory by building and developing acontinent rich in natural, human, culturaland other resources. No one with Africa’sbest interest at heart would lend credibilityto the claim that it is rising while mostAfrican populations do not benefit fromits wealth, and while they are relying onforeign interventions to protect them fromcivil wars, ebola epidemics, etc.It is imperative to acknowledge thatforeign handouts will never be conduciveto Africa’s development. African leadersshould not be allowed to use foreignaid and international NGOs’ work as amagic carpet to ride through corruption,incompetence, oppression and disregardfor citizens’ welfare.Nobody, African or otherwise, has abasic human right to be a ruler. Whoevercannot use their country’s resourcesto feed and protect their people, buildschools or hospitals, and generate nationaldevelopment should leave power, not relyon foreign governments and NGOs to dothese things.Ending Africa’s dependence on foreignhandouts will trigger social, political andstructural reforms leading to the rule oflaw, peace, transparency and democraticaccountability that Africans need to useas resources to develop their countries.Botswana and Mauritius, which aredemocratic, peaceful, non-dependent onforeign handouts, and richer than, say,China in terms of GDP per capita, showthat this is not an unachievable goal forAfrican nations.Partners of African countries needto develop new, bold and forwardthinkingpolicies based on evidenceand enlightened self-interest, ratherSupporters cheer Mauritian Prime MinisterNavinchandra Ramgoolam during a rally in the capital,Port Louis. Mauritius is a rare example of a peaceful,democratic and relatively prosperous African nationthan age-old myths. For instance, theimplementation of initiatives aimedat promoting transparency, peace anddemocratic accountability on the onehand, and responsible entrepreneurshipby Western companies operating in Africaon the other hand, would be far moreeffective in terms of preventing the Westfrom losing ground to the emergingeconomies in Africa, than the currentemphasis on foreign aid.Equally, distancing themselves from thevulture policies that the ‘save Africa’ mythcompels them to adopt – such as the use ofpictures of dead and starving Africans toobtain donations and trigger humanitarianinterventions – would enable internationalNGOs to focus their resources on moreproactive and effective policies. Theseinclude tracking and repatriating lootedfunds, fighting tax evasion by multinationalcompanies, and combating the distortionof global trade by developed countries’agricultural subsidies.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATURE© Wu Di/GreenpeaceSharing responsibility globallyBy Carla Coloma,Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility, MangoFor some time now, society has been familiar with the conceptof globalisation, but perhaps we have not realised the fullconsequences of this new trend.Many physical, legislative and bureaucratic barriers have beenremoved to give way to more competitive markets and better accessto resources for the global population – which entails the importing ofgoods from, but also the exporting of waste and contamination to, othergenerally less developed countries.Obviously, this change has meant that the supply chains ofcompanies have increased in size, which presents a complex challengefor socially responsible companies concerned that all the partiesinvolved play by the same rules. Adapting to the rules of others hasnever been easy, and if we add ethnic, cultural and social diversity tothis, the challenge becomes more complex.In such cases, faced with a common goal, it is useful to establishagreements and projects in order to obtain guaranteed results. Toachieve this, the Greenpeace organisation combined the resourcesnecessary to launch a global initiative within the fashion world witha key common objective: to manufacture clothing without usinghazardous chemicals by 2020 – the DETOX project.This was an extremely ambitious and large-scale project, yet littleby little the initiative received a positive response and many companies,Mango among them, decided to sign up.The knowledge and experience of large companies can betransmitted throughout the supply chain to less developed countries,yet this is a task which takes time. It requires clear understanding of thesituation within each country and of each specific organisation. All thishelps generate greater added value to the supply chain.It is now nearly 18 months since Mango first signed up to theDETOX project and there has been a major communication driveto explain to suppliers, one by one, how to make their productionprocesses more environmentally friendly – this has entailed a thoroughtechnical analysis of the waste waters of each factory.In the beginning there was a lot of uncertainty throughout thesupply chain, but the collaboration has been very positive and we havefound that suppliers value and appreciate the time dedicated to them.They also realise that changes are taking place in the market, which iswhy it is essential for them to adapt in order for their products to remaincompetitive and to allow them to access more strategic markets.The esteem employees feel for their company depends largely onwhat message is transmitted to them, and in the same way we have toconsider external employees as a part of our team. We involve them inprojects that transmit our company values to them and develop closerties that go beyond the purely economic.An increasing number of people realise that every challenge can beapproached as an opportunity and that those who do not innovate inevery area, including their approach to the environment, will not remainin leading positions for long. Fortunately, we have encountered manyleaders along the way.


58 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONBuilding partnerships that workPartnerships are not a goal in their own right and all too often they fail to deliver.However, successful templates do exist and they have proved to be scaleableBy Michael O’Neill, Assistant Administratorand Director of the Bureau of ExternalRelations and Advocacy, United NationsDevelopment ProgrammeIn the world of development, we love totalk about partnerships. We applaud thevaried combinations created betweenprivate and corporate philanthropy, andthe public sectors, non-governmentalorganisations, UN agencies and so on.Such partnerships are hatched in a spirit ofoptimism and heady promises of success.But partnership is not an objective in itself.Partnerships are valuable only if theystrengthen our ability to deliver significantresults in human development.Regrettably, many partnerships – privateand public – are weak and in some casesoften fail. The UK’s Chartered Instituteof Personnel and Development (CIPD)recently noted that while the number ofall types of partnerships is increasing, thefailure rate is high.Effective partnerships, however,are fundamental to accomplishingwidespread change. As the 2015 deadlineof the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) approaches and as welook ahead to the post-2015 world,partnerships for sustainable developmentare going to be even more pivotal. Sopartnership cannot simply be a worddelivered to impress.Real partnerships are marked by solidinvestments furnished by every partner.The cornerstones of such partnershipswill be a shared vision of the post-2015world. The vision is centred on aspirationsto eradicate poverty, foster inclusion, andpush for sustainable development, so we canaccelerate economic and social progress.This shared vision needs to be accompaniednot only by a commitment to pledgeresources, but also by a commitment totransparency and accountability.Fortunately, we have both the templatesfor successful development partnerships,and evidence that they can be developedon a large scale. The template is the jointUN-World Bank MDG AccelerationFramework (MAF). It helps identifyhurdles that limit progress towards specificgoals, and creates practical solutions thatpull together a range of partners to helpaccomplish those goals.In 2010, Colombia developed a MAFplan to better implement its CartagenaPolicy for Productive Inclusion for thepoor and vulnerable – Política de InclusionProductiva para Población en Situación dePobreza y Vulnerabilidad.Local government applied theacceleration framework to identifybottlenecks impeding people’s inclusion,such as poor labour market information anda lack of coordination between governmentdepartments, businesses and people.To improve transparency, the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP)developed access to innovative mechanismsof financial services such as self-helpgroups, microcredit, electronic bankingand investment angels. These stepsreinvigorated and scaled-up a vital existingavenue called CEMPRENDE – centresthat provided training, technical assistance,and access to credit for facilitatingemployment and entrepreneurship.Efforts were made to forge partnershipsbetween local government, civil society andbusiness. The local chamber of commerce,and national initiatives, such as the LabourMarket Observatory and the Training forWork programme in the tourism sector,worked together to identify concreteopportunities, for instance linking vendorsand suppliers to ‘anchor firms’, such ashotels that could source some of theirpurchases locally.Funds from local and nationalgovernments, businesses, the chamberof commerce and external donors werepooled to help strengthen local capacities,as well as set up a microcredit seedcapital fund. With more focused outreachand targets to assess accountability,considerable progress was achieved.Partnerships are valuable only if they strengthen ourability to deliver significant results in developmentsupported local government bystrengthening institutional coordination,facilitated public-private alliances with aninclusive business approach, strengthenedthe capacity of government units toproduce data and analysis of labourmarket information, developed a rosterof experts in business counselling, andThe number of women usingCEMPRENDE’s services shot up from 36per cent to 62 per cent, and women’s shareof the total value of microcredit loans roseto 62 per cent, way past the 50 per centtarget. Based on this experience, similarefforts are underway in other territoriesacross Colombia.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION59© CorbisCartagena was one of five Colombian territorieswhere the Millennium Development Goals AccelerationFramework was applied to the Colombiangovernment’s productive inclusion programmeAt UNDP, and in the broader UNsystem, we see the private sector,along with civil society organisationsand governments, as a vital ally indriving forward human and sustainabledevelopment. It can play a key role asan engine of economic growth and jobcreation, and can contribute to tacklingdevelopment challenges and addressclimate change.As dialogue on the post-2015development agenda continues, many civilsociety actors have recommended somekey actions to ensure better accountabilityof governments, the private sector and alldevelopment partners. Such actions include:●●regular forums to evaluate progressjointly;●●stakeholder groups to assess progress inimplementation;●●availing the expertise of collective groupssuch as municipal councils;●●using new media including for real-timemonitoring;●●developing public, private and civilinitiatives to provide a clear, concreteand inclusive review of challenges facingglobal development.It will take that kind of accountabilityto deliver on objectives and to generateachievements.While CEMPRENDE in Colombiarepresents a path towards more meaningfulpartnership, it also provides importantlessons. The UN, as well as governmentsand development partners, must takea critical look at the way we work andchallenge the status quo. We need to applynew knowledge to tackle the challenges weface, so we can expand on our success andbe more effective, accountable and fit forpurpose in a post-2015 world.In the meantime, we need to continuelaying the foundation for that post-2015era through the MAF. At present, it isbeing applied to different goals and targetsin over 50 countries, and the results arepromising.Along the way, we have learned thatby constructing strong partnerships toexamine problems and risks, sharingin implementing solutions, and beingcommitted to securing results, we canmake remarkable progress in beating backpoverty and hunger, building resilience,and advancing human and sustainabledevelopment.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Climate action needsto gear up, nowThe climate is changing fast – and global society must transform quickly tokeep pace. Linking people to share climate and development solutions is vital© S A Wager/FotosearchThe climate is bound to keep changing in the decades to come, with warming trendsprojected across most world regions. These will affect the poorest the mostSam BickerstethChief Executive, Climate andDevelopment KnowledgeNetwork (CDKN)Climate change is happening, and affects the poorest the mostThe impacts of climate change are all around us. During the past 50years, the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts ofsnow and ice have shrunk, sea levels have risen. 1Climate impacts add to the burden of people living in poverty.People’s health is affected by heat stress, and their livelihoods are harmedby poorer harvests and damage to homes and businesses. They areaffected indirectly, by higher prices for food and other essentials.Droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by recurrent droughtsand floods in the 1990s and 2000s, destroyed crops and worsened foodsecurity problems in the Sahel. Scientists have linked these extremes withclimate change. 2 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)has issued its starkest warning yet that human emissions of greenhousegases are to blame for global warming. 3 But if human activities havelargely caused climate disruption, then human ingenuity can get us out ofthis predicament, too.Around the world, governments, businesses, communities andindividuals are pioneering development solutions that are compatible withthe changing climate. To meet the scale of the global challenge, theseemerging lessons must be shared effectively to effect broader, positivechange. This mission is at the heart of the Climate and DevelopmentKnowledge Network (CDKN)’s work.Embracing the ‘green economy’ will pay dividends nowand in the futureAdapting to climate change is essential. The climate is bound to keepchanging for decades to come, even if we stop emitting greenhouse gasestoday, because of climatic factors beyond our control.The poor are most vulnerable to climate change impacts, so reducingsocial inequalities, and improving access to basic services like water,sanitation, education and health can increase resilience to climate change.


SPONSORED FEATURETackling the root causes of climate change is equally important.Reducing and avoiding harmful greenhouse gas emissions means slashingfossil fuel use and adopting cleaner, more efficient technologies acrossthe global economy.The costs are less than we might think. ‘Business as usual’development would result in global consumption growth of 1.6–3% ayear. Taking ambitious climate mitigation measures would reduce thisconsumption growth by around 0.06 percentage points per year overthe 21st century. 4 This is before we account for the many, positiveeconomic and social benefits of low emissions development, like creatingsustainable jobs, reducing traffic congestion, indoor and outdoor airpollution, or reducing a country’s dependence on fuel imports.The message is clear: we can fight climate change and still prosper,but the sooner we act, the less costly mitigation action will be.© Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos“The message is clear: we can fight climatechange and still prosper, but the sooner weact, the less costly mitigation action will be”Knowledge is powerMaking the transition to a lower-emissions, more climate-resilient futurecalls for a new way of thinking. Knowledge networks will play a key role indiffusing new approaches and catalysing action. This is the Climate andDevelopment Knowledge Network (CDKN)’s business.• We support our partners to innovate.• Together, we measure and reduce carbon emissions and reduceclimate-related risks.• We spark new thinking and practice in climate-friendly investments.• We facilitate new partnerships among communities, businessesand government leaders to design and deliver climate-compatiblepolicies, and share learning.CDKN is an alliance of Southern and Northern organisations thatcombines research, advisory services and knowledge-sharing in supportof locally owned and managed policy processes.From flower companies in Kenya, to state government officials inIndia, to civil society in Latin America: all are working in partnership withCDKN to plan and resource development that can deal with current andfuture climate change.Sharing information can ultimately save lives. In Senegal and Kenya,we’ve supported meteorological agencies to broadcast seasonal weatherforecasts to remote areas. This has helped farmers to plant their seedsat the right time and harvest a good crop, even as rainfall patterns arechanging. In Ahmedabad, India, we supported South Asia’s first HeatAction Plan. Now city workers help move vulnerable residents into coolerenvironments during heatwaves, which is averting premature deaths.In 2015, we hope to see effective, coherent and progressive globalpolicy frameworks emerge for international development, disastermanagement and climate change. We find that the mission of CDKN hasnever been more important. Our results show that action can be taken totransform lives, livelihoods and economies, making them more resilientand prepared for a low carbon future.Development of renewable energy can boost access to energy indeveloping countries as well as improving countries’ energy security1. IPCC (2013). Physical Science of Climate Change, Summary for Policy Makers.2. IPCC (2014). Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation, Summary forPolicy Makers.3. IPCC (2013). Physical Science of Climate Change, Summary for Policy Makers.4. IPCC (2014). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Chapter 10.


62 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONSouth-SouthcooperationAs emerging economies increase their developmentassistance, focus has moved to the role thatSouth-South cooperation can play in transformingthe economies of low-income countriesBy Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya,Distinguished Fellow, Centre for PolicyDialogue, Dhaka and Chair, Southern Voice onPost-2015 International Development GoalsThe history of South–Southcooperation (SSC) goes back morethan six decades. With roots in the1947 Bandung Conference of the Afro-Asiadeveloping countries, the establishment ofthe Non-Aligned Movement in 1961 andthat of the Group of 77 (G77) in 1964 gaveinstitutional embodiment to the concept. Anumber of events and initiatives, from thecreation of the UN Conference on Tradeand Development (UNCTAD) in 1964© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION63to the High-Level UN Conference onSSC in Nairobi (2009), have subsequentlypromoted the cause. One of the high pointsin this process has been the establishmentof 19 December as the annual UN Day forSouth-South cooperation.The content of the SSC process wasprovided, inter alia, by:●●the demand for a new internationaleconomic order;●●efforts to operationalise technical andeconomic cooperation among thedeveloping countries;●●the adoption of global targets to provideinternational development assistance andcapacity-building support to developingcountries in the areas of trade andinvestment, health and education; and●●regulatory and institutional reforms.The realisation of all these aspirationsimplied that SSC needed to bemainstreamed in the national developmentframework of the developing countries– both as a provider and recipient ofcooperation inputs.Developing countries, particularly lowincomenations, are currently exploringthe potential role that SSC could playin promoting structural transformationof their economies. This quest has beenfuelled by the dynamism demonstrated bythe emerging economies and the backdropof multiple crises experienced by thedeveloped world in the recent past.The decline in the flow of foreignassistance from developed countriesfollowing the global economic andfinancial crisis has also prompted the lowincomecountries to take further interest inSSC. The promise of reforms unleashed bythe adoption of the Paris Principles on aideffectiveness, with its emphasis on the newfoundconcept of development impact ofaid, has provided a set of reference pointsto take a fresh look at the modalities andoutcomes of SSC.Currently, there is an increased focuson SSC, as it is considered one of thepotential instruments of implementationof the post-2015 development agenda. Therecent collective decision by Brazil, Russia,India, China and South Africa (BRICS) toset up a new development bank and reservefund has also added new momentum toSSC dynamics. Meanwhile, initiatives tocreate mega-free-trade agreements, suchas the Trans-Pacific Partnership embracingNorth and South, have posed newchallenges to SSC.Alongside the evolving process of SSC,Southern economies have emerged asimportant players in the internationaleconomic landscape. In 2012, the globalLocals cross a Chinese construction siteusing a makeshift bridge in Viana, about30km east of the Angolan capital, LuandaSouth accounted for about 36 per centof the world’s GDP, up from less than22 per cent in 2000. In terms of globalindustrial output, over the same period thecontribution of Southern countries rosefrom 27 per cent to 48 per cent.The Southern share in global exportsincreased from about 40 per cent in2000 to approximately 45 per cent in2012. Meanwhile, Southern countries’share in global inward flow of foreigndirect investments experienced a majorupswing, from about 19 per cent to morethan 45 per cent. And the share of globalremittance flows attributable to Southerncountries increased from about 60 percent in 2000 to more than 71 per centin 2012.During the last decade, the Southerncountries have significantly increasedthe flows of goods, services, finance andtechnology among themselves. They havealso appeared on the global scene in therole of new or non-traditional donors,often preferring the label ‘developmentpartners’. Estimates based on OECD datashow that developing countries as a groupcontributed around 6.3 per cent of totalOfficial Development Assistance (ODA)in 2011, of which BRICS countriesaccounted for 2.6 per cent and the Arabcountries – a major component of theglobal South – contributed another3.7 per cent of the global ODA flow.Admittedly, these figures suffer fromsignificant underestimation due to absenceof a comprehensive data set.The SSC process, therefore, has notonly achieved institutional maturity overthe decades, but has acquired enougheconomic muscle to make its presencesubstantively felt in the global arena.Second-generation issuesThe ‘coming of age’ of SSC has alsobrought to the fore a number of ‘secondgeneration’issues regarding its futureprospects. Addressing these issues now isvital if the powerful ideas informing SSCare to be fully realised.First, the ideas and practicesunderpinning the SSC paradigm stillsuffer from a lack of adequate clarity andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


64 FROM AID TO COOPERATION© Reuterscoherence. With the expanding role ofSSC in the global economy, the processand its manifestations are now in need ofreconceptualisation. This is necessary todevelop a theoretical construct based ona common set of guiding principles forthe process. The underlying principles ofSSC, among others, include South–Southsolidarity and partnership, respect fornational sovereignty, selection of demanddrivenprojects, and national ownership ofthe process.It is often stated that the contributionsmade in this regard are voluntary and notrelated to the colonial past of the providingcountry. Nevertheless, there is yet to bean analytical construct in place that cancoherently accommodate these principlesin an integrated fashion. Moreover, muchdebate exists about what would be themeasureable indicators of these principles.Second, it is now increasingly felt that,through a careful scrutiny of the incidenceof SSC, a framework and ‘tool box’ haveto be agreed upon to generate assessmentsof the comparative effectiveness of theSSC model. SSC is often referred to asexchange of funds, resources, technologyand knowledge among two or moredeveloping countries.But besides episodic review of specificcountries’ experiences, there is hardly anysystematic empirical study that establishesthe general conditions under which SSCtakes place and identifies the contextualparameters that makes such cooperation‘successful’. The challenge is to develop theperformance indicators of these conditions.Thus, it will be much more helpful if anassessment framework of SSC can beA critical question iswhether the Northernactors will graduallyabdicate their globalobligationsdesigned to evaluate – both ex-ante andex-post – the effectiveness of the currentpractices of SSC. These types of evaluationneed to be done in terms of economic, socialand environmental impact and implicationsof specific intervention done under SSC.Third, it is also tempting to askwhether in the near future one maysee the emergence of an internationalBrazil’s former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,jokes with Nigeria’s then Vice President GoodluckJonathan at the Africa-South America Summit inMargarita Island, Venezuela , in 2009development cooperation system in whichthe SSC model and the aid regime centredon the OECD Development AssistanceCommittee will leverage each other tocreate greater development impact.Improving our current understatingof the efficacy of triangular cooperationinvolving South–South–North is alsobecoming important. A critical questionin this regard is whether the traditionalNorthern actors will gradually abdicatetheir global obligations and commitments infavour of the emerging South, putting thelatter under disproportionate pressure. Theissue of creating an integrated and universalglobal development framework, therefore,also demands our close attention.It is expected that the internationaldevelopment community will intellectuallyengage to explore these and otheremerging issues concerning SSC in thepost-2015 development discussions.However, it will be appropriate forresearchers and analysts in the globalSouth to take a lead in this endeavour.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREAid with no catchesBy Jonathan Duffy,ADRA International PresidentHelping those who are displaced, living in poverty and suffering isnot just about providing aid but engaging with the private sectorto help communities break the cycle of dependency and thriveindependently.The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has a long andsuccessful track record of engaging communities around the world and iscurrently working in 130 countries to help relieve suffering and empowerindividuals.ADRA focuses on delivering aid in five major development centres: foodsecurity, economic development, primary health, disaster preparedness andresponse, and basic education. Last year we helped provide aid to over 12.5million beneficiaries around the globe and over the course of our 30-yearhistory we have helped in excess of 200 million people.As a major partner of the United Nations, ADRA believes strongly inworking with local authorities and leaders to engender trust and kick-startcollaborative change. However, there is another piece to the aid puzzle that isfundamental to providing real and lasting change in communities.A recent project, lasting five years, which took us to Mozambique, sawthe introduction of a revolutionary new way of providing aid which dependson engaging the private sector.The project focused on delivering a sustainable food programme andeconomic development in the area through building business resilience andmoving local farmers from survival farming to farming as a business.The project centred on the creation of a farmers’ association that isnow run as a credible, legal organisation and represents farmers in the localregion. The establishment of the association has multiple benefits.Firstly, it focuses on identifying which crops are in demand from theprivate sector and encourages farmers to respond to demand for specificcrops, which they can then sell.It has become the touch-point for the private sector, whether it issupermarket distributors or crop exporters, who can be assured theassociation is a legitimate organisation and has sufficient members to fulfilorders and contract obligations, something which a single farmer working ontheir own would not be able to do.And the association can also be a conduit through which farmers canaccess micro-finance, something they may have previously been denied dueto a lack of documentation or collateral.This way of working provides a value chain approach to delivering aid,which is crucial if farmers are to build sustainable business and communitiesare to become more resilient.There is a collaborative element to working in this way; with farmersdiscussing and implementing best practice and orientating production tomeet demand rather than working in silos purely to feed themselves, theyare creating a business and becoming part of the value chain.Setting up these projects is not simple but it can be done. Most often thebiggest hurdle is convincing local communities to accept that ADRA is thereto help and that the aid does not come with any ‘catches’. With projectsspanning five-year timeframes, ADRA has the ability to integrate in thecommunities, share struggles and find solutions that really work, as well asoversee a handover that ensures the intended beneficiaries really do benefit.When ADRA’s project finishes we aim to leave communities with abetter understanding of, and place in, the market and knowledge about howto conduct a micro-market service and orientate production to meet marketdemands.Furthermore the farmers are supported not only by their own tradeorganisation but also community leaders and local governments andauthorities with whom ADRA works in tandem to deliver the best outcomes.The private sector undoubtedly is a winner, with access to anothersource for much-needed crops, but the biggest winners are those who makeup the local communities who are given security of jobs, food and, mostimportantly, resilience.


66 FROM AID TO COOPERATION© ReutersSustainable trade forbetter developmentTrade and investment can be powerful driversof growth and jobs. The current MDGs touchon this, but there is scope to go deeperBy Arancha González, Executive Director,International Trade CentreIn the hour it will take to read thispublication, $3 billion in trade andforeign direct investment (FDI) flowswould have been transacted. And thisis happening every hour of every day.This has one fundamental outcome – anincreasingly integrated world built onthe framework of exports, imports andinvestment.Trade and FDI are powerful drivers ofgrowth. They bring technological change,which is a critical input for increasedproductivity and innovation. And agrowing body of evidence is confirmingthat productivity can trickle down to eventhe most vulnerable in the economy andcontribute to improved livelihoods. But tobenefit from this, economies must placetrade at the centre of their developmentplanning and ensure a business climatethat is favourable and facilitative toinvestments.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION67Openness to trade is a credible wayto help a country’s small and mediumsizedenterprises (SMEs) benefit from thenetwork of value chains that now dominatethe trade landscape. Take Senegal, forexample, where tomato and bean exportsare dominated by multinational companies.Many smallholders have started to supplytheir products to those companies and arenow incorporated into their supply chains.Others have started to work for thesecompanies and, as a result, the incomes ofhouseholds connected to these companieshave more than doubled in many cases.Large companies are the intermediarybetween smallholders and global markets.They transfer technological know-howand facilitate access to foreign markets.Increasingly these companies arerecognising the importance of giving back.Take Unilever or Nestlé, for example,which seek to reinvest in the communitieswhere they work. Increasing the levelof development in these economieshas a number of well-known positiveexternalities, including increasingproductivity and raising incomes, whichactually creates new markets for boththese large companies and the SMEs thatparticipate in the value chains.Creating connectionsThere are a number of examples wheretechnical assistance and capacity buildingcan create these connections between localproducers and regional and global markets.One example of how the InternationalTrade Centre (ITC), which I head, hasdone this is in assisting coffee farmers indeveloping countries, such as in Ugandaand Burundi, to increase the quality andsize of the coffee beans they grow.The capacity building is premised onensuring the retention of knowledgein-country as it is delivered throughnational producer organisations. This helpsestablish links between local producers andforeign coffee buyers and an outcome ofthis training has been that local producersare today able to sell their produce at aIncomes can be substantially increased by creatingconnections between local producers and regional andglobal markets. These Costa Rican coffee producers areconcentrating on premium quality coffee for exportrate 400 per cent higher than the originalprice. That is good for business, but is alsogood for development. Individual farmerscan pay school bills for their children andmedical care for their families; women canbecome more empowered; and quality ofthe final product is improved.These examples from Senegal, Burundiand Uganda illustrate how trade cancontribute to development in developingcountries. The potential benefits are evenmore impactful.And this potential can really only betranslated into reality if the business andeconomic environment is transparentand predictable enough to allow firms tonavigate effectively and function in anincreasingly competitive global businessenvironment. But this may not be enough.Internationalisation requires building aGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


68 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONbut essentially points in one direction:streamlining the complexity of regulationscan lead to greater efficiency in producingand trading goods and services.And let’s not forget that cutting crossborderred tape is not just a choice, it is amust for small businesses.Forward-looking policiesInvesting in trade in the 21st century is notlimited to investing in goods and processes.It is increasingly about services, about theknowledge economy. This greater focusrequires investment in skills, education andInvesting in trade inthe 21st century is notlimited to investing ingoods and processesUS Secretary of State John Kerry and India’s ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrive to address ajoint news conference in New Delhi, 31 July 2014. Indiavetoed the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, aglobal deal designed to advance trade liberalisationstronger capacity to trade, becoming morecompetitive. Access to market and tradeintelligence about new opportunities andinnovative solutions is the next step.Enterprises need to know where businessopportunities lie and how to take advantageof them. To address the information gapsthat exist in many developing countries,trade and investment-support institutionsplay an important role.They collect and analyse tradeinformation and make it publicly availablein a targeted way to relevant enterprisesand individuals. Building the capacity ofthese multipliers is critical and hence this isa fundamental pillar of ITC’s work.Another challenge is to ensure a businessenvironment that supports trade andinnovation, and which helps companies tonavigate the multitude of regulations thatmay restrict rather than facilitate trade.Creating an environment that benefits allis proving frustratingly elusive. The TradeFacilitation Agreement, struck by membersof the World Trade Organization inDecember 2013, was a global framework ofnational and regional reforms to lower thecost and time of doing trade. India vetoedthe agreement in July 2014, refusing toimplement it on food security grounds.Different research shows varying levelsof impact of improved trade facilitation,© Reutersknowledge transfer. In sum, this mandatesinvestment in people. Investing in trade isinvesting in people. Investing in people isinvesting in societies.The ongoing discussions on what shouldfollow the UN’s Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) provide an excellentopportunity to emphasise the developmentexternalities of investment in trade forgrowth. Not just any trade, but one that issupportive of sustainable development.There is scope as we look aheadto develop and finalise a post-2015development agenda and as we craftSustainable Development Goals, to havea greater emphasis on the role of publicprivatepartnerships in eradicating poverty.The current MDGs had made a tangentialreference to trade, but there is scope tosay more and go deeper in creating ameasurable target in this area.Today there are few who do notunderstand the potential of trade to creategrowth, jobs and opportunities. But it isnot an immediate process. The invisiblehand can only go so far. This requiresinvestment, forward-looking policies and aglobal compact committed to make tradework for development. It is in our hands todo it.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


70 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONFinancial remittances– a tool for development?Remittances provide essential funding for communities in developingcountries, but often at a high cost – human and financial – to migrants.Should they be integrated into development finance?By Ambassador Laura Thompson,Deputy Director General, InternationalOrganization for MigrationThe hard-earned money thatmigrants send every day to theirloved ones back home representsa vital economic lifeline for millions ofstruggling families around the world.These remittances improve standards ofliving in countless ways and help to makevulnerable communities more resilientto shocks, like economic downturns andnatural and man-made disasters.For recipients, remittances increasehousehold income and provide the resourcesto pay for basic needs such as food,education, housing and medical services. Indisaster-prone areas, remittance-recipienthouseholds are likely to be more resilient tothe effects of natural hazards through betterhousing, increased ability to rely on savingsas a buffer to cope with unexpected events,and improved access to communicationnetworks and emergency information beforeand during disasters.Remittances are also a form ofsocial insurance against political andeconomic crises and a kind of livelihooddiversification, particularly in the face ofclimate change. Egypt is a good example.Migrants provided for their families in thecountry when political instability struckduring the Arab Spring. During thistime, remittance inflows increased whileinvestors and donors were pulling out.The global scale of remittances isstaggering. The World Bank expects thatby 2016, the amount remitted throughofficial channels on an annual basis will bemore than $540 billion, which is roughlythe equivalent of the GDP of Sweden.With the number of internationalmigrants expected to rise from 232 milliontoday to 300 million in the next 15 years,a global increase in the amount of moneyremitted is likely to follow suit. In additionto financial help, non-monetary (social,technical or in-kind) transfers made bymigrants and diaspora also support peopleand communities in their home countries.More resilient, but costlyIn recent years, foreign direct investmentand overseas aid have been shown to bemuch more volatile than remittances.In an uncertain economic environment,remittances are a vital source of foreigncurrency for many countries, withremittance inflows equalling or exceedingforeign exchange reserves in at least 50developing countries.now if the cost of sending remittances couldbe reduced by five per cent over a period offive years, in line with the (now expired) 5x5Objective, endorsed by the G8 in 2009.Many migrants use informal channelsto send money, rather than banks orauthorised money transfer operators,because they are more convenient orcheaper. Often they have little choice butto do so, because they cannot access formalservices due to their irregular immigrationstatus, or simply because there are noformal means, particularly in countriesundergoing or recovering from crisis.However, because these informal moneytransfers are difficult to track, they facethe brunt of increasingly restrictive antimoney-launderingand counter-terrorismregulations, leading to the closure by majorbanks of the accounts of some moneytransfer operators. One such exampleis the British bank, Barclays, which wasonly prevented from closing the accountIn an uncertain economic environment, remittances area vital source of foreign currency for many countriesHowever, transfer costs remain high,particularly between countries in the globalSouth. Intra-African transfers are the mostexpensive, with transfer costs exceeding20 per cent in some cases, compared tofive per cent or below in some remittancecorridors between the Gulf and countries inSouth Asia. The World Bank estimates thatdeveloping countries would receive over$16 billion more each year than they doof Dahabshiil, a money transfer companywidely used throughout Somalia, by a courtinjunction.In such circumstances, informal channelssometimes provide the only meansavailable in countries in crisis, and are auseful and important service to migrantswho are often unbanked or otherwisefinancially excluded. Indeed, if their actualvalue was recognised, they might even beGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


FROM AID TO COOPERATION71Migrants hoping to reach the US ride atop a freighttrain, known as La Bestia, in Ixtepec, Mexico. Thosemigrating on a temporary basis or with irregular statusrun a high risk of poor conditions and low wagesconsidered as part of a strategic frameworkto reduce transfer costs globally.While the quantitative value ofremittances is undeniable, it is important tonote that the migration process undertakenby remittance-senders takes place in a widerange of circumstances that often havemigrant workers assuming significant risksand costs. One indicator of the numberof migrants who take considerable risks isirregular migration, which in the UnitedStates was estimated at 11 million migrantsin 2011, and in the European Unionbetween 1.9 and 3.8 million migrantsin 2008. Furthermore, many migrants,but particularly those migrating on atemporary basis or with irregular status,are more susceptible to unfair recruitmentpractices, smuggling (and subsequentindebtedness), challenges in the countryof destination related to poor working andliving conditions, and low wages.© GettyMarginalised communitiesIndeed, many migrants – either becauseof their skills, legal status or because theyare not favourably integrated in the labourmarket – fill jobs that are unattractive tolocal populations in order to be able to payoff the debts that they and their familieshave incurred during the migration process,and remit to those they have left behind.As an indication, less-skilled thirdcountrynationals constituted 79.2 percent of all non-EU nationals in 2008.Many of these factors contribute tomigrants being additionally exposed tohazards, particularly in urban areas wheredevelopment planning, risk reductionand other measures may not extend tomarginalised communities.Although remittances have the potentialto reduce the poverty level of therecipients, the development effects may benegated by dependency on remittances asthe sole or primary source of income andthere are documented incidents of localmarket distortions. Most critical are theGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


72 FROM AID TO COOPERATION© Gettysocial costs of migration and the economic,social and structural inequalities thatare exacerbated by remittances betweenrecipients and non-recipients. Anotherquestion that arises is to what extent thepractice of remitting and the volumeof remittances reveal the developmentchallenges that senders and recipients face.For instance, on the one hand migrantsmay face considerable social pressures toremit. On the other hand, remittancesare often used to afford basic services,to overcome gaps in social security andeducation systems, and credit markets.Accordingly, an appraisal of the impactof remittances on development presentscertain complexities that need to be takeninto consideration, recognising that theresponsibility for development lies withstates and not migrants.Maximising development potentialRemittances must be taken into account inthe development goals that are currentlybeing set for 2015 and beyond. Their roleis within a framework that recognises thehuman dimension of migration – the social,cultural and financial contributions ofmigrants, as well as the massive sacrificesthat many have had to make along the way.At this stage, policymakers have theopportunity to consider remittances andother social benefits of migration undera new, wider lens, where remittances arerecognised for what they are – the privatefunds of migrants, rather than a suitablesource of financing for development.One of the main priorities should be thereduction of transaction costs. Theirreduction would make more moneyavailable for migrants and the recipientsof their remittances. This will requirea concerted, collaborative effort amonggovernments, the private sector and theinternational community.A multi-faceted strategy should seek toaddress not only the shortcomings of theinternational regulatory framework, butalso the promotion of innovative remittancemechanisms and a wider array of moneytransfer operators. Financial educationinitiatives for migrant workers and recipientBangladeshi construction workers take a break in Doha,Qatar. There is intense international concern for thewelfare of migrant workers in Qatar, who have sufferedextreme exploitation and dangerous working conditionshouseholds are a proven way of increasingthe likelihood that remittances positivelyand directly impact the life of recipients andtheir communities.Above all, remittance-linked initiativesmust be part and parcel of a widerdevelopment agenda that addressesthe systematic lack of basic services forcommunities in countries of origin ratherthan relying on remittances to fill the gaps.Governments have a great role to playby promoting policies and programmesthat create enabling environments forremittances and, more generally, byincluding all aspects of migration in theirdevelopment-planning policies. Anydiscussion about remittances should occurin a framework that factors in costs andopportunities and takes into account thewide range of social and economic issuesthat shape migration flows.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREORGANIC REVOLUTIONThe Paraguayan experience:innovative linkages for developmentWith support from the Dutch Interchurch Organisation forDevelopment Cooperation (ICCO Cooperation) the AsociaciónParaguay Orgánico was created as an innovative businessmodel. The association is made up of 22 organic producers’ organisationsfrom three different sectors: men and women from the family farming sectorgrouped in cooperatives and associations; private companies; and technicalassistance providers (NGOs). This alliance has been working actively since2010, positioning itself as a promoter of organic production as well as afacilitator, building links to access the market using the value chain approach.The alliance members focus on the promotion and sale of 10 products:cotton, sesame, stevia, sugarcane, sunflower, citrus fruits, passion fruit, chia,citrus fruit peels and medicinal herbs.Paraguay Orgánico is present in 10 of the 17 departments of thecountry, benefiting approximately 2,000 families that farm on 2,500hectares of organically certified land. It provides technical assistance inproduction and marketing; it encourages the opening of new markets; itpromotes participatory research and the exchange of experiences amongdifferent sectors of the chain; it raises financial support and it covers unionadvocacy actions in the political-strategic sphere, in partnership with otherorganisations working for the national organic movement. Thanks to thisinitiative, progress has been made in empowerment and ownership of amanagement model, with links among organisations in the production chain.One of the main successes of Paraguay Orgánico has been the accessto markets in a country where conventional production is expanding,generating the false belief that small-scale organic production is notprofitable and that its markets are not growing in the same or greaterproportion. Other accomplishments are the articulation between public andprivate stakeholders and the coordinated efforts for further development ofthe sector, achieving enactment of a National Decree on Plant Traceabilityas well as establishment of an Organic Agriculture Directorate within theMinistry of Agriculture.ICCO also contributed €290,000 to a Technical Assistance Fund,which was used to support the production and marketing of 18 projects ofup to $20,000 each, with a counterpart contribution of 25% coming fromindependent and organised producers. The fund was implemented over twoyears and benefits 1,461 families, achieving a value of more than $3 million insales of organic export items.Photo: Granular PY“I was about to abandon farming because I had many problems, such as pestattacks, low yields, uncertainty in commercialisation – this affected us verymuch as a farming family. When our organisation was about to fall apart, theproject arrived and gave us a more positive outlook, making it possible for usto work together once more.“In my case, my farm and my family have joined a very strict productionsystem, with innovative technical assistance, thanks to which we have beenable to strengthen our farm work with organic sesame and chia production.We have learned best practices and how to manage a written control system,breaking with the oral farm planning tradition, which is deeply rooted in ourculture. Nonetheless, the challenge now is to extend this organic productionsystem to the entire farm and for more families to join and thus producegreater volumes.”Esteban Mena - farmer of Correa Ruguá,neighbourhood of María Auxiliadora, district of San PedroICCO Cooperation heading towards the 50-year global commitmentICCO Cooperation is a non-governmental organisation for international cooperation. ICCO wasestablished on 30 December 1964 and became a cooperative in 2012. In 2015, ICCO will celebrateits 50th anniversary; special attention will be paid to the dialogue on human rights and developmentwith businesses. ICCO’s core business is worldwide financial support, lobby and brokerage servicesto local non-governmental organisations, the private sector, churches, and other networks that workon securing sustainable livelihoods and justice and dignity for poor and marginalised people. Moreconcretely, ICCO implements partnership programmes on fair economic development, democracy andpeace, and food and nutrition security.The organisation is based in The Netherlands (Utrecht) with seven regional offices in Southern Africa,West Africa, Central and Eastern Africa, Central and South Asia, South East Asia, Central America andSouth America. ICCO is a member of the ACT Alliance.More information:www.paraguayorganico.org.pywww.iccosudamerica.orgwww.icco-international.com/int/


74 DELIVERING RESULTSPartnerships for resultsThe post-2015 goals will require diverse groups to collaborate effectively. The creationof well-structured fora, where parties can engage and share knowledge, will be key© UNDPBy Amir Dossal, Chairman of the GlobalPartnerships Forum; Special Representativeof the Secretary-General of the InternationalTelecommunication Union for GlobalPartnerships; and former Executive Directorof the United Nations Office for PartnershipsFor the last 18 months, theinternational community has beenactively engaged in carving out newdevelopment goals as the current set – theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs)– reach the end of their term in 2015. Forthe first time in the history of the UnitedNations, the process has engaged not justMember States, but also non-state actors,including academia, business, civil societyand other individuals who are committed tobringing about positive social change. Theprocess embodied in the 13 Open WorkingGroups has resulted in a short list of 17proposed Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and 169 related targets, 40 of whichfocus on means of implementation. Bycomparison, the MDGs consist of just eightgoals and 18 targets.In 2012, the UN Conference onSustainable Development (Rio+20)mandated that the new goals and targetsbe “concise, easy to communicate, [and]limited in number”. We still have a longway to go to achieve that aspirational goal.As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonstated in his opening remarks at the launchof the Open Working Group process inMarch 2013: “I would hope that the multipleA Kazakh cattle herder and his satellite phone.A UNDP programme that combines traditionalnomadic pasture management with moderntechnology has enabled the reuse of 372,000 hectaresin remote parts of south Kazakhstanstrands of the post-2015 process, comingtogether, culminate in 2015 in the adoptionof a unified and coherent global agenda.”Crafting the new SustainableDevelopment GoalsThe coming months will be critical tosharpening the proposals so that not onlygovernments but also stakeholders across theeconomic and social spectrum can get behinda clear development agenda that is missiondrivenand results-based. A reliable systemGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS75for data gathering and management, withassociated transparency and accountability,will be essential to the process.In the margins of the Open WorkingGroups, much discussion has taken placeregarding the financing of the SDGs.Donor governments do not have the samefinancial flexibility as might have existedbefore the Great Recession, and it is clearthat the international community needs toconsider all forms of capital and financingif we are to address the imbalances insociety cohesively.The last decade has seen an exponentialgrowth in new forms of collaboration andalliances, often under the overarching term‘partnerships’. Although the term meansdifferent things to different people, it marksthe shift from traditional charitable givingto smarter philanthropy and social investing.Fifteen years ago, many consideredfinancing partnerships to be no morethan an injection of unencumbered funds;the international community saw theprivate sector as a tap. Today, funderssee the MDGs and the future SDGs associal impact investment opportunities.Companies have become partners andproblem-solvers in addressing some of thebiggest challenges we face.For instance, new technologies arebeing developed to provide clean water,clean energy, better health, etc. Business,by its very nature, is driven by the need toimprove the bottom line. Increasingly, itconsiders social responsibility to be a keypart of this goal. While the maths may notalways be very simple in the short term,when a child is healthier, she learns better,earns better, and becomes a productivemember of society – which engenders amore peaceful and secure world, includinga more stable business environment.The UN saw a tremendous change inculture after the arrival of Ted Turner’sbillion-dollar donation in 1997. Manyother foundations, companies and civilsociety organisations began to point outthe good work they were doing and theUN benefited from their engagement. It isclear that the needs of the underprivilegedcannot be addressed by one single sector,but rather require multiple constituenciesto collaborate in support of commongoals. This was the genesis of the Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships Model – usingthe expertise of the private sector, thenormative leadership of the public sector,and the successful delivery mechanisms ofcivil society.The new SDGs will require more robustpartnerships. We need to reach out morewidely than the usual multinationals, tosmall and medium-sized enterprises, socialentrepreneurs and the private equity andventure capital community, and we needto demonstrate the value proposition ofinvesting in the SDGs. We have a rareopportunity to take advantage of thismomentum and bring in family offices,which collectively have over $1 trillion inwealth and can serve as a flexible source ofcapital, based on their underlying values.Wall Street, the City of London, andother financial centres, as well as the majorfinancial institutions, can be effectivepartners and providers of new thinking andideas to generate not only a social rate ofreturn, but an economic benefit all round.A virtual marketplace for projectsTechnology allows individuals,organisations and governments to connectand interact directly, the benefits of whichare far-reaching. One of the biggestchallenges of the digital age is the lack oforganised data: search engines use uniqueWe need to reach out…and demonstrate thevalue proposition ofinvesting in the SDGsalgorithms, which do not necessarilycatalogue and index data in a format thattakes into account the nuanced needs ofthe social sector.While there are a number oforganisations that provide project datarelated to their own programmes, there isno single platform that can thread theseresources together. Policymakers, academicexperts and aid organisations often rely onAlso in this sectionSharing knowledgeand skills 78Excludedcommunities 81The barriers ofmarginalisation 84Disaster managementpost-2015 90An agenda forresilience 94Claiming social andeconomic rights 98Private sectorprogress 102The scourge of illicitfinancial flows 106Environment andeconomic growth 110GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


76 DELIVERING RESULTStheir own research and informal peer-topeercommunications. At the same time,civil society focuses on social programmesbased on demand and news-driven issues,without the benefit of deeper knowledgeof existing players on the ground. Inaddition, traditional investment vehicles inthe current financial services industry andsimple business-building tools are ofteninaccessible to entrepreneurs who need themost support.To address this, the Global PartnershipsForum proposed, in 2011, the creation ofan open ‘marketplace’, which would enableThe collaboration pyramidWISDOMKNOWLEDGEINFORMATIONDATAthe sharing of various industry practicesand non-financial resources. Such acentralised platform could also provide amore transparent mechanism for donorsand investors to make capital available toprospective NGOs and entrepreneurs.The virtual marketplace will collaboratewith academic institutions, bilateral andmultilateral aid agencies, business andcivil society, and is currently exploringcooperation with GLG, the largest peerto-peerlearning platform.Although we are currently in the focusgroup consultation stage, our aim is tocreate a kind of ‘Google of Development’– an all-encompassing online platform,by issues, sectors, regions and countries,which would serve as an aggregator ofvarious efforts globally, and provide accessto information and lessons learned. Thismega-relational database platform wouldassemble experiences in a coherent andstructured format, providing guidance tothose who are thinking about cross-sectorcollaboration for the first time, and insightsfrom those who have worked on theseissues for years.Moreover, ideas for new and innovativecollaboration can be developed andexchanged online, drawing from thebenefits of different perspectives anddiversified knowledge. At the same time,the platform could serve as a convenientmeans to seek crowd-funding for socialprogrammes. This effort would moveIntensive collaborationAwareness of partnershipopportunitiesSearchable industry practicesand lessons learnedProject-level datathe needle from an aid to an investmentmodel for poverty alleviation and resultantsustainability.An SDG innovation programmeThe proposed SDGs are ambitious andnoble goals that cannot be achieved byMember States or individual sectors alone– they require the engagement of bothstate and non-state actors. Indeed, theproposed Goal 17 calls on the internationalcommunity to “strengthen the means ofimplementation and revitalise the globalpartnership for sustainable development”.The Goal encompasses targets focused onkey structural challenges, including Target17.3 on mobilising additional financialresources for developing countries frommultiple sources.Against this background, theinternational community should developa new deal with the private sector andsocial entrepreneurs to establish a sociallyresponsible investment vehicle to assist inimplementing the SDGs.Such a fund could be led by the privateequity and venture capital community.This SDG innovation programme couldfocus on key priorities of economicand social sectors, based on the SDGgoals and targets. Initially, it couldtarget programmes and projects thatcan dramatically impact least-developedcountries (LDCs).In order for such an initiative to besuccessful, it must truly be a multistakeholderpartnership, involving theinternational community, as well asplayers on the ground. Key partnersmust encompass UN and internationalorganisations and groups, includingthe Office of the High Representativefor the LDCs, Landlocked DevelopingCountries and Small Island DevelopingStates; Office of the Special Adviser onAfrica; African Union Commission; NewPartnership for Africa’s Development; andChair of the LDCs.The initiative would therefore engagegovernments, philanthropic institutionsand family offices in the creation of thisSDG innovation programme and couldbe comprised of several targeted funds,with each fund designed to address specifictangible goals, to achieve real sustainability.Ultimately each fund should generateenough profits to be self-sustaining andable to finance the next generation ofprojects. Each fund should be structuredin a manner to attract the best and thebrightest of managers, to mirror traditionalventure capital structures.Looking aheadWe have a rare opportunity to make theSDGs our collective effort, owned byeverybody. We must use the power of mediaaround the world to get this message out.Whatever we do, we should move from talkto action. Partnerships are increasingly seenas a most effective route for bringing aboutreal and sustainable change in the quality oflives of the underprivileged. Together wecan make them so.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREPost-2015 agenda: the potentialfor business to fight povertyCODESPA FoundationPrivate sector involvement in the post-2015 development agendais currently one of the key topics in the international developmentsector. In 2000, the United Nations launched the Global Compactas a call to the private sector to commit to supporting the 2015 MillenniumDevelopment Goals. That was a catalyst: thousands of large and smallcompanies made a commitment for the first time about their responsibilitieswithin global society and looked at how they could play a role in solvingsome of the world’s most urgent problems.Currently, the United Nations is encouraging the role of the privatesector in the post-2015 agenda. The main message is that private sectorinvolvement in the post-2015 agenda is not an issue to be debated, butshould be simply a fact. Therefore, the main dialogue is now focused on howcompanies can support the 10 Global Compact principles in the areas ofhuman rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.Within this framework, there is much potential for strategic involvementof the private sector, through inclusive business projects that offersustainable business solutions that go beyond philanthropy and expandaccess to jobs, goods, services and livelihood opportunities for low-incomecommunities in commercially viable ways (World Business Council forSustainable Development, 2005).Since 1985, CODESPA has been working on almost 800 inclusivegrowth projects in 21 countries, with the aim of achieving thesocio-economic inclusion of low-income communities. We work inmicrofinance innovation and financial inclusion, community-basedtourism, rural value chain strategies, and micro-entrepreneurship andsocial entrepreneurship, among others.For instance, in the Dominican Republic, CODESPA has developedthe innovative Microinsurance 3x1 (life, accidents and funeral expenses),in collaboration with the banks ADOPEM and AECID. We have created aproduct which costs just $4 per year. To date, ADOPEM has sold more than19,000 policies to low-income people who, thanks to this product, haveimproved their living conditions.In the Philippines, CODESPA and AECID have supported the commercialstrengthening of small, low-income seaweed farmers since 2010. We haveundertaken a study to analyse the potential for inclusive business and wehave identified that there is high potential for the inclusion of small farmersin the value chain of local companies. One is MCPI, a pioneer company inseaweed cultivation in the Philippines. We have offered collaboration in apilot project to establish commercial fair linkages between our seaweedfarmers and MCPI.So far, in the framework of the development sector, projects carried outin collaboration with the private sector have been considered ‘innovative’.Fortunately, it seems there is now a new era in which a collaborativeapproach between private sector and development actors will be the generalrule, instead of an exception. The future post-2015 agenda is prepared totake on a new dimension, where more strategic and concrete actions couldreveal the, until now, undisclosed potential and opportunities that reside inprivate sector involvement for achieving global challenges.


78 DELIVERING RESULTSKnowledge is powerGiving communities the knowledge and skills to make full use of their existing resources isa powerful tool for tackling poverty and enabling local development. Charities like PracticalAction in Bangladesh are exemplars of how this approach can transform livesBy Veena Khaleque,Bangladesh Director, Practical ActionWhen Practical Action wasset up nearly 50 years ago,its founder, economist E.F.Schumacher, placed knowledge and thesharing of information at the heart of theorganisation.He believed sharing knowledge andshowing people how best to use theirexisting skills and expertise was the mosteffective way of enabling long-termdevelopment and scaling up efforts totackle poverty.Other leading development practitionersagree. A working paper produced by theUN, World Bank and Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Developmentfor the G20 development group in2010 stated: “Knowledge sharing thatinvolves a broad spectrum of nationalstakeholders serves as a critical tool forstrengthening the bases for endogenouscapacity development. It providesspace for a mutually beneficial learningprocess that strengthens the individualand collective capacity of practitioners/experts and policy-makers to lead andtake charge of their own developmentprocess. Moreover, there is emergingevidence that this peer-to-peer learningprocess through knowledge sharing, notonly strengthens local ownership andleadership, but improves and nurtures theenabling environment for designing andimplementing difficult development policyreforms. This in turn helps build moreeffective governments.”Today Practical Action continues itswork based on its founding principlesby making all of its poverty-relievingtechnology and solutions available. Theservice is totally free to individuals, otherNGOs, businesses and whole communitiesvia a huge database of online information,in-country advisers and well-positionedknowledge centres – all delivered throughthe ‘Practical Answers’ service.Globally, Practical Answers received68,000 enquiries last year. The servicealso captures information and knowledgein technical briefings that we post onwebsites. Last year they attracted 1.5million unique visitors.Yet, this does not mean we reacheveryone. Giving the poorest, most remotecommunities access to knowledge banksis a huge challenge; the poorest percentileare the least able to access information tohelp them solve the problems they faceevery day, whether that is due to illiteracy,community isolation, lack of access totechnology, or gender.We have been testing it since 2011, duringwhich time we served around 18,000 clients.We believe the tremendous growth inmobile phone use across all of Bangladeshisociety will enable us to reach some of thepoorest and most remote communities likenever before. Currently, Bangladesh has 115million mobile phone users, meaning thereare now 69 phones per 100 citizens. Since2012, the number of phones in Bangladeshhas grown by 25 million.The Krishi call centre is the result oflengthy and difficult negotiations betweenmy colleagues from Practical Answers,project lead Dr Faruk Ul Islam, theBangladeshi government and all mobileservice providers in Bangladesh to ensurethat the service is free at the point ofdelivery for anyone who uses it.The initial results have beenoutstanding. Without any advertisingwe received around 700 calls in the first“The best aid to give is intellectual aid, a gift of usefulknowledge. A gift of knowledge is infinitely preferableto a gift of material things” – E.F. Schumacher, FounderTo try and meet this challenge, here inBangladesh we are constantly developingnew ways to diversify our knowledgeservice as new technology becomesavailable to those most in need.For example, to match the growth ofmobile phone access, we launched theKrishi call centre in June 2014, a tollfreeservice that is promoted throughoutthe country, in partnership with theAgricultural Information Service andMinistry of Agriculture in Bangladesh.month, helping an estimated 2,800 peopleto improve their income and their futureprospects. Callers have asked for supportwith their crops, livestock and fish farming.In these first few weeks of operation, 80per cent of enquiries have been aboutvegetable and fruit tree management, sevenper cent about fisheries and 13 per cent onlivestock issues (mainly diseases).However, we also acknowledge thatmobile phone coverage is still not universal,and even if it was, lack of access to energyGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS79© Reutersmeans that those in remote communitiesthat are not connected to the grid wouldonly be able to use their phone on the rareoccasions that they are able to charge them.Consequently, we have continuedto use our Gyaner Haats (knowledgebazaar) service, which is based in 30 localgovernment offices in partnership with theAccess to Information Program of the UNDevelopment Programme in Bangladesh.On a day-to-day basis, each haatis managed by an entrepreneur whogenerates an income by selling ICTservices, photocopying and similaractivities. Other management functionsare provided by a committee that includesrepresentatives of the local authorities,the local technical and administrativedepartments and other key stakeholders.From each haat around a dozen extensionworkers go into the community. Theytalk to people on the ground and collectinformation requests about agriculture,fisheries and livestock. In turn, they spreadknowledge and best-practice skills. Theextension workers also generate profits byoffering other services like crop sprayingand vaccination of cattle.This sharing and effective use ofknowledge at the grassroots really worksin ways that constantly surprise me. Forexample, shrimp farmer Bishawjit Mondolof Jhapa village learned how to controlsnail infestations at his farm after he wastaught to use tobacco powder as biopesticidefrom a fisheries rural extensionworker who had been trained throughthe Gyaner Haat in Atulia Union. In all,we estimate that the Gyaner Haats havehelped some 125,000 people to date.A Bangladeshi farmer displays shrimps he farmedbefore taking them to market. The use of tobaccopowder as a bio-pesticide in shrimp farming is one ofmany examples of how the Gyaner Haats (knowledgebazaars) have spread best-practice skillsThe exciting thing is that we arehelping the official government extensionworkers to reach much further downinto the community, to real peoplewho can benefit from their knowledge– empowering the poorest and leastaccessible subsistence farmers whoare hardest to help via an agile andentrepreneurial method that a localauthority could never hope to emulate.Practical Action in Bangladesh isan international non-governmentalorganisation that uses technology tochallenge poverty in developing countries.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


80 DELIVERING RESULTS3PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMENMuch MDG criticism focuses on what are seen as ‘missing targets’. This is clearly the case for Goal 3, whichconcentrated narrowly on gender disparity in education and, to a lesser extent, women’s representation inthe workforce and decision-making. Even in those areas where progress has been achieved, such as primaryenrolment, it is clear that targeted interventions must be combined with policies that address broader constraintsand promote structural changes and societal transformation. In West Africa, for instance, complementinginvestments in infrastructure with female literacy campaigns to overcome resistance to girls’ education in ruralareas led to a significant increase in the rate of enrolment of girls in primary schools.Source: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014TARGET3.AEliminate gender disparity in primary and secondaryeducation, preferably by 2005, and in all levels ofeducation no later than 2015Gender parity index for gross enrolment ratios in primary,secondary and tertiary education in developing regions,1990 and 2012Primary educationSub-Saharan AfricaOceaniaWestern AsiaNorthern AfricaLatin America and the CaribbeanSouth-Eastern AsiaCaucasus and Central AsiaEastern AsiaSouthern AsiaDeveloping regionsSecondary educationSub-Saharan AfricaOceaniaWestern Asia0.65Southern Asia0.59Caucasus and Central AsiaNorthern AfricaSouth-Eastern AsiaEastern AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanDeveloping regionsTertiary educationSub-Saharan AfricaSouthern AsiaWestern Asia0.520.490.640.63Caucasus and Central AsiaEastern Asia 0.49Northern Africa0.65South-Eastern AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanDeveloping regions199020120.740.830.890.850.820.860.920.930.930.960.970.960.990.910.990.991.011.001.000.970.76 0.840.86 0.870.920.930.98 0.980.770.990.90 1.020.761.021.06 1.070.770.960.810.950.99 1.071.081.120.921.120.970.690.992015 Target = Gender parityindex between 0.97 and 1.031.28Note: In secondary and tertiary education, 1990 data for Caucasus and Central Asiarefer to 1993. In tertiary education, 2012 data for Oceania are not available.Northern Africa1919Southern Asia1320Western Asia1520Sub-Saharan Africa23OceaniaSouth-Eastern AsiaEastern AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanCaucasus and Central AsiaDeveloped regionsProposed Sustainable Development Goal 5End all forms of Eliminate all formsdiscrimination of violence againstagainst all women all women and girls inand girls everywhere public and private spheres,including trafficking andsexual and other types ofexploitationProportion of seats held bywomen in single or lower housesof national parliament,2000 and 2014 (%)2120181916OceaniaWestern Asia4 3412Southern Asia72000 2014South-Eastern Asia12Caucasus and Central Asia7Eastern AsiaEmployees in non-agriculturalwage employment who arewomen, 1990 and 2012 (%)1990 20123333Sub-Saharan Africa35132338393838Northern Africa342444344244548Latin America and the CaribbeanEliminateall harmfulpractices, suchas child, early andforced marriageand female genitalmutilations1526Developed regions1625Developing regions1221World1422For related SDG 5, see: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstmlGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS81© ReutersLeave no one behindPerhaps the greatest flaw of the MDGs was that their broad targets allowed the most deprivedgroups to be overlooked. The resolve to redress this should form the backbone of the new goalsBy Natalie Samarasinghe,Executive Director, UNA-UKThe report of the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015Development Agenda, publishedlast year, set out five transformative shiftsneeded to drive and underpin the next eraof global development. The first was a callto leave no one behind.It highlighted the importance oftackling the causes of poverty, exclusionand inequality, to ensure that “in thefuture neither income nor gender, norethnicity, nor disability, nor geography,will determine whether people live or die,whether a mother can give birth safely, orwhether her child has a fair chance in life”.No person, regardless of any their status,should be denied universal human rightsand basic economic opportunities.This addresses one of the mostfundamental criticisms of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs): that theydid not focus enough on reaching thepoorest and most excluded. The Goalshave seen great progress at the globallevel, with three major targets – onreducing extreme poverty, widening accessto drinking water and improving the livesof slum dwellers – met ahead of schedule.All regions have seen advances in tacklingchild mortality, increasing primary schoolenrolment and addressing HIV/AIDS,tuberculosis and malaria.At the national and local level, thepicture is far more uneven. The MDGfocus on broad targets has served to maskinequalities within and between countriesand communities. In certain countries,Goals have been met nationally with littleor no change for the poorest. There hasalso been concern that the frameworkincentivised decision-makers and donors topursue the easiest gains, instead of focusingon those hardest to reach.This is especially true for groups suchas the rural poor, the elderly, persons withdisabilities, minorities and refugees. Formany of the MDG targets, the progressof women has lagged behind that of men,particularly if they belong to one of thosegroups. People affected by conflict have seentheir progress towards the Goals reversed.And for many indigenous peoples, efforts todeliver development projects without properconsultation or consideration of their needshave put their lives and livelihoods at risk.In general, those whose starting pointwas lower, and whose status or situationhas made them more vulnerable, are farmore likely to have been left behind and tobe affected by economic, climate or othershocks. They are also much less likely to beon the monitoring radar.Iraqi Yazidis, a religious minority, in the foothillsof Sinjar mountain, fleeing from forces loyal to theIslamic State militantsGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


82 DELIVERING RESULTSThe Open Working Group onSustainable Development Goals, whoseJuly 2014 proposal is likely to form thebasis of state negotiations next year, setsout a number of principles and measuresthat seek to address these gaps.It includes a clear commitment toputting people at the centre of sustainabledevelopment, and to strive for sustainedand inclusive economic growth, socialdevelopment and environmental protectionthat benefits all, “in particular the childrenof the world, youth and future generationsof the world without distinction of anykind such as age, sex, disability, culture,race, ethnicity, origin, migratory status,religion, economic or other status”.The 17 Goals it outlines make referenceto particular groups of people, includingthose in vulnerable situations, such asthe need to tackle malnutrition amongolder persons, give women access to landownership, achieve full and productiveemployment for those with disabilities,have well-managed migration policies,and recognise and value unpaid anddomestic work.Crucially, the Goals also incorporatetargets intended to support these objectives.Goal 16 focuses on promoting peaceful andinclusive societies. It includes provisions onthe rule of law, non-discrimination, accessto justice and information, and participatorydecision-making. This goes some way toaddress the lack of emphasis on humanrights in the MDG agenda. It also providesa stronger basis for holding governmentsand other development actors to account,and for increasing public involvement in thedesign and delivery of the new Goals.Goal 17, meanwhile, is a significantextension of the global partnershipMDG, with targets – although most arenot time-bound – in the areas of finance;technology; capacity building; trade;partnerships; policy and institutionalcoherence; and data, monitoring andaccountability. Improving the quality,coverage, availability and analysis of datais particularly important in ensuringthat development policies are targeted,appropriate and working – in short, that noone is left behind.Who is deprived and how?CONFLICT●●About half of primary-school-agechildren not in school live in conflictaffectedcountries.●●The conflict in Syria has rolled backhuman development achievementsby 35 years, with over half thepopulation now living in poverty.●●In Kashmir, exposure to violence inutero and in infancy was shown tohave reduced children’s height, withthose most affected 0.9–1.4 standarddeviations shorter than others.GENDER●●Young women aged 15 to 24 yearshave a 50% higher risk of becominginfected with HIV compared to theirmale peers.● ● Only two of 130 countries haveachieved gender parity at all levels ofeducation.● ● On average, the number ofmalnourished children is 60% higherin countries where women do nothave the right to own land and 85%higher in countries where women lackany access to credit.LOCATION●●Three-quarters of the world’s poorlive in rural areas.●●Multidimensional poverty affects43% of urban households in BurkinaFaso but 94% of rural ones.● ● In Andhra Pradesh, India a quarter ofyoung people in rural areas will notbe in school by age 15, compared to15% from urban areas. Those fromScheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes were twice as likely to be outof school.ETHNICITY●●Indigenous peoples make up around5% of the global population but15% of the world’s income poor, and30% of the world’s extremely poor inrural areas.●●In Europe in 2011, around 30% ofRoma lived on less than $4.30 aday, compared with 9% of the non-Roma population.● ● According to Survival International,child mortality can increase whentribal peoples are settled, especiallywhen highly mobile peoples aremoved to crowded camps or shantytowns. For example, the Onge ofLittle Andaman Island, who weresettled in 1976, experienced adoubling of infant mortality ratesbetween 1978 and 1985.AGE● ● Roughly 80% of the world’s olderpopulation does not have a pension.In OECD countries, the old-agepoverty rate is higher than that of thewhole population: 13.5% to 10.6%.●●Global youth unemployment in 2012was 12.7% – almost three times theadult rate.DISABILITY●●In 2012, the UN Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO)estimated that children withdisabilities represented more than athird of the 67 million children whowere out of school worldwide.●●Evidence from the World HealthSurvey for 51 countries showsemployment rates of 52.8% formen with disabilities and 19.6% forwomen with disabilities, comparedto 64.9% for men without disabilitiesand 29.9% for women withoutdisabilities.Sources: UN Millennium Development GoalsReport 2014, UN Development Programme(UNDP) Human Development Report 2014,UNESCO Education for All 2012, SurvivalInternational ‘Progress Can Kill’ campaign,UNDP report ‘Resilience-based DevelopmentResponse to the Syria Crisis’ (2014).GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATURE© Phil Moore/Age InternationalRealisingpotential in anageing worldPeople of all ages must be part of ourresponse to post-2015 development realitiesBy Chris Roles, Director of Age InternationalOne of the great untold stories of development is that of radicaltransformation, overwhelming success and hidden champions, butone which does not feature in the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals. This is the story of ageing: of greater numbers of older peopleworldwide, increasing longevity and the indispensible role older people playin society.The numbers speak for themselves. In 2013, there were 841 million olderpeople worldwide and this is due to increase to 2 billion by 2050. By thetime the post-2015 framework comes to a close in 2030, there will be morepeople over the age of 60 than children under 10 and almost three quartersof the world’s older people will live in what are now developing countries.And one of the fastest growing groups is people aged 80 and over.Even in sub-Saharan Africa where the ‘youth bulge’ dominatesimmediate concerns, the numbers of older people are growing rapidly.History teaches us that with development success comes increasedlongevity and decreased fertility. Ageing is a development reality.The story of older people and development is also the story of missedopportunities, marginalisation and discrimination. The role of older people asfarmers, business people and net contributors to household economies goesun-noticed by traditional development programmes. Older people are alsoroutinely denied basic health and care services. Discrimination, violence andabuse against older people on the basis of age are commonplace in all partsof the world.What we lose as a society by ignoring the reality of ageing and thepotential of older people is the opportunity to benefit from the experienceand knowledge of the very people who helped build our countries. We failto capitalise on the social and economic contributions they make to theirfamilies and communities every day. More importantly, we lose the dignityand respect that comes from truly valuing a person throughout their lifecourse that should underpin our society.So what makes it possible to realise the potential of older people? Thefirst obvious step is knowing more about them and being able to measureour efforts. This is why the post-2015 promise of a ‘data revolution’ withdisaggregated data by age is absolutely vital. At the moment, we stopcounting when people reach older age. Not knowing what happens in aperson’s life when they are 60, 70, 80 and above means not understandingthe support they provide to their grandchildren and the wider family. It alsomeans not really knowing where vulnerability, marginalisation and povertylie. How can we truly achieve anything post-2015 without this?We must also recognise older people as rights holders and clearlyarticulate what protecting their rights means. We have seen how humanrights conventions for women, children and people with disabilities havetransformed our understanding of society’s roles and responsibilities tothese groups. A convention on the rights of older people is long overdue andwould help clarify their rights, motivate an informed discussion among allstakeholders and stimulate development processes such as post-2015 totake older people into account.Building partnerships for delivering the post-2015 promises andcommitments must include looking for the potential within countries andempowering people of all ages and abilities. Surely this is the embodiment of‘leave no one behind’ and is the measure upon which all efforts shouldbe judged.Age International is a UK charity, part of the Age UK group, and the UK memberof the global HelpAge network. We support programmes in over 30 developingcountries to meet the needs of older people and to promote and protect theirrights. In the UK we work to raise awareness and influence opinion formers anddecision makers about the needs and rights of older people in developing countries.© Antonio Olmos/HelpAge International


84 DELIVERING RESULTS© GettyOvercoming thebarriers ofmarginalisationLifting the Least Developed Countries out of poverty mustbe at the heart of the post-2015 sustainable developmentagenda. The Istanbul Programme of Action aims to givethese countries the means to raise themselvesBy Ambassador Gyan Chandra Acharya,Under-Secretary-General and HighRepresentative for Least DevelopedCountries, Landlocked Developing Countriesand Small Island Developing StatesThe Least Developed Countries(LDCs) of the world stand at acritical point in their journeytowards sustainable development.Representing the poorest and weakestsegment of the international community,they comprise more than 880 millionpeople (about 12 per cent of worldpopulation), but account for less than twoper cent of the world’s GDP and about oneper cent of global trade in goods.As the world looks towards a newinclusive and sustainable era forGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS85Turbines at Ashegoda wind farm in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The farm is the largest in sub-SaharanAfrica, with a capacity of 120 MW. Ethiopia is pioneering green energy projects on the continent, aiming to supplypower to its 91 million people, boost its economy by exporting power and become carbon-neutral by 2025development, heralded by the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs), thesecountries must be supported on a prioritybasis. In this increasingly integrated world,it is essential that LDCs overcome thebarriers of marginalisation.Goals for 2020The Fourth UN Conference on LDCs inIstanbul in 2011 adopted a Programme ofAction (IPoA) in which many elements ofsustainable development are ingrained. Itstarts with productive capacity building asa key enabler for structural transformationof their economies, together with humandevelopment and building resilience forpoverty eradication.The IPoA represents a shared visionand common aspiration of LDCs andtheir development partners based oncommitments, mutual accountabilityand strengthened partnerships. It set anambitious overarching goal of enabling halfof these countries to meet the criteria forgraduation from LDC status by 2020. Theoutcome document recognises that LDCs,as the most vulnerable group of countries,need enhanced global support and distinctmechanisms.The IPoA contains five clearly definedobjectives and eight principles (see nextcolumn). It has 47 goals, some of whichhave transformative implications, such aseradicating poverty, attaining at least sevenper cent growth rate, striving to provide100 per cent access to the internet by 2020,ensuring access to energy for all by 2030and doubling the share of LDCs’ exports inglobal exports by 2020, among others.The fundamental premise of the IPoAis built on a wider and deeper politicalconsensus that goes way beyond thetraditional concept of ‘donor-recipientrelationship’. It recognises that solidarity,cooperation and partnership with LDCsare not only a moral imperative, but also aneconomic and political one.The outcome document aptly recognisesthat eradication of poverty and hunger inLDCs contributes towards ensuring globalstability and prosperity in a sustainablemanner. LDCs are no longer consideredto be ‘basket cases’. Rather, they representan enormous human and natural resourcepotential for world economic growth,welfare, prosperity and food and energysecurity.The new programme contains aqualitative shift in the developmentstrategy for the next decade. It emphasisesthe need to build a critical mass of viableand competitive productive capacity inagriculture, manufacturing and services.It highlights diversification, infrastructuredevelopment, enhanced investment,vibrant civil society and private sector andstructural transformation. Such a shift infocus is expected to enable LDCs to buildtheir economies on a solid basis with valueaddition, value retention and productdiversification that will benefit the globaleconomy.LDCs have made much stronger andenhanced commitments towards creatingconducive domestic environments toimplement the IPoA. Developmentpartners have also committed to strongerinternational support measures in allpriority areas.The eight priority areas of theIstanbul Programme1) building productive capacity, includingin infrastructure, energy, science,technology and innovation, andprivate-sector development;2) agriculture, food security and ruraldevelopment;3) trade;4) commodities;5) human and social development,including women’s empowerment;6) multiple crises and emergingchallenges, such as climate change andsustainability;7) mobilisation of resources fordevelopment and capacity building; and8) good governance at all levels thatincludes democracy, respect forall human rights, transparencyand accountability and equitablegovernance at the international level.The partnerships required to achievethese goalsLDCs have made considerable effortstowards mobilising domestic resourcesfor their development and ensuring thesustainability of funding for nationaldevelopment priorities. However, theirdomestic savings are still around 13 percent of GDP.Only the oil-producing countriesexperienced significant growth in domesticsavings. By contrast, some post-conflictcountries experienced negative savingsrates. Most LDCs still face a hugeGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


86 DELIVERING RESULTS© Reutersfinancing deficit in meeting the requiredlevel of savings. If LDCs are to achieveseven per cent GDP growth, they needaround 40 per cent investment to GDPratio for a sustained period of time.The IPoA recognises the broad rangeof partnerships – including traditionaldonor countries, developing countries,parliamentarians, private sector, civilsociety, and international financial anddevelopment institutions – needed todeliver this investment.As their dependence on officialdevelopment assistance (ODA) remainshigh, with low domestic capacity, ODAwill continue to play a very important rolein the sustainable development of LDCs.Therefore, the principle of more resourceallocation to the neediest is critical. LDCshave now called for at least 50 per cent ofODA to be allocated to them.To ensure that trade becomes an engineof growth, LDC potential should be fullyutilised by providing effective and timelyimplementation of duty-free and quotafreemarket access for their products,and by giving due priority to LDCs inthe services sector. Technology transfer,diffusion and adaptation will have asalutary impact on the low productivity,Afghan women students in a literacy class inBamiyan, northwest of Kabul. More than 40 percent of adults in LDCs are unable to read and writelimited resilience and adaptation capacityof LDCs.Similarly, investment-promotionregimes by development partners, suchas insurance, guarantees and preferentialfinancing programmes, and privateenterprise funds for investment, willhelp to fill the resource gap they face ininfrastructure development, access toenergy and productive and employmentgeneratingsectors.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS87Equally important is a strong enablingenvironment, national ownership, policycoherence and good governance in LDCs.Good governance at international level isalso essential to helping them derive duebenefit from globalisation.Successes and areas for focusSince Istanbul, there have been a numberof positive moves under various goals andtargets, but much more needs to be done.As a group, the LDCs experienced 5.6per cent growth in 2013 – up from the4.3 per cent recorded in 2012. While thispoints towards positive change, the growthrate is still far below the IPoA target of atleast seven per cent growth, and progresshas been highly skewed and unevenlydistributed.In LDCs as a whole, poverty levels havereduced from 65 per cent to 47 per centof the population. However, this rate ofprogress is limited compared to otherdeveloping countries. Looking ahead, thepopulation of LDCs is likely to nearlydouble to 1.67 billion between now and2050. With just 12 per cent of the world’speople today, they will account for almost40 per cent of global population growthduring the next 40 years. The need forimproved physical infrastructure, skilldevelopment, job creation and connectivitywill become even more pressing.LDCs have also made strides in areasincluding malaria, child and maternalmortality rates and gender parity inprimary education. Primary schoolenrolment rates across the LDCs increasedto 81 per cent in 2011/2012. However,they are not on track to achieve universalprimary education by 2015.A lack of adult literacy further hindersdevelopment of these countries with morethan 40 per cent of adults in LDCs unableto read and write. While their progressmust be seen in the context of the low basefrom which they started, they still have along way to go.Poor access to energy and water remainsa major impediment to further progress,exacerbating the vulnerability of thechronically poor and constraining theirproductive capacity. In LDCs, 79 per centof the population do not have access toelectricity, while 91 per cent have no accessto modern fuels. In 2011 only 65.1 per centof the population of LDCs were using safedrinking water.Furthermore, LDCs are disproportionatelyexposed to the impacts ofenvironmental degradation, climatechange and disasters, and remain the leastequipped to deal with them. They havea limited capacity for adaptation, andbuilding resilience for communities, whichrely on natural resources, is a key issuegoing forward.Growth on its own will not be enoughto meet such shortcomings. Economicopportunities must reach the mostvulnerable and marginalised groups. Anintegrated approach to poverty eradicationin the SDGs must address not onlyvarious aspects of deprivation, such asmalnutrition, lack of access to education,maternal health and water and sanitation,but also feature equity dimensions.We must ensure that theneeds and priorities ofthe LDCs are placed atthe core of the post-2015development agenda,simply because theyare at the bottom ofthe development ladderLDCs have tremendous humanresources and natural resources capital.Despite this, expansion of trade is currentlyslow and exports are dominated by primarycommodities, which accounted for 79 percent of LDCs’ exports of goods in 2012.The share of Aid for Trade going to LDCshas declined in recent years by two percent to 24 per cent. It is essential that weassist these countries with the necessarytools and technology, build capacity andensure resources to transform these assetsinto meaningful products. Similarly, theprotection of natural capital is a vital partof LDC planning for a sustainable future.LDCs have much to gain from conservingagricultural land, coastal areas, waterresources, forests and wetlands, as indeeddoes the planet as a whole.Post-2015 – a fast-track to graduationAs we embark on defining a reneweddevelopment agenda beyond 2015, wemust ensure that the needs and prioritiesof the LDCs are placed at the core of thepost-2015 development agenda, simplybecause they are at the bottom of thedevelopment ladder. LDCs and theirdevelopment partners – from the ‘North’and ‘South’ – should be encouragedto undertake a comprehensive level ofintervention to enable LDCs to meet thecriteria for graduation by 2020.The post-2015 development agendaneeds to support strong national leadershipand capacity building for sustainabledevelopment, while enhancing andconsolidating coherent and comprehensiveglobal partnerships in an integrated andholistic manner.These include strengthening North-South cooperation, South-Southcooperation and coherence among trade,investment and technology facilitation. Asthe agenda will be much wider and deeper,collaboration among all stakeholders, suchas civil society, private sector, communitiesand others, will be crucial.Transformative economic growth andpoverty alleviation must be an inseparablepart of the new development discourse.This should be further reinforced bybuilding resilience and the protection ofthe natural capital.In this age of immense progress andprosperity at the global level, we shouldnot resign ourselves to a situationwhere more than a billion peoplelive in abject poverty and hungerwith malnutrition, deprived of basicopportunities for gainful employmentand income-generating activities.Now is the time for the internationalcommunity to be ambitious. The IPoA canstrongly contribute to the articulation ofthe SDGs in order to achieve the futurethat LDCs deserve.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


88 DELIVERING RESULTS1ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGERInclusive economic growth with decent employment and wages has proven to be a prerequisite for achieving theMDGs, particularly Goal 1. Macroeconomic policies should not merely seek to preserve price stability, but shouldalso take heed of employment generation, social goals and inequalities, while ensuring universal access to socialprotection and social services critical for consolidating achievements, building resilience to natural and economicshocks, and sustaining further improvements in well-being. Similarly, efforts to combat hunger must look at whois malnourished, in what way and how, and be linked to targets related to food production, access and prices.Source: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014TARGET1.AHalve, between 1990 and2015, the proportion ofpeople whose income isless than $1.25 a dayTARGET1.BAchieve full and productiveemployment and decentwork for all, includingwomen and young peopleTARGET1.CHalve, between 1990and 2015, the proportionof people who sufferfrom hungerProportion of people living on lessthan $1.25 a day, 1990 and 2010 (%)Developing regions (excluding China)4126Developing regions4722World36181990 2010 2015 targetGlobal target met 5 yearsahead of deadlineTop five countries with the largestshare of the global extreme poor, 2010Number of people living in extremepoverty – SDG 1 aims to eradicate this199020102030India32.9%China12.8%Nigeria8.9%Bangladesh5.3%D.R Congo4.6%Other nations35.5%1.9 billion1.2 billion0Employment-to-population ratio (%)Developed regionsDeveloping regionsWorld19912000 2013Vulnerable employmentDeveloped regions11%Men9%Women54%Men56.655.955.264.162.860.862.261.259.760%WomenLimited improvement in job qualityis accompanied by slowdown inproductivity growth (%)Average annual growth in output perworker, 2003–2008 and 2008–2013(percentage)Developed regions1.40.8Developing regions5.64.0Least developed countries6.77.0Developing regions14.62003-08 2008-13 SDG 8 Target2015-30Proportion of undernourished peoplein developing regions, 1990–2013 (%)23.6 22.219.7 18.7 18.1 16.715.514.311.8Prevalence of undernourishmentMDG Target SDG 2 Target842 million99 million0.01990-921993-951996-981999-012002-042005-072008-102011-1320152030undernourishedUnder 5 undernourishedand underweightProportion of children under age fivemoderately or severely stunted, andmoderately or severely underweight,1990–2012 (%)50404030201002519903623 211995Stunted3320002926 2518 16 15200520102012UnderweightFor related SDGs: 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10, see:http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstmlGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Global research and teaching ininternational development studiesat the University of BathResearch at the Centre for Development StudiesThe Centre for Development Studies (CDS) is a leading global centre of excellence bringingtogether researchers committed to making a real difference in the world and to improvinghuman wellbeing. We are based in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at theUniversity of Bath, and our engagement with social policy places us in a unique positionto build research knowledge which can be applied in the global north as well as the globalsouth. We foster interdisciplinary research of international excellence which is generated byinnovative methodologies; connects local, national and international levels of analysis; andlinks theory with practice and research with action. We work in partnership with governments,donors, civil society and private sector organisations across the world to produce state-of-theartknowledge on processes of social, political and economic development and change.CDS has an outstanding track-record of carrying out research which has directly impacted theworlds of policy and professional practice. We have had successful research collaborationswith a range of partners including the World Bank, UNDP, UNRISD, UNESCO, DFID, CIDA,OXFAM, Save the Children, Care International and many Southern based partners.Studying at the University of BathWe offer undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in:• BSc International Development with Economics• Master of Research in International Development• MSc International Development• MSc Wellbeing in Public Policy and International Development• MPhil and PhD Social & Policy Sciences• Specialist postgraduate CPD units by e-learning.Visiting studentships at the University of BathCDS has a Visiting Fellow programme which aims to foster collaboration with researchersacross the world. It also offers three-month visiting studentships for PhD studentsenrolled on a PhD programme elsewhere at reduced fees.© Dr Roy Maconachie“I found the MSc in International Development very relevant in relating theory to practice. Its multidisciplinarynature and extensive coverage allows you to have a diverse sense of the economic,political and socio-cultural development concerns from across different regions of the world.Sharing experiences from these regions enriches your critical thinking to better contextualisecontemporary global trends as they occur.”Habib Daffalla, Msc International Development graduateDirector General for Programme Coordination, South Sudan HIV/AIDS Commission (SSAC),Republic of South Sudanwww.bath.ac.uk/cds


90 DELIVERING RESULTSDisaster managementin the post-2015frameworkThe huge disparity in losses suffered by wealthy and poorcountries, affected by hazards of similar severity, has spurredthe international community to tackle disaster risk reductionBy Margareta Wahlström, Head, UN Officefor Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR);Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk ReductionThe Indian Ocean tsunami of26 December 2004 was a turningpoint in galvanising public opinionworldwide on the subject of disaster riskmanagement. How could more than200,000 people die with little or no warningin an age of mass communications? Andhow could so much vital infrastructure suchas houses, roads, schools and hospitals belying in harm’s way, waiting to be sweptaway by a raging sea?These were just some of the questionswhich troubled delegates attending the lastUN World Conference on Disaster RiskReduction, organised by UNISDR andthe Government of Japan and held in thefull glare of the media spotlight as morethan 500 journalists descended on Kobe,Hyõgo Prefecture, just three weeks afterthe tsunami had inflicted economic lossesestimated at $14 billion.So it was that in January 2005, a veryfocused gathering representing 168countries – including the UK – adoptedthe world’s first comprehensive agreementon disaster risk reduction, the ‘HyõgoFramework for Action (2005-2010):Building the Resilience of Nations andCommunities to Disasters’ (HFA), which isthe framework that has guided disaster riskmanagement to the point today where weare now seeking to improve on it at a newWorld Conference to be held in Japan nextMarch.At first glance, the achievements ofthe last 10 years may not look so great.Since the beginning of the 21st century,it is conservatively estimated that 1.3million people have died in disaster events,economic losses are in the order of $2.5trillion and, in an average year, over 200million lives are disrupted by disasters.Extreme hazards, extreme inequalitiesIt’s also clear from the experience of thelast decade that extreme hazards andevents are not synonymous with extremerisks. When similar numbers of peopleare affected by hazards of similar severity,wealthy and poor countries generallyexperience radically different losses andimpacts.One has only to contrast the death tollof 6,200 caused by Typhoon Haiyan inthe Philippines in 2013, with the loss of117 lives in the United States as a resultof Hurricane Sandy. Or the deaths of over200,000 people in the 2010 Port-au-Princeearthquake in Haiti, with the 525 who dieda few weeks later when Chile was hit by amore powerful earthquake.These broad comparisons underlinea fundamental truth about disaster riskmanagement, which is that countriesstruggling with risk governance can findit more difficult to address underlyingdrivers of risk, such as rapid urbanisation,climate change, poverty and environmentaldegradation. Often those who strugglemost are also experiencing conflict orpolitical instability.Nonetheless, over the last 10 yearsof reporting against implementation ofthe HFA there are many positive signsof change and clear indications that theculture of disaster risk reduction is startingto spread far and wide.Perhaps the most visible sign is that146 countries have been reporting ontheir efforts to implement the sweepingreforms contained in the HFA, and 121have enacted legislation to establish policyGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS91© Reutersand legal frameworks for disaster riskreduction.It also clear that, in line with the HFApriorities, early warning systems, betterpreparedness and more effective disasterresponse have helped to bring down thedeath tolls from weather-related disasters.Few died in India last October whenCyclone Phailin made landfall in OdishaState, as some one million people hadbeen moved to safety to avoid a recurrenceof the 10,000 deaths that resulted from asimilar category-5 cyclone in 1999.UK contributionFrom the outset, the UK has played anactive role, for example, in promotingimplementation of the HFA andacceptance of its priorities, designed tosave lives and reduce economic losses.The UK Cabinet Office has participatedfully in all three HFA monitoring cyclesto date (2007-2009, 2009-2011 and 2011-2013). In 2009, the UK Cabinet Officehosted a meeting of European NationalPlatforms for Disaster Risk Reduction,which directly led to the establishmentof the European Forum for DisasterRisk Reduction (EFDRR), which is nowserved by UNISDR’s Regional Officein Brussels. That meeting also spurredengagement in the ground-breaking HFAmid-term review carried out by UNISDRto identify gaps and challenges in theimplementation process.Discussions at the EFDRR resultedin the UK becoming the first country tovoluntarily undergo an HFA Peer Review,Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan react as a USmilitary helicopter delivers aid to their isolatedvillage north of Tacloban, central Philippinesin an exercise that sought to overcomeany question marks over the value of aself-reporting mechanism and to introducea possible new element for monitoring andreporting, which could be considered forinclusion in the post-2015 successor tothe HFA.The review, carried out by representativesfrom UNISDR, the European Commission’sHumanitarian Aid and Civil Protectiondepartment and the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development,confirmed that the UK has achieved a highlevel of preparedness at both national andlocal level to respond to natural hazards andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


92 DELIVERING RESULTSthat it is continuing to build the resilienceof society to mitigate the impact of disasterevents. The review also recommended thatthe UK authorities shift emphasis from areactive disaster management focus to a morepro-active risk reduction approach in linewith the HFA priorities.This thread of UK engagement withthe spirit and substance of the HFA hastriggered another development now thatthe European Commission has includedthe HFA Peer Review process as part ofits work programme in the EU and bordercountries. The UK Cabinet Office hasactively encouraged other countries to jointhe process and will participate now in aHFA Peer Review of Finland.Needed: three inter-locking frameworksThe Prince of Wales in his remarks to aglobal summit organised by UNISDRand the Willis Group, and hosted by theInternational Insurance Society, in June2014, highlighted the post-2015 frameworkfor disaster risk reduction as an importantopportunity to build on the significantprogress of the last 10 years, seeing italso as an important bridge between theSustainable Development Goals andthe climate change agreement due to beadopted in 2015.These three agreements clearly needto be interlocking, inter-dependent andmutually reinforcing in order to lay thefoundations for disaster resilience in the21st century, a century of heightened risksTo maximise ongoingefforts, more emphasisis required on measuresto ensure local actiondue to climate change, economic growthand development, population growth(particularly in hazard-exposed urbanareas) and environmental degradation.The UN system is geared to supportthis, following the adoption of the UNPlan of Action on Disaster Risk Reductionfor Resilience by the Chief Executives© ReutersBoard of 29 specialised agencies at theinstigation of UNISDR. A key objectiveis to ensure that development policies,programming and investments, in everycountry, are informed by risk assessments.A crucial issue for consideration in thenext framework is that exposure of peopleand assets in both higher- and lowerincomecountries has increased fasterthan vulnerability has decreased, thusgenerating new risk and a steady increasein socio-economic losses. For each of thelast four years, economic losses from majordisaster events have exceeded $100 billion,money which could have been spent onhealth, education and job creation.The ongoing creation of new risk –much of it triggered by rapid urbanisationand population growth in exposed seismicand coastal locations – coupled withexisting risk, requires continued efforts toreduce vulnerability.People seek safety on higher ground in Iquique city,Chile. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake triggered a preventiveevacuation of coastal areas. There were no injuriesThe HFA has provided clear guidanceon the priority actions needed to addressexposure and vulnerability across sectors.To maximise those ongoing efforts, moreemphasis is required on measures to ensurelocal action – an ‘all-society-approach’ –and to adopt a new framework, which willguide international and national effortsover the next 20 years.The aims of the HFA remain valid: thereis a need to manage disaster and climaterisk in a way that reduces mortality andeconomic losses. The revised HFA, thenew framework to be adopted at the ThirdUN World Conference on Disaster RiskReduction in Sendai, Japan, next March,must lay the foundations for real measurableand verifiable progress to be made.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


94 DELIVERING RESULTSAn agenda for resilienceThe timing of the post-2015 process and WorldHumanitarian Summit provides a unique opportunityto bring development and humanitarian actors togetherfor inclusive, effective and accountable actionBy Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Chief of theWorld Humanitarian SummitIn 1991 the UN General Assemblypassed a landmark resolution to “makemore effective the collective efforts ofthe international community, in particularthe United Nations system, in providinghumanitarian assistance”. Nearly 25 yearslater, the fundamental principles guidinghumanitarian action remain unchanged,but the landscape has changed profoundly.New technologies have revolutionisedalmost every aspect of life and are nowreaching more parts of the globe. Atthe same time, humanity is facing newchallenges, including climate change,urbanisation and rapid population growth.Humanitarian needs are on the rise.Between 2004 and 2013, the number ofpeople targeted each year through interagencyappeals rose from approximately30 million to 70 million, and millions morewere served by local organisations andgovernments. Humanitarian action is alsobecoming more costly: in the same timeperiod, humanitarian funding requestsnearly doubled from $6 billion to over$10 billion per year.The number of actors involved inhumanitarian action has increasedconsiderably. Disaster-affected countries,civil society organisations and regionalorganisations play an ever-more prominentrole, and the number of NGOs operatingin emergencies has risen dramatically.New actors have also emerged in recentyears. More middle-income countriesare becoming donors for the first time,and militaries, diaspora networks and theprivate sector are increasingly involvedin humanitarian action. Emergingtechnologies, meanwhile, have enabledpeople affected by crises to express theirviews and needs more immediately andwith greater impact.In response to these opportunities andchallenges, humanitarian actors havecontinuously sought to improve theirservices and ways of working, with majorreform processes initiated by the UN in2005 and 2009. But there has been nocollective exercise since the currentsystem was formed to take stock of itsstrengths and assess how to respond tonew challenges.For this reason, the UN Secretary-General will convene a WorldHumanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May2016. It will provide, for the first time, aplatform for a structured exchange betweenall humanitarian actors – includinggovernments, humanitarian organisations,communities affected by conflicts ordisasters, and new partners such asthe private sector – with the goal ofcollectively setting a new agenda forhumanitarian action.An inclusive agendaThe next chapter in humanitarian workmust represent the widest range ofperspectives and experiences. Following themodel developed for the post-2015 process,the UN Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will hold aseries of online consultations and regionalconsultations in the two years preceding thesummit to gather views and facilitate a trulyglobal discussion.© ReutersThe consultations will focus on fourthematic areas identified collectively bygovernments, humanitarian organisations,and communities: humanitarianeffectiveness, reducing vulnerability andmanaging risk, transformation throughinnovation, and serving the needs of peoplein conflict.In 2014, the first two regionalconsultations were held in West and CentralAfrica and North and South-east Asia.Partners gathered inputs from a variety ofconstituencies, which were discussed andtransformed into clear recommendationsfor the regions and the global humanitariancommunity. Although far from over, thesetwo consultations have already producedforward-thinking recommendations for thefuture humanitarian agenda, some of whichare summarised here.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS95The anecdotal experiences sharedby people in both regions questionedtypical assumptions about what people inconflict want from humanitarian actors.Stakeholders affirmed that more than foodor water, people want humanitarian actionto provide security, hope and upholdingof their human dignity. Participants saidthat doing so required them to interacttransparently with all parties in a conflictand maintain the principle of neutrality.On the theme of humanitarianeffectiveness, stakeholders in bothregions strongly felt that accountability toaffected people is fundamental to effectivehumanitarian action. They recommendedthat humanitarian programmes shouldfeature a clear system of communicationand feedback with those affected to ensurethat their needs and preferences are beingmet. There was also a consensus thatto be truly effective in a wide variety ofcontexts, humanitarian action should focuson empowering local communities andtheir representatives to be in a position torespond more effectively themselves.In order to manage risk and reducevulnerability, they underscored the needto prioritise preparedness and prevention.They called for humanitarian actors towork together to close the gap betweenearly warning and early action in order tobetter mitigate the known risks of recurrent,seasonal shocks, including drought, foodinsecurity, flooding, disease outbreaks andmalnutrition.These recommendations mean that riskanalysis, planning, financing and advocacybetween the humanitarian and developmentsectors should be aligned.Residents wait to receive food aid distributed by theUN Relief and Works Agency at the al-Yarmouk camp inJanuary 2014. The residents of Yarmouk, a Palestinianneighbourhood in Damascus that took in refugees afterthe creation of Israel, are trapped by an army siegeThe unique timing of the WorldHumanitarian Summit and post-2015process provides a joint platform to goeven beyond this to:●●collectively define targets and indicators;●●ensure that measuring progress acrossboth processes is coherent; and●●find practical solutions to bringdevelopment and humanitarian actorstogether around a resilience agenda thatbreaks down the existing silos betweenthe two sectors and helps us addressglobal trends such as climate change.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


96 DELIVERING RESULTS© ReutersRelatives of crew members wave as China’shospital ship ‘Peace Ark’ leaves for the Philippines,to assist the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.Middle-income countries acting as aid donorsis a positive new development in recent yearsFinally, there was a broad consensusthat in order to be fit for the future,humanitarian actors must increase theircapacity to take advantage of new toolsand innovative ideas. Participants calledon humanitarian actors to make it a corepriority to empower people affected byconflicts or disasters to find innovativeways to help themselves.Participants also recognised thatan effective innovation ecosystem forhumanitarian response is not going toarise spontaneously. They suggested thatall actors should come together to providethe leadership, structures and resources toensure the humanitarian community canadapt with the necessary speed.To enable this, there is a need for a morefocused innovation agenda that looks notjust at exciting new ideas, but also at howwe can change the culture and the structureof humanitarian organisations to supporta more proactive approach to solvingproblems. These recommendations, andmany more like them, will continue to berefined in the lead-up to the summit. Theywill be added to, tested and discussed inother regions. At the same time, teams ofexperts will provide recommendations inThe next agenda forhumanitarian actionmust be about morethan humanitarianismeach of the four thematic areas, and oncross-cutting issues as they arise.In late 2015, a thematic and a globalconsultation meeting will be held toconsolidate the outcomes of all theconsultation processes into a set ofrecommendations and propose strategiesfor how to turn these into action. Theseconclusions will be presented in a report tothe Secretary-General, which will set theagenda for Istanbul and beyond.A vision for humanityIt is still too early to make any predictionsas to what the outcomes of this processwill be, nor indeed how it will be linkedto the post-2015 development agenda.One message, however, is already loudand clear: that the next agenda forhumanitarian action must be about morethan humanitarianism – it must be abouthumanity. After all, it is our compassionfor people whose lives are disrupted byconflicts or disasters that makes us human.The vision for a world where all peoplecan live in peace and dignity transcendsdifferences in our cultural, religious, socialand economic backgrounds. The WorldHumanitarian Summit must be a platformfor action that puts humanity – the needs,hopes and dignity of people in crisis – atthe centre of the humanitarian agenda.We must all play our part in order toensure that this process truly leads tofar-reaching change.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATURELocal leadershipcreates lasting solutionsBy Ann Hudock,Senior VP of International Programs,Plan International USAPerhaps the most important achievement of the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) has been focus. Calling out eight goalsas priorities for poverty reduction has increased impact. Some goalsappear elusive though. For example, Goal 3 to promote gender equalityand empower women lags behind across all geographies. Insufficientprogress has been made in the area of women’s equal representation innational parliaments and this goal won’t be met if the trend continues.When women are in public office, they can bring their unique perspective topolicy discussions and inform debate on public expenditure around health,education, and water and sanitation – real priorities for poverty reduction.Looking ahead to a post-MDG period with a broader set of goals,there are trends that point to progress. Top of the list is the concern aroundcountry ownership and localisation. USAID Forward is a good exampleof a policy designed to foster greater collaboration with host countrygovernments and to carry out the foreign assistance agenda throughlocal actors. It is well-intentioned and welcome, but will not lead to moreeffective foreign assistance unless it is thoroughly implemented. Simplyworking the US development agenda through local organisations would bea significant step backwards. The more USAID’s agenda is co-created andco-implemented with local communities, governments, and civil society, themore successful and sustainable it will be.The ambition of the MDGs and the post-MDG period pulls us in thedirection of large-scale, technically advanced interventions that deliverbig impact. There is certainly a place for science and innovation. Whatmight be more central to success in lasting poverty reduction, however, isempowerment of local communities to do their own analysis of problemsand construct their own solutions. That’s true country ownership andinvesting in that means investing in sustainable solutions.A great example of this approach is community-led total sanitation(CLTS). Pioneered in countries like Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Indonesia,and Pakistan where it is operating at scale, CLTS is about igniting a changein sanitation and hygiene behaviours and not about providing high-tech, oreven low-tech, sanitation solutions. The approach concentrates on the entirecommunity rather than on individuals, triggering and sustaining communitywidechange through strong, peer-to-peer emotional responses to opendefecation. This typically opens up opportunities for women and children tohave a voice in environmental health, hygiene, and sanitation improvementwhere they may not have had it in the past. No outside intervention ortechnical expert could achieve the kind of impact that is generated by aneighbour challenging them to change.And it works. From the 30,000 feet level, a recent study by UNICEF(2013) confirms that CLTS is achieving widespread results in East AsiaWoman trained and employed by the government teachingpeople about the importance of sanitation in Bangladeshand the Pacific. CLTS has already spread to 12 countries in the region,triggered sanitation improvements in more than 12,000 rural and peri-urbancommunities, and led to more than 3.1 million people living in 2,300 OpenDefecation Free (ODF) communities.Drilling down to local examples illustrates the focus the approachhas on local actors. Hatibandha Upazilla was the first sub-district to bedeclared ODF in Bangladesh. This followed an intensive campaign led by theadministrative head supported by all political parties. Other key factors werethe commitment of NGO staff – Plan International Bangladesh and Dishari,an NGO dedicated to CLTS – working closely with local government; thetraining of imams and their preaching in mosques; task forces at all levels;days when staff in different organisations would go to villages togetherfor verification of ODF status; and certification by the District Magistrate.Some 10,000 people came to the celebration of the Upazilla’s ODF statusin January 2006. The campaign switched to promoting improvements tolatrines, with steady progress up the sanitation ladder.Perhaps the lesson of CLTS is that if we want to achieve big results wehave to start small and trigger the behaviours and community engagementthat foster collective community action, scalable to national progress.CLTS approaches demonstrate that once communities achieve the statedsanitation goals they often don’t stop there, but move on to developsolutions for education, employment, and equality. This kind of bottom uprather than top-down development might be just what is needed to createlarge-scale and sustainable change.


98 DELIVERING RESULTSUsing the law to contest and claimeconomic and social rightsIncreasingly, economic and social rights are being recognised at global summits andenshrined in national constitutions. In practice, what impact does this have on development?© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS99By Tam O’Neil and Pilar Domingo,Research Fellows, Politics and GovernanceProgramme, Overseas DevelopmentInstitute (ODI)In international law, economic and socialrights are human rights guaranteed bybinding international treaties, includingthe International Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights (1966), theConvention on the Elimination of allForms of Discrimination against Women(1979) and the Convention on the Rightsof the Child (1989).States that have signed these treatieshave a legal duty to respect, protect andfulfil economic and social rights (ESRs) ofeveryone within their jurisdiction. Theseinclude the rights to education, health,water, and an adequate standard of living(including food and housing and socialsecurity), as well as rights related to theworkplace and the environment.As such, ESRs have direct relevance todevelopment and realising ESRs can notonly contribute directly to the achievementof the Sustainable Development Goals, butalso bolster their authority and ambition.International commitments andconstitutional reform trendsSocial and economic rights have becomemore prominent on the internationalpolitical agenda in the past 30 years.The end of the Cold War provided anopportunity to overcome the apparentideological division between economic andsocial rights and civil and political rights.Member States’ historical affirmation ofthe indivisibility of all human rights at the1993 Vienna World Conference openeda new chapter in international rightsadvocacy and activity.This paved the way for the recognitionof the interdependence of development,security and human rights at the 2000Millennium Summit, and for ‘In LargerFreedom’, a seminal report released by theIn Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, ThenjiweMadzinga cares for four grandchildren, who wereorphaned when her daughter died from AIDS.South Africa adopted its constitution in 1996,which guarantees a right to healthUN Secretary-General five years later. Thereport set out a blueprint for realising theUN Charter’s vision of ‘better standardsof life in larger freedom’, encompassingfreedom from want and freedom fromfear. Many of the report’s proposals wereendorsed by governments at the 2005World Summit.These international legal and politicalcommitments provide an enablingenvironment for national mobilisation andaction. This is important. Enforcementof commitments through internationalmechanisms is difficult and rare. Economicand social rights are only realised throughcountry-level political and social processes:by negotiating and passing national laws,through the social acceptance of new rightsand duties, and through the rule of law andpeople’s access to justice in practice.Part of the process of negotiation isdeciding what is affordable for a country.States have minimum core obligations intheir fulfilment of economic and socialrights and duty to not discriminate inthe entitlements that they do guarantee.However, the principle of progressiverealisation in international law alsorecognises that states can only be heldaccountable for ensuring improvements ineconomic and social conditions through thedeployment of maximum available resources.In short, rights become real throughbargaining between social groups aboutshared norms and the social contractbetween state and society. The good news isthat the past 30 years have also seen a tide ofdemocratisation and a constitutional trendtowards more progressive bills of rights.Increasingly, economic and socialentitlements feature more prominently inthe social contract as a matter of course.Notable examples include the Colombianconstitution of 1991, the South Africanconstitution of 1996 and, more recently,the Kenyan constitution of 2010. Suchconstitutional guarantees of ESRs enablethe judiciary to use review mechanismsto test the justiciability of these rights –that is, the degree to which they can beclaimed and enforced in the courts – withthe potential to improve oversight of statecommitments.Nevertheless, the challenge remainsto ensure the implementation ofconstitutional commitments, and in waysthat benefit the most vulnerable groupsin society.Legal empowerment forvulnerable groupsThe UN has long recognised law andjustice as the bedrock of development,peace and human rights. The rule of lawfeatures prominently in its founding treatiesand subsequent landmark documents,including the Millennium Declaration. Asthe UN Secretary-General noted in 2008,“ultimately, the equal protection of thelaw as the means to achieve freedom fromfear and freedom from want is the mostsustainable form of protection. Perhapsthe United Nations contributions tosuch protection are its most profoundachievements. Yet, success in this pursuit isWhat is legalempowerment?Legal empowerment occurs whenpoor or marginalised people,individually or collectively, usethe law, legal systems and justicemechanisms to:●●advance their rights and interestsand improve or transform theirsocial, political or economicsituations;●●hold those in power to accountfor their legal obligations andperformance; and●●contest unjust power relations.Legal empowerment is concernedwith implementation of the law inpractice, not just entitlements onpaper. The law includes diversetypes of enforceable rules, suchas regulations and contracts andinternational, customary or religiousnorms and their associated justicemechanisms, as well as statutorylaws and judicial precedents appliedthrough the courts.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


100 DELIVERING RESULTSWellbeing in international developmentBy Dr Sarah White, University of Bath‘Development – we need it, but thedevelopment which is coming in thisarea is a development which is consumingour land bit by bit. Bit by bit, ourland is being consumed. It means thecommunity… eventually the communitywill have very little place to live, so that’swhy it is a hazard.’Villager, Chiawa, Zambia, 2012Getting it right post-2015 meansputting people’s wellbeing at the centreof development. Recent research inChiawa, Zambia by the University ofBath shows what this means.In Chiawa the alienation ofcustomary land for agribusiness orsafari lodges has undermined locallivelihoods, removing access to water,grasslands and firewood. Wild animalssuch as elephants frequently destroycrops and present a constant threat ofphysical injury or even death. Socialtrust is low, people fear losing theirland, feel excluded from decisionmakingand are afraid to speak upagainst those in power.By contrast, local understandings ofwellbeing emphasise an ethic of takingcare of others. Uniting material, moraland relational dimensions, it is a modelof power well used.This research suggests that landrights for the poor must be at theheart of the post-2015 agenda. Chiawais just one example of a worldwidedispossession that is taking place in thename of development. Land rights mustbe complemented by environmentalprotection and promotion, since humanwellbeing is grounded in a broaderecology with earth, air, water and theother animals. The third principle isaccountability. Robust mechanisms areneeded to ensure local women and mencan debate priorities and participateeffectively in shaping any developmentthat does take place.This research belongs within awide portfolio of work on wellbeingin international development at theUniversity of Bath, including a dedicatedMSc programme, doctoral research, andresearch on the capability approach.The Politics of Wellbeing, Conservation andDevelopment in Chiawa, Zambia. 2013www.wellbeingpathways.orgWellbeing and Quality of Life Assessment:A Practical Guide. Ed. Sarah C. Whitewith Asha Abeyasekera. Practical ActionPublishing. 2014.Wellbeing, Justice and Development Ethics.Séverine Deneulin, Routledge. 2014.among the hardest to attain.”This recognition has led the UN to giveparticular attention to the rule of lawand how assistance in this area can beimproved in the past decade, and, in 2012,to UN Member States reaffirming theircommitment to the rule of law.The international community hasprovided assistance to law and justiceinstitutions in developing countries sincethe 1960s, in guises such as the Law andDevelopment Movement, democratisationand good governance, and economicliberalisation.However, since the early 2000s, therehas been growing recognition withinthe development community of theshortcomings of traditional rule-oflaw-assistance.The overly top-downagenda of rule-of-law reform, focused onstate-centric and technical approaches toreforming judicial institutions, has produceddisappointing results – and particularly interms of improved access and outcomes forpoor and marginalised people.In response, development scholarssuch as Stephen Golub have advocatedthe need for a ‘legal empowerment’approach to development. This approachis about grassroots and practical action:it begins with the needs and priorities ofpoor people and focuses on the concretemechanisms through which they can usethe law to realise their rights in practice,to increase their power and security, and tomove out of poverty.Legal empowerment has beenimportant to reorient the attention ofthe international community towards theexperience of the ‘end users’ of law andjustice programmes. The UN Commissionon the Legal Empowerment of the Poor(2005-2008) officially articulated theapproach and provided a platform fordiscussion of the relationship betweenthe law and the social and economicrights and wellbeing of people indeveloping countries, within the UN andbeyond. And, throughout this period,many international and domestic nongovernmentalorganisations, as well asdonors such as the World Bank, have beenworking to support the legal agency of theGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS101© Reuterspoor. They do this through a wide rangeof processes and mechanisms, includingadvocacy and rights awareness-raising,law and redress mechanisms, legal literacy,legal aid, support to paralegals and supportto strategic litigation organisations.Legal empowerment initiatives havetherefore tended to focus on grassrootsactivities: on how individuals, with orwithout the support of legal professionals(particularly paralegals), and NGOs canuse local dispute-resolution mechanismsof different sorts to seek solutions to, andimmediate redress for, practical problemsand claims.However, other types of legal andjustice mechanisms can empower poorand marginalised people. Where supportis available, vulnerable people can asserttheir rights, individually or collectively,through an array of legal, horizontal andsocial accountability mechanisms, such aslitigation in high courts, administrativeredress mechanisms, ombudsmen andA farmer clears land for crops near a new residentialcompound in Hefei, China. The Communist Party plans togive farmers more property rights as part of a programmeof measures designed to reinforce the economyhuman rights commissions. These formsof legal mobilisation are able to forwardcollective interests and to combat structuralinjustice in order to (incrementally)transform structures of abuse, exclusionand discrimination.The transformational effect of legalempowermentThe use of the law and justice mechanismscan empower vulnerable people in threeconcrete ways, each with the potential tocontribute to the advancement of theirsocial and economic rights.First, through the process of usingthe law, people can develop the personalcapabilities, such as self-belief and selfworth,or awareness of rights and ofstructural discrimination, necessary tohave real choices and control over theirlives. This ‘power within’ is essential formarginalised people to challenge either theunder-provision or the unfair distributionof rights and resources.Second, legal action can help toconsolidate new progressive constitutionalrights. For example, strategic litigation bywomen’s legal organisations has resulted inlandmark gender equality cases in relationto women’s personal status, and inheritanceand property rights. Effective legal actionby civic organisations and networks hasalso changed government policy on theprovision and management of health,housing and water services. Throughsuch strategic litigation, individual claims,often about practical needs and interests,can lead to concrete gains for poor andmarginalised groups.Third, legal action can activate the state’sregulation and oversight of the provisionservices essential for the realisation ofESRs. The case brought by the TreatmentAction Campaign against pharmaceuticalcompanies in South Africa is a well-knowncase in health rights. As a result, theprice of essential antiretroviral drugswas reduced.Legal empowerment is by no means apanacea for closing the gap between rightson paper and rights in practice. Inadequatecapacity within the justice system indeveloping countries is one reason, but amore fundamental one is that legal actionis inherently political. Disputes about thelaw and entitlements are invariably aboutthe distribution of power and resourcesbetween individuals or groups – this isparticularly acute with respect to economicand social entitlements. In most countries,though to different degrees, powerfulgroups capture the law and legal processesand use them to protect their interests andthe status quo and to marginalise others.The Millennium Development Goalshave created an impetus behind certainESRs. Improving the legal agency of poorand marginalised people is one route toincrease the likelihood that these can berealised in a sustainable and equitableway during the next phase of globaldevelopment goals.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


102 DELIVERING RESULTSWhere governmentsfalter – the role ofthe private sectorIt is in the interests of companies to make up for theshortcomings of government but they must adopta multi-stakeholder approach to avoid the dangersof taking on the role of the stateBy Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman,Foundation for the UN Global CompactWhere governments falteror fail in their duties, thenegative effects on society arewidespread. It is difficult to run a goodbusiness in a society that is fractured orunder various forms of strain, so it is in theinterest of business to join with others toaddress the failures.Such provision is not just philanthropy– it is to a company’s advantage to ensurethat its workforce, their families and thesurrounding communities are healthy; thateducational standards are such that workershave the skills required; and that economicdevelopment grows consumer demand.The emphasis on working with othersis critical, for if a single business or evena group of businesses acts alone, thereare significant dangers. The first is thatby taking on the role of government insome area, for example the philanthropicprovision of education or healthcare, bothgovernment and the population at largemay come to rely on that free provision.The demand will outstrip a company’sability to provide and the service may inthe end collapse.A greater danger is that the companyusurps and controls the government.History is full of such examples, fromthe activities of the East India Companyin the 18th and 19th centuries to the20th-century activities of United Fruitin the Central American ‘banana republics’or ITT in Africa. Working in coalitionwith civil society helps to keep all partieshonest.The UN Global CompactWhen the then-UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan called on companies tosubscribe to a compact by which theyundertook to endeavour to embed theprinciples of the major UN conventions onhuman rights, the environment, workingconditions and, later, corruption into theirday-to-day business, part of his geniuswas to include civil society and labourorganisations.Although the UN Global Compact(UNGC) was to be business-led, it tookfrom the outset a multi-stakeholderapproach to these issues. Today in theCompact, there are more than 8,000businesses in more than 140 countries,employing over 55 million people. Thereare also some 4,000 civil society and otherorganisations involved in the UNGC.One of the great strengths of theUNGC, and a driver for its futuredevelopment, is the growth of ‘LocalNetworks’, active in over a hundredcompanies. These bring togethercompanies large and small, national andinternational, with civil society and labourorganisations, to work together on theparticular priority issues in that country.Despite its success to date, the UNGCcovers only a fraction of the almost100,000 international companies and aninfinitesimal percentage of the millionsof small businesses. It is only through thedevelopment of the Local Networks thatit will be possible to reach the small andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS103© Gettymedium-sized enterprises that make upmuch of business.Risks and opportunitiesIf business is to work with civil society,it is necessary to build trust between theparties. Trust is best built by openness andthis is why all business signatories to theUNGC must commit to report publiclyin the form of a ‘Communication onProgress’ on what they are in fact doingto ensure that their business actuallyoperates in line with the ten principles ofthe Compact. Failure to do so results inexpulsion from the Compact.But what happens when it is agovernment that fails? In some cases, a statemay be unrepresentative, guilty of humanrights abuses or extremely corrupt. In suchsituations, international businesses are facedwith a choice – should they withdraw fromthe country or remain engaged? Othergovernments are also faced with a somewhatsimilar choice – should they remain engagedor try and force change through theapplication of financial sanctions?Students at the University of Botswana in Gaborone.Debswana, a 50/50 partnership between De Beersand the government of Botswana, has assistedBotswana’s transformation from one of the world’spoorest countries at the start of the 1970s into oneof Africa’s most developed countries todayFor a company, a decision on withdrawalwill generally be based on whether agovernment is likely to force it to deviatefrom its own standards. It may alsobe under pressure from investors andcivil society organisations to withdraw,although such calls for divestment areGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


104 DELIVERING RESULTScommercial sector and put such financialresources as there are in the hands of thegovernment and its cronies. Enthusiastsfor sanctions point to the presentnegotiations with Iran on nuclear activitiesas a successful product of sanctions, butthis has come at much human cost to theimpotent majority.Furthermore, the creation of bitternessand distrust provides a poor foundationfor negotiations. How much better if wehad maintained an ongoing engagement,commercially and otherwise, expandingrather than destroying the middle classand providing a counterweight not directlydependent on government? The samecould be said of Sudan and Myanmar.less frequent nowadays as a realisationgrows that it is perhaps better to have aresponsible company engaged than not.In taking such a decision, a company alsohas responsibilities towards its nationalemployees, who will remain, whateverthe decision. Local business has no luxuryof choice.There are challenges and risks inremaining engaged. These may includeoperating in highly corrupt environmentsand being subject to charges of complicitywith an oppressive regime or individual.Corruption is the easiest to address – nocompany has to make corrupt payments ifit does not wish to, except perhaps in casesof extortion where human life rather thanmerely loss of business is the price of notcomplying with demands.The work of John Ruggie, formerUN Special Rapporteur on Businessand Human Rights, has done much toclarify the situation on complicity. Inthe UN Guiding Principles on Business© ReutersIranian students protest against sanctions, standingin front of an anti-US mural, painted on the wall of theformer US Embassy in Tehran. The effects of sanctionscan be counter-productive and it can be argued thatengagement by responsible businesses is a moreeffective tool against oppressive regimesand Human Rights (2011), through his‘Protect, Respect, Remedy’ Framework,Ruggie places the responsibility to protecthuman rights squarely on the nation state.However, businesses must also ensurethat they respect the human rights ofall they come into contact with. Bothgovernments and businesses, therefore,have a responsibility for remedies wherehuman rights are infringed.To engage or not?There may be times when a business isforced to withdraw due to sanctions. Inmy experience, the imposition of sanctionson, for example, Iran for over 30 yearshas merely aided and concentrated powerin an unattractive regime, decimated theWhat is ‘responsible’?When responsible businesses remainengaged in such countries, not only doesthis result in the honest provision ofimproved goods and services. It also leads tothe creation of jobs that are not dependenton the government, and to the developmentof other companies in the supply chain.Such activities can also demonstrate thatit is possible to achieve sound businessresults without engaging in corruptpractices. Much care, consideration andengagement by responsible companies andcivil society is required if the effects areindeed to be beneficial. The qualifying wordis ‘responsible’. How should we define it?There are three elements that comeinto play:1) the commitment to a code of principles,such as the Global Compact;2) public reporting on progress in theimplementation of this code in theorganisation’s day-to-day business; and3) a governance structure that is opento public pressure from shareholders,consumers and civil society organisationsand which is committed to engagementand cooperation with all other elementsof society.In whatever country, these are theelements that help to ensure that businesscan indeed play a progressive role wheregovernments falter.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREUNDP project impacts on Africa’ssocio-economic developmentAs the world approaches the 2015 deadline for the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), African enterprises continue tomove away from the trap of revenue chasing, to become some ofthe world’s leading hubs for socio-economic growth and development.Formed as early as 1989, the African Training and ManagementServices (ATMS) project has played an important role in the fightfor continuing change. A joint initiative of the International FinanceCorporation (IFC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)and African Development Bank (AfDB), the ATMS project wasestablished to play a key role in catalysing economic development in theAfrican continent, while at the same time promoting job creation.Through its implementing company, the African Management andServices Company (AMSCO BV), the project has been able to assistAfrican enterprises to become globally competitive, profitable andsustainable across a range of key sectors, including agriculture, health,energy, tourism, ICT, financial services and manufacturing. Dedicatedfunding by donor organisations to assist these burgeoning enterprises isfacilitated through the ATMS Foundation.This leading human capital development solutions organisationhas effectively solved the skills and capacity gaps of many private andpublic sector enterprises through four targeted solutions: placement ofinternational experts; recruitment; capacity development; and technicalassistance programmes.Through innovative means, these integrated solutions have not onlyenhanced productivity, sustainability and active citizenry, but they havestrengthened the capacity for indigenous managers to run businessesand build local capacity.With AMSCO’s interim placement service, where expert talent issourced and placed in client companies, enterprises continue to improveoperational and financial efficiency, and management systems. Asimultaneous skills transfer process and succession planning has oftenenabled a local manager to succeed the AMSCO managers once alldevelopment objectives have been achieved. AMSCO currently has406 expert professionals placed in 250 companies in sub-SaharanAfrican countries.AMSCO has helped African enterprises to become globally competitive,profitable and sustainable across a range of sectors, including agricultureCentral to the ATMS mandate are AMSCO’s technical assistanceprogrammes. Focused primarily on SMEs, entrepreneurship andimproved livelihoods, these programmes enable indigenous companiesto work with various partners through targeted interventions for privatesector development.One such platform in partnership with the AfDB has been theGrowth Oriented Women Enterprise (GOWE) programme, aimedat female entrepreneurs in Kenya. More recently, AMSCO partneredwith the Cadiz ASSIST Fund in Southern Africa, to provide support tofinancial intermediaries and small businesses in order for them to betterserve the communities in which they operate.To further upscale skills development in the region, AMSCO offerscapacity development services to both client and non-client companieslooking to build well-trained teams for improved operational efficiency.AMSCO conducts training needs assessments and, in collaboration withits clients, custom designs practical and job orientated managementdevelopment programmes to suit the company’s needs.ATMS Foundation may subsidise a percentage of the cost of thetraining programmes for SMEs that are AMSCO clients who cannotafford the full cost, using financial support provided by donors.This further contributes to the achievement of MDG 8, which recognisesthe importance that strategic partnerships play in acceleratingAfrica’s growth.In working with host governments and a mix of public and privatebodies, AMSCO managed to institute unique human capital solutionsthat harness the ideals set out in the MDGs, while contributing toAfrica’s sustainable growth. ●●Focused primarily on SMEs, AMSCO’s technical assistance programmes enableindigenous companies to work with various partners for private sector development


106 DELIVERING RESULTSThe scourge ofillicit financial flowsStopping the illegal flow of money away from developingcountries is key to achieving the aims of peace, human rightsand development established at the UN’s creationBy Raymond Baker, President, andTom Cardamone, Managing Director,Global Financial IntegrityIn December 1948, the UN adoptedthe Universal Declaration of HumanRights (UDHR), which established forthe first time a comprehensive list of themost basic freedoms and rights that allindividuals, by their birth, are granted. Theaim of the Declaration was to underscorethat all people have the right to expect livesthat are, according to the text, based on“dignity… freedom [and] justice”.© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS107The international community hasstruggled to live up to this standard eversince. But, as the UN begins its finalyear of negotiations on the post-2015Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),the potential to reach the high ideals setforth in the UDHR is great. However,it will take leadership, political will andinnovative steps to achieve it.The Declaration links the concepts ofpeace, human rights and development tomake the point that in any society, whereone of the three components is missing, itis difficult – if not impossible – to achievethe other two. Article 25 of the Declarationspells out the most fundamentalcomponents of a dignified life, includinga “right to a standard of living adequatefor… health and well-being… includingfood, clothing, housing, and medical care”.Despite the fact that the Declaration wasadopted more than six decades ago, thedocument’s focus on the core needs remainsat the heart of the UN’s post-2015 SDGagenda. Much progress has been madetowards the Declaration’s ideals since itsadoption. According to the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG) Report 2014,over the last 14 years, the world has reducedextreme poverty by half and about 700million fewer people lived in conditions ofextreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990.However, as a global community, wehave fallen far short of the point whereeveryone enjoys the basic necessitiesof life. Indeed, as the final year of theMDGs approaches, “about one in eightpeople were estimated to be sufferingfrom chronic hunger in 2011-2013…nearly one in seven children underage five are underweight… one in fourremains stunted,” according to the 2014MDG Report. And the challenges arelikely to increase. According to the UN,by 2050 populations in less developedregions of the globe will grow by 45per cent, putting additional pressureson governments and the internationalcommunity to fight poverty.The traditional focus of the internationalhuman rights community, particularly in theWest, has been on civil and political rights.One reason for this is the perception, oftencorrect, that those who violate civil andpolitical rights can be easily singled out andprosecuted, while the causes of economichardship are usually far more difficult toattribute. But there are cases where theperpetrators of economic hardship couldbe held to account, for example, those whoharm some of the world’s most vulnerablepeople by illegally siphoning money out ofdeveloping countries.Protesters outside the Chancelleryin Berlin demand that the G20 leaderstake action to combat tax evasionAccording to published studies basedon International Monetary Fund (IMF)data 1 , some US$1 trillion in illicit fundsexit developing economies each year.These illicit financial flows (IFFs) depletegovernment coffers of domestic resources,undermine the ability to reach MDGtargets, dissuade foreign investmentand weaken economies. The largestcomponent of illicit flows are those relatedto misinvoiced trade. Approximately80 per cent are due to fraudulent tradetransactions that misrepresent the price,quantity or quality of goods being shippedinto or out of developing countries. Thisproblem is widespread, with more than 88per cent of all developing countries havingsome level of trade-related illicit flows.IFFs equal global povertyTrade misinvoicing, moving hundreds ofbillions of dollars a year illegally from poorcountries to rich countries, is, in fact, themain reason why global poverty persistsand inequality within nations grows. It isthe most tangible and fundamental reasonwhy good governance lags in scores ofnations, and why human rights – economicrights – are violated for billions of people.If this is curtailed, it will result in a moreequal, and more just, global economy.Despite the fact that extreme poverty isnot often seen as a human rights problem,over the past few years the scourge ofIFFs has become a major focal point ofthe economic development community.Since 2009, all major multilateral forafocusing on development have addressedthe issue in some way. Indeed, advancesin this area can be seen in the BaseErosion and Profit Shifting Project at theOrganisation for Economic Co-operationand Development (www.oecd.org/ctp/beps.htm); in the Automatic Exchangeof Information process (www.oecd.org/tax/exchange-of-tax-information), whichwas endorsed by the G20 in 2013; and inthe progress toward public registries ofbeneficial ownership information of legalentities, which has been promoted by G8action plans.Based on these initiatives, the linkageof IFFs to global poverty has gained aGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


108 DELIVERING RESULTS© Reutersfoothold in the international community.But more must be done.Fortunately, there has been growinginterest within the UN to considerincluding in the post-2015 SDGs a targetto reduce illicit flows. Specifically, thisSDG target would challenge developingcountries to reduce IFFs related totrade misinvoicing by 50 per cent. Theinnovative component of this idea is that,except for a relatively small amount ofneeded to achieve the SDGs. The proposalto include an SDG target on illicit flowsmay be coming at just the right moment.With ever-growing foreign aid levels athing of the past, more practical stepsare needed to address the funding needsto reach the yet-to-be-finalised post-2015 development goals. This concreteproposal would be measurable – given thatgovernments already provide trade datato the IMF each year – and achievable.The proposal to include an SDG target on illicitflows may be coming at just the right momentforeign assistance to upgrade customsdepartments at the outset, once levels ofmisinvoiced trade come down, governmentrevenue in the form of income tax andcustoms duties would be greatly increased.Such a target would actually be adevelopment enabler by providinghundreds of billions of dollars to countries,which would, in turn, bolster effortsIt would also be a companion effort tothe steps developing countries havetaken to create a more transparent globalfinancial system.Further, curtailing illicit outflows willhelp spur the economic changes required toenable countries to grow to the point of nolonger needing foreign aid. A primary resultof that growth will be a larger middle classLuxembourg’s then Prime Minister and Eurogroupchairman Jean-Claude Juncker (right) greets Spain’sEconomy Minister Luis de Guindos (left) at a Eurogroupmeeting. During Juncker’s tenure, Luxembourg wastransformed into one of the world’s leading tax havensand, with it, more tax payers and consumersand a better-educated population fromwhich entrepreneurship can thrive.Curbing illicit flows is not a panacea.Strong economic growth will also requiregood governance, rule of law, a free andopen media, and a flourishing civil society.But, without the funds to prosper, thesesocietal changes will not be sufficient toelicit significant change. By keeping moremoney where it is earned, countries wouldhave the possibility of fulfilling the promiseof the Universal Declaration adoptedall those years ago. It is now up to theinternational community to demonstratethe leadership and political will needed tobegin that process.1 See www.gfintegrity.org/report/2013-globalreport-illicit-financial-flows-from-developingcountries-2002-2011/GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATURENatural resource trading opportunitiesdrive positive changeConflict-free minerals delivered through the ITSCI supply chain initiativeWhat are ‘conflict minerals’?Many developing countries are rich in natural resources, a sectorfrom which earning and development opportunities are frequentlylost through poor management and corruption. The UN has alsohighlighted concerns over the role that mineral trade can play in fundingarmed conflict, such as from cassiterite (tin), tantalite (tantalum), wolframite(tungsten) and gold production from the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC) and surrounding areas; the so called 3T&G ‘conflict minerals’. Otherorganisations also aim to encourage responsible conflict-free supply chainswith a key framework being the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for sourcingfrom high-risk and conflict areas.Co-operative action to facilitate responsible tradeSince 2010, the ITSCI supply chain initiative has rapidly developed from asmall pilot to become the foundation of conflict-free 3T mineral trade acrossthe DRC, Rwanda and Burundi. ITSCI is a voluntary private sector initiativeunderstanding the importance of global markets and open, businessfriendly trading opportunities, yet working hand in hand with governmentservices , international (Pact) and local NGOs to deliver capacity buildingand improved governance. ITSCI is a practical mechanism developed toimplement complex OECD due diligence expectations in an accessible andappropriate manner for the small businesses and artisanal miners of theAfrican mining sector. This rule-based trading environment instils confidenceand assures credibility, thus allowing conflict-free African minerals to accessinternational markets at fair prices.Delivering results locally to access global marketsITSCI has demonstrated the power of market incentive to create change inthe most challenging areas of the world. Even small miner co-operatives inthe remotest areas of central DRC have come to understand the importanceof responsible trading in order to maintain their market and earnings. Theyare playing their part in this global mechanism of information collectionand exchange, which also integrates technology into activities of localcommunities and authorities. The knowledge that wayward actions ofpolice and security forces can create ‘conflict minerals’ unacceptable tothe international market brings a new focus to local accountability andcontributes to the objective of increasing stability and peace.Trade incentive as a driver of associated changeAside from delivering responsible mineral trade and encouraging industryinvestment, ITSCI has indirectly created employment, improved earnings,created opportunities for learning, and increased professionalism. Theprogramme is also reducing illicit trade and tax evasion, as well asdiscouraging corruption and increasing mineral revenue transparency.Stakeholders, including women and civil society groups, participate inresolution of local conflicts through a committee process, producingeffective results around the mining areas as a result of the highly valuedmarket access incentive.ITSCI was developed and is managed by the global not-for-profit tin and tantalumindustry trade associations ITRI and T.I.C. www.itsci.org email: itsci@itri.co.ukITSCI is an inclusive, sustainable, multi-stakeholder programme with a track record of globalco-operation and achievement contributing to better governance, human rights and stability.The programme currently supports more than 1,000 artisanal mine sites, providing a livelihoodfor around 75,000 miners, with a likely 400,000 dependents. We welcome new donors andparticipants to help the programme expand and be part of this success.


110 DELIVERING RESULTSEnvironment andeconomic growth:inevitable conflict?Historically, economic growth and environmental degradationwent, by and large, hand in hand. The ‘information age’ hasprovided not only a greater understanding of the destructionbut also the tools to remedy it. The worldwide embrace of twoconcepts – green growth and deep decarbonisation – will be keyto determining an inclusive and sustainable future for the planetBy Germana Canzi, Senior Adviser to theDirector General, Renewable Energy andEnergy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)and John Tkacik, Senior Manager forCommunications, REEEPIn the international developmentsector, it’s not uncommon for expertsto be concerned about whetherdeveloping countries are ready to dealwith sustainability issues rather than focusmainly on economic growth. But givenwhat we know about current environmentaltrajectories – including impacts on futureeconomic circumstances – does any countryin the world really have a choice?For the first time in human history,we have surpassed in 2014 the landmarkpoint of 400 parts per million of CO 2in the atmosphere, long considered a‘tipping point’ by climate scientists. We arebeginning to see signs of so-called positivefeedback in the climate – natural processesthat can greatly accelerate the pace ofclimate change.At the same time, we are witnessingbiodiversity losses unparalleled in humanhistory, debilitating over-exploitation ofoceans, extreme pressures on fresh waterresources and agricultural production,and resulting strains on human health andsecurity.Yet economic growth has played adominant role in improving the quality oflife for millions upon millions of peopleand will remain essential to lifting millionsmore from poverty. We must keep this inmind as we seek to stem the tide of naturalresource degradation.Decarbonising and decouplingMost climate experts believe that globalnet emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG)must approach zero by the second half ofthe century if we are to avoid catastrophicand unpredictable consequences. This willrequire a radical transformation of energysystems by mid-century, including rapiddeclines in carbon intensity in all sectorsof the economy. A recent report led byeconomist Jeffrey Sachs called this process“deep decarbonisation” and explainedhow this effort could involve countries atdifferent stages of development, albeit indifferent ways.But the world is also one in which someone billion people are undernourished,another billion lack access to safe waterand 1.5 billion have no access to electricity– one in which a rising global populationand global economic growth are puttingnew pressures on natural resources. Theobvious answer is to attempt to de-couplethe economic engine from its proverbial(and literal) emissions. Indeed the UNSustainable Development Goals (SDGs),intended successors to the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), recommendthis specifically in Goal 8.4: “Improveprogressively through 2030 globalresource efficiency in consumption andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS111© Reutersproduction, and endeavour to decoupleeconomic growth from environmentaldegradation…”This “de-coupling” is a necessity withinthe context of SDG 8, which also explicitlytargets annual GDP growth of sevenper cent in least-developed countries,for instance. But while the notion ofdecoupling itself is not necessarily new, ithas been given a conceptual home in thefield of green growth.Green growthIn the past few years the concept ofgreen growth – economic growth thatuses natural, human and social resourcessustainably – has been gaining prominence,including within the SDG developmentdiscussions. It is rightly seen as a necessaryparadigm for generating inclusive economicgrowth to reduce poverty and raisestandards of living, while securing thecapacity of the natural world and humanMunduruku Indians from the Amazon Basin in front ofthe Ministry of Mines and Energy, Brasilia, demonstratingagainst violations of indigenous rights and theconstruction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plantsocieties to feed that growth for generationsto come.Many countries have already embracedthe green economy. A recent reportby the Green Growth Best PracticeInitiative evaluated 60 different nationalGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


112 DELIVERING RESULTSprogrammes, highlighting some of the mostimpressive efforts in the developed anddeveloping world.Several countries now have adoptednational green growth strategies, includingChina, Germany, Mozambique, Rwandaand South Korea. Many others are engagedin serious green economy efforts. Ethiopiahas a Climate-Resilient Green EconomyStrategy in place, aimed at it becominga middle-income country by 2025 whileputting in place measures to reduce growthin GHG emissions and climate-changeimpacts.But as with any broad concept, thedevil is in the detail. Volumes have been(and will continue to be) written aboutwhat constitutes inclusive economicgrowth, wellbeing and sustainability,and how we should measure them. Still,progress on the ground can already beseen in efforts to decouple economicgrowth from environmental degradation,thanks in large part to technologicaladvancements. Particularly in the areaof energy generation, technology is thegreat enabler of green growth, allowingdeveloped countries to drastically reducetheir emissions and developing countriesto leapfrog the dirty industrialisation of the20th century.The SDGs explicitly include, unlikethe MDGs, a specific goal (Goal 7) forsustainable energy access for all, one thataspires to universal energy access, as well assignificant expansions of energy efficiencyPartnership (REEEP) is among a handfulof organisations that have been pushingclean energy transitions in developingcountries for over a decade. REEEPfocuses specifically on catalysing growthin clean energy markets – finding andsupporting businesses that utilise cleanenergy technologies to replace or leapfrogfossil fuel. REEEP also emphasises anothertransition – that from donor funding toParticularly in the area of energy generation,technology is the great enabler of green growthand renewable energy use. SDG 7 is atestament to the efforts of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Sustainable Energyfor All (SE4All) initiative.While some countries in theindustrialised world – for instanceGermany and Nordic countries – haveoften been in the headlines for their energytransformations, the developing world isalso undergoing an energy revolution. TheRenewable Energy and Energy Efficiencyprivate financing, which is necessary forlong-term market sustainability.There are many reasons to thinkthat these efforts are paying off, bothin industrialised, as well as developing,markets. In the past few years, renewableenergy has seen phenomenal rates ofgrowth globally. Bloomberg New EnergyFinance projects that 70 per cent of newpower generation capacity added between2012 and 2030 will be from renewableEntrepreneur Chen Guangbiao in Nanjing,China, during an event he organised to publiclyshame polluting companiestechnologies, compared with only 25 percent from coal, gas or oil. Green energyis also growing fastest in developing andemerging economies. China, for instance,installed a record 12GW – the equivalent of12 nuclear power stations – of solar powerin 2013, which is more than has ever beeninstalled by any country in a single year.The renewable energy industrynow employs over 6.5 million peopleworldwide, and the main growth inemployment levels from this sector isnow in the developing world, the largestnumber of jobs being in China and Brazil.Big changes are also afoot in India, where400 million people lack access to electricity.The government announced in May thatit plans to put solar power in every homeby 2019.The energy sector, long a source ofenvironmental degradation, is becominga force for environmental renewal andinclusive economic growth.© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


DELIVERING RESULTS1137ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITYTwo MDG 7 targets – on safe drinking water and slum dwellers – have been met ahead of schedule. But acrossthe MDG framework, the use of relative targets and absolute numbers did not take account of populationgrowth, so progress could be perceived as adequate despite an increase in the actual number of people sufferingdeprivation. On issues such as climate change, forests and biodiversity, the MDGs were not sufficiently linked toother UN processes in these areas. The new goals should remedy this.TARGET7.AIntegrate the principles ofsustainable developmentinto country policies andprogrammes and reversethe loss of environmentalresourcesGlobal greenhouse gas emissionscontinue their upward trendEmissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), 1990, 2010and 2011* (billions of metric tons)Eastern Asia3.09.09.7Southern Asia1.02.82.9Latin America and the Caribbean1.01.71.8Africa0.71.21.2Developed regions14.913.613.3Developing regions6.717.818.9World21.61990 2010 2011* Data for 2011 are preliminary estimates and thebreakdown for some MDG regions is not available.The world has almost eliminatedozone depleting substancesConsumption of ozone depletingsubstances (ODSs),1986–2012(Thousands of metric tons)1,6001,4001,2001,0008006004002000Developed regionsDeveloping regions31.432.21986199019921994199619982000200220042006200820102012TARGET7.BReduce biodiversity loss,achieving, by 2010, asignificant reduction inthe rate of lossCaucasus and Central Asia2.83.03.6Terrestrial and marineOceaniaareas protected, 1990,0.61.3 2000 and 2012 (%)4.0Southern Asia Protected areas are5.15.7 increasing, thus6.1Northern Africa helping to safeguard2.9 natural resources3.76.9South-Eastern Asia4.46.99.4Western Asia3.714.414.7Sub-Saharan Africa10.711.515.2Eastern Asia11.514.415.4Latin America and the Caribbean8.713.9World8.311.314.01990 2010 2011TARGET7.D20.3Achieve, by 2020, asignificant improvementin the lives of at least 100million slum dwellersUrban population living in slums indeveloping countries, 1990–2012Millions46.2%1,0005080040760794 803 820 86360071265035.6 34.3 32.6 32.7 3042.939.340020001990 1995 2000 2005 2007 2010 201220100Urban population living in slums (left)Proportion of urban population living in slums (right)TARGET7.CHalve, by 2015, theproportion of thepopulation withoutsustainable access tosafe drinking waterand basic sanitationProportion of population by access todrinking water sources, 2012 (%)1009080706050403020100Surface waterUnimproved sourcesImproved, faecally contaminatedImproved, no faecal indicator bacteriaOver a quarter of the world’spopulation has gained access toimproved sanitation since 1990, yeta billion people still resort to opendefecationPopulation by sanitation practices, 1990,2000 and 2012 (billions)876543210OceaniaSub-Saharan AfricaCaucasus and Central AsiaSouth-Eastern AsiaSouthern AsiaWestern AsiaEastern AsiaNorthern AfricaLatin America and the CaribbeanDeveloped regions19902.3billionThe amountof peoplewho gainedaccess to cleandrinking water2000 2012Open defecation UnimprovedShared ImprovedFor related SDGs: 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15,see: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstmlSource: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


114 SHARING KNOWLEDGEAccess to medicines:collaborating on patents,investing in researchWhen the medicines required are the product ofexpensive research, what mechanisms can ensurethe right to health of the world’s poorest?By Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director, HIV, Healthand Development Practice, Bureau for Policyand Programme Support, UN DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP); Katie Kirk, Consultant,Intellectual Property and Treatment Access,HIV, Health and Development Practice,Bureau for Policy and Programme Support,UNDP; and Tenu Avafia, Senior Advisor,Law, Rights and Treatment Access, HIV,Health and Development Practice, Bureaufor Policy and Programme Support, UNDPThe right of every human being tothe highest attainable standards ofhealth is recognised by numerousinternational human rights treatiesand national constitutions. Access tohealth technologies – including essentialmedicines, diagnostics and vaccines – is acore component of the right to health.As AIDS evolved from a little-knowndisease into a full-blown public health crisisin the late 1980s and 1990s, it was thoughtvirtually impossible to prevent the deathsof millions of people living with HIV,especially those in low- and middle-incomecountries (LMICs). The cost of firstlineantiretroviral therapy (ART) underpatent at the time exceeded US$10,000per patient per year. The introduction ofgeneric antiretroviral (ARV) medicinesin 2001 triggered dramatic reductionsin the cost of first-line treatment – thecombination of drugs that a person is givenat the beginning of their therapy.Today, competition from generic ARVscontinues to exert downward pressure onprices; internationally approved first-linetreatment regimens are now available ata little more than $100 per patient peryear. This precipitous price reduction wasmade possible because developing-countrygovernments and treatment activistsasserted the right of LMICs to use existingflexibilities in international trade rules torealise the right to health.Yet, significant challenges remain.Evolving treatment needs require the useof newer, more expensive medicines. Thecost of second-combination ARV therapy(used if HIV becomes resistant to the first,or if this produces bad side effects) is stilldouble the price of first-line treatments.Third-line treatments are, on average, 15times the price of first-line ARV therapy,making them all but inaccessible topatients, except in a handful of countries.As more and more LMICs are becomingincreasingly self-reliant in financing theirAIDS responses, this presents a seriousthreat to affordability and sustainability ofnational treatment programmes.Another emerging challenge is the issueof middle-income countries (MICs). Threequartersof the world’s poorest 1.3 billionpeople currently reside in MICs, amidhigh inequality levels and growing diseaseburdens. It is estimated that by 2020, themajority of people living with HIV willreside in MICs. Yet, MICs are increasinglybeing left out of special licensing andpricing arrangements available to lowincomecountries. More effective use oflaws and policies will be required to ensuresustainability of treatment.Flexibilities to protect public healthThe World Trade Organization (WTO)Agreement on Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)established a minimum protectionstandard for intellectual property rights,which the 160 WTO members, with theexception of least-developed countries,GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE115© UNICEF/NesbittAlso in this sectionData revolution 120Education asa catalyst 126Inclusive andsound governance 130Technology fordevelopment 134Cooperation on waterand sanitation 138are required to implement through theirnational legislation. The discretionaryspace available to countries under TRIPS,widely referred to as TRIPS flexibilities,can be employed to protect and promotepublic health objectives. Two of the mostfrequently discussed TRIPS flexibilitiesare compulsory licensing (the ability ofcountries to override a patent to promotepublic health objectives), and the rightof countries to grant only patents of thehighest quality.The use of TRIPS flexibilities wasinstrumental in stimulating genericTasila Lungu with her one-year-old son, Felix, inLusaka, Zambia. Lungu is HIV-positive and participatesin the prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV(PMTCT) programme at the Chelstone Cliniccompetition and, by consequence,increasing access to first-line ARVmedicines. However, if the benefits ofTRIPS flexibilities are to be realised theymust be more systematically incorporatedinto national law and used when required.LMICs are empowered by theavailability of TRIPS flexibilities totake measures to improve access toGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


116 SHARING KNOWLEDGEnewer ARVs, other essential medicines,diagnostics and vaccines. But they can beprevented or discouraged from doing so,including through political pressures andbilateral and regional trade agreementsunder which some countries seek to limittheir use.A number of UN General AssemblyResolutions have reaffirmed the right touse, to the fullest extent, the flexibilitiescontained in the TRIPS Agreement for theprotection of public health (for exampleA/RES/67/299), and encouraged states torefrain from adopting any measures relatedto trade and transit that affect access bydeveloping countries to generic medicinesand medical equipment (A/RES/64/188).Increasingly, there are calls for freshapproaches, including by the GlobalCommission on HIV and the Law. TheCommission, convened by UNDP onbehalf of the UN Joint Programme onHIV/AIDS in 2010, comprised a panelof eminent persons who interrogatedthe relationship between legal responses,human rights and HIV. In its 2012 report,the Commission found that the TRIPSAgreement, which came into force in 1995,has proven to be a barrier in making lifesavingmedicines accessible to poor people.Among a range of recommendationson expanding treatment access, it calledfor countries to make full use of TRIPSflexibilities, as well as proactively use otherareas of law, such as competition law, pricecontrols, and procurement laws to increaseaccess to pharmaceutical products.Research and development in LMICsAs the burdens of disease, and the natureof disease itself, continue to evolve, sotoo must the medicines, diagnostics andvaccines required to meet health needs.But the patent system has provided littleincentive for the research and developmentof health technologies to prevent and treatthe diseases afflicting LMICs. Of the 1,556new medicines approved between 1975 and2004, only 21 (1.3 per cent) were specificallydeveloped for tropical diseases andtuberculosis, which are prevalent in LMICs.The World Health Organization(WHO) Global Strategy and Plan ofA health worker in Landhi Town in Karachi, Pakistan,marks a young girl’s finger to indicate that she hasbeen vaccinated against polioAction on Public Health, Innovationand Intellectual Property has drawnattention to this problem. The strategyacknowledged that while there have beeninitiatives in recent years to developsuch products, through public-privatepartnerships for example, they are notsufficient in terms of access and innovation.Under the WHO Strategy, countriesagreed that “more efforts should be madeto avoid suffering and reduce preventablemortality and to meet the health-relatedMillennium Development Goals”.In line with this, countries areincreasingly looking at how to betterincentivise innovation that supports healthpriorities rather than commercial interest.This also applies to the practices relating topatenting and licensing of inventions.One such proposal found in theWHO Strategy, as well as follow-upto the recommendations of the GlobalCommission on HIV and the Law, isto increase the use of prize funds.Prize funds incentivise innovation byrewarding research goals achieved uponthe attainment of a milestone in thediscovery or development of a healthtechnology. They may well prove to bea more efficient and cost-effective wayof innovating.Needed: access and innovationIncreasing access to existing healthtechnologies and encouraging theinnovation required to meet LMIC needscalls for a multifaceted approach. Theeffectiveness of using TRIPS flexibilitiesto benefit public health has beenestablished through the successful scaleupof access to ARVs. But for newer HIVtreatments, and for treatments againstemerging diseases, some of which couldhave equally devastating consequences forpeople in LMICs, these successes are yetto be realised.If countries are to make progress onthe health-related MDGs, and the healthtargets in the post-2015 framework,renewed attention on enabling legal andpolicy environments is critical, as is a freshapproach to new health technologies.The development of new proposalsrequires greater attention, funding andsupport. Only then will we be able tomake in-roads into improving access toexisting drugs and encouraging the healthinnovation needed to confront effectivelycurrent and emerging health-relateddevelopment goals.© UNICEF/ZaidiGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


Mexico activelyparticipates inthe InternationalHydrologicalProgrammeMexico has been involved, through the MexicanNational Committee for the International HydrologicalProgramme (Conamexphi),, in the InternationalHydrological Decade since the launch of theUNESCO-IHP. Our country is currently a memberof the Intergovernmental Council and has servedon the IHP Board.The National Association of Water and SanitationUtilities of Mexico (ANEAS) is part of this committeerepresented by Roberto Olivares, Coordinator ofthe World Water Assessment Programme, thanksto the efforts and work of the Association andthe Mexican Institute of Technology water (IMTA).David Korenfeld, Director General of the NationalWater Commission was elected as Chairman of theIHP at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France lastJune. The initiative on water quality as a platformwas created during the session, aimed at the adequatechannelling of activities, including access to water,sanitation and wastewater management.Water issues are closely linked with developmentissues such as poverty, hunger, health, education,gender inequality, ecosystem integrity, climatechange and disasters, among others; for this reasonthe linkages between water and other sectors underthe context of sustainable development objectivesshould be emphasised.IHP global objectives for the post-2015development agenda focus on five targetson water security for sustainable developmentto be achieved by 2030, including social,economic and ecological aspects:Target 1 Universal access to safe water andsanitation for all.Target 2 Reduce water use inagricultural irrigation by 20%, industrialuse by 20%, and household use by 15%,as well as increase by 50% waterresource productivity in all sectors,adopting the water demand management method, cropsconsuming less water, technologies that enable savingwater and greater reuse of wastewater under conditionsof security.Target 3 Increase by 50 the number of countriesthat have adopted and implemented policiesand programmes on public registration of waterresources rights, based on the method of IntegratedWater Resources Management (IWRM).Target 4 Reduce by 30% the input of the mainsources of water pollution at national level,increasing by at least 80% the collectionand treatment of urban wastewater,increasing by at least 95% the industrial wastewatertreatment, reducing by 30% the pollution from diffusesources and adopting measures toreduce pollution sources.Target 5 Halve the loss ofhuman life and property dueto water-related disasters,strengthening theresilience of countries.The National Association of Water and SanitationUtilities of Mexico, as it has being doing for morethan three decades, will continue to work with aninter-institutional approach through Conamexphiand its members, in order to achieve the abovetargets and further the sustainability of theresource and the well being of society as a whole.


118 SHARING KNOWLEDGE4REDUCE CHILD MORTALITYThe basic MDG model assumed that past progress trends would continue if focus and support were maintained.Even without setbacks due to conflict or climate change, improvements in areas such as child mortality becomemore difficult and costly to sustain as reaching those left behind is often more complex. The SDG target to endpreventable deaths of under-fives by 2030 will need to focus on marginalised groups.TARGET4.AReduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015,the under-five mortality rateNumber of under-five deaths in 2012 by region (thousands)Southern Asia2,108South-Eastern Asia346Eastern Asia272Latin Americaand the Caribbean206Western Asia 120Developed regions90Northern Africa88Caucasus and Central Asia64Oceania15Sub-Saharan Africa3,245It is critical to reduce the number of child deaths insub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia1990201212.6 million 6.6 millionUnder-five mortality rate, 1990 and 2012 (deaths per 1,000live births)Sub-Saharan Africa98Southern Asia12658Oceania7455Caucasus and Central Asia7336South-Eastern Asia7130Western Asia6525Northern Africa7322Latin America and the Caribbean5419Eastern Asia5314199020122015 targetDeveloped regions Developing regions1599653Despite substantial progress, the world is still falling short ofthe MDG child mortality target1776COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASESThe health MDGs have been criticised for focussing narrowly on certain diseases and for encouraging the pursuitof quick gains, for example, through large-scale malaria net distribution, thereby diverting attention from otherpressing health issues and from reaching structurally disadvantaged groups that require more costly and complexinterventions. The SDGs should address broader health challenges, but they must also not lose focus on theMDG targets if momentum on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis is to be sustained.TARGET6.AHavehalted by2015 andbegun toreversethe spreadof HIV/AIDSThere are still too many new cases of HIV infectionHIV incidence rate (Estimated number of new HIVinfections per year per 100 people aged 15-49),2001 and 2012Southern AfricaCentral Africa0.630.29Eastern Africa0.360.21West Africa0.410.161.021.98Developed regions0.030.03Developing regions0.100.062001 20121.98TARGET6.BAchieve,by 2010,universalaccess totreatmentfor HIV/AIDS for allthose whoneed itActual and projected number of people receivingantiretroviral therapy, developing regions,2003–2015 (millions)16141210864202003200520072009201120132015Sub-Saharan AfricaLatin America and the CaribbeanSouthern AsiaSouth-Eastern Asia and OceaniaOtherProjectionSource: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE1195IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTHProgress on MDG targets has been strongest when sustained economic growth has supported targetedinterventions, but more modest when structural changes and strong political commitment are required to guaranteesufficient and sustained financial support over a longer period of time. This is probably the reason behind the poorperformance of many countries in reducing maternal mortality. The backlash on sexual and reproductive rightsthat has marked recent UN conferences is of extreme concern. The post-2015 agenda should make reference toinstruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.TARGET5.AReduce by three quarters, between 1990 and2015, the maternal mortality ratioTARGET5.BAchieve, by 2015,universal access toreproductive healthMaternal mortality ratio, 1990, 2000 and2013 (deaths per 100,000 live births)Sub-Saharan Africa990830510Southern Asia530360190Oceania390290190Caribbean300230190South-Eastern Asia320220140Latin America1309877Western Asia1309774Northern Africa16011069Caucasus and Central Asia706539Eastern Asia9563331990 20002013 2015 targetProportion of deliveries attended by skilledhealth personnel, 1990, 2000 and 2012 (%)Southern Asia33 3851Sub-Saharan Africa40 43 53CaribbeanSouth-Eastern Asia49Western AsiaNorthern Africa47Caucasus and Central AsiaEastern AsiaDeveloping regionsWorld1990 2000 20126670717460 70806956 576857 586979839792 9894 97100Number of births to women aged15–19 (per 1,000 women)Sub-Saharan Africa123121117Latin America and the Caribbean868676Oceania846559Southern Asia886150Western Asia635147South-Eastern Asia5443 43Caucasus and Central Asia452932Northern Africa32 4232Eastern Asia1566Developed regions Developing regions3464265621541990 2000 2011TARGET6.CHave haltedby 2015 andbegun toreverse theincidence ofmalaria andother majordiseasesEstimatednumber ofdeaths due totuberculosis per100,000populationexcludingpeople who areHIV-positive,1990–2012Mortality trendRange of estimatesTarget3530252015105019901992For related SDGs: 3 and 5, see: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstml1994199619982000200220042006200820102012Between 2000 and 2012,malaria interventions led to a42% declinein global malaria mortalityGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


120 SHARING KNOWLEDGE© ESAHarnessing thedata revolutionWhat will it take to transform data andtechnology into improved development outcomes?By Nancy McGuire Choi,Co-Executive Director, AidDataThe development community is abuzzwith renewed energy and optimismfollowing the call for a ‘datarevolution’ by the UN High-Level Panelon the Post-2015 Development Agenda.The contours of this revolution aregenerally agreed upon – more accessibleand usable data for policymakers andcitizens – but the road ahead is uncertain.It is crucial that we flesh out how datacan better inform decisions, empowercitizens and drive new insights. As formerWestern India and southern Pakistan, with theIndus River snaking through Pakistan’s Sindh provinceGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE121World Bank Vice President Jean-MichelSeverino and Olivier Ray from the FrenchDevelopment Agency highlighted in theirseminal work on the tectonic shifts underway in development, “the triple revolutionof objectives, players and instrumentsis reshuffling the cards, dynamiting oldpractices and habits”.Tackling climate change, violent conflict,food insecurity, international terrorismand other complex global challengesrequires a high degree of coordination andcomplementarity across the maze of actorsin development. We need high-quality,timely, relevant and disaggregated data toachieve real progress in these efforts. Evenmore important, we need to streamlinethese data into the decision-makingprocesses of governments and donors.Who’s doing what, where?Too many decisions about where to allocateaid are made with incomplete informationabout the needs and opportunities for impacton the ground. A minister of educationlooking to make targeted investments in newteachers, supplies or upgraded classroomsneeds to know what other investments arealready being made, by whom and where.Before we can measure results from thecomplex web of development actors andprojects, we must first ask a more basicquestion: Who’s spending on which projectsand where on the ground?Most studies assessing the distributionof aid and its impact on developmentoutcomes use countries as the unit ofanalysis. Local-level data were once costlyand difficult to capture systematically, andnational-level data enabled donors to doreliable cross-country analyses.Unfortunately, this country-by-countryanalysis has not provided the insights thatgovernments, donors and civil societygroups need when making tough decisionsabout where to allocate scarce developmentfunds. Moreover, these national-level datado little to inform or engage citizens whoare primarily interested in the developmentactivities taking place in the urban andrural areas where they live.Over the past few years, advances in datacollection like geocoding – pinpointingthe precise geographic coordinates ofdevelopment activities – help makedevelopment more tangible by illustratingwho’s doing what, where and to what effectin a given community.“[Geocoding] makes the distributionof aid visible by using maps and itcan help decision-makers and otherdevelopment stakeholders to support areasof the country where there is less officialdevelopment assistance,” according toone official from the Ministry of Financein Tanzania.Layering spatial data on the locationsof aid projects within a country withinformation on local socio-economicindicators enables scholars, plannersand citizens to ask the questions that aremost important to them, such as “Whyis climate change funding allocated toProvince X, when Province Y is the morevulnerable one?” and “Why are the largestdonors supporting health clinics in thecommunities where health outcomes arealready better?”Maps rarely provide simple answers tocomplex questions, but they do often helpgovernments, donors and citizens to askthe right questions. Maps also provide adeparture point for deeper explorationand analysis. Shedding light on donor andgovernment activities in a particular regionallow citizens to provide direct feedback toimprove policies and service delivery andhelp foster true citizen engagement.Putting data to useBut data is no panacea. It’s easy toget swept up in the hype around the‘liberation’ of donor and governmentinformation fuelled by the open datamovement, but ensuring that these data areused by citizens, policymakers and fundersis easier said than done. Several basicconditions need to be in place to ensurethat data are actually put to good use.First, data at the project- and activitylevelmust be publicly accessible in aformat that people can understand, use andcompare. The majority of Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development(OECD) donors have begun publishingto the International Aid TransparencyInitiative (IATI) registry, which providesfor a common reporting standard acrossagencies. That said, the pace and quality ofthe reporting remain a work in progress,often preventing the data from beingusable to greatest effect.Second, donors and governments mustsystematically tag projects and activitieswith geographic information and makethese data public. At AidData, we workwith governments around the world toMaps rarely provide simple answers to complexquestions, but they do often help governments,donors and citizens to ask the right questionsof a country opens up new opportunitiesfor coordination across development actors– for example, from a donor supportingcommunity health workers to a ministerof health seeking to understand whichcommunities are underserved by healthprofessionals. Citizens and communitiescan also use local, more granular, data ondevelopment investments and results tohold governments and funders to account.Such data availability, combined with thespread of mobile technology, could – withthe proper approaches and incentives –generate geospatial data and convert itinto insights. In Nepal, for instance, theMinistry of Finance had implemented theAid Management Platform in partnershipwith Development Gateway to track aidprojects reported by over 40 donors, butrecognised that more granular informationwas needed to better target domestic andexternal resources.In collaboration with USAID’s HigherEducation Solutions Network and NepalMission, AidData and Ministry staffcollected location information on overGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


122 SHARING KNOWLEDGE21,000 project sites, representing $6 billionin donor commitments. The Ministrypledged to make and keep the data opento enable broad access by a host of users.Madhu Kumar Marasini, InternationalEconomic Cooperation and CoordinationDivision Chief and Joint Finance Secretary,remarked that “this openness will not onlystrengthen accountability in foreign aidmobilisation, but also provide additionalopportunities to make aid more effective”.At the same time, donors like the AfricanDevelopment Bank (AfDB) and the AsianDevelopment Bank have embedded geocodinginto their internal processes and arenow publishing this geocoded data to IATI.Third, citizens, public officials andscholars must have mapping tools tovisualise and make sense of the data. InNepal, AidData and Esri, a company thatsupplies geographic information systemsoftware, integrated a mapping feature intothe existing government Aid ManagementPlatform, enabling a broad user base toexplore the data.Appealing to a global audience, AidDatalaunched the AidData.org platform to lowerthe barriers to data exploration with easyto-usetools to explore research questions,create maps and visualisations, and sharecreations and insights. Flashy tools andtechnology bring data to life, but buildingthe capacity for more people to makemeaning from it, from the civil societygroup in a remote village to a policy-makerin the capital city of a developing country, iscritical and often overlooked.As such, sparking uptake and sustaineduse of data is the final frontier of the datarevolution. From Open Data Bootcampshosted by the World Bank, to hackathonsin tech hubs around the world, there is agrowing focus on building data literacy.Infomediaries and data journalists havethe potential to reach more peopleby transforming raw data into stories,visualisations and analysis.One innovative model that holdspromise is Code4Kenya, which embedstech-savvy fellows and developers inmedia and civil society organisations, withpromising early wins, like the ‘Find MySchool’ application for comparing primaryThe African Development Bank’s MapAfrica site (http://mapafrica.afdb.org) displays the subnational locations ofall the bank’s investments in AfricaOverlay of education project locations with district literacy rates in Nepal’s Aid Management Platform(http://portal.mof.gov.np)The AidData portal (www.aiddata.org) enables users to view project locations alongside key developmentindicators, such as the locations of various donor health projects overlaid with infant mortality rates in Indonesiaschool performance. We need to seedmore creative, grassroots approaches likeCode4Kenya to make data relevant anduseful to local organisations and citizens.Spurring and sustaining demand forbroad data use will not be an easy process.Citizens and communities need toexperience first-hand how data can helpthem engage in dialogue about prioritiesand further their own developmentagendas. If information is to be relevantit needs to be closer to the lives, needsand aspirations of citizens. This is wheremore granular, local information is afoundational piece to the success of thedata revolution.As donors and governments investheavily in the ‘supply side’ by openingup and creating vast stores of new data,devoting equal attention to kindlingsustained demand and capacity for use ofthese data will be crucial.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREFrom MDG 1 to 8, ISAGEN’sgoal is to contribute to prosperityFrom its creation, ISAGEN opted for values that marked its commitmentto corporate sustainability in the energy sector. The Company definedits clear objective of contributing to economic growth focused onenvironmental and social issues, all of which require conviction, persistence,coherence and team work. Therefore, making official its commitment tothe UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ratified its focus on thewellbeing of its society stakeholders, recognising that all of them are core tosuccessfully accomplishing any of its undertakings.The Company is still firm in this conviction, setting new challengesaligned with the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact and other globalinitiatives, reflecting its willingness to work in coordination with others forreal contribution to create shared value. Examples of this approach are thefinancial results and sustainability practices that led to its inclusion in theDow Jones sustainability stock market indices and Global Compact 100.“This is an acknowledgement, both from national and internationalmarkets, that our decision to work towards sustainability and decisivelydirecting our actions to the top goal of generating intelligent energy andprosperity for society is the right path to follow in the future,” says LuisFernando Rico Pinzón, General Manager.For each MDG, this Company has programmes and activities in place fortheir fulfilment, including some of the following:1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerISAGEN is committed to the communities in the area of influence of itspower plants and projects, through social management that goes beyondlegal obligations. It fosters productive projects aimed at self-management●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Third power generator in Colombia.16.97% share in the National Interconnected System.2.212 megawatts (MW) installed capacity, 1,912 MW hydraulic,and 300 MW thermal.Develops hydroelectric and renewable energy sources.Commercialises power to wholesalers and large industrialconsumers, for joint development of energy efficiency programmes.Listed in Colombian Stock Exchange.Belongs to various initiatives and sustainability indices.dynamics, investing in education and food security programmes. Further,it supports local suppliers and social projects and offers its employees fairworking conditions.2. Achieve universal elementary educationThe Company intends to contribute to improvement of education qualityin the areas of influence of its power plants and generation projects. To thisend, it provides school supply packages, supports physical infrastructureand libraries, environmental education and other training programmes.Thanks to its alliance with ICETEX, the state agency for promotion of highereducation, it benefits low-income university students through soft creditsand sustainment subsidies. ISAGEN, likewise, supports education of itsemployees’ children through financial aids for grammar, high-school andhigher education.3. Promote gender equality and women’s autonomyISAGEN is committed to gender equality, guaranteeing the nondiscriminationprinciple and executing initiatives that contribute to thedevelopment of its employees in their personal, family and workingenvironment.4, 5 and 6. Reducing child mortality, improving maternal health andcombating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesISAGEN promotes productive projects aimed at reducing poverty among itscommunities; supports education and food security programmes; promotesreproductive health, AIDS prevention, and treatment of some tropicaldiseases; and participates in development of health brigades.7. Guarantee environmental sustainabilityISAGEN implements environmental management policies at a strategiclevel related to the development of renewable energy sources, reductionand compensation of its carbon footprint, and provision of energy efficiencyservices for its clients. It develops programmes for an Integral Managementof Water Resources to promote sustainable and productive use of water inthe country. In addition, through the Environmental Management System,it identifies, assesses, prevents, controls, mitigates and compensates theenvironmental impact associated with power generation, thus ensuringcompliance with applicable legal requirements and supplementarycommitments accepted.8. Promote global association for developmentISAGEN participates in global initiatives to promote sustainable humandevelopment, namely Global Compact, Water Mandate, Caring forClimate, Business for Peace, among others. It further supports socialprojects intended for achievement of MDGs by training local and regionalcommunications media, making communities aware of the relevance ofachieving these goals in the year 2015.Additional information on ISAGEN’s sustainability undertaking is available in its2013 Management Report. See: www.isagen.com.co/informe-de-gestion/2013/


SPONSORED FEATUREForging strategic partnershipsAfrica Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA) is committed to partnershipsfor inclusive quality education in Africa, before and after 2015Participants of the third General Assembly of ANCEFA, which took place in Dakar, Senegal on 10 November 2012Africa Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA) is avoluntary, non-partisan and not-for-profit network of nationalcivil society organisations in 35 countries in Africa, championingthe cause for quality education. Its secretariat is in Dakar, Senegal, butit has regional programme offices in Lome, Togo; Lusaka, Zambia; andNairobi, Kenya.ANCEFA has existed since the Dakar World Education Forum in2000 and its strategic focus areas are 1) campaigning for the financingof equitable and inclusive quality education for all; 2) ensuring nationalaccountability; 3) promoting quality teaching and learning and 4)institutional strengthening of ANCEFA.ANCEFA believes in forging strategic partnerships as central forpromoting the right to education in Africa, where 29.6 million of theworld’s 57.8 million out-of-school children live. Unfortunately, fundingto ensure more children have access to quality education is limited, withUNESCO reporting the first ever decline in aid to basic education fromUS$6.2 billion in 2010 to US$5.8 billion in 2011. These challenges requirestrong partnerships to address.ANCEFA’s commitment to partnership has been demonstrated in thepast ten years in the network’s advocacy for the right to quality inclusiveeducation in Africa. The network has managed to maintain partnershipswith at least 15 International institutions, including the African Union,UNESCO and Global Campaign for Education. In 2013, ANCEFA signeda landmark five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the AfricanUnion Commission to promote education on the continent. ANCEFA hasworked with UNESCO in mobilising participation of NGOs in regional andinternational policy forums such as the Global Education Meetings and theEFA Big Push initiative in African countries.Fruits of such partnership have included: enhanced capacity of civilsociety in policy analysis, monitoring and advocacy; increased financialresources for education; and enhanced attention towards access toeducation, particularly for the marginalised and vulnerable, such aschildren with special needs, girls and orphans. In many countries, throughbudget tracking and community monitoring of service delivery, there isenhanced governance and accountability in the education sector.Looking ahead, particularly to the period after 2015, ANCEFA willseek to maintain existing partnerships and forge new partnerships withvarious cooperating partners. This recognises that the post-2015 demandfor pro-poor policy and effective implementation will require joint strategicplanning, joint capacity building interventions and evidence-basedadvocacy to bring real change in the lives of people.As such, ANCEFA would like to call upon various institutions atnational, regional, international and global levels to contact and work withANCEFA in the noble cause of promoting the right to inclusive qualityeducation in Africa before and after 2015.ANCEFA ContactsThe Regional Coordinator, ANCEFA Secretariat, AmitiéIII n°4566 B, BP# 3007, Dakar Yoff, Senegal.Telephone(s): +221 33 824 22 44; +260 9 775 11250.Email(s): ancefa@orange.sn; lnsapato@gmail.comWebsite: www.ancefa.org


SHARING KNOWLEDGE1252ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATIONThe MDG focus on minimum achievements – such as on primary school enrolment numbers – did not capturethe challenges of middle-income countries, now home to the majority of the world’s poor. It also overlooked thedangers of developmental bottlenecks, where the lack of educational standards, teacher training and investmentin secondary education creates a cycle that defies the objective of Goal 2. The new goals should address this andensure that education targets also promote lifelong learning and training that supports employability.TARGET2.AEnsure that, by 2015, children everywhere,boys and girls alike, will be able to completea full course of primary schoolingAdjusted net enrolment rate for primaryeducation, 1990, 2000 and 2012 (%)Sub-Saharan AfricaOceania*Western Asia52607869Latin America and the CaribbeanSouth-Eastern AsiaSouthern AsiaCaucasus and Central Asia**Eastern AsiaNorthern Africa898486938794949393947580949595979697809099Quick factsHalf of the58 millionout-of-school children ofprimary school age live inconflict-affected areasmore than60%of them arewomenTotal aid to educationdisbursements, 2002–2011(Constant 2011 US$ billions)Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach the last grade ofprimary education, 1990, 2000 and 2011 (%)100781 millionadults lack basicliteracy skills2.71.13.020024.41.220034.21.420044.71.320055.11.720065.32.020075.02.020085.62009Basic education Secondary educationPost-secondary education5.72.5 2.520105.42.23.3 3.6 4.2 4.6 5.1 5.2 6.2 6.2 5.82011Developed regionsDeveloping regions9697968060401990 2000 2012*Data not available for 2000**Data not available for 1990For related SDGs: 4 and 8, see:http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgstml808390200OceaniaSub-SaharanAfricaSouthernAsiaLatinAmericaand theCaribbeanWesternAsiaSouth-EasternAsiaNorthernAfricaEasternAsiaCaucasus Developingand regionsCentral AsiaDevelopedregions1990 2000 2011 Note: 1990 data for Caucasus and Central Asia not available.Source: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


126 SHARING KNOWLEDGEThe foundationfor developmentEducation is a powerful catalyst for development outcomes– the post-2015 agenda should give it due prominenceBy Pauline Rose, Professor of InternationalEducation, University of Cambridge;Director of UNESCO’s 2013/4 Education forAll Global Monitoring ReportTreaties and laws worldwide recognisethat education is a fundamentalhuman right. The ‘Education forAll’ goals agreed by governments aroundthe world in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000,further acknowledge its indispensable rolein imparting the knowledge and skills thatenable people to realise their full potential,and that contribute to peace and prosperityof societies.But the international community andnational governments have so far failed tosufficiently recognise and exploit education’sconsiderable power as a catalyst for otherdevelopment outcomes. This is in partdue to insignificant recognition of itsvital contribution to progress on the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDGs),leading to it receiving insufficient attentionand under-investment over the pastdecade. Education’s power to accelerate theachievement of wider goals therefore needsto be much better recognised in the post-2015 development framework.Analysis in UNESCO’s 2013/4 Educationfor All Global Monitoring Report shedsnew light on education’s wider benefits.These include those that relate toeducation’s power to contribute to thecurrent set of MDGs, including reducingpoverty, boosting job opportunities, drivingeconomic growth and increasing people’schances of leading a healthy life. Evidencealso shows education’s contribution tosocial goals that are increasingly beingrecognised as vital elements of the post-2015 framework: deepening democraticinstitutions, protecting the environmentand adapting to climate change, andempowering women.I outline here just a few of the manyexamples that the report provides. Startingwith the MDG on reducing child mortality,educated mothers are better informedabout specific diseases, so they can takemeasures to prevent them. They canrecognise signs of illness early, seek adviceand act on it. As a result, if all women hadsecondary education, child deaths in lowandlower-middle-income countries wouldbe cut by half. Children in these countrieswould also be more likely to be immunisedagainst preventable diseases if all mothershad a secondary education: immunisationagainst diphtheria, tetanus and whoopingcough increases by 43 per cent under thesecircumstances.Goals after 2015 need to pay greaterattention to the wellbeing of youngchildren, and this requires mothers to beeducated. The evidence is clear: educatedmothers are more likely to ensure thattheir children receive the best nutrients tohelp them prevent or fight off ill health,know more about appropriate health andhygiene practices, and have more power inthe home to make sure children’s nutritionneeds are met. In low-income countriesalone, more than 12 million lives could besaved from malnutrition by making sureall mothers had the chance of a lowersecondaryeducation.It is widely recognised that the MDGsdid not go far enough to promote women’sempowerment. Proposed post-2015 goalspromise to rectify this. The High-LevelPanel on the Post-2015 DevelopmentAgenda report, and the Open WorkingGroup proposals for SustainableDevelopment Goals – both of which arelikely to inform a final set of post-2015goals – identify ending child marriage by2030 as one indicator of this. Such a targetwill not be achieved without education.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE127© ReutersGirls and young women who areeducated have greater awareness of theirrights, and greater confidence and freedomto make decisions that affect their lives,including when to marry and when to havechildren. Child marriage and early birthsare particularly prevalent in sub-SaharanAfrica and South and West Asia. In thesetwo regions, one in eight girls is marriedby the age of 15 and one in seven givesbirth by the age of 17. If all girls in thesetwo regions reached secondary school,more than a million would be saved fromchild marriage, and almost 1.4 millionwould avoid getting pregnant while theythemselves are still children.Tackling environmental degradationand climate change are likely to featureTajik secondary school graduates inDushanbe celebrate the end of their schooldays, traditionally called the ‘last bell’more prominently in the post-2015 goals.The link between these and education iscurrently difficult to disentangle, largely dueto insufficient data on relevant issues. Theevidence that does exist shows that peopleGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


128 SHARING KNOWLEDGE© Reuterswith more education tend not only to bemore concerned about the environment,but also to follow up that concern withaction that promotes and supports politicaldecisions that protect the environment.By improving knowledge, instillingvalues, fostering beliefs and shiftingattitudes, education has considerable powerto change environmentally harmful lifestylesand behaviour. Education can encouragepeople to use energy and water moreefficiently and recycle household waste. Inpoor countries affected by climate change,education helps people adapt to its effects.Education’s role in promotingenvironmental sustainability has not yetbeen fully exploited, however. Not enoughis known about what types of skills andknowledge are most effective in changingbehaviours that can be detrimental to theenvironment, or how best to include theseissues into school curricula. The evidencethat does exist appears to support theview that promoting transferable skills inproblem-solving through good-qualityeducation and integrating knowledge aboutthe environment in subjects such as scienceand geography are likely to be at least aseffective as teaching separate subjects on theenvironment and climate change. But thisdeserves further exploration.Persisting inequalitiesMore broadly, the evidence presentedin the UNESCO report shows thateducation’s unique power to act as acatalyst for wider development goals canonly be fully realised if it is equitable. Thatmeans making special efforts to ensure thatall children and young people – regardlessof their family income, where they live,their gender, their ethnicity, or whetherthey are disabled – can benefit equally fromits transformative power.Unfortunately, despite progress in thefirst decade of the MDGs in getting morechildren into school, wide gaps remain: in2010, poor girls living in rural areas of lowandlower-middle-income countries wereonly spending three years in school onaverage, compared with over nine yearsfor rich boys in urban areas in theseStudents at the Academy for Peace and Justicein Port-au-Prince. Bankrolled by a roster ofHollywood celebrities, the academy is Haiti’s firstfree secondary school and draws hundreds of childrenfrom Port-au-Prince’s biggest slumscountries. Part of the reason for thesepersisting inequalities is a failureto emphasise the need to reach themarginalised in the current set of educationand development goals.The evidence further points to the needfor ambitions to be extended beyond thoseincluded in the current set of MDGs,namely for all children to complete primaryschooling; to unlock the wider benefits ofeducation, all children need the chanceto complete lower secondary school. Andaccess to schooling is not enough on itsown. Education needs to be of good qualityso that children actually learn.These gaps need to be tackled withina post-2015 framework if the nextgeneration of children are to realise theirright to education, and if societies are tobe able to exploit the wider benefits thateducation offers.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


130 SHARING KNOWLEDGEMaking Goal 16 workThe new set of Sustainable Development Goals includesa commitment to peaceful and inclusive societies, accessto justice, and effective and accountable institutions– how might this be put into practice?By Phil Vernon, Director of Programmes,International AlertThe UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) were too narrow, andthey undervalued the political aspectsof development in favour of more technicalissues. They also failed to recognise thatdevelopment processes are context-specific,and cannot be defined from a vantage pointin New York. Despite their unstrategicnature, in the absence of a clear alternativethey became for many the default narrativeof what ‘development’ looks like, and actedas a set of perverse incentives.The proposal by the Open WorkingGroup on Sustainable Development GoalsGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE131Officials count ballots in Ghana’s 2009 presidential election. Ghana has made steady development progresssince the introduction of its constitution and multiparty democracy in 1992 – ranked seventh in the 2013 IbrahimIndex for governance, it is seen by many as the example for other African countries© Reuters(OWG), created by the UN GeneralAssembly to put forward concrete ideas forthe post-2015 development agenda, partlyaddresses these problems. It is broaderthan the MDGs, and it accepts that‘development’ will look different in everycontext and must be led by the people andcountries concerned, within a system ofglobal cooperation and partnerships.Crucially, the proposed SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) recognise theimportance of peace, good governance,justice and security – critical buildingblocks of human progress which areglaringly absent from the MDGs – inGoal 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusivesocieties for sustainable development,provide access to justice for all and buildeffective, accountable and inclusiveinstitutions at all levels.”But the proposal fails to lay out anoverall narrative of what “development”actually means: it reads as an incoherentlist of 17 goals and more than 150subsidiary targets sparkling like as manycoloured lights festooning a Christmastree. This is particularly relevant for Goal16 because without an overall narrative,the issues it seeks to address appear to havebeen somewhat marginalised. Surely anystudent of history would allow that peace,governance, justice and security representmore than one-seventeenth of the story– i.e. deserve more attention than merelybeing thrown together to make one out of17 goals?The OWG also failed to design a systemin which the SDGs could provide incentivesfor positive change, built around carrotsand sticks and based on subsidiarity, i.e. theprinciple that a central authority shouldhave a subsidiary function, doing only whatcannot be done effectively at a more locallevel. Incentives for change are especiallyimportant for Goal 16, to encouragepowerful incumbents to adopt more inclusiveand accountable governance – which mightundermine their access to power.Justice, good governance, security andpeace do not lend themselves to shorttermgoals and targets. The English tookseven centuries to progress from MagnaCarta, which provided for habeas corpus andlimited the power of the king in 1215, touniversal adult suffrage in 1928. Certainlythings are moving faster nowadays, andEngland’s is not the path to follow, butprogress on Goal 16 will inevitably belinked to changes in the political economy,which are seldom linear.Nor is progress on peace, justice,security and good governance made in theabstract, but rather in relation to factorsincluded elsewhere in the SDGs. Thisprovides an important clue as to how tooperationalise Goal 16.With all this in mind, how might Goal16 be used, and by whom? There are fivemutually supportive pathways for this.1. ActivistsReducing violence, promoting the rule oflaw, combating corruption and bribery,building effective institutions, ensuringresponsive and inclusive decision-making,ensuring public access to information, andpromoting non-discriminatory laws andpolicies – these kinds of targets can onlybe achieved by the efforts of activists in thecountries concerned, i.e. people in politics,the civil service, civil society or businesswho are committed to change. They can:●●use their government’s commitment toGoal 16 in public and private advocacy,as a reference against which to monitorand encourage progress;● ● ‘domesticate’ Goal 16 by formulatingstrategies that make sense in the nationaland local context, and develop locallyrelevant indicators and milestonesagainst which these can be publiclymeasured and used for accountability;●●collaborate with and seek supportfrom outsiders: such as peers seekingsimilar changes in other countries, andinternational agencies with relevantexpertise.2. Businesses and others associatedwith economic projectsEconomic growth is partly achievedthrough large investment projects thatneed careful governance if they are toavoid having negative impacts on humansecurity, justice and peace – especially inland- and natural resource-based sectors.So they provide concrete opportunitiesto enhance governance, security, peaceand justice on issues which matter to adiverse range of stakeholders. Businesses,governments and civil society can promotepopular participation in planning andexecution; ensure benefits are transparentlyand genuinely shared and reinvested; andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


132 SHARING KNOWLEDGEthat communities are protected from harm.Given the international nature of manyeconomic sectors, there is an important rolefor international institutions and initiatives toplay here too – for example the UN GlobalCompact and the Voluntary Principlesfor Security and Human Rights, whosedevelopment was led by the US and UKgovernments in consultation with NGOsand companies in the extractive and energysectors.3. International development institutionsintegrating Goal 16 into their programmesInternational development institutions –the international finance institutions, UNagencies, donors and NGOs – will continueto focus the bulk of their efforts on theother 16 goals. But fortunately, initiativesfocused on social protection, food security,climate change, health, education, waterA makeshift school at a camp for displacedChadians who have fled fighting near the Sudaneseborder. International development institutions needto integrate Goal 16 into their strategic assessments,project designs and evaluation frameworks. This isparticularly imperative when operating in fragile statesand sanitation, etc. are linked to Goal 16,and can be implemented in ways whicheither enhance or diminish peace, securityand governance. From the location of acommunity well, through the managementof schools and the elaboration of educationcurriculums, to national health policies: allneed to be well-governed, and designedand implemented with conflict sensitivityand explicit and careful strategies for socialinclusion. Thus all ‘development’ actorscan integrate Goal 16 into their strategicassessments, project designs and evaluationframeworks.4. International institutions monitoringprogressWhile most interventions will be initiatedand conducted in specific countries andlocalities, international bodies have acritical role to play by:●●conducting empirical research tomeasure the changes taking place,comparing these with the publishedstrategies, and publishing the resultsinternationally and nationally so they canbe used to hold governments and others© Reutersto account, and to adapt strategieswhere necessary;●●building up an international datasetshowing how progress towards peace,justice, security, inclusion and bettergovernance happens – a narrative ofchange – and sharing this widely.5. Governments, internationalinstitutions and other internationalactors collaborating on supra-nationalissuesThe progress made in internationalpeacekeeping and peacebuilding in thepast few decades must continue: the UN,regional blocs and informal groupingsof nations must carry on seeking ways toreduce the risk of intra- and inter-statewar, to intervene more effectively andearlier to prevent it, and to end it when itoccurs. Meanwhile, many of the structuralfactors enabling violence, corruption,poor governance, etc. are internationalin nature, and require an internationalresponse, often through internationalinstitutions and agreements.International institutions play aparticularly important role providingleadership, knowledge and solidarity, andenforcing norms, for example on humantrafficking, money laundering, drug andarms trade, and all forms of organisedcrime; as well as in holding licit businessesto common, high standards of behaviour.ConclusionThe proposed SDGs are no substitutefor an activist, context-based approach todevelopment. But they represent a markedimprovement on the MDGs, not leastthrough the recognition that developmentis meaningless unless it includes humansecurity, governance, inclusion, justice andpeace. So all development activists shouldaim to integrate these in their initiatives.Fortunately, this is relatively simple, asalmost all of the more than 150 proposedsub-goals can be practically linked to Goal16. Thus, progress on Goal 16 will beachieved not only by specialists in peace,justice, security and governance, but by alldevelopment actors, provided they take itseriously into account.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


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134 SHARING KNOWLEDGEICTs open doorsThe post-2015 agenda must foster smarttechnology policies for developing countriesBy Brahima Sanou, Director,Telecommunication Development Bureau,International Telecommunication UnionDeveloping countries can leapforward in their developmentpursuits by leveraging informationand communication technologies (ICTs).Such technologies have demonstratedcapability to facilitate the informationflows that are vital for the marketing ofgoods and services to potential customersthat may be thousands of kilometres away,GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE135through the establishment of websites andthrough telemarketing.ICTs facilitate business. Transactionscan be concluded online without the needto travel or to wait for physical documentsto be dispatched and considered, whichcould take weeks or even months. MillionsA woman undergoes an eye examination usinga smartphone at a temporary clinic in the MauSummit, Kenya. The phone conducts cataract scans,checks the back of the eye for disease and sendsdata to a doctor for analysis© Reutersof people from developing countries are inthe diaspora and remit billions of dollarselectronically to their home countriesthat, in turn, are used to sustain theirfamilies or invested in both the formal andinformal sectors of the economy. Thatalone opens doors for the integration ofmarginalised persons and communities intothe global economy.This is made all the more easy bythe rapid growth of communicationstechnologies, which has resulted in the fallof prices due to high competition, leadingto more access to such services. There arealmost seven billion mobile subscriptionsworldwide. Developing countries are hometo more than three quarters of these mobilecellularsubscriptions. In fact, the highestgrowth rates in mobile-cellular subscriptionsare in developing countries. High growthrates are also being recorded in other areas,such as internet and broadband access.By the end of 2014, there will be almostthree billion internet users, two-thirds ofthem coming from the developing world,and the number of mobile-broadbandEven the least-developedcountries… have jumpedon the bandwagonand embraced newtechnologies in a big waysubscriptions will reach 2.3 billion globally.Fifty-five per cent of these subscriptionsare expected to be in the developing world.Broadband, otherwise known as highspeedinternet access, is important fordeveloping countries as users can accessthe internet and internet-related services atsignificantly higher speeds than with dialupconnections.The mobile revolution was barely talkedabout in 2000, when the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) were adopted.Yet mobile services have contributedsince then to the ongoing efforts forcountries to attain MDG goals and targetsin health, education, poverty alleviation,and many other areas recognised in theMDGs as being pivotal to the sustainabledevelopment of countries.Current discussions by the internationalcommunity have shown that the post-2015development agenda and the achievementof the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), to be adopted next year, will, to agreat extent, be driven by ICTs.Innovation for a better futureDeveloping countries, riding on the wave ofinnovation in the area of ICTs, have madegiant leaps in gaining competitiveness inthe marketplace. This has been achievedthrough the development of ICT incubatorsand highly popular ICT applications (or‘apps’), some of which have already beendeployed to serve a host of sectors, such asbanking, health and disaster management,to name but a few.The International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU) – the UN agency dedicatedto ICTs – has been running a number ofcompetitions for young people to arousesome interest in the areas of informationtechnology and communications. InDecember 2014, winners of an ongoingcontest to develop apps for disaster alertingwill be announced in Doha, Qatar, at theITU annual TELECOM event. Whatis most exciting and promising is theemerging trend that boys and girls arecompeting at the same level.Further, what makes these developmentsinteresting is the fact that even the leastdevelopedcountries – where access toICTs can be as low as one per cent ofthe population – have jumped on thebandwagon and embraced new technologies,such as wireless communications, in a bigway. This has helped them to leapfrog oldertechnologies and use the latest ones, manyof which are low-cost, appropriate andmore affordable, even for rural populations.There are numerous cases in manydeveloping countries where simple buteffective innovative solutions were applied,built on partnerships established by locals,for locals.My experience of doing work indeveloping countries for the past 40 yearsshows that there is great potential forGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


136 SHARING KNOWLEDGE© Gettydeveloping countries becoming exportersof ICT services.To illustrate this point, let me give anumber of real-life examples. In the areaof mobile money, Kenya’s M-PESA serviceis one of the best known. Many of thepeople taking advantage of the service areon incomes too low to qualify for a bankaccount so they use M-PESA to participatein a banking service.The idea has taken off in Bangladeshtoo. There, people used to spend up to fourhours travelling to banks and queuing topay utility bills. By using mobile paymentservices, they avoid travel, saving timeand money. Other countries signing upto mobile money include the Philippines,Afghanistan, Haiti, Tanzania and India.EcoCash is a mobile money servicelaunched in 2011 by Zimbabwean mobileprovider Econet Wireless. The serviceinvolves banked and unbanked membersof society being offered a range of servicesfrom basic person-to-person transfers toenhanced mobile wallet services.In my view, borders and time zoneshave become blurred in the area of ICTand software applications development.Developers can be anywhere in the worldand still work as teams. When the sunsets in one part of the world, it rises inanother part. Parts of software could beproduced in Africa, and be completedwhile Africa sleeps by developers in Indiaor Brazil. This is facilitated by existingcommunications systems.Developing countries could stopbehaving as individual states. They couldpartner among themselves to become aforce to be reckoned with, particularly inthe area of information technology. This iswhy a high number of software developersare from developing countries andcontracted by developed countries.Vietnamese schoolchildren use a computer at theTong Chu primary school. In line with the ‘ConnectSchools – Connect Communities’ philosophy, theoperator Viettel is providing all Vietnamese schoolswith free internet accessThe revolution already started a decadeago when software and telecommunicationsengineers in developing countries receivedrecognition for their role in the futuregrowth of the industry.Governments in developing countriesshould also be commended forincorporating information technologymodules from an early stage in children’sstudies. ITU has been quite instrumentalin rendering support through variousinitiatives, such as ‘Connect Schools– Connect Communities’. Continuedinnovation by developing countries willno doubt lead to a better future for theirpopulations.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREIreland, leading the world insustainable agriculture and foodBy Simon Coveney TDMinister for Agriculture, Food,the Marine and DefenceTo respond effectively to the scale of the challenge agriculture facesin the 21st century, the coming decades must see a relentless focuson technology and innovation, supported by more sophisticatedthinking at policy level, and greater cooperation and knowledge-sharingamong the world’s food producing regions; effectively, a global reeducationaround food production that puts sustainable growth at its core.Underwriting our capacity to deliver effectively on this will be our ability tounderstand, and measure, the journey we are on.Ireland is a small island with a long history of high-quality agricultureproduction. The evolving prowess of our globally focused food industry,supported by the Irish Government’s firm commitment to the sector, asexpressed through Food Harvest 2020, and bolstered by a talented newgeneration of highly educated graduates, is contributing to what I believe willbe a golden decade of opportunity for the Irish food and drink industry.A key element of the sustainability pillar of the Food Harvest strategy isOrigin Green – an innovative national sustainability programme – which isnow incorporating measurement processes into our food industry that willensure producers have the resources, the information and the frameworkto enhance sustainable practices. In over 60,000 Irish livestock farms, fromwhich the majority of our beef and dairy exports are sourced, comprehensiveaudits are telling us exactly how each farm is performing across a fullspectrum of sustainability measures and helping identify scope for furtherimprovement.With the abundance of natural resources Ireland possesses – and acommon vision driving Government, the private sector and academia – ourfood industry has the necessary commitment and expertise to deliver on itsambition to continue to be a leader in the drive to produce food and drinkproducts in a sustainable manner.In setting out such an ambitious goal, I believe Ireland is also making animportant contribution to the evolving global conversation around the futureof agriculture.Food Harvest 2020An initiative by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board


138 SHARING KNOWLEDGE© ReutersStrengthening water utilitiesthrough peer-support partnershipsAlthough the goal on water (MDG 7.C) was met five years ahead of target, 700 millionare still without drinking water and 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation. As theglobal population becomes more urbanised, a more sophisticated response is requiredBy Dr Faraj El-Awar,Programme Manager, Global WaterOperators’ Partnerships AllianceThe international communitywelcomed the news that the UNMillennium Development Goal(MDG) to halve, on 1990 levels, theproportion of people without access todrinking water was successfully reachedahead of the 2015 deadline.In real terms this means some two billionmore people now have access to drinkingwater and, as one of the first goals tobe met, this achievement should not beunderestimated.But while we should celebrate thissuccess, we should not forget the largenumbers of people who still lack waterand sanitation services, some 700 millionand 2.5 billion respectively. We must alsoremember the backdrop for these numbers– for example, the additional challengesthat have arisen since the creation of theGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SHARING KNOWLEDGE139Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiaand Medan, IndonesiaMedanMalaysiaKuala LumpurIndonesiaMDG, most notably new global phenomenasuch as rapid urbanisation and large-scalepopulation displacement. To continueincreasing access to water and sanitationservices in these changing contexts, nowmore than ever we must maintain, share andscale-up existing solutions that have beenproven over the past 14 years and continueto foster collaborative working between allstakeholders to find common solutions tocommon problems.Water operators play a fundamental rolein service provision. Eliminating waterpoverty cannot therefore be achievedwithout them. Where basic water andsanitation services are still lacking, it isoften due to insufficient capacities ofoperators to fully implement or sustainsolutions for the long term. Many of thesolutions have already been found andimplemented in similar contexts but,without an exchange network, this valuableknowledge and experience is lost. DirectPeople gather to draw water from a huge wellin Natwarghad, in the Indian state of Gujaratpartnerships between water and sanitationoperators is one way of facilitating thetransfer of knowledge and helping to shareand adapt proven solutions to commonissues through a human-centred approach.Helping to accelerate and support thetransfer of knowledge and expertisebetween operational-level actors throughstructured partnerships is the raisond’être of the Global Water Operators’Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA).Water operators’ partnerships (WOPs)are essentially peer-support exchangesbetween two or more water or sanitationoperators, carried out on a not-for-profitbasis with the objective of strengtheningtheir capacities. WOPs have existed formany years but were given a boost in 2006when the UN Secretary-General’s AdvisoryBoard on Water and Sanitation tookMedan is Indonesia’s fourth-largestcity and is served by the CemaraSewage Treatment plant. Thisplant was operating at 27 per centcapacity, despite political will toincrease sanitation services.Working with the Asian regionalplatform for water operators’partnerships (WOPs), WaterLinks,a partnership was establishedwith Indah Water Konsortium inMalaysia and exchange visits wereorganised. The visiting team fromMalaysia found a situation thatresembled their own experiences 15years previously and both partieswere able to develop a joint workplan to expand the sewage service.The objective of this eight-monthlongWOP was to increase thenumber of households connected toMedan’s city sewerage system andover 4,000 new connections wereestablished as a result.Among the many positive results,the increased capacity of the PDAMTirtanadi water utility team was asubstantial achievement. One of thekey success factors of this WOP wasthe fact that the mentor had theirown recent experience of extendingsewerage connections that was fullyapplicable to the local situation inIndonesia.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


140 SHARING KNOWLEDGEnote of their potential and called for thecreation of a global mechanism to supportthem. UN-Habitat responded to the UNSecretary-General’s request and createdGWOPA to support WOPs’ practiceby gathering a global network of actors,rallying funds, brokering partnerships andguiding good practice.Many practitioners say that the greatestvalue of WOPs lies in their definingMany practitioners saythat the greatest valueof water operators’partnerships lies in theirdefining qualities© Reutersqualities: they are based on peer support,they are not-for-profit and they strengthenlocal operator capacity. WOPs capitaliseon the wealth of expertise embodied in thecollective knowledge of utility professionalsthat stands to be shared for the benefit ofothers. Although WOPs are institutionalpartnerships, they nevertheless haveindividual facets through which operatorstaff connect directly with their peers tohelp them learn, find solutions and addresschallenges. The non-profit factoris credited with enabling trust and thefree flow of information, characteristicsthat transform the dynamic and allow forbetter learning.Lastly, WOPs are not about deliveringemergency solutions. Rather, their emphasisA child leaps across an open sewer in Kisenyi,a slum in Kampala, Ugandaon capacity development helps buildresiliency so that local operators can managecurrent and future challenges as and whenthey arise. This distinguishing characteristicof WOPs means that the approach is notonly effective but also sustainable.Dunea, Netherlands and Mwanza, TanzaniaMwanza, like many citiesin Tanzania, relies on donorfunds to cover water supplyand sanitation services.Consequently, manyoperators are not even ableto cover running costs. Anestimated 70 per cent of thepopulation live in informalsettlements.Low tariffs and inefficiencymean that providing accesswas a critical issue for theMwanza Urban Water andSewerage Authority.Their WOP with Dunea inthe Netherlands is a four-yearproject, the overall aim ofwhich is to secure affordableand sustainable water andwaste-water services for theMwanza urban area.The WOP entails a numberof exchange visits betweenpersonnel from Dunea andMwanza, capacity-buildingactivities and staff trainingto help the Tanzanianoperator to better addressthe challenges. The WOPalso includes the provisionof some materials andservices, such as watermeters, equipment and billingsoftware, to complement theacquired technical know-how.As is the case for allWOPs, this exchange isconducted on a fully notfor-profitbasis. Externalevaluation from the EuropeanCommission has concludedthat progress on this‘twinning’ has been good.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


In order to make food productionmore efficient, resilient and sustainable,we need more reliable and equitableaccess to water.Water is crucial to the future we want.Find out how we’re supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.www.iwmi.org


142 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONThinking globalA new breed of global partnerships is needed if we are tocombat poverty and create a path to sustainable developmentBy Gunilla Carlsson, former Minister forInternational Development Cooperation,Sweden; member of the UN High-Level Panelon the Post-2015 Development AgendaTackling climate change; thedegradation of ecosystems; meetinghumankind’s needs for water, arableland and energy; the fight against terrorismand for justice and freedom: all theseproblems must be dealt with from a globalperspective. At the same time, today’sstrong, global transformative powers– globalisation of markets, migration,urbanisation and digitalisation – arechanging the boundaries for policy-makers.The potential that these global trendshave to help solve some of our planet’smore pressing issues could be lost unlesspoliticians think and act more globally.Addressing global challenges does notmean that we should not make effortsand have preparedness at the local andregional level. Every step, every initiativeand decision taken locally has an ultimateimpact on the global picture, and the morethat communities move towards sustainablesolutions the better. Building change fromthe bottom up will accelerate progress,creating innovation and providing lessonsin how to tackle global problems locally.The effects of non-action will harm themost vulnerable individuals in particular,those who are least likely to have access toglobal markets, assets, justice and security.It will take bold leaders from business,politics, academia, the media and civilsociety to make a difference. Governmentsalone will be too weak. Today’s globalinstitutions, many of them established ina pre-globalisation era, will not be able tomake these changes by themselves, lackingsufficient accountability and strength.I had the honour to be part of the UNHigh-Level Panel (HLP) on the Post-2015Development Agenda. In our work weidentified the need for a transformativeagenda and the role for so-called globalpartnerships. The concept is new andneeds much discussion and elaboration.Partnership at all levelsThe thinking came from the notion thatglobal decision-making is not strongenough to focus on the long-termproblems and is unable to tap into theopportunities that arise when differentactors meet and work together.Today we have enough knowledgeto know that the world has to moveEvery step, everyinitiative and decisiontaken locally has anultimate impact onthe global picturetowards a more socially, economically andenvironmentally sustainable path. We haveneeds, ideas, expectations and opportunities– and also capital – but to date, despite theglobal trends outlined above, we have notbeen able to bring together all these thingsto find solutions to our planet’s problems.In the HLP, we argued that partnershipsbetween different actors on all levelswere needed to identify and solve theseproblems. To achieve this and to create aglobal move for change, I believe the UNneeds to establish a new role.First, there is a need to approachproblems from the perspective of people© Reutersrather than from narrow interests of states.Second, we need to be more open abouthow well the UN is functioning. Whenthe UN promises to deliver on the ground,often through civil society and regionalorganisations, it is vulnerable to failure.This is due to many factors, such as lack ofadequate resources, unclear mandates andinefficient organisation. Certainly the roleof coordination, monitoring and evaluationwill be more important and relevant infuture work.There is still trust in the unique rolethe UN has been given. But for it to bebetter coordinated in the global businessGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION143Also in this sectionReaching theprivate sector 144The role ofparliaments 148Engaging labour:union voices 152Can ordinary peoplemake a difference? 155of bringing relief to suffering civiliansor investing in health, education andsustainable energy, water and sanitation,the UN has to be much braver in tellingthe truth, including about its ownlimitations.Now, with a new global developmentagenda underway, the UN and its friendsshould be able to have a frank discussionabout how to coordinate, cooperateand organise in a modern world, and toovercome the bureaucracy and inefficiencythat too often hamper the organisation.How do we define global partnerships?What will be the role for the UN in thisResidents and students plant tree seedlingsat the protected rainforest site in Pili,Camarines Sur, south of Manila, as part ofa provincial project to plant 12 million treesregard? Who will identify, monitor andimplement them? The answers to thesequestions will be different in differentsituations and for different challenges.We will probably see new solutionsarising from new trends and a new younggeneration of decision-makers. It will beup to the UN to make itself relevant andthe champion for the concept of globalpartnerships. The opportunity is now.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


144 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONThe business casefor sustainabilityWhy should business put sustainability before profit? Ordoes conventional business thought need to be challenged?By Anthony Hilton, Financial Editor,London Evening StandardThe traditional view in business isthat profit and purpose are at oddswith each other – that doing goodwill cost the company money. It was asurprise, then, to find Bain Capital, aprivate equity firm very much at the sharpend of business thinking, taking a 50 percent stake recently in an American shoeretailing company called Toms. Whatmakes this latter business different from therest of the crowd is that it gives a free pairof shoes to a child in need for every pairit sells. This could hardly be further fromthe shareholder-value approach to doingbusiness but the model seems to work.Thus far Toms has sold or given away 20million pairs of shoes.Encouraged by this success the companyhas already extended the ‘one for one’idea into other areas. Thus every pair ofsunglasses sold is matched by help to givesight to a person in need and for each bagof coffee beans sold, the company pledgesto supply clean water to a household for aweek. Every cup of coffee is matched bysomeone getting water for a day.Bain’s investment is driven by a beliefthat for the emerging generation, the key toprofit is purpose – an insight which flies inthe face of conventional business thinking.It sees in Toms’ success evidence of afundamental change in consumer behaviour,whereby the buyers wish to do good withtheir purchases and will pay more than theywould otherwise as part of this policy.In particular, according to surveys, thepopulation cohort known as ‘millennials’– the coming generation – want theirpurchase to have a purpose. No fewer than72 per cent of them believe they can makea positive environmental and social impactthrough their purchases – and 51 per centclaim to check the packaging before buyingto reassure themselves about the social andenvironmental issues. But having said that,they show a reluctance to delve into thedetail – so any sustainability message from acompany needs to be clear, straightforwardand easy for consumers to grasp.If that can be achieved, it does seemto unlock the door to growth in sales. Arecent survey quoted in Britain’s Guardiannewspaper by the marketing companyGood.Must.Grow. found that 30 per centof US consumers plan to increase theirpurchases towards socially responsiblecompanies in the next year. Meanwhile,only 18 per cent plan to increase charitablegiving. A separate Nielsen study confirmedthat consumers place a premium valueon products from sustainable and sociallyresponsible organisations. Some 55 per centof global consumers said they were willingto pay more for products from companiesthat are committed to positive social andenvironmental impact.And of course some evidence of thisbehaviour has been around for years withcharity credit cards, where every use ofthe card triggers a small donation to thecharity of choice. If it is painless, customersseem willing to sign up for it. But thecompany has to be authentic. If a company’scommitment to sustainability or socialresponsibility is seen simply as a marketingploy, it will backfire.A depressing number of executives do notsense this change is afoot. A recent survey ofbusiness leaders found a surprising numberGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION145who thought it would be okay to polluteif it made a big difference to corporateprofitability. If that pollution could be safelyout of sight – either underground or in afar-away country – so much the better.It is an alarming finding when putin black and white, but the options arerarely that stark. The bigger challenge forbusiness comes when the choice is betweenvarious shades of grey, or when there is noconscious decision at all, but the businessquietly drifts from its whiter-than-whitestarting place to another, to something everdarker without anyone really noticing.You might argue that this is the positionthe banks found themselves in withpayment-protection insurance. Somewherealong the line what started as a goodproduct for some customers was turnedinto an exploitative scam to make moneyout of all of them.But it is not just the banks. Any trip to asupermarket confirms how commonplaceIf a commitment tosustainability is seensimply as a marketingploy, it will backfireit is for businesses that want to make a bitmore money to seek to put up prices inways the customer might not notice – bychanging the size or shape of a chocolatebar, by putting a fraction less in a packet, byusing inferior ingredients or components.Less visibly, but equally dubiously, thesupermarket might exploit its suppliers –small businesses which have not got thestrength to stand up to it – and unilaterallycut the prices it agreed earlier to pay them.In all these cases there is a line where theacceptable becomes unacceptable – butwhere is it exactly? And on the basis thatwhat goes round comes around, how longcan the company hope to get away with it?The travails of Tesco, the UK supermarketchain, have deep roots.© GettyA farmer harvesting Fairtrade vanilla during themonsoon in IndiaGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


146 WIDENING PARTICIPATION© ReutersThe big question in all these cases iswhether things would turn out differentlyif the boards knew what was going on andhow the business really made its money.It is hard to imagine a public companyboard that would take a conscious decisionto make money by treating their customersunfairly, or by exposing its employeesto unnecessary danger. But the biggerproblem is boards that don’t ask thequestions because they would not like theanswers.If they want their businesses to survivethey are going to have to try harder. In thewake of the financial crisis, the separateupheavals caused by globalisation, theexcesses of executive remuneration and thepursuit of shareholder value, companiesare faced by a collapse of trust amongthe voters in the societies in which theyoperate. If they cannot improve their imagethey face ever more intrusive regulation andrestriction on their operations.The antipathy cuts across traditionalpolitical party lines. In the UK, a recentsurvey showed a majority of the publicwould support a political party thatpromised to get tough on big business –ranging from 50 per cent of Conservativevoters to 72 per cent of Labour supporters.Companies therefore need public trustif they are to have a long-term future andthey are not going to regain that trustunless they can convince the voters thatethics are embedded in their business andgovern everything it does. Sustainabilityis central to this. Boards have to createand maintain sound business values and anethical corporate culture. This is not aboutcompliance or empty mission statements –it goes to the heart of what a business is andhow it works.A paper published in Britain by theInstitute of Business Ethics gives anindication of how companies can go aboutthis. It suggests the board starts withstating its values – typically a good productproduced in good working conditions, soldfairly and at a fair price, with fair treatmentof all the different stakeholders. But thenthese values should be tested against thebusiness model so that the directors reallyand properly understand how the companymakes its money – not in some abstractway, but in detail. The theory is that in thisway a bank board would have learned thatGraffiti on the wall of a closed Union Carbide factory inthe Indian city of Bhopal, which was the site of one of themost devastating cases of corporate negligence in history.More than 3,500 died soon after a toxic leak from theplant in 1984 and at least 15,000 died subsequentlyit was not making money by giving loans tosmall business, but by selling them swapsthey did not need, and would have had todo something about it.And without getting in the hair of theoperational management, the board also hasto understand the incentives operating inthe business and the pressures that mightdistort the culture – volume-driven salestargets being a case in point. The risk inbusiness is good people who do bad things.The board has to ensure that the pressuresare the other way – to help them always todo the right thing.While there is some mention of this inthe emerging Sustainable DevelopmentGoals framework – goal 12.6, for instance,calls on companies to adopt sustainablepractices and to integrate sustainabilityinformation into their reporting cycles –this is one area where much more thoughtand energy is needed.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREPartnership offers healthy startfor Lao children’s first 1,000 daysApoor diet lacking in nutrition can stunt a child and lead topermanent brain and cognitive incapacity. It can trap children in alifetime cycle of illness, poverty and inequity. This in turn affectscommunities. But thanks to a unique partnership between the LaosMinistry of Health, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), mining firmMMG Limited, and Population Services International, Lao children haveaccess to the nutrition they need for healthy bodies and minds.Poor nutrition contributes to more than a third of child deathsglobally. A healthy diet through the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, fromconception to the age of two, is a critically important foundation fordevelopment into adulthood.High levels of under nutrition remain one of the biggest challengesfacing Laos. Around 40 per cent of children under the age of five sufferfrom malnutrition and stunting and over 60 per cent of children underthe age of two suffer from anaemia. This means that without significant©UNICEF/2014/Laos“By mobilising a variety of partners to takeinitiatives such as this to communities mostin need, we can help change the lives ofmany thousands of families in Laos andassist in alleviating poverty”intervention a whole generation of Lao children will not meet theirphysical and intellectual potential.Through a multi-sector partnership, public health professionals,mass civil society organisations, volunteers and pharmacists have beenbrought together under the 1000 Day Project to distribute four millionsachets of nutrition supplements during the next two years to mothersin Savannakhet, Saravan and Attapeu, some of the most remote anddisadvantaged regions of Laos. In conjunction, the project is promotinggood feeding and hygiene practices for mothers of children aged betweensix and 59 months.The nutrition supplements distributed by the project have beenbranded SuperKid and each sachet contains vitamins, iron, zinc and othernutrients that are mixed into a child’s meal daily to prevent anaemia andcombat other illnesses caused by malnutrition.Food and nutrition not only play an important role in humandevelopment but also in a nation’s progress. Malnutrition in all its formsamounts to an intolerable burden not only on national healthcare systemsbut the entire cultural, social and economic fabric of nations.“The development of our country depends on providing children witha healthy start in the most critical stages of life,” says Laos Vice Ministerof Health, Dr Inlavanh Keobounphanh.The project is underpinned by a US$1.4 million, three-year investmentby MMG Limited, through its LXML Sepon operation, which hassupported the project pilot and implementation.“At MMG, our belief – we mine for progress – is reinforced throughour approach to employees, communities and stakeholder partnerships,”says Executive General Manager, Stakeholder Relations, Troy Hey. “The1000 Day Project is further evidence of this commitment to exploring newpartnerships for development.”UNICEF, the Lao Women’s Union and the Ministry of Health haveoffered expertise and facilitated the delivery of the project throughlocal school and health centres, where families with children are alsointroduced to programmes of healthy cooking and hygiene.“We hope our targeted nutrition programme will bring generationalscalebenefits to Laos,” says UNICEF Laos Officer in Charge and Chief ofHealth and Nutrition, Viorica Berdaga. “By mobilising a variety of partnersto take initiatives such as this to communities most in need, we canhelp change the lives of many thousands of families in Laos and assist inalleviating poverty.”


148 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONFor the SDGs to gain traction,parliaments will need to do their partThe SDGs will only have meaning if they are adopted by parliaments at a national level. In turn,this relies on winning over the people and translating the goals to national circumstancesBy Martin Chungong, Secretary General,Inter-Parliamentary UnionAs a global community, we are ata fork in the road when it comesto sustainable development. If westay the course, we will end up in a worldof deeper inequalities and injustice, theresources on which economies dependwill run out, and the temperature of theplanet will rise to such a level as to incurincalculable environmental and human costs.What we need therefore is a newdirection, one that will take us towardsbold solutions, a new way of thinking aboutthe economy and our relationship withthe environment. This will entail a wholenew partnership between developed anddeveloping countries, and, perhaps mostimportantly, a new way of governing thatis both more effective at delivering resultsand more inclusive of all people.This is the promise of the newSustainable Development Goals (SDGs)that will be adopted at the United Nationsin 2015. Whether it will be kept willdepend not only on governments but alsoon parliaments and their members.From its unique perch as an observerin the General Assembly, and as the UN’smain partner on behalf of the globalparliamentary community, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has beenfollowing closely the inter-governmentalnegotiations on the SDGs, while alsocreating opportunities for MPs to maketheir voices heard. We have been helpingparliaments take stock and act upon thecurrent UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). From this we have learneda lot about the role of parliaments inthese global agendas at the design andimplementation stages.One thing we have learned is that forany global commitment to gain traction, itmust make sense and speak directly to thehearts and minds of the people and theirrepresentatives. In that sense, the MDGswere stillborn: there was no broad-rangingprior consultation and, as a result, it took along time for governments and parliamentsto bring those goals to life.Another problem was that the MDGswere missing many important economicand environmental dimensions, had an airof arbitrariness to them, and applied almostexclusively to the developing countries.Reflecting the will of the peopleSo far at least, this is not the case for theSDGs, for which global consultationsbegan in earnest more than a year ago.Still, we must not take a good outcome forgranted. It will be critical that the SDGscome out strong and that compromiseat the negotiating table does not endup diluting their ambitious vision. Allparliaments will need to remain activelyengaged in the time remaining, whichincludes a most critical final round ofnegotiations in the coming months, tomake sure that governments report back ontheir positions at the UN.The more debate there is in parliamentabout the UN-based negotiations the moregovernments will acknowledge parliamentsas partners in this global undertaking.More importantly, it is through thosedebates that parliaments can try toinfluence the government’s position andmake sure that it truly reflects the will ofthe people, including the most vulnerableand marginalised. The inclusion ofparliaments in the process is the best wayto ensure that what comes out at the endwill be implementable both politically andat the policy level.While this may be a moot point incountries like the UK, where parliament iswell endowed with both resources and legalauthority, it is unfortunately not the casein many other parliaments, especially indeveloping countries. I am also concernedthat in many developed countries the SDGsFor any global commitment to gain traction, it mustspeak directly to the hearts and minds of the peoplecontinue to be seen as merely a replay ofthe MDGs: an agenda for countries in direneed. Many political leaders, includingthose in parliaments, have yet to realisethat the SDGs will apply to all countries,developed and developing alike.As far as the IPU is concerned, the draftSDGs (17 in total) that emerged from afirst round of debates in July can still berefined but also contain many importantadvancements, such as a dedicated goal oninequality, and another goal to “promoteGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION149© Gettypeaceful and inclusive societies forsustainable development, provide justicefor all and build effective, accountable andinclusive institutions at all levels”. This isthe so-called ‘governance’ goal that IPUMember Parliaments have been calling for.Targets to ensure participationWhile the various targets underthe governance goal fail to mentionparliaments (in spite of our lobbying atthe UN), the goal as currently formulatedstrikes at the heart of the matter, includingthrough a target “to ensure responsive,inclusive, participatory and representativedecision-making at all levels”. If this sort oflanguage is retained in the final agreement,it would be a formidable achievement forthe SDGs as a whole. It would mean theimplicit recognition that the advancementof all of the goals of sustainabledevelopment will have to go hand in handwith drastic reforms of key institutions,including parliaments, to make sure thatall people, including the most vulnerableand marginalised, are included and theirconcerns reflected in the policy process.The goal would also speak directly tothe concerns expressed by citizens aroundthe world through MyWorld, a globalsurvey conducted by the United Nations,which ranked “honest and responsiblegovernment” as a top priority in nearlyevery country.President Evo Morales and UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon before the G77 + China summit in Bolivia.The G77 has taken a forceful line on “universality”in the face of reluctance or slowness on the part ofdeveloped nations to recognise that they too needto adopt the SDGs at a national levelAnother lesson from the MDGsexperience has to do with the question ofaccountability. Like the MDGs, the SDGswill be a non-binding commitment lackinga strong global accountability mechanism.Weak accountability from the bottom up isone reason why the MDGs record remainsa mixed one. On the one hand, a voluntaryregime may allow for more flexibility inthe way the goals will be adapted to eachGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


150 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONcountry’s circumstances; on the other hand,when it comes to implementation, it maylet recalcitrant governments off the hooktoo easily. Here too parliaments will have akey role to play.One thing that parliaments need to doto facilitate the implementation of theSDGs is to evaluate their own structuresto effectively track progress and makesure that all relevant SDGs are dulymainstreamed through the policy process.The implementation of the SDGs will haveto do away with the silo approach that canbe found in both branches of governments.This is made all the more urgent by the verynature of sustainable development, whichimplies the merging together of economic,social and environmental policies into onecoherent and cross-cutting approach.A far-sighted approachOver the years, as we looked at the way theMDGs were being dealt with in a numberof parliaments, it has become clear to usthat, generally speaking, there was noconsistent approach and no clear pathwayfor parliaments to translate each goal intoeffective legislation. Some parliamentshave gone as far as to establish MDGscommittees or caucuses to ensure that thebig picture would not be lost, but in actualpractice those structures lacked sufficientresources or authority within the legislativeand budget process to influence outcomes.Closely connected to the need foreffective oversight and legislative structuresin each parliament is the matter of thenational planning and budget process. Theimplementation of the SDGs cannot beleft to improvisation by the governmentof the day but must adhere to a long-termsustainable development plan for the country.The plan must go well beyond the shorttermperspective of the electoral cycle andmust be truly ‘owned’ by all stakeholders. Itneeds to be drawn up through a consultativeprocess that might be led by the executivebranch of government but that must haveparliament closely involved.It is at this planning stage that a nationalconversation must take place as to how theglobal commitments of the SDGs apply tothe country’s specific context. This meansMembers of the Swedish Parliament listen toTurkey’s then President Abdullah Gul. Sweden leadsthe developed world in its commitment to officialdevelopment assistance, currently allocating 1%of its gross national incomereformulating the goals that apply in a waythat reflects the country’s circumstances,and then establishing national targets thatare commensurate with the task and thatcan be adequately monitored afterwards.Unfortunately, far too many countrieseither lack a national sustainabledevelopment plan or have a plan that isnot properly executed. Parliaments mustbe at the forefront in demanding thatsuch a strong plan be put together with allstakeholders and that it is fit for purpose.A golden opportunity for parliamentsLinked to the national plan is of course thenational budget. Will sufficient resourcesbe allocated in the budget to meet thegoals set out in the plan? Will the policiesand regulations that are embedded inthe budget be consistent with the overalldirection of the plan? These are someof the key accountability issues to whichparliaments will need to pay close attentionin the coming SDGs era.Because the SDGs will not be enforceableat the global level other than through thepowers of persuasion and peer pressure,it will be up to parliaments, primarily,at the national level to make sure thatcommitments are maintained. This in turnwill require that we improve the ways inwhich parliaments work and interact withthe people they are elected to represent.In many countries, it will also requiresetting aside political squabbling to put thecommon good ahead of individual interests.While the IPU can help strengthen thecapacities of parliaments around the world,which it has been doing for a long timenow, this cannot be a substitute for deeperinstitutional and political reforms to supportthe SDGs that parliaments themselves musthelp champion.Let’s all work together so thatparliaments everywhere will participatein this historic moment. This is a goldenopportunity for parliaments to step up tothe challenge and show what they can doto strengthen transparency, accountabilityand representation as the core elements ofdemocratic governance and as drivers ofjustice and wellbeing for all. I hope it willnot be missed.© GettyGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


SPONSORED FEATUREDelivering positive resultsEconomic development is crucial to poverty alleviation; and the private sector has a key role toplay in creating jobs and increasing exports to ensure more people benefit from growing economiesThe Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector(ICD) is part of the Islamic Development Bank and aims to supporteconomic growth in its 52 member countries through the provisionof finance to private sector projects, in accordance with Shariah, orIslamic, law.Harnessing the power of the private sector in order to fund projectsis critical to the development of sustainable economies: which in turnincreases incomes, creates jobs and provides goods and services thatbenefit peoples’ lives. This can only happen if finance can trickle down tothe bottom of the pyramid, which is why ICD is committed to providingsmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with access to Shariahcompliant financial products and encouraging the development of Islamicfinancing in member countries.By the end of 2013, ICD had funded 267 projects with US$3 billionof finance, with the finance, agriculture, industry and mining sectorsbenefiting most from the ICD’s work. All projects that request financingare vetted to ensure they comply with ICD’s investment guidelines andstrategy, ensuring maximum developmental impact.Most recently, ICD agreed to a joint venture with the Republic ofChad to create a local leasing company and a local Islamic bank. Theorganisation has also extended a US$6 million line of finance to Tajikstan’sOrienbank and is helping to fund a specialist bank in Bangladesh.As many of ICD’s projects and investments are in the early stages, thesuccess of various projects is ongoing; but its recent establishment of aMonitoring & Evaluation (M&E) department means the agency can nowprovide timely, credible and reliable information to assess operationalperformance and track the progress of projects.The M&E department has started to prepare a set of policyinstruments and guidelines based on globally-recognised Good PracticeStandards that will include a ‘development effectiveness policy’ and‘development effectiveness framework’ within which projects will operate.Crucially, a ‘Development Indicator Monitoring System’ will monitorthe development outcomes of all ICD operations.ICD’s strategic vision is to set up 20 Islamic leasing companiesover a period of five years and to ensure that all these companies followthe highest standards of corporate governance and best internationalpractice. The leasing sector is an attractive offering for ICD for thefollowing reasons:1. Medium- to long-term finance to increase production and outputA medium/long-term financial instrument for SMEs to help themprocure productive machinery, equipment, vehicles and/or properties.2. Shariah compliant natureAn asset-based leasing with the asset leased (in most situations) beingthe security for the leasing.3. Good fit for ICD member countriesLack of collateral requirement offers an important advantage incountries without strong business environments, particularly thosewith weak creditors’ rights and collateral laws.4. Profitable opportunity for ICDThe current state of market and low level of competition in ICDMember Countries provide a wealth of business opportunitiesICD arranged the term financing for theMukalla Iron and Steel Co steel plant in YemenCurrent reviews of ICD projects show they delivered positivedevelopment results and were performing satisfactorily against theirobjectives, with several exceeding expectations. Some of the benefitshave included increased competition in banking services leading toincreased funding for SMEs, successful growth strategies, increases inemployment and increased transfer of technology and skills.More broadly, ICD has recently worked with Thomson Reuters todevelop and launch the ICD Islamic Finance Development Indicator, anumerical measure representing the overall health and growth of theIslamic finance industry worldwide.The indicator allows all relevant information about the differentarms of Islamic finance to be quantified and used as an independent andreliable barometer of the health of the Islamic finance industry.It is vitally important for the work of ICD and for the industry to whichit contributes to be monitored to ensure resources are channelled intothe right areas and that the outcomes of the ICD’s projects are makinga difference. ICD will continue working with the private sector: not onlyto develop projects that help grow economies and aid communities, butalso ensure that these projects continue to help the intended beneficiariesthrough an ongoing commitment to careful monitoring and support.Islamic Corporation for theDevelopment of the Private SectorContacts: Tel: (966-12) 6361400; Tel: (966-12) 6441644; Fax: (966-12) 644 4427Email: icd-bdpd@isdb.org Website: www.icd-idb.org


152 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONEngaging labour: bringing unionvoices into development policyWith rising global unemployment and income inequality, unions have a vital democratic role to playBy Sharan Burrow, General Secretary,International Trade Union ConfederationOne of the more striking figuresyou can take away from theperiod since the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) were adoptedin 2000 is the global trend in employmentyear on year. Indeed, if we were tomake a very rudimentary assessment ofemployment trends, based on InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) figures in2001 and 2014, we would find that thenumber of unemployed has grown byaround 25 per cent.No doubt there was a very positivedecline in the unemployment rate, down toabout 5.5 per cent of the global population,sometime just before the economiccrisis took hold in 2008. However, sincethe crisis, unemployment has spiked toaround six per cent and stayed there, withprojections suggesting further increasesin the years to come (ILO GlobalEmployment Trends 2014).If this wasn’t alarming enough, there isan even more startling trend for inequality,in particular, income or wage inequality.Indeed, the evidence is indisputable thatlabour’s share of national income hasbeen on a steady decline since well beforethe MDGs came into being, even asproductivity gains have been on an uptick(2012-13 ILO Global Wage Report).This has not been limited to developingcountries. Evidence shows declines in themajority of OECD countries as well.For the labour movement, these trendsare a natural corollary of the systematic anddeliberate efforts to erode labour marketinstitutions – minimum wage, collectivebargaining, employment protections andtrade unions, to name a few – to serve theinterests of a small but powerful minority.In spite of these trends, the labourmovement continues to mobilise tocounteract the prevailing forces that havecreated the current situation and advocatefor a human-rights-based approach todevelopment. That means working toensure workers and their families haveaccess to a decent life and a decent job ina healthy environment, while securing theneeds and ensuring opportunity for futuregenerations.The issue of globalisation is not simplya tension – national versus internationalinterests – but more so a conflict betweenminority and majority interests. There isno doubt that globalisation has negativelyimpacted labour’s share of nationalincome across the globe, both as a resultof technological diffusion, as well as theintensification of competition on the basisof labour supply.More interesting, however, is theidea that the hyper financialisation ofthe global economy has had disturbingeffects on wages and employment. Thisevolution in the global economy has ledto the concentration of the majority ofthe world’s wealth in the hands of a smallminority, all while contributing little tothe ‘real’ economy. It has also resultedin productivity outpacing wage growthand a significant expansion of capital’sshare of national income. Consequently,inequality has reached alarming levelsand there has been a systematic effort todismantle those instruments and policies,namely labour market institutions, whichcontribute to greater equality in societies.Protecting workersThere is no shortage of instruments toensure that workers’ rights are protectedno matter the context. Workers’ rightsare not some sort of trade-off that onlyadvanced economies have the capacityto uphold, but instead are fundamentalprotections that every government hasa duty to ensure and protect. Tradeunions seek to defend these instrumentsat all levels, from local and national tointernational policy debates. Among theseare the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, thesocial protection floor, the social dialogueand the ILO supervisory mechanism.Decent workThe Decent Work Agenda provides auseful reference for the understandingof decent work and its components, aswell as indicators for the measurement ofthe progress on its implementation. Fulland productive employment and decentwork for all are key elements of socialand economic development. Through jobcreation, quality public services and betterworking conditions, people, communitiesand countries can lift themselves out ofpoverty, improve livelihoods, engage inlocal development and live together inpeace. This happens only when workis decent – environmentally sound andproductive – provides fair wages, and isunderpinned by rights.Decent work also requires consistentinvestment in education and trainingfor both the young and adults. Decentwork in the arena of internationaldevelopment policy must aim to achievefull employment, provide investment ingreen job promotion, reduce informal andGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION153Children fill up empty cigarettes manually ina cigarette factory in Bangladesh. Poor workingconditions, including exposure to tobacco dust,can cause a range of health problems© Reutersprecarious work, ensure a minimum livingwage, as well as ensure compliance withinternational labour rights for all workers,with gender equality at the workplace.Social protectionThe social protection floor is an adaptablepolicy approach anchored in thefundamental principle of social justice, andin the specific universal right of everyoneto social security and to a standard of livingadequate for the health and wellbeing ofthemselves and their families. Provisionsmade within the framework of the floorrelate to a range of rights listed in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.The core idea is that no one should livebelow a nationally defined income leveland everyone should at least have access tobasic social services.Social dialogueThe social dialogue, which bringstogether the ILO’s tripartite constituents– governments, employers and workers’organisations – is critical for ensuringsocial cohesion and social peace. Thereare fundamental requirements orprerequisites that need to be in placefor the social dialogue to functioneffectively, however, including therespect for freedom of association andcollective bargaining, independent unionsand employers’ organisations and theinstitutional capacity of governments tosupport such a process.The ILO supervisory mechanism is aunique international accountability toolthat should be replicated or, at the veryleast, inform, the national review systems ofthe international development agenda. Inshort, the system is in place to ensure andsupport ILO member states in their effortsto implement and uphold the conventionsthat they have ratified in law and practice.It includes a permanent multi-stakeholdermonitoring function that requires memberstates to report at regular intervals on thestatus of different conventions. It alsooffers technical support to improve theimplementation of the commitments made.Perhaps most importantly, the supervisorymechanism has a ‘complaints’ procedure,which aims to ensure that member states areaccountable to the ILO’s Governing Body.The procedure has been used successfullyin the past when member states have beenunable to uphold their treaty obligations.For example, when Poland, which hadratified two ILO conventions on freedomof association and collective bargaining,suspended the Solidarnosc trade union,led by Lech Walesa, in 1981, a complaintwas made under this procedure, which led,ultimately, to the reinstating of Solidarnosc’slegal status.The role of the trade union movementThe origin and foundation of the tradeunion movement is to give workers andtheir families a voice, protect workers’rights and fulfil a vision for a fair world.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


154 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONProtesting students participate in a demonstrationin front of the parliament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Corruption,low incomes and high unemployment in the EU’spoorest country has led to widespread civil unrestTrade unions are crucial in every society and areat the heart of democracy. They help workersorganise to defend their rights and to fight abusesWe continue this struggle in a world whereprecarious or informal work is increasinglythe norm; inequalities threaten the stabilityof our societies; financial markets reignsupreme with inadequate regulation,even less accountability and still even lessconnection to the real economy; trade isunbalanced; tax justice is far from a reality;and environmental challenges threaten thesurvival of our communities. Given thiscontext the impetus for the trade unionmovement to engage in the internationaldevelopment debate is self-evident.Trade unions are crucial in every society.They ensure that the workers’ rights arerespected, that they can unite for collectivebargaining with their employer and areindispensable for developing social justicein the economic system.Trade unions are at the heart ofdemocracy. They help workers organiseto defend their rights and to fight abuses.By joining democratic trade unions,workers take part in, and influence, manyaspects of the democratic life. Tradeunions promote decent work principles,labour standards, human and trade unionrights as well as fair industrial and traderelations. They fight for the redistributionof wealth, granting universal access toservices, as well as social inclusion andsocial protection for all.Trade unions promote the socialprotection floors to ensure basic incomesecurity. This includes advocating varioussocial transfers (in cash or in kind), such aspensions for the elderly and persons withdisabilities, child benefits, income supportbenefits and/or employment guaranteesand services for the unemployed andworking poor. It also includes workingfor universal access to essential – andaffordable – social services in the areas ofhealth, water and sanitation, education,© Reutersfood security, housing and others definedaccording to national priorities.Finally, trade unions run projects andprogrammes on national, regional andglobal levels to help promote their corecommitments around the world. Theseprojects include:●●human and trade union rights, and‘democratisation’ projects, which focuson collective and social rights, labourstandards, the right to organise andcollective bargaining, as well as therespect of individual freedom;● ● ‘equality’ projects, which focus onempowering women, eliminating childand forced labour and promoting actionto help migrants and young people;●●trade union capacity-building projects,which aim to strengthen trade unionorganisation, and make sure trade unionactivities, collective bargaining andsocial dialogue are really effective anddemocratic; and● ● ‘informal economy’ projects, whichorganise women and men in the informaleconomy so they can claim their rightsand improve their working and livingconditions.The post-2015 sustainable developmentagenda provides an opportunity to framethe future of UN actions on the groundunder a new direction – one that deliversequality, social inclusion, decent workand sustainable livelihoods for workingpeople, while protecting our environment.It must begin with the recognition that theeconomic paradigm governing our societiesis unsustainable. This will require ambitionfrom the world’s leaders. The new agendawill only be effective if it is relevant forworking people and underpinned by ahuman-rights-based approach. Decentwork for all and social protection for allare critical components in this regard, andthey must be considered by governmentsas fundamental steps in building dignity forthe world’s citizens.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION155© ReutersCan ordinary people shapedevelopment outcomes?Societies must be more involved in setting the development agendaif it is to become truly inclusive. How can this be achieved?By Mariana Rudge, Post-2015 AdvocacyAdviser, Bond; UK Coordinator, Beyond 2015As world leaders gather to define theshape of development for the next15 years, citizens from around theworld have a unique opportunity to influencethe outcome of negotiations around thenext generation of Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) to succeed the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDGs).Despite their great success in reducingpoverty, the MDGs fell short on inclusion.The goals were defined in the corridors ofthe UN by diplomats, far away from thereality of poor people’s lives, and citizenswere not included in the monitoring andimplementation of the goals. But peoplehave the ability to shape the policiesthat affect them. They want to have asay in their future and should be giventhe opportunity to do so. It is, therefore,encouraging to see the effort made bythe UN system to ensure that the processis different this time. It launched thebroadest consultative process ever, withconsultations in over 100 countries and awide-reaching online conversation.However, while admirable, acommitment to consultation can beperceived as superficial and limitedengagement if it is not coupled withinitiatives to reach the poorest and mostmarginalised. Civil society, UN agenciesA Yemeni Akhdam family in their hut in a slum area near Sana’a. The Akhdam are similar to hereditarycastes and are at the bottom of Yemen’s social ladder. Civil society organisations have the responsibilityto ensure that the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable can be heardGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


156 WIDENING PARTICIPATIONand decision-makers all have a role inmaximising the opportunities to ensurecitizens really have a chance to influencethe decisions that will affect their lives.Why is people’s participation so critical?Poverty is a multidimensionalphenomenon that goes far beyondincome. It prevents individuals fromrealising their full potential and havingthe ability to influence the decisionsthat affect their lives. If the post-2015framework is to eradicate extreme poverty,its architects and implementors mustlisten to the individuals and communitiesdirectly affected by those deprivationsand look for solutions that will solve theproblems they face every day.According to Participate, a participatoryresearch initiative that heard the prioritiesof the poorest and most marginalisedgroups in over 100 countries, peoplewant to be able to present the issues thatmatter to them and contribute to theirown development. They want institutionsthat respond to the needs and interests ofthose living in poverty; institutions that areaccountable, responsive and effective.For development to be sustainable,participation should be built into the heartof development processes. The inclusionof the most marginalised can help toidentify priority issues and is instrumentalin addressing inequalities and powerdynamics, ultimately contributing to thedevelopment of more effective policies andprogrammes.Informed and aware individuals are keyto holding governments to account andwill be essential in monitoring progressof the new SDGs. Access, participation,transparency and accountability are keyvalues of good governance and shouldbe embedded in the post-2015 agenda,from the design of the frameworkand throughout the implementation,monitoring and evaluation stages.Key barriers to meaningful participationOrdinary people face a number of barriersto influencing the ongoing post-2015negotiations. Firstly, the process canbe extremely complex to understand,with confusing stages of internationalnegotiations. Secondly, the negotiationsare happening within the UN system,which is difficult to access and canfeel quite exclusive, making it hard forpeople to engage with it. This makesthe participation of many civil societyorganisations more difficult – particularlythose from the global South, who havelimited funding, do not speak mainstreamUN languages and have less access toinformation.It is encouraging that some of themeetings within the post-2015 processcan be watched online and that somedocuments are shared in advance. The UNshould continue to increase transparencyand to disseminate as much informationas possible. But this information does notmean much if it is not timely and availablein different languages, and if there is noassociated funding for people to attendrelevant meetings.According to a recent report by Civicus:World Alliance for Citizen Participation,civil society organisations are dissatisfiedwith the ways in which internationalgovernance institutions, including the UN,engage with them. Consultations withcivil society are considered to be largelysuperficial. Civicus claims that there isdissatisfaction with a ‘double democraticdeficit’: national-level democracy that isdominated by elites, and an internationalgovernance system that is accessible toa select few, with few opportunities toaddress citizens’ concerns.Among Civicus’s recommendations formore open and transparent institutionsis the suggestion to look for radical newforms of representation and accountability,including citizens’ panels and assemblies.Resources should be earmarked for enablingbroader participation and accreditationprocedures should be simplified.Citizens need to be able to accessdiverse channels for engagement, andthose different mechanisms should reachthe widest possible number of voices,particularly those of the poorest andmost marginalised. Initiatives that seek tohear the priorities of people need to lookbeyond the usual suspects and adopt moredecentralised outreach at the local, nationaland regional levels.Including more voicesExciting digital, social networking andmobile technologies have emerged in thepast few decades, and the developmentcommunity has taken advantage of theseto find new ways to facilitate citizenengagement. These technologies havealso enabled citizens to collect live dataand share their concerns with millions ofpeople, holding governments to accountand using public pressure to demand betterdevelopment outcomes.In Brazil, a 13-year-old student createda Facebook page to denounce problems inher school and mobilise her community toimprove the school’s infrastructure. Her‘Classroom Diary’ page has more than600,000 likes, raising questions about thepublic education system across in Brazil,and has helped her secure a meeting withthe Education Ministry. Her approach wasfollowed by thousands of students who arenow using social media to demand theirright to education.Other initiatives, such as MakingAll Voices Count, support innovationand help harness new technologiesto encourage citizen engagement andgovernment accountability. Last yearits Global Innovation Competitionanalysed over 200 creative ideas toincrease democratic governance andaccountability worldwide.The shortlisted projects includeda mobile app to monitor attendanceby teachers and students at schools inPakistan, with the aim of motivatingcitizens to collect, analyse and disseminateservice delivery data to drive performanceand help effective decision-making.The initiative will now be extendedinto other policy areas, including healthand agriculture.In the post-2015 arena, one of theinnovative ways in which people can havea say about their priorities is through theUN’s My World survey, one of the largestglobal surveys ever carried out and whichhas already reached over two million votesfrom all over the globe. The survey isGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


WIDENING PARTICIPATION157© Reutersavailable online and on mobile phones,but traditional methods have not beenforgotten and the highest number of voteshas come from written forms.While technology can be anextraordinary tool to gather real-timedata, disseminate information and enableoutreach to new audiences, it is also truethat it may not be available to the mostmarginalised.It is essential, therefore, that innovativeideas are coupled with more traditionaloutreach methods that target the hardestto reach, avoiding the unintendedconsequence of empowering certaincitizens while further marginalising others.Enabling participationCivil society is a key vehicle throughwhich citizens can get organisedand advocate for their views. It canplay an important intermediary rolebetween negotiations that happenat intergovernmental level and theindividuals who will be most affectedby the decisions taken by their officialrepresentatives. Civil society organisations(CSOs) thus have the responsibility toensure that the voices of the poorestand most vulnerable, who they seek torepresent, can be heard.Hazara students gather at Ummat Public School inQuetta, Pakistan. An innovative mobile app to monitorschool attendance in Pakistan, to engage citizens inperformance improvement, will now be deployed inhealth and agricultureMany civil society organisations havebeen engaging with the process to definea new post-2015 framework, trying toinfluence decision-makers and UN officialsinvolved in the conversations. However,often it is the larger, better-resourcedorganisations that can attend internationalmeetings and speak at relevant events.Organisations have different motivationsand capacity to engage, but they shouldall take responsibility to democratise theprocess and use their knowledge andexpertise to bridge the gap between theUN corridors and people living in poverty.CSOs can help increase the transparencyof the process by providing and translatinginformation, equipping citizens tohold governments to account for theirinternational decisions.According to Civicus, if CSOs fail toenact this connection to real citizens andtheir priorities, their legitimacy may bequestioned. They may also be seen toreinforce an exclusive process, in whichthey act as gatekeepers, underminingthe chances for people to genuinelyengage with the negotiations. CSOsshould therefore strive to ensure theirparticipation and inclusion values areapplied to their actions as well.Beyond 2015, a global civil societycampaign pushing for an ambitious post-2015 framework, is working to bringthe voices of organisations, from smallcommunity-based to international NGOsin over 100 countries, to the negotiatingtable at the UN. The campaign is alsoestablishing national hubs in severalcountries, improving coordination andfacilitating engagement so organisationscan put pressure on and hold to accounttheir governments at the national level.Bond represents Beyond 2015 inthe UK, hosting a platform for UKorganisations interested in influencing thisprocess. We disseminate information, worktogether on collective priorities and createopportunities for CSOs to engage with keydecision-makers.Working with partners internationally,Bond will be part of a new campaign toengage citizens and raise awareness ofthis key process to define the future ofdevelopment post-2015: action/2015.This will be an exciting opportunity fororganisations and citizens across the globeto put further pressure on governments asto the path they will define for our peopleand planet. The post-2015 process offers agreat opportunity for ordinary people tohave a say on the world they want tosee in the next 15 years. The challengein any intergovernmental negotiation,which involves myriad different interests,is to find genuine spaces to promotegreater democratic engagement andpeople participation.Organisations such as Bond and Beyond2015 are trying to do just that by creatingplatforms through which CSOs caninfluence the post-2015 agenda and raisingawareness of current debates with citizens,academics, CSOs and decision-makers.We hope the UN will also continueto favour a consultative approach andprovide timely information and resourcesto enable people to play an active rolein this crucial process: delivering anambitious set of SDGs.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


158 THE FUTUREGoals for the future – challengesfor the UK and the rest of EuropeThe universal nature of the Sustainable Development Goals demands a majorshift in thinking among developed nations. An end to the ‘us and them’ mindsetwill hopefully lead to greater understanding and new forms of cooperationBy Sir Richard Jolly, Honorary Professorand Research Associate, Institute ofDevelopment Studies, University of SussexThe UN is into the last 12 months ofthe extended process of formulatinggoals to follow the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). Manygroups have been conferring on the issues– the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015Development Agenda, experts, NGOs anda variety of groups inside and outside theUN – meeting nationally, regionally andinternationally.In August 2014, the Open WorkingGroup (OWG) mandated by the 2012 UNConference on Sustainable Development(Rio+20) issued its report. In September,the next round of UN-based discussions onthe new Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) will begin. It is expected to use theOWG report to produce proposals whichcombine sustainability with developmenttargets, probably for 2030 and intermediateperiods.Some commentators think this is alltoo much, overkill in trying to formulatefurther goals and excessive bureaucracyas a process of consulting about them. Istrongly disagree. If the goals are intendedto serve most of the world, an extendedprocess of consultation about them isrequired. Moreover, the goals themselvesare of major importance.The MDGs were far from perfect,but in human and historical terms, theyrepresented a gigantic step forward. Forthe first time ever, a specific set of targetsfor poverty reduction and other humanadvances had been agreed by virtually allcountries of the world and were madea serious focus for policy and action bymany states, all the UN agencies andmost international donors. All this wasmonitored and kept in the news. The UNSecretary-General issued annual reports onprogress, which were followed and used bygovernments and many NGOs to maintainmomentum and political pressure.To many of us working in development,the MDGs represented an enlargementof, and in many ways, an alternative to,the narrow and single-minded focuson economic growth as the essence ofdevelopment in poorer countries. Forthose pre-occupied with results, one mustemphasise that considerable progresshas been made towards many of theMDGs. Some of the goals have beenmet on a global basis – such as those onslum dwellers and on access to drinkingwater – and, more significantly, by manyindividual countries. All regions have madeprogress towards the goals on reducingchild mortality, achieving gender equalityin primary and secondary educationand controlling tuberculosis and otherinfectious diseases.There have, of course, been criticisms ofthe MDGs, by governments, NGOs andby experts and academics. One of the morefundamental points is that the MDGs wereconceived as goals for global progress,not focused by regions or countries.Notwithstanding this, many countries haveapplied them nationally, sometimes as thegoals stood, sometimes with adaptations totheir own situations.A more serious criticism is that halvingextreme poverty – the focus of the firstand, for many, the central goal – wasdefined and measured in terms of thenumber of persons with estimated incomeunder US$1.25 a day. For the majorityof people living in poverty in poorercountries, this money metric is a highlyartificial construct, of little meaning tosubsistence farmers or those working inthe informal sector, let alone to children,who were usually calculated as two-thirdsof an adult.The inadequacies of this measure haverecently been shown by the World Bank’srecalculation of gross national product(GNP) based on purchasing power parity(PPP). PPP measures are devised in orderto compare living standards betweenA Roma couple next to the debris of their neighbours’demolished shack in the shanty town settlement of‘El Gallinero’ near Madrid, Spain. The several hundredresidents live without running water or sewage servicesGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


THE FUTURE159© ReutersGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


160 THE FUTUREcountries. Many basic goods in, say, India,Kenya or other developing countries canbe bought at much lower prices than in theUnited States. For realistic internationalcomparisons, GNP must therefore beadjusted to take account of these pricedifferences; these are called purchasingpower parity estimates of GNP.Though most experts agree that the2013 GNP (PPP) estimates are technicallybetter than the 2006 ones, which had beenused to estimate the number of peopleliving in poverty, the statistical implicationhas been a sudden drop in those numbersof up to 600 million.To avoid this result, the World Bankhas been discussing internally whetherand how to raise the extreme povertythreshold from $1.25 a day to some higherfigure. The threshold was previouslyraised from $1 to $1.25 in 2008. A higherthreshold, say, $1.68 or $1.70, wouldimply a modest continuation in thereduction of poverty, a more acceptableresult. A figure of $1.75 would show nochange. But surely our analysis of progresstowards poverty reduction worldwideshould not rest on the decisions of WorldBank officials alone.Are there alternatives? Yes. One isto judge poverty in each country usingnational estimates set by a nationaldefinition of poverty in terms of income,and national estimates of the proportion ofpeople below this standard. The HumanDevelopment Report (HDR), producedannually by the UN DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), published suchestimates for some 75 countries in 2014.The difficulty with national estimates,however, is how to achieve internationalcomparability.A second option, used in many developedcountries, is to define poverty as thosewith incomes below 60 per cent of medianincome. A third option, much favoured bymany in the UN, is to replace an incomemeasure by a ‘multidimensional poverty’measure (MPI). UNDP’s HDR 2014provides this measure for 91 countries. TheMPI captures the multiple deprivations thatpeople experience in their education, healthand living standards. It considers both thenumber (the headcount) of people in nonincomepoverty and its intensity, judgedby the number of deprivations peopleexperience at the same time.Implications for European statesThe MDGs applied to developingcountries. One of the major differencespromised by the SDGs, at least in thelatest draft produced by the OWG, is thatthey should apply to all countries. Thisis an obvious need for all who recognisesustainability as a universal priority. Donorcountries like Britain and most otherEuropean states will still need to supportpoorer countries in accelerating actiontowards the goals.In the case of the MDGs, Goal 8, whichwas intended to capture this need, was theonly one that was not quantified and forwhich no target date was given. It would bedesirable for this deficiency to be remediedwith the SDGs. Indeed, the UK couldnow join with the small group of countrieswhich have met the long-standing 0.7per cent target for aid as a share ofGNP (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, theNetherlands and Luxembourg) in pressingfor a quantified goal.There are more important challengesin adopting universal goals. What are theimplications for Britain and the rest ofEurope of adopting universal goals forreducing poverty and totally eradicating itsseverest forms?Until now, it has been generally assumedin the UK that most UN goals applyto other countries – not to ourselves!Many in development studies, and incharities such as Oxfam and UNA-UK,have long objected to this paternalism,often deep in the mind-set of aid. Oneunfortunate result has been that theMDGs have adopted goals, strategies andmeasurements for poverty reduction thatare surprisingly different from those used‘at home’ and which are the topic of muchpolitical debate.The adoption of universal goals forpoverty reduction – albeit with countriesformulating their own definitions ofpoverty – would therefore be an importantstep forward. It would introduce anelement of realism in poverty reductionstrategy and measurement and wouldopen the door for replacing lecturingothers with a new understanding of sharedproblems and a new spirit of learningfrom the experience of other countries,poorer and richer.Universal goals could thereforemark a new beginning for internationalcooperation, no longer ‘us and them’,but ‘all of us together’ in facing commonproblems (albeit at different intensitiesand urgencies). It would underscore theneed for local, national, regional andinternational actions to deal with theseUniversal goals could mark a new beginning forinternational cooperation, no longer ‘us and them’, but‘all of us together’ in facing common problemsproblems. And it would open the door forgreater international understanding and,possibly, a wider set of alliances in seekingand negotiating solutions to challengesacross the board.We should not underestimate thechanges this would entail and thedifficulties that would need to beovercome. But the global economic andpolitical landscape is already changingrapidly, with the rise of China, Brazil,India, Indonesia and South Africa, and ofthe global South more generally.Now is the time for the UK and othermajor powers of the last century torecognise these changes and to use theirinfluence at the UN to steer and embracemore inclusive goals for justice, rights,development and stability for the 21stcentury.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


THE FUTURE161SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALSAt the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), UN Member States agreed to establish an OpenWorking Group to develop a set of sustainable development goals that would build on the Millennium DevelopmentGoals and converge with the UN development agenda beyond 2015. The Group has put forward 17 draft goals,accompanied by nearly ten times as many targets. They will be synthesised by the UN Secretary-General, whose reportwill form the basis for state negotiations next year. The final set of goals is due to be adopted in September 2015.GOAL1End poverty in all its formseverywhereGOAL7Ensure access to affordable, reliable,sustainable and modern energy for allGOAL13Take urgent action to combat climatechange and its impacts*GOAL2End hunger, achieve food securityand improved nutrition, andpromote sustainable agricultureGOAL3Ensure healthy lives and promotewell-being for all at all agesGOAL4Ensure inclusive and equitablequality education and promote lifelonglearning opportunities for allGOAL5Achieve gender equality andempower all women and girlsGOAL6Ensure availability and sustainablemanagement of water andsanitation for allGOAL8Promote sustained, inclusive andsustainable economic growth, full andproductive employment and decentwork for allGOAL9Build resilient infrastructure,promote inclusive and sustainableindustrialisation and foster innovationGOAL10Reduce inequality within and amongcountriesGOAL11Make cities and human settlementsinclusive, safe, resilient and sustainableGOAL12Ensure sustainable consumption andproduction patternsGOAL14Conserve and sustainably use theoceans, seas and marine resources forsustainable developmentGOAL15Protect, restore and promotesustainable use of terrestrialecosystems, sustainably manageforests, combat desertification, andhalt and reverse land degradation andhalt biodiversity lossGOAL16Promote peaceful and inclusivesocieties for sustainable development,provide access to justice for all andbuild effective, accountable andinclusive institutions at all levelsGOAL17Strengthen the means ofimplementation and revitalise theglobal partnership for sustainabledevelopment*Acknowledging that the UNFCCC is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


162 GLOSSARYGlossaryAid for TradeRefers to assisting developingcountries in improving their abilityto trade and to benefit from themultilateral trade regime.Common but differentiatedresponsibilitiesContained in the UNFCCC, theprinciple acknowledges that allstates have a common and sharedresponsibility to protect theenvironment, but recognises thatdue to their differing contributionsto environmental degradation andtheir particular circumstances,their responsibilities in this regardalso vary.g7+A voluntary association ofcountries that have been affectedby conflict and are now witnessingdevelopment. Their objective isto share best practices for endingconflict and poverty, and toimprove the way the internationalcommunity engages in conflictaffectedareas.Gini coefficientA commonly used index formeasuring income inequality. Itevaluates the income distributionin families in a country. It variesbetween 0 and 1, representingcomplete equality and inequalityrespectively.Global CompactA UN initiative, which calls onbusinesses to adopt 10 voluntaryprinciples in the areas of humanrights, labour, environment andanti-corruption to guide theiroperations.Green growthA form of sustainable development.It refers to achieving economicdevelopment while also protectingthe environment.High-Level Panel of EminentPersons on the Post-2015Development AgendaThe Panel was set up in 2012by the UN Secretary-General.Released in May 2013, its reportcontained recommendationson what should succeed theMillennium Development Goals,which are due to expire in 2015.IPCCEstablished in 1988, theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) is ascientific body under the auspicesof the UN that reviews andassesses the most recent scientific,technical and socio-economicinformation produced worldwideon climate change.LDCsThe UN classifies least developedcountries (LDCs) on the basis ofthree criteria: low-income, humanassets and economic vulnerability.Examples of LDCs include Haiti,Senegal and Togo.LLDCsLandlocked developing countries(LLDCs) are those countries whichdo not have access to the sea. ManyLLDCs are also classified as leastdeveloped countries. Examples ofLLDCs include Burundi, Chad andRwanda.Millennium DeclarationAdopted by UN Member Statesat the Millennium Summit. It setsout proposals for development,human rights, security andenvironment priorities for theinternational community. TheDeclaration was the basis forformulating the MillenniumDevelopment Goals.Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)Eight international goals aimedat eliminating global poverty andinequality. All UN Member Stateshave agreed to try to achieve themby 2015.Millennium SummitThe Millennium Summit was heldbetween 6-8 September 2000.At the meeting, UN MemberStates reaffirmed their faith inthe organisation and adopted theMillennium Declaration.Monterrey ConsensusReached at the InternationalConference on Financing forDevelopment in Monterrey in2002. It lists six priority areas forfinancing, including external debtand international trade.1992 Rio SummitRefers to the UN Conference onEnvironment and Development,held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992to discuss issues such as poverty,inequality and environment.Rights-based approach todevelopmentViews respect for human rightsas essential for developmentand addressing discrimination.This approach is premisedon empowering the peoplewhose rights have been violatedand making the governmentsaccountable to them.Rio+20Rio+20 (also referred to as Rio2012 or the Earth Summit 2012) isthe UN Conference on SustainableDevelopment held in Rio deJaneiro in 2012. It was held 20years after the first Rio Summit.SIDSThe Small Island Developing States(SIDS) were identified at the 1992Rio Summit. They usually havesmall markets and battle with hightransportation and infrastructurecosts. Examples of SIDS includeFiji, Jamaica and Seychelles.South-SouthRefers to cooperation andcollaboration amongst developingcountries. These can be by wayof trade, technology, scientificexpertise and so on.Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)An outcome of the Rio+20Summit, at which UN MemberStates agreed to work towards aninternational framework to helpcountries better target and monitorprogress on social, environmentaland economic development.Sustainable Development GoalsWorking GroupAlso referred to as the SDGWorking Group or the OpenWorking Group on SustainableDevelopment Goals, an outcomeof the Rio+20 process. It refersto a 30-member group set up in2013 to formulate SDGs. TheGroup produced an OutcomeDocument in July 2014 containing17 draft SDGs.Triangular cooperationA model for providing internationaldevelopment assistance involvingtwo donors and one beneficiary.The donors usually are atraditional donor country from theDevelopment Assistance Committeeof the Organisation for EconomicCo-operation and Development,and an emerging country. Thebeneficiary is a developing country.UNFCCCThe UN Framework Conventionon Climate Change (UNFCCC)is a treaty that arose from the1992 Rio Summit. It servesas a mechanism for states toconsider action on limitingglobal temperature increases andaddressing the impacts of climatechange. It produced the KyotoProtocol, which legally bindsdeveloped countries to emissionreduction targets.UN Sustainable DevelopmentSolutions NetworkLaunched by the UN Secretary-General in 2012. 12 thematicgroups are a part of this network,which includes academics,practitioners and experts.Washington ConsensusThe term ‘WashingtonConsensus’ was formulatedin 1989 by economist JohnWilliamson. It refers to 10policy outcomes, such as taxreform and trade liberalisation,which were promoted at thetime by Washington-basedfinancial institutions (such as theInternational Monetary Fund) andthe US government.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


ABOUT US163Editor Natalie Samarasinghe, UNA-UKEditorial director Claire ManuelPublishing assistant Sara AruSub-editorsSuzy Chisholm, Howard GossingtonDesigners Emma Latham, James WhiteCommercial director Edmund RobinsonSales Alex Ford, Cristina Peñalba Vilches,Cecily RobinsonOperations manager Geraldine BrennanFinancial controller Ricky HarwoodPublisher Hugh RobinsonChairman Anthony HiltonPublished by Witan Media LtdThe Leathermarket,11-13 Weston St,London SE1 3ERTel: +44 (0)20 3327 3730www.witanmedia.comOn behalf of United NationsAssociation – UK3 Whitehall Court,London SW1A 2ELTel: +44 (0)20 7766 3454www.una.org.ukImages: ActionAid, Corbis, Getty,Greenpeace, Reuters, UNDP, UNICEFCover: Migrant workers’ children in a danceclass, China (Reuters)Printed by: Precision Colour PrintingISBN: 978-0-9929223-2-0© 2014. The entire contents of this publication are protected bycopyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any formor by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording orotherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The viewsand opinions expressed by independent authors and contributorsin this publication are provided in the writers’ personal capacitiesand are their sole responsibility. Their publication does not implythat they represent the views or opinions of United NationsAssociation – UK or Witan Media Ltd and must neither be regardedas constituting advice on any matter whatsoever, nor be interpretedas such. The reproduction of advertisements in this publication doesnot in any way imply endorsement by United Nations Association –UK or Witan Media Ltd of products or services referred to therein.About usThe United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) isthe UK’s leading source of independent analysis on theUN and a vibrant grassroots movement campaigningfor a safer, fairer and more sustainable worldIn 1945, the creation of the UN offered war-weary publics hope for a betterfuture. Since then, UNA-UK has enabled ordinary people to engage with thatpromise, by connecting people from all walks of life to the UN and influencingdecision-makers to support its goals.Today, the need for the UN has never been greater. Thanks to initiativeslike the Millennium Development Goals, millions of people now live longer,healthier lives. But many have been left behind. Far too many people still dieeach year from violence, disasters and deprivation. In some countries, lowbirth rates and ageing populations have governments worried about pensionsand elder care. In others, children are being born into terrible conditions.Human rights violations persist in all corners of the globe. Humanitarianemergencies are set to increase while a robust response to climate changecontinues to elude us. And despite the tragic lessons of the past, the ongoing crisesin Syria, Iraq, the Central African Republic and elsewhere are a grim reminderthat we have still not managed to make a reality of the words “never again”.These problems are not confined to one country. Nor can they be tackled inisolation. As governments shy away from acting in the global interest, the UNis the only organisation with the reach, remit and legitimacy to forge solutions.UNA-UK serves as a bridge between governments, the UN and the public.We lobby for joined-up thinking and action on peace, development and humanrights. We work with experts and practitioners to find new ways to tackle thechallenges we face. Through education, training and volunteering, we equipyoung people to play a role in international affairs. And by demonstratingwhy the UN matters, we encourage people to act on their responsibilities asglobal citizens.Our members and supporters multiply these efforts at the local level, andour sister UNAs around the world do so internationally. Together, we form acritical mass of support for a strong, credible and effective United Nations.To find out more and to join our growingmovement, visit www.una.org.ukIf you are interested in working with us,please contact us on:+44 20 7766 3454or info@una.org.ukGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014


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