Written evidence submitted by Tearfund
INTRODUCTION
1. Tearfund welcomes this opportunity to
contribute to the Select Committee's analysis of the 2010 Millennium
Development Goals Summit. Tearfund is a Christian relief and development
agency working in around 40 countries across the world. Primarily
we work through grassroots local partners, including churches,
but we also have staff working directly in response to humanitarian
crises, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Haiti, DRC and Sudan.
2. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
are at the heart of our work and our partners have significant
expertise delivering transformational change across all the goals
including HIV, water & sanitation, environmental sustainability,
education and food security. In our advocacy work, we have called
for an approach which recognises the interconnectedness of the
MDGs and in advance of the MDG summit, we called for a five-year
action plan aimed at accelerating progress across all of the goals,
especially those which are most off-track.
OVERALL
3. With five years to go until 2015, when
the Millennium Development Goals are due to be met, the UN high-level
meeting in September 2010 should have been the moment when world
governments committed to decisive action to make sure all of the
targets get back on track. Instead, a lot of existing commitments
and positive principles were endorsed in an "Outcomes Document"
but few actions were agreed to ensure delivery of the goals.
4. The key to delivering on the MDGs is
an effective global partnership, with sustained financial investment
in "what works" and a clear accountability mechanism.
Donors seemed tempted to pick out specific areas for support but
didn't fully recognise the inter-connectedness of the MDGs.
5. Whilst there were some positive commitments
from both donor and recipient governments to improve child and
maternal health, little attention was paid to sanitation, a target
which, at current rates of progress, won't be met in sub-Saharan
Africa until the 23rd Century. In many ways, the Summit was an
opportunity missed. Tearfund wanted to see a comprehensive roadmap
for the next five years but instead we ended up with a partial
plan for tackling child and maternal mortality, supported by around
35 countries, as well as businesses and NGOs.
6. This partnership approach to delivering
the MDGs is a strong model for accelerating progress on MDGs 4
and 5, but Tearfund would also like to have seen formal recognition
of the role that faith groups, including churches, play in development.
There was no acknowledgement of faith-based organisations in the
Outcomes Document, despite the fact that in some countries, FBOs
are delivering a significant proportion of health and education
services.
THE UK'S
ROLE
7. The UK went to the MDG Summit in a strong
position, having committed, unlike some of our European counterparts,
to the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNI on international aid.
We very much welcome the investment in malaria and in maternal
health, commitments that are in line with the promised increase
in ODA spending.
8. Tearfund hopes that the UK Government
will address all of the MDGs in its review of DFID spending and
focus its energy on meeting all of the goals, rather than just
a favoured few.
9. The Coalition also needs to ensure that
development drives policy on cross-departmental issues such as
trade and anti-corruption efforts, and supports innovative mechanisms
for financing climate change, such as the Financial Transaction
Tax (FTT), championed by the French and Spanish at the MDG Summit.
PARTICIPATION IN
THE SUMMIT
10. Tearfund very much welcomed the opportunity
to meet with DFID and to discuss the UK's position in advance
of the Summit. Having said that, we were very disappointed that
the UK chose not to include any civil society representatives
on its official delegation, as had previously been done at the
2005 World Summit. We believe that this would have strengthened
the delegation's capacity to push on key areas, including the
ODA commitment, and other delegations (such as the Danish who
included seven representatives) did involve CSOs in this way.
ACCOUNTABILITY
11. Tearfund welcomes the accountability
mechanisms outlined in the Outcome Document (the annual review
at General Assembly and the Secretary General's annual report)
but it will be hard to assess implementation of outcomes, given
the lack of any measurable goals within the key Outcome Document.
12. Commitments made to the Global Strategy
for Women's and Children's Health are more tangible and it is
now essential for the correct infrastructure to be established
for taking the implementation of this plan forward.
13. It goes without saying that all commitments
should be publicised at a national level so that country-based
civil society organisations are able to participate in the accountability
process.
LOOKING AHEAD
14. Tearfund agrees with the UK Government's
continued focus on achieving the MDGs by 2015. The MDGs are not
perfect and as some NGOs have suggested, a post-MDG framework
could potentially focus more on environmental challenges, tackling
corruption, dealing with conflict, a fair trading regime, well-being
and pursuing equity. Having said that, it is imperative that Governments
do not become distracted by a post-2015 discussion that allows
them to avoid delivering on their MDG promises between now and
2015.
SPECIFIC POLICY
AREAS:
Climate Change
15. The need to tackle climate change was
something of an "elephant in the room" at the Summit,
despite being a core part of MDG 7 on environmental sustainability.
Without radical steps to reduce carbon emissions and ensure that
temperature rise stays below 1.5 degrees, we are likely to see
increased disasters, sea-level rise, drought, and the disappearance
of small-island states. It will not be possible to tackle global
poverty in a sustainable way if the global community fails to
agree on urgent action and emerging economies must be supported
to develop along a low-carbon pathway rather than follow the well-trodden
route of carbon intensive industry.
16. Alongside emissions reductions, there
is a pressing need to identify new funding to help poor communities
to adapt to climate change and for this funding to be additional
to money already committed to overseas development assistance
(ODA).The delivery of fast-start finance ($30 billion) and an
agreement on the sources of long-term finance ($100 billion agreed
at Copenhagen moving towards the $200 billion which is needed)
must be delivered in order to build trust and move forward action
on climate change. Tearfund is disappointed that the Summit did
not give stronger support to the UNFCCC process.
HIV
17. Tearfund was calling for the Summit
to give strong impetus to replenishment of the Global Fund to
fight HIV, TB and Malaria, ahead of its recent replenishment conference.
The Fund has played a key role in providing treatment and saving
over five million lives through its financing of successful interventions.
But whilst there were warm words about the Fund at the Summit
and a few important pledges, its ability to deliver in the future
is still in the balance. $11.7 billion has now been pledged and
whilst a few more commitments are likely (including from the UK),
the total is likely to fall short of the $20 billion that is needed
between 2011-13.
18. Tearfund is pleased that the UK Government
is sticking to its existing multi-year commitment of £1 billion
to be delivered by 2015 but we are disappointed that the UK Government
did not seize the moment to show global leadership at the Summit
and commit £840 million to the Global Fund for the period
2011-13, which is its fair share and which could have encouraged
other donors such as the United States to increase their commitments
at the replenishment conference.
19. The number of people living with HIV
is still increasing (33.4 million) worldwide and universal access
to prevention, treatment, care and support is still a long way
off. The MDG Summit could have focused on delivering this goal,
but whilst there is reference to universal access in the Outcomes
Document, and some positive pledges to the Global Strategy for
Women's and Children's Health, there is no comprehensive plan
stating how universal access is to be achieved and implemented.
20. Having said that, the increased money
for women and children's health, including the investment in health
systems and the promise, made by a number of African nations,
to spend at least 15% of national budgets on health, should have
a positive impact on access to HIV services.
21. Tearfund does also welcome the specific
commitments made by some nations (Benin, Nepal, Tanzania and Ghana
for example) to increase coverage of PMTCT (Prevention of Mother
to Child Transmission of HIV) services.
Water and Sanitation
22. In the months running up to the Summit,
Tearfund called for the Outcomes Document to recognise the interconnectedness
of the MDGs but in so doing to focus on the sectors that are most
off-track, such as sanitation. Some 2.6 billion people around
the world lack access to sanitation and this undermines progress
in other crucial areas such as health, education and gender equality.
23. Tearfund, along with other members of
End Water Poverty were also calling for endorsement of "Sanitation
and Water for All: A Global Framework for Action" within
the document and for the UN Secretary General's Strategy for Women's
and Children's Health to include commitments on increasing access
to water and sanitation.
24. The Outcomes Document does include some
positive language on integrating water and sanitation interventions
in efforts to promote health, education and nutrition. However,
it is much weaker when it comes to actions and commitments to
try to bring this integration about. Unfortunately sanitation
wasn't given the priority we were calling for, and "Sanitation
and Water for All: A Global Framework for Action" was not
endorsed in the document.
25. Having said that, there was some high-level
engagement at an important side event which involved UN Secretary
General Ban-Ki-moon and several Heads of State including the Liberian
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who clearly stated that the sector
is "under-discussed, under-prioritised and therefore under-resourced".
26. In the Global Strategy for Women's and
Children's Health, again, there is encouraging language on taking
an integrated approach to tackling maternal and child health.
This recognises the importance of clean water, sanitation and
hygiene and Tearfund welcomes this. However, the weakness once
again is apparent in the section outlining the actions to be taken,
where water, sanitation and hygiene are not adequately addressed
and the summary of country-by-country commitments, published alongside
the Strategy, does not mention any specific action on water and
sanitation. The true test for both documents will be how they
are now implemented and whether the language around the desire
for more integration, actually leads to changes in practice.
Hunger and Malnutrition
27. Heads of State participating at the
Summit recognized that hunger and malnutrition rose 2007-09 partially
reversing prior gains and re-committed to accelerate progress
toward MDG 1. They recognized the role of UN agencies, including
the Committee on World Food Security to strengthen international
coordination and governance in this area, and they reiterated
support for the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security
and Nutrition. They committed to promote the empowerment and participation
of rural women and ensure their access to resources, markets and
nutrition and highlighted environmental challenges like drought.
28. However, considering that a child dies
every 6 seconds due to hunger, they did not show any urgency to
transform global food security, but only committed to strengthen
existing mechanisms, most of which have not provided a sufficient
shift in getting the MDG target back on track.
29. They did not show willingness to turn
around under-investment in agriculture and food security, or outline
a mechanism or plan to disburse the $22 billion pledged for agriculture
as additional aid at the G8 Summit in 2009 as part of the L'Aquila
Initiative on Food Security. They should have emphasized the cost
effectiveness of investing in tackling hunger and preventing food
crises, rather than responding with humanitarian aid when it's
often too late to save lives and livelihoods.
30. The UK and other donors should follow
the leadership of the US which has transformed the amount and
way it invests in food security, and we welcome the UK's support
of the "1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future"
initiative which will help combat child malnutrition.
31. Governments must keep food security
high on the political agenda and support the development of comprehensive
country-led food security plans. They should discuss a timetable
and mechanism to increase investments to halve hunger by 2015
at the Global Conference on Agriculture, Food security and Climate
Change at the end of October
Governance and Corruption
32. Without corresponding actions to mobilise
domestic resources for poverty eradication and to clamp down on
corruption, the MDGs will be virtually impossible to realise.
It is estimated that every year, $1 trillion is lost to the developing
world in illicit financial flows, or in other words, that for
every $1 that is spent in ODA, $10 is lost as a result of corruption,
tax evasion and mispriced trade.
33. There were some important statements
from Chancellor Merkel of Germany and from President Obama, on
the need for good governance and for tackling corruption. In his
plenary speech, President Obama made reference to the recent Financial
Reform Bill which requires oil, gas and mining companies that
raise capital in the United States to disclose all payments they
make to foreign governments, a move that has been broadly welcomed
by civil society organisations. Initiatives like this to increase
transparency and accountability, of both investors and donors,
to civil society, must go hand in hand with securing additional
resources for development.
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