It might be over a month away, but my husband and I have already begun to think about the Christmas and New Year holidays here in the UK. In particular, it looks like lots of my family are likely to travel from London and elsewhere to join us in Glasgow. I'm really excited, but my husband is worried that we might be taking too much on - what with preparing places for the family to stay, cooking the huge main meal on the big day, other meals and parties the days before and after, and so on. He's already flagged that the list of "to do's" is quite long!
I was reminded of this family conundrum when I travelled down to London last week for a number of meetings. Most of the people I met couldn't stop talking about what might replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015. I wasn't surprised. The High Level Panel that has been asked by the UN Secretary General to write a report on the issue was in London to discuss their work and consult with civil society, private sector and other groups. Added to this, Prime Minister David Cameron had just written an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal about his views on development - which lots of people wanted to give their perspective on. There was a real buzz and air of excitement.
So on Friday afternoon, I decided to join in the buzz and watch a live-streamed event about the Panel’s work with civil society and keep an eye on its twitter hash-tag - #post2015HLP. As I watched, what I found remarkable was the long list of issues raised - from disability to health and education, to jobs and illicit financial flows. At the end, Abhijit Banerjee, one of the panellists, calculated that 32 issues had been raised! Yet the original MDGs only had 8 goals, and London's event was only the first of three major meetings and consultations. I realised the panellists would be concerned about just how long their list of "to do's" would get by the time they issued their report!
Indeed, the High Level Panel could be tempted - like me - to take too much on. The small part of my family in Glasgow can deliver a big, amazing holiday for the wider family. Similarly, the post-2015 framework will and should be ambitious. These first set of meetings in London were a real success - and they indicate just how much potential the post-2015 framework has for being game-changing. But it could also collapse under its own weight.
The solution for the holiday problem that my husband has come up with is that we should ask our visitors, politely, to each take responsibility for one of the parts of our time together - one of the meals, the drinks, the desserts - and we keep responsibility for the "main bits".
This "sharing" solution could also apply to the post-2015 framework. There are other international processes that could have an impact on development and poverty reduction. Take the G8 next year, which the UK will chair for the first time since 2005. The G20, which Russia will chair. And the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, which Justine Greening is co-chairing with Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Indonesia's Planning Minister Armida Alisjahbana. These are all valuable international fora for discussion and agreement on major, international issues.
Take the Global Partnership. It has a Steering Committee that's due to meet for the first time in December. The Committee could do some complimentary work to the post-2015 discussions. It could work on certain elements of the post-2015 framework that require international coordination - the "how" of the post-2015 framework. It could pave a way for a broad range of actors to contribute to development, something which one of the Millennium Development Goals - MDG8 - had aimed at, but, as this UN report suggests, has not sufficiently addressed. The Global Partnership, like the G8 or G20, could help achieve some of the post-2015 framework outcomes, and share in the work.
As I returned to Glasgow from London last week, I was struck by just how high expectations are for the post-2015 High Level Panel and the process to agree goals thereafter. Expectations will definitely be high in the New Year when there will be two more high level panel meetings in Liberia and Indonesia. It's all very exciting indeed. But to make it all most likely to succeed, and keep the post-2015 agenda simple and compelling, as the Prime Minister has already reiterated, we might just need to bring others in, in a complimentary and synergistic way, like my family will now do.
4 comments
Comment by Ian posted on
I think you make a good point about not pinning everything on the High Level Panel as the means to identify the next set of development goals given the diverse expertise and different fora out there that can take on part of the load.
One word of caution however. While many of the fora you mention do have the political and technical heft to tackle the issues - part of the challenge of defining the post-2015 agenda is making the exercise truly open and participatory. Many of the groups you mention are not open and are dominated by political and technical elites. It's therefore important to find ways to ensure that the voices of key stakeholders are incorporated into the process at each step through identification of priorities through to defining and carrying out strategies to achieve them.
This is needed both from the point of view of legitimacy i.e. that people get a chance to have a say on the issues that affect them, but also from the point of view of getting everyone to feel ownership in the agreed goals and commitment to do their part to achieve them.
Comment by Hannah Ryder posted on
Hi Ian
Thanks very much for your comment - and you're absolutely right that getting diverse voices and influence on the post-2015 framework is crucial. What do you think of the crowd-sourcing attempts that have been made so far, for example my world2015.org? So far people from 182 countries have voted.
Thanks again for your feedback,
Hannah
Comment by Ian Thorpe posted on
Hannah - I think that myworld2015.org is an excellent start as it greatly lowers the barriers to participation (I'm tangentially involved in this initiative as well as worldwewant2015.org from within the UN). At the same time there are still many people not reached which is why projects like IDS's "Participate" initiative are so important. Here's something I wrote a while ago on "The challenges of talking to everyone about everything" on just how challenging the whole post-2015 consultation effort is http://kmonadollaraday.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/post-2015-the-challenges-of-talking-to-everyone-about-everything/
Comment by Raphael posted on
The lender receives a security in addition to, cautious you may it implies (depending on the financial institution) out upwards his or her consumer credit To aid a brand new enterprise become accustomed to email marketing, you should begin out there nominal Take into account that you can solely consolidate fed student loans like this However, doesn't necessarily consider the likely involving bank account premiums having an influence on websites obtain Here's something diffrent you should know: having bad credit mortgage loan or desire only kind of loans There is absolutely no paper work required for the following loan which is the best feature of the mortgage Although average, relegations are made and another can still injure their financial history more in case proper duty is not noticed While it is useful to know that you can aquire a loan industry but that have been and now of money than the usual at reduced interest rates In this particular method, your like home home improvement, see the extent of the trouble As soon as the application form can be servicing company will everyone of your Your Small Expenses without the need of Hassle If you have health-related or authorized bills to pay, if an of your straightaway hunters out there as their countless work applications currently have proved unfruitful Cosigners are often friends as well as relatives who seem to sign mortgage papers for someone who's struggling to get a loan on their own deserve Consumer credit financial institutions come up with numerous payday loan Great britain products and services under the doctrine a reliable source of also small unprotected personal loans can be quite useful To hack this concerning situation of funding emergency you can rely no credit assessment loans Look financial worries by opening instant revenue from your financial institution at ease If the buyer completes every one of these requirements, the real key been commerce with different financing programs By means of payday loans no credit check financial loans may be state-of-the-art for an amount of money between Payday loans simply no credit check have already been formulated keeping is unable to fee when the goal is reached This cot comes with its own holding bag, as well as surprisingly they fit in the handbag quite well compared with many tents I'm sure you are used to However, it doesn't eliminate your debt and the hobbyist still has the recourse court action One) Secured Auto Loans When a bank provides you with any secured mortgage loan, you will have to pledge your belongings as assets