The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) emerged at meeting in New York in September
2000. 189 heads of state agreed on eight ambitious goals, including eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary school education and
reducing childhood mortality rates.
Over
the last 12 years, the MDGs have influenced the flow of financial and technical
aid. The MDGs have also shaped national development priorities and planning in
a majority of developing countries. Here in East Africa, national vision
statements of the five East African Community countries resonate deeply with
the MDGs.
But
the MDGs are set to expire in 2015. As the deadline approaches, and furiously
so, a fundamental question begs; what next? Even as I ask this question, I am mindful
that it took 10 years to formulate and agree on the current MDGs as framework
for international development. I am also mindful that in a majority of African
countries, hunger and poverty endure millions of African children die before
their fifth birthday, women still constitute the majority of the Africa’s poor
and 800 African women die every day owing to complications in pregnancy and
childbirth.
What
really should happen post 2015? Some options are being bandied about: extend
the deadline for the current MDGs; build and consolidate, based lessons
learned, existing MDGs; in a bold paradigm shift, frame a new model for global
development.
In
January 2012, the 22-member Panel, established by the Secretary-General in
August 2010 to formulate a new blueprint for sustainable development submitted
its report. The report, “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future
Worth Choosing”, noted that
he world is not yet on a sustainable development path and that progress is
neither fast nor deep enough, and the need for further-reaching action is
growing ever more urgent.
More
importantly, the report notes that world faces new and powerful drivers of
change, among these are: global patterns of resource consumption; resource
scarcity; climate change; gender and income inequality; global financial
crisis; urbanization. However, Sara Best of Oxfam International described the
High Level Panel report as “weak medicine for a life-threatening
diagnosis”.
In
July 2012, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the 27 members of a High Level
Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Panel is
co-chaired by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesia’s President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. At a recent meeting in London, the Panel
noted the importance of reflecting the changed world in any new global
development framework, taking into account the new global development challenges
including sustainability, inclusive growth and productive capacity, conflict,
gender equality and women’s empowerment, and global partnerships.
The
conversation about what shape the global development agenda takes is not a
monopoly of the United Nations General Assembly. Civil society is active and
engaged in the post-MDG debate. According Beyond
2015, a global civil society campaign, a new global development framework must
take into account the shortcomings of the current MDG approach, especially its
limitations in addressing structural causes of poverty, inequality and
exclusion. Beyond 2015 further suggests that a new framework for international
development must specify enforceable accountability mechanism at the national,
regional and global level.
The debate on a new framework for global development presents an
opportunity for a paradigm shift, which goes beyond the limited – development
expert and donor aid dominated – paradigm that created the framework of the
current MDGs. This is the time to think about creating an enabling environment
for robust private sector growth, especially in Africa. This is the time to
think about the role of public-private partnership and explore the modalities
for incorporating entrepreneurial and inclusive business models in a new
framework for global development.
A new framework for global development must not be solely about a new paradigm and new goals. It must also be about consolidating the successes and lessons of the past decade. Moreover, Africa has a huge amount of unfinished work before we can embark on sustainable development. Come January 2016, millions of Africa’s children and women will still be dying from preventable causes. Millions more will still be hungry.
For Africa a new global development framework must put women
first. African women are the emblematic face poverty. Putting women first means
prioritizing education and increasing access to high-quality health care.
Significant reductions in child and maternal mortality in recent years are
attributable to women’s literacy. Recent studies have demonstrated a strong
positive correlation between early child development and literacy of a mother.
Most
importantly, the global community must re-new its commitment to reducing green
house gas emissions. Dealing with the challenge of global climate change is the
most important down payment for our planet’s sustainability.
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