DR. STACY A A HOPE CONSULTANCY LLC THE WORLD IN ONE LSE INTERNATIONAL GROWTH CENTRE THE NEXT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: FROM ASPIRATION TO DELIVERY HELEN CLARK, UNDP & Chair of UN Development Group – 21.01.2014 Lecture Available: Video, Audio, Transcript It has been just over thirteen years since the Millennium Development Goals were published to tackle disparities between human rights and the development framework, particularly exemplified through “problems of extreme poverty in its many dimensions - income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion, while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability" (UN Millennium Project 2005:1). However, the past thirteen years have shown that these targets have been both beneficial and problematic. On the one hand, these goals have placed sustainable development within a concrete programmatic framework which provides focal points that can be analysed and monitored in a systematic way. On the other, it simplifies the millennium declaration, omitting issues such as peacekeeping, and reducing complex issues to numerical targets. The Next Global Development Agenda is a necessary progression as the MDGs are meant to fulfill their promises by next year, which we all knew was an ambitious and not thoroughly calculated timeline. Yet, it was necessary for these goals to be overly striving. However, in their ambitiousness there were always fundamental issues, such as localization through transformative measures, which Clark addressed as being part of the UNDP’s future agenda. Clark highlighted that Global Challenges to Sustainable Development, beyond the environmental challenges included inequalities (perhaps one of the most crucial after the environment), war & conflict, the cost of crime and insecurity, and the job crisis. As a result, these challenges beg for a merger between “economic and social progress with environmental sustainability, and specifically recognizes the role of peace and security, democratic governance, the rule of law, gender equality, and human rights” (Clark 2014). Hence, the new post-MDG development agenda must be BOLDER, with a shift in the way we think of development. But what does that mean? It means taking a radical approach towards unifying the development framework so that it is applicable to all developing countries, whilst adhering to the different national policies. What was evident to us in constant analysis of the MDGs was that a holistic approach to developing a sustainable development framework was needed, whereby both leaders and local citizens were involved in the consultative process. This was lacking in the MDGs, but is now part of the post-2015 agenda, where the global MY World survey, which included national consultations of over 1.7 million people from more than 190 countries, was conducted. Revealed were the conclusions that: 1) the MDGs shouldn’t be abandoned, 2) Inequalities in all their dimensions (opportunities, access, etc) should be tackled full on, 3) decent work and livelihoods need to be prioritized, 4) there is a desire for better governance, 5) the agenda needs to be more transformational and universal, and 6) there is a call for an accountability revolution. So where do we go from here? The UNSG’s high-Level Panel on Post 2015 has framed these issues through “transformative approaches which: leave no one behind, put sustainable development at the core of the new agenda, transform economies to provide jobs and inclusive growth, build peace and effective, open, and accountable institutions, and forge new, wide-ranging global partnerships for sustainable development. Many of the UNDPs highlighted plans of action were already identified by many of us working in the field as key issues. Due to poor consultation that one may define as insular, it is no surprise that the new global agenda will highlight issues from a more local level, as opposed to an overarching global stance. What is clear is that the new development agenda is highlighting what the old one should have, and how much further we still have to go to devise sustainable contextual solutions. One of the greater problems that Clark did not highlight was the importance of ICT4D as it is difficult to understand the progress made in many countries due to lack of adequate communication and information technology systems. Re-establishing key focal points for mainstreaming will also answer some of the development challenges—how do we mainstream peacekeeping into the development agenda for areas of conflict? It is also obvious that there needs to be a transformative partnership that deems fruitful and sustainable. And what about the role corruption plays in development? In concluding, the post-MDGs agenda must go through fundamentally differing approaches and engagements, with more powerful transitional actions taking place in order for it not to repeat the mistakes of the MDGs.
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