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Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals
Reflections Lessons & Suggestions
by
Dyborn C. Chibonga
CEO
NASFAM
Member of the ACP-EU Follow-up Committee
of the EESC
Prepared for presentation during the ACP-EU Regional Seminar to be held in
Dakar, Senegal from 3-5 July 2013
CES3804-2013_00_00_TRA_TCD
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Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals
Reflections, Lessons & Suggestions
1.Introduction
For the past 12 years, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have shaped policy, guided political agendas, and channelled hundreds of millions of dollars of aid money around the globe. The MDGs, which were agreed at a meeting of the United Nations (UN) in New York in September 2000, set out eight specific and ambitious goals for the international community, including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary school education and reducing childhood mortality rates.Some of those goals in some countries are expected to be achieved by the 2015 deadline. Others most definitely will not. The MDGs have had an enormous impact on the international donor community and how it spends its money[1]. However, with the MDGs due to expire at the end of 2015, the international community is starting to tackle the huge, inevitable follow-up question: what comes next?
Providing answers to that question is very difficult at this point, but the question forms a fundamental point of departure towards setting an agenda for the post-2015 MDGs. It is an important question to ignite a global debate that is well informed by local knowledge, poverty issues and challenges faced by all sorts of groups globally ranging from smallholder farmers, women and girls, youth, children, to the elderly, the rural and urban poor. In this regard, all such groups have a voice and power within themselves to engage in this important post-2015 Global Development debate.
The UN has appointed a committee officially known as the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The 26-member committee has been assigned the task of creating a "development vision" to replace the MDGs after they expire. This committee hasa daunting task that lies ahead as deciding on the key issues will be a tall order. What is important for the committee is to open up an all-inclusive, participatory and transparent debate; a debate that should be facilitated by UN agencies at global, regional and national levels for better coordination. Therefore, in the spirit of an open discussion, here are some lessons learned from the current MDGs, reflections and suggestions with an emphasis on both process and content issues but with a specific bias to smallholder farmers.
2.Lessons from the 2015 Goals
Although successful in focusing the world’s attention on achievable developmental targets, the Millennium Declaration ignored the challenge of rural poverty and the fundamental role smallholder farmers could play in tackling that poverty and ending hunger. In 2012, rural communities still lag behind their urban counterparts on many of the targets set in 2000. However, rural communities and smallholder farmers are crucial to tackling poverty and hunger and must be at the forefront of the post-2015 Development Agenda. The parameters of the future goals are unclear but they need to include goals and targets that help reorient donors and governments towards rural development and agriculture as a source and central component of ending hunger and poverty and of promoting inclusive economic growth.
The post-2015 Development Agenda can learn important lessons from the impact of the current MDGs. A deep and honest reflection ought to precede the formulation process. Such reflection has to be done by all key institutions: developing countries, developed countries, donors, and all Non-State Actors (NSA). To be productive, the inter-governmental debate about the post-2015 Agenda will need to be proceeded by a thorough and inclusive review of the merits and shortcomings of the existing MDGs grounded in concrete country experiences over the past decade. Collins and Hansen (2011) assert that “the best leaders are not more visionary or more creative; they are more disciplined and more empirical”. A little discipline and a touch of wisdom will indeed be crucial for leading the formulation of the post-2015 framework toward a successful outcome. Unless lessons are drawn, the process risks re-inventing the wheels which will but only drive the vicious circle of poverty. Therefore, the formulation process will provide better pointers regarding where the post-2015 Development Agenda should go. There are some lessons already being drawn from diverse observers, and this brief consolidatesjust a few.
2.1The Role of Agriculture in tackling poverty
The Millennium Declaration failed to acknowledge the challenge of rural poverty and the role of agriculture and smallholder farmers in particular, in producing the food necessary to tackle hunger and under-nutrition.
2.2Food Crises
While over 300 million people have been taken out of poverty since 2000, the target on hunger will not be achieved. Recent food crises have reinforced the need for concerted action in which smallholder farmers, the private sector, and governments all have a central role to play.
2.3Rural vs Urban Poverty
Rural communities lag behind their urban counterparts on many of the MDG targets. For example, according to the MDG report 2012, children living in rural areas are almost twice as likely to be underweight than children in urban households and young adolescents from rural households are more likely to be out of school. Child mortality is higher and access to water and sanitation is lower.
2.4Low Investments in Agriculture
In Africa, 65% of the population (80% in some countries) relies on smallholder agriculture for their livelihoods. Increasing their income is therefore central to tackling poverty. They also have a crucial role to play in producing food and ending hunger. Yet in the 12 years since the MDGs were created, smallholder agriculture has failed to receive sufficient support from governments and donors. The 2003 African Union Maputo Declaration directed all AU member countries to increase investment in the agriculture sector to at least 10% of the national budget. Yet, by 2007, 50% of the countries spent less than 5% of their national expenditure on agriculture development - a decrease from 57% in 2003.
2.5Access to Inputs by Women
Women smallholders comprise an average of 43 percent of the agricultural labour force of developing countries. Of those women in the least developed countries who report being economically active, 79% of them identify agriculture as their primary economic activity.Yet, despite many communities’ dependence on women to grow food, women often lack access to productive assets, such as land, and services, such as extension, credit and quality inputs that can enhance farm productivity. Moreover, as women are more likely than men to spend the income they earn on food, healthcare and education for their family as a whole, their lack of access to assets hampers their ability to lift themselves and their families out of both poverty and hunger. Women farmers could grow 30% more food if they had access to the same resources as men. By helping women farmers boost production, we could reduce global hunger by 150 million people.
2.6Response to Climate Change
Targets were set under MDG 7 to tackle deforestation, but while the rate of deforestation is showing signs of decreasing, it is still alarmingly high. A decisive response to Climate Change is urgently needed. This should include collective responses to the management of natural resources, recognizing the vital role of indigenous peoples, and exploring financial mechanisms to protect natural habitats, such as carbon pricing.
2.7The Role of Private Sector
The MDGs largely ignored the role of the private sector. Smallholder farmers are part of the private sector. Increased access to food is dependent on building commercial service provision: enhancing value chains, improving advisory services, creating, and improving markets. Becoming part of the supply chains of larger private sector actors can be one route to market access for smallholder farmers.
It has been suggested that there may be greater attention given to the private sector in future goals and targets – or even that there should be a separate set for the private sector. If so, these should recognize the importance of creating supply chains that provide sustainable and long-term benefits to smallholder farmers.
2.8Innovative Financing
In the context of post-2015 thinking, governments, donors, NGOs and others must be prepared to explore innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships that can support the goals both directly and indirectly. Financing mechanisms that promote growth must be pro-poor and focused on smallholder agriculture. For example, encouraging private investment or sovereign wealth funds into infrastructure development, including roads and rail, electricity and water would support smallholder farmers to get their goods to markets more easily and over greater distances.
3.The Post- 2015 Development Agenda
3.1The Process Issues
The post-2015 Development Agenda formulation process risks alienation if it will be confined to the few developed countries. Unlike in 2000, when the current MDGs were formulated, the post-2015 Agenda has an enabling environment facilitated by the spread of mobile phones and internet connections, which means the world is much more connected than it was in 2000. Therefore,the process should be as broad and engaging as possible so that more voices can and should contribute to the post-2015 discussions.
3.1.1Leadership
If the post-MDG framework is to have the necessary legitimacy, it must emerge from a process whereby the UNis perceived as the central platform. Groupings such as the G20, G8 or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the World Bank will never generate the perception of impartiality, neutrality and global legitimacy. Therefore, strong and assertive leadership by the UN will becritically important to steer the process in the coming months and years.
3.1.2Key Challenges/Issues
The world is a complicated place, development is complex; and the challenges for the post-2015 Agenda are also going to be complex. Besides the known issues in the current MDGs, there are some other issues that were left out of the current goals. For example; Climate Change, human rights, human conflicts, non-communicable diseases, economic inequality, high population growth, high unemployment rates among the youth, land grabbing from smallholder farmers, high cost of farming inputs which has implications on food prices etc. These challenges have huge impact on the lives of smallholder farmers, and they need to be considered in the next Global Development Agenda.
3.1.3Human Rights Based
The overarching goals of the post-2015 Agenda should be formulated using the language of human rights to address the complaint that human rights are not mentioned in the MDGs. Numerical targets must then be seen as stepping stones towards the gradual realization of the social, economic and cultural rights. The indicators will validate the objective nature of the target’s measurability. The latter is not to insist on statistical purity but to avoid the pitfall that the post-2015 Agenda will be misappropriated by ideological factions. Global targets lose much of their power and appeal if they lack reliable statistics.
3.1.4The Role of NSAs/CSOs
NSAs/Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should facilitate dialogues and discussions among their constituencies and ensure that wider range of groups are consulted.Reviews and debates in developing countries should foster a more participatory, inclusive, and bottom-up reflection than what is currently happening in donor countries, where the discussions are rather academic, technocratic and far removed from country-level realities.
3.1.5The Role of Developing Countries
Reflections about the post-MDG framework appear to have, so far, been limited to developed countries. Turning the process into another exercise of donorshipis neither necessary nor desirable. The UN must stimulate similar reviews in developing countries so that both parties – developing and donor countries – come equally well prepared to the global forum in 2015.
3.1.6The Role of Developed Countries/Donors
International donors have made a series of commitments to support food security and improved agricultural productivity and nutrition, such as those under the 2009 L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and subsequently under the 2012 New Alliance for Food and Nutrition. The process and the final post-2015 documents need to reflect and build on those commitments.
4.Recommendations from Smallholder Farmers Point of View
4.1Rural Development and Sustainable Agriculture
Rural development and sustainable agriculture with special consideration for the smallholder farmer is essential for food security. Food sovereignty must be incorporated into the post-2015 Development Policies. “Investments in agriculture are more effective in lifting people out of poverty than investments in any other sector - they not only drive economic growth and set the stage for long-term sustainable development, they pay high dividends in terms of quality of life and dignity for poor rural people.” Kanayo F. Nwanze - President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
4.2Development Issues Interconnectedness
Future goals must reflect the interconnectedness of development issues and avoid splitting themes to look for separate solutions: hunger, climate change and resilience are deeply linked, just as hunger impacts health, nutrition and education.
4.3Long Term View
The post-2015 Development Agenda must recognize the need for long-term solutions to hunger that allow for effective agricultural growth and the development of food systems to meet the needs of the poor.
4.4Poverty and Hunger Target
Future goals should continue to have a headline goal on hunger and the targets for that goal should acknowledge the role of smallholder farmers in tackling poverty and hunger by producing and selling high quality, nutritious food. There needs to be a push for them to have the required support to do this effectively.
4.5Role of Women
The key role of women in smallholder agriculture cannot be over-emphasized and must be recognized. The need to empower women smallholder farmers must be embedded in all goals if global hunger is to be reduced.
4.6Improved Nutrition
Targets and indicators should not focus solely on increasing demand and adding value to crops, but on improving nutrition. Many people around the globe are consuming foods that are not nutritious.
4.7Impact of Climate Change
The targets for other goals should reflect the vulnerability of smallholder farmers and those dependent on scarce natural resources like indigenous peoples to Climate Change and the need to build resilience.
4.8Smallholder Farmer Inclusiveness
Smallholder farmer groups and persons dependent on scarce natural resources must be involved in the country level consultations on the future goals.
4.9Public Private Partnerships
Any set of goals relating to the private sector should recognize the need to promote innovative partnerships, a sound environment and suitable support for rural enterprises, and include a commitment to supply good quality and affordable inputs to smallholder farmers, as well as the development of supply chains that provide long-term benefits to the smallholders that are incorporated within them. Markets must work for the poor.
5.Conclusion
The formulation of the post-2015 Development Goals is a daunting task. Wide and all-inclusive consultations will be required to develop meaningful and achievable targets. If cross-sectoral involvement of citizens, groups and institutions will be the hallmark of the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, wide ownership will ensure achievement of the desired results to end hunger and poverty in the world.
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CES3804-2013_00_00_TRA_TCD
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