Post-2015 Consultations: Shaping the global devt agenda after MDGs and what it means for Africa

As the twilight sets in on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with their 2015 deadline fast approaching, the efforts that have already been underway for ushering in another new dawn for a global compact for tackling the persisting and emerging development challenges facing the global community are being stepped up. These are being carried out in the context of what is now dubbed as “the Post-2015 Consultations” aimed at shaping the new development agenda for the world and its implementation and monitoring mechanisms for another 15 years after the expiry of the MDGs. In this process, there is a great deal of political will to actively utilize the lessons of experience from the implementation of the MDGs as well as the benefits of hindsight regarding what could have been done better during the preparations for the MDGs before their launching at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. What are these lessons and how are African countries also utilizing them? It is useful to start with those basics. In my article on MDGs published by the New Times on June 26, 2014, I argued that although the introduction of the MDGs did provide the poorer regions of the world, especially African countries, with important opportunities for effectively rising up to the development challengesthey were facing on the eve of the 21st Century, including high poverty levels, increasing disease burdens and deteriorating environmental conditions, all combined with dwindling financial resources, the full exploitation of these opportunities were constrained by a number of factors. These include the very inadequate sensitization of the broad sections of the populations throughout the world about the meaning and significance of MDGs before their formal adoption at the Millennium Summit, which meant that national ownership and broad support for them were slow to pick up momentum; related to that was weak high level commitment and capacity in most countries to their effective translation from global goals into operational national policies and action plans through mainstreaming them into national poverty reduction and development strategies, that would have facilitated their realization at a more rapid pace; ill-defined analytical frameworks for the MDGs and the pathways for their realization; slow pace in embracing policy and programme innovations (with the exception of countries like Rwanda) for accelerating the pace towards attaining the MDGs amidst severe resource scarcities; and the overwhelming (but ill-placed) expectation that external financing would meet almost all the funding requirements of meeting the MDGs. It is encouraging, therefore, that in the on-going consultations at the global, regional and country levels on the shaping of the new global development agenda that will succeed the MDGs come 2016 the above lessons from the experience with MDGs before and during their implementation are being fully put into effect. It is also gratifying that this time around, African countries are not left on the sidelines in that lesson learning and their application. But as with the MDGs, cynics and genuine observers alike have begun to pose the question: why spend so much energy on the so-called post-2015 consultations, why not leave individual countries to set their development agendas in tranquility and let the international relations take their normal course? Our simple and emphatic response to that is, in fact, more than ever before in mankind’s history, the international community needs such a collective approach for confronting the old and new development problems. There are two main reasons for this imperative: the first is that the global community has become even more interconnected than anytime in the world’s history; the second reason is that whilst much of the work started with the MDGs need to continue, particularly tackling extreme poverty, new development challenges are emerging that require a new global vision and compact. The UN Secretary-General, in his 2013 report entitled “A Life of Dignity for All” succinctly captures these emerging challenges as follows: “…the world has changed radically since the turn of the millennium. New economic powers have emerged, new technologies are reshaping our societies and new patterns of human settlement and activity are heightening the pressures on our planet (aggravating the adverse effects of climate change). Inequality is rising in rich and poor countries alike.” There is increasing consensus that the new global development agenda should be underpinned by “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, that seek to address simultaneously the triple needs for more inclusive economic growth patterns, social justice and sound environmental and natural resources management. Learning from some of the deficits of MDGs that arose from inadequate consultations with, and sensitization of, broad sections of the world’s population, the UN Secretary-General launched with effect from 2012 extensive debates, consultations (including the involvement of a High-Level Panel of Eminent Personalities and an Open Working Group) and surveys among ordinary people on what should constitute the key elements of the post-2015 agenda. So far, over three million people from a wide spectrum of social groups and hundreds of civil society organizations and the private sector, have participated in such debates and surveys through, inter alia, a powerful social network platform called My World Survey, 11 thematic consultations and close to 90 national consultations. The outcomes of all these processes are informing the on-going inter-governmental consultations among the UN’s member states on the definition of the new global development agenda. Rwanda’s country consultations were carried out in April/May 2013 and it produced very useful results about what the Rwandans want to see in the Post-2015 agenda. It is notable that there has been a convergence among the wishes of the people around the world on what should be the key elements of this new global development agenda: eradication of poverty in all its forms by 2030; promotion of inclusive growth and creation of adequate decent employment opportunities; addressing exclusion and inequality; accelerating the promotion of gender equality and a more focus on the special problems of young girls; provision of quality education, life skills and early child development; ensuring universal health care and more vigorous response to emerging health problems, notably NCDs; stepped up efforts at addressing climate change and environmental challenges; ending hunger and malnutrition; addressing of demographic and urbanization challenges; better handling of migration; ensuring peace, security and more responsive governance processes; and renewed global partnership. (UN SG’s Report: A Life of Dignity for All.) Again as with the case of the MDGs, the poorer regions of the world, notably African countries stand to benefit most from such a renewed global compact, if it is well shaped and adequately takes into account their specific interests and needs.It is,therefore, encouraging that the African leaders have jointly evolvedthrough the strategic coordinating leadership of the African Union (AU)a common African position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda for the continent, which rightly puts special emphasis on inclusive growth and structural economic transformation, promotion of science, technology and transformation, human-centered development, sound environmental management, peace and security and adequate financial mobilization, including from domestic sources and mutually beneficial partnerships. The countries (individually and collectively through the AU) should be encouraged and supported to continue with a vigorous engagement in the on-going inter-governmental processes for defining the post-2015 global development agenda. From the foregoing, it could be said that with the new approach adopted by the international community, with UN facilitation, for defining a the post -2015 agenda, the optimism that there will be greater success this time around compared to the aggregate results realized globally through the MDGs is well-placed. Given the remarkable progress that Rwanda has registered towards the MDGs, it is strongly recommended that the country continues to play a very active role in the shaping of this new global development agenda. It is for this reason that we note with satisfaction that Rwanda is about to embark on the second phase of the consultations on the post-2015 development agenda, which will last through December 2014. In addition, Rwanda has been selected by the UN Headquarters to be among the countries that will pilot the formulation of the Governance and Institutional Capacity Development elements of the Sustainable Development Goals, under the leadership of MINECOFIN, MINALOC and RGB, with support from the One UN Rwanda Team. The writer is the UN Resident Coordinator, Rwanda