Post 2015 Development Goals

Written evidence submitted by Dr Noshua Watson, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies

1. Financing global goals: are new mechanisms needed?

Discussions at the recent 2012 United Nations Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) highlighted the need for greater coordination, rather than competition, between different aid mechanisms and donors. The desire amongst recipients of aid is that Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), trade, debt, climate change, technology transfer, business environment and aid agency procurement policies should all be aligned to promote better development.

Many believe that the setting of development cooperation norms should be moved away from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Regional development banks such as the Islamic Development Bank and networks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been successful in this and the potential new BRICS bank may represent another way in which this shift can be achieved.

Much of the funding from development finance institutions currently goes to Western multinationals and private equity companies. This funding needs to be refocused on sectors or projects that would not usually qualify to receive conventional funding and developing country enterprises. Energy, water and agriculture subsidies currently appear to benefit the rich more than the poor and developing countries need greater leverage to renegotiate natural resource deals and effectively tax extractive industries.

2. The role of the private sector and other non-state organisations

Three main challenges to engaging the private sector in establishing a new post 2015 development framework and that need to be addressed are coordination, cooperation costs and performance measurement .

Coordination

· Private foundations and businesses need to be included in global policy forums and decision-making processes .

· Different stakeholders have different strengths (financial, cultural, expertise or social) and strategies for participating. Stakeholders need to be organi s ed into categories where they have enough in common so they can act collectively in that category’s interest within the cooperation framework.

· A new development framework needs to recognise that p rivate foundations and businesses may be more receptive to cooperation on individual goals as opposed to across the entire post-2015 framework .

Costs of cooperation

· There is a trade-off between coordinating development efforts and maintaining room for experimentation. Aligning ends in terms of improved wellbeing and a more sustainable and equitable future is probably more important and realistic than aligning the means of achieving these outcomes .

· There is a need for better information sharing systems that include data on aid flows, how aid has and should be targeted and past project learning.

Measuring performance

· C ommon performance standards, universal measurement techniques and a global sharing platform must be agreed and underpin a new development framework .

· Performance standards need to include financial, wellbeing, social and environmental measures.

· Private sector actors should be encouraged to strengthen national government systems by helping to build administrative and budgeting capacities rather than bypass them.

October 2012