Monday, January 23, 2017

Global Push To Achieve SDGs Vision and Words with Action Agenda 36

ISPE       EAG
INTERATIONAL SOCIETY FOR POVERTY ELIMINATION                   ECONOMIC ALLIANCE GROUP

COMMENTS ON 10th DCF Newsletter
                                                       
Introduction

The 10th edition of the DCF periodical January 2017 covers topics through relevant events and reports of the previous months and looks ahead to upcoming DCF engagement. The topics include: -
  1. Development Cooperation Forum, Fifth Biennial High level Meeting – New York, 21-22 July 2016
  2. Trends and Progress in International Development Cooperation
  3. 2015/2016 DCF Global Accountability Survey
  4. DCF Side Event on Parliaments and Accountability at the GPEDC HLM2
  5. South-South Cooperation to increase efforts on climate change
  6. Blended financing and Public-Private Partnerships for the SDGs
  7. Blended Finance in the SDG Era, UNDESA technical workshop and DCF side event
  8. Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development Meeting on the Follow-up to Commitments in the Addis Ababa Agenda on Public-Private Partnerships
  9. Adapting the United Nations development system to the 2030 Agenda – the “QCPR process”
  10.  DCF analysis and outreach on international development cooperation – looking ahead

The DCF Newsletter is a very important Publication and its Stories aimed at improving Stakeholders Awareness and Public Education is timely and productive. This Commentary has been prepared by International Society for Poverty Elimination, ISPE / Economic Alliance Group, EAG in response to UNDESA invitation to the range of Development Cooperation Actors, welcoming feedback and suggestions for its work in support of DCF, including answers to two specific questions:-
  1. Are there any key issues or challenges in development cooperation with which you feel the DCF could more actively engage in its action-oriented policy debates?
  2. What improvements can the DCF can make as a global multi-stakeholder forum to deepen the discussions and strengthen their impact?

Development Cooperation Forum, Fifth Biennial High level Meeting – New York, 21-22 July 2016

The Official Summary presents the key messages and policy recommendations of the Forum on:-
(i)                 development cooperation in the 2030 Agenda and Addis Agenda;
(ii)   aligning development cooperation to support national sustainable development strategies;
(iii) bridging capacity gaps and facilitating technology development and transfer;
(iv)   strengthening the contribution of South-South cooperation to sustainable development;  
(v)    engaging the private sector in development cooperation; and
(vi)  strengthening monitoring and review of development cooperation for better sustainable development results.

The Overarching Key Message was; Development cooperation as lever for effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Other Key Messages were:-
  1. The 2016 Development Cooperation Forum brought a multi-stakeholder embrace of the broad concept of development cooperation reflected in the 2030 and Addis Agendas, encompassing financial resources, capacity building, technology development and transfer, policy change and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
  2. The Forum heightened the urgency to put, into our daily practice, a transformative focus on sustainable development results, putting the furthest behind first and adapting institutions and policies in support of priorities and systems in developing countries.
  3. It called for much more context specific information on development cooperation needs, policies and best practices.
  4. The Forum integrated an emphasis throughout the discussions on science, technology and innovation, climate change and resilience building.
  5. The DCF advanced discussions on the prioritization and more effective use of ODA and its unique role within the global partnership for sustainable development. Participants called for strengthened efforts by the United Nations to support Southern partners to enhance the evidence base on achieving sustainable development results.
  6. The Forum brought new emphasis to improving the evidence base on engaging the private sector in development cooperation, as a way to make a step change in knowledge sharing and mutual learning, as well as trust building in this area.
  7. The DCF identified tremendous capacity gaps and new opportunities in strengthening the qualitative dimension of multi-layered monitoring and accountability systems for development cooperation.
  8. The Forum called for mainstreaming inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnerships and bottom-up approaches in all forms of development cooperation.
  9. The biennial high-level meeting, and its extensive preparatory process, showed how the DCF enables open, candid, critical and action-oriented dialogue among all actors in development cooperation, generating concrete policy guidance under the 2030 and Addis Agendas.

Comments
  1. The Forum identified the fact that all Countries – North and South need to grapple with the Challenges of Implementation and Evaluation of the 2030 Agenda, yet practical Implementation of 2030 Agenda suggest that only South Countries face Challenges of Implementation and Evaluation of the 2030 Agenda.
  2. The Forum identified the need for Comprehensive Approach; Results Focused, Evidenced Based and Inclusive Approaches; Programmes Based Approaches;  Rethinking Approach to sustainable value creation and better “business diplomacy”, by aligning their businesses with priorities of the societies in which they operate; integrated approaches; whole-of-government and whole-of society approaches and these call for One Worldwide Common and Systemic Approach that is a Generic Approach that could be adapted to meet the unique and specific needs of each Location / Entity Context yet UN Member States; UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF; CCSOs/NGOs; Private Sector; Academics and Researchers and Internal Consultants and External Consultants continue deploying Multiple Approaches in a bid to avoid One Cap Fit All.

As long as a One Worldwide Common and Systemic Approach is not speedily selected, achieving 2030 Agenda Vision Ambitions will be uphill task. There is only One Worldwide Common and Systemic Approach that is sufficiently All Inclusive, All Embracing and Ambitions to effectively support Design and Delivery of 2030 Agenda Policy, Program, Project Interventions, 3PIs and 3PIs Training as One from Community to Global levels. Should this be rejected then Global Stakeholders need to grapple with the Intellectual Challenge of creating a One Worldwide Common and Systemic Approach that is sufficiently All Inclusive, All Embracing and Ambitious to effectively support achieving 2030 Agenda Vision Ambitions in each Community in each UN Member State.
3.      The 2016 Development Cooperation Forum has heightened the urgency to put, into daily practice, a transformative focus on sustainable development results, putting the furthest behind first and adapting institutions and policies in support of priorities and systems in developing countries. Development cooperation can promote coherence among different development agendas and activities, facilitate inclusive cross-sector partnerships and provide capacity support for policy coherence for sustainable development. This includes ensuring better linkages between development cooperation and humanitarian assistance and promoting systematic investment in building the resilience of countries and communities. There is a need for Community to Global Leaders to Jointly and Individually demonstrate this urgency as well as the transformative focus and better linkages.
4.     The Forum called on Community to Global Leaders to recognize that they must stoke a shared sense of urgency to take possible actions immediately towards the SDGs, that there is no time to search for perfect solutions. The Forum called on the Economic and Social Council, including the Development Cooperation Forum, to provide clear direction and leadership for the United Nations Development System and beyond to help create and regear incentive schemes, within which synergy and collaboration are rewarded and unprofitable competition is avoided. There is need to recognize that the UN System is not the UNO System but the UNO, WBG and IMF Systems on one hand and not just the Development System but the Development System, Humanitarian System and Peace and Security System on the other hand.

Trends and Progress in International Development Cooperation

In accordance with General Assembly resolutions 61/16 and 68/1, the Secretary-General submitted for consideration by the Development Cooperation Forum, in advance of its fifth biennial high-level meeting in New York on 21 and 22 July 2016, a Report building on a two-year preparatory process.

Section I is an introduction to the report and its conceptual framing of development cooperation, encompassing financial resources, capacity-building, technology development and transfer, policy change and multi-stakeholder partnerships. From the perspective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

Section II covers recent trends in development cooperation flows; special attention is paid to improving the targeting and allocation of official development assistance (ODA); aligning cooperation and the rapid evolution of South-South cooperation.

Section III discusses the adjustments needed for development cooperation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and what effective development cooperation means in implementing the Goals.

Section IV addresses the distinctive and mutually reinforcing roles of the different layers — local, national, regional and global — of monitoring, review and accountability of development commitments under the 2030 Agenda.

Section V highlights key recommendations and conclusions.

Comment

This UNSG Report like other UNSG Reports has many good ideas and pertinent suggestions that UN Member States need to consider their full implementation as well as the effective monitoring and evaluation of this implementation. It is pertinent to note that these UNSG Reports essentially address What questions while avoiding or evading answer to How questions especially DOING of How. There is urgent need to work out answer to How questions including DOING of How of all existing UNSG Reports as well as ensure that all future UNSG Reports provide answer to How questions including DOING of How.

2015/2016 DCF Global Accountability Survey

Against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda, the 2015/2016 DCF Global Accountability survey supports the efforts of developing countries and their partners to strengthen ‘mutual accountability’ in development cooperation and enhance transparency of information. The biennial survey, undertaken for the DCF since 2009 by the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), monitors, reviews and documents the evidence on the state of play in effectiveness of development cooperation on the ground in the responding countries. The responses are assessed in comprehensive studies that encourage multi-stakeholder learning and inform regional and global monitoring and review of the 2030 Agenda and Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development.
Comment
58 South Countries participated in this 4th Survey. There is a need to ensure that all North and South Countries participate in future Surveys; that all North and South Countries revert to Original Paris Declaration, PD Vision in the Implementation and Evaluation of Bussan Declaration, BD and that specific Challenges identified in the Report are effectively tackled by concerned Community to Global Stakeholders.
DCF Side Event on Parliaments and Accountability at the GPEDC HLM2

Held in Nairobi on 30 November, alongside the second high-level meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, HLM2 the DCF Side Event focused on “The Role of Parliamentarians and Public in Strengthening Accountability in Development Cooperation: Key Steps to Move Forward”. The event advanced the discussion on the reasons and possible solutions for the lack of participation by parliamentarians in development cooperation processes. Co-organized by UNDESA, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA), the side event built on the recommendations of the fourth DCF Global Accountability Survey and the multi-stakeholder discussions in the Development Cooperation Forum. The DCF provides a major platform through which Parliamentarians engage directly in the global follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and Addis Agenda, including to identify critical capacity gaps and generate concrete guidance for policy makers and practitioners at all levels.

Comment

The HLM2 NOD (Nairobi Outcome Document) is a very important Development Cooperation Document. However, like past Conferences and Meetings Outcome Documents, it is Vision and Words without Action. There is urgent need to convert the HLM2 NOD into Vision and Words with Action.

Two specific questions:-
  1. Are there any key issues or challenges in development cooperation with which you feel the DCF could more actively engage in its action-oriented policy debates?
Answer
There is urgent need for DCF to address the issue of converting Study Reports; Conferences and Meetings Outcome Documents from Vision and Words without Action into Vision and Words with Action; that is ensure that these Reports / Outcome Documents move from answering What questions to also answering How questions including DOING of How.

  1. What improvements can the DCF can make as a global multi-stakeholder forum to deepen the discussions and strengthen their impact?
Answer
The GPEDC and DCF seem to be duplicating activities. There is a need to streamline the activities of DCF and GPEDC to avoid such duplication. We suggest that DCF serve as Global Central Coordinating MSP for 2030 Agenda, while GPEDC serve as Global Accountability MSP and other Global Platforms are established, such as Global Platforms focused on Food, Agriculture and Nutrition; Climate Change and Environment; Humanitarian; Development; Peace and Security; Corruption and Grievances and Complaints.


Please find our General Comments on this DCF Newsletter:


One Worldwide Approach
The 2030 Agenda is for all North and South Countries and is an All Inclusive, All Embracing and Ambitious Agenda that require complimentary All Inclusive, All Embracing and Ambitious Approach with clear Principles, Instruments / Tools corresponding to each Principle, Practices and Database. 3PCM One Worldwide Approach for Benefits Focused National and International Development Cooperation meets this criteria. As long as Community to Global Leaders continue with Multiple Approaches, it will be uphill task achieving 2030 Agenda by target date.

Supporting Documents





General Agreement on Definition and Standards

The increasing poverty levels in Nigeria, Africa, UK, Europe, US and World is a Scar on the Conscience of Researchers in Top Universities across the World, particularly in G8 Countries. To remove this Scar, Researchers, Scientists, Professionals and Practitioners need to shift focus away from academic research aimed at advancing the frontiers of knowledge to development research aimed at achieving significant increases in critical measures of quality, service, speed, costs and where applicable revenue. To achieve this, there is a need for all relevant Stakeholders to have common agreement on the definition of Advocacy, True Development, Development Research, Goals, Targets, Indicators, and Standards etc.

We suggest: Advocacy is the set of strategies and activities designed and delivered to influence: specific government, particularly the executive and legislative arms, in a specific country (for example Local Government, State Government or National Government in Nigeria and equivalent in other Countries) or specific Political Grouping of Countries, including the legislative arm where it exists, in a specific Sub-region e.g. ECOWAS; Region / Continent e.g. Africa Union; Global / World e.g. G20, Commonwealth to take particular decision, fully implement the decision and effectively monitor and evaluate the implementation to ensure increasing convergence between decision intention and reality.
Advocacy is the set of strategies and activities designed and delivered to influence: specific individual, institution or society to move from an undesired state to a desired state and to remain in this desired state. Should realities on the ground demand that the desired state be changed to a more desired state, this will be done on continuing basis.
True Development must mean the development of man – the unfolding and realization of his creative potential enabling him to improve his material conditions and living through the use of resources available to him. It is a process by which man’s personality is enhanced and it is that enhanced personality – creative, organized and disciplined which is the MOVING FORCE behind the socio economic TRANSFORMATION of Society. It is clear that development does not start with goods and things, it starts with people, their orientation, organization and discipline. When the accent on development is on things, all human resources remain latent, untapped potential and a Society can be poor amidst the most opulent of material resources. On the contrary, where a Society is properly oriented, organized and disciplined, it can be prosperous on the scantiest basis of natural wealth.

For Development to qualify as True Development, it must be all round, well balanced, progressive and self sustaining: all individual aspects must be mutually reinforcing. True Development has to be multi sectoral, multi disciplinary and multi dimensional. True Development is much more than provision of road, electricity, water, communication facilities, education and health facilities among others; however important all these may be. True Development must include the exploitation of all available resources for the maximum good, vast improvement in a peoples’ self reliance and self reassurance in their creative and managerial ability, in their productivity and production, particularly of the goods and services needed by the majority to improve the quality of their lives; vast and rapid qualitative and quantitative improvement in their individual and collective security and welfare and in their socio cultural and socio political development in the installation of a more democratic, egalitarian, civil and civilized society amongst others.

True Development must embrace every aspect of a peoples’ life – political, economic, social. The reason is that these are interconnected and interdependent. An Individual cannot want to move forward economically without first of all having the political base for moving forward economically. An Individual cannot want to move forward socially without having the political and economic base to move forward socially. So if the relevant authorities – national and international, pay attention to one while leaving the other, these authorities will be deceiving themselves while increasing the avoidable pain and misery of these Individuals, with ultimate catastrophic consequences for Citizens in both Rich and Poor Countries in our World today.

Development Research - Turning Researchers into Policy / Program Entrepreneurs or Monitoring and Evaluation Entrepreneurs and turning Research Institutions into Policy / Program focused Think Tank or Monitoring and Evaluation focused Think Tank is not easy because it involves fundamental re-orientation, organization and discipline towards Policy / Program engagement or Monitoring and Evaluation engagement, rather than academic achievement; engaging much more vigorously with Policy / Program Community or Monitoring and  Evaluation Community; Developing a Research Agenda focusing on Policy / Program or Monitoring and Evaluation issues rather than academic interests; acquiring new skills or building multidisciplinary teams; establishing new internal systems and incentives and spending much more on Communicating effectively with all stakeholders – family, community, business, banks, governments and international community. This should include Dialogue before, during and after the Research itself; producing appropriate Communication for Development Change, Economic Change, Social Change and Cultural Change products for each audience, at the right time and working more in effective partnerships – networks, coalitions and consortia. It also involves looking at a radically different funding model. For example, one that restores, the lost glory of cooperatives. To effectively influence Policy / Program or Monitoring and Evaluation Decision Makers in all concerned stakeholder communities; Researchers need additional skills. They need to be politically influential, able to understand the politics, the economics, the sociology and culture and the time and identify the key players. They need to be good storytellers; to synergize simple compelling stories from results of the research (not spin doctors who publicize falsehood). They need to be good networkers; to work effectively with all other concerned stakeholders and they need to be good social engineers to build Shared Vision initiatives that pulls all of these together or they need to work on multidisciplinary teams with others who have these necessary skills. This feature of the ISPE/EAG New End Hunger and Poverty, NEHAP Model / NEHAP Initiative helps to achieve this and much more.

We can also share our suggestions on common definition of goals, targets, indicators and Standards etc’.
Pilot Program and Scale Up Program

The Best way to Learn to Swim is to get into the Swimming Pool. The Best way to Test the Good Ideas and Pertinent Suggestions UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF Team would harvest from Global Consultations is to start immediately Pilot Programs and Scale Up Programs.



Way Forward

Innovation and Creativity are Keys as we face Community to Global Challenges of Modernization and Climate Change in the 21st Century.

The correct answers to 2030 Agenda How questions could be found first, in selecting One Worldwide Approach, and second in establishing Pilot Programs to test good ideas and pertinent suggestions harvested from Global Consultations and Scale Up Programs at Community, National, Regional and Global levels for ideas and suggestions that Pilot Programs identify as Working.

As long as Community to Global Stakeholders continue to use multiple, sometimes divergent Approaches and as long as ideas and suggestions cannot be tested to determine what works and how it could be expanded and what is not working and how it could be corrected, it would be uphill task achieving increasing convergence between 2030 Agenda Vision Intention and Reality.

Conclusion

In the work towards achieving the 2030 Agenda Vision ambitions by Target date, fundamental issues that ought to have been settled by end 1st quarter 2015, that is, 6 months before World Leaders endorsed the historic document are still outstanding in 1st month of 1st  quarter 2017, that is, 16 months after the SDGs have been endorsed. 

The QCPR Paragraph 19 requests UNSG to ensure that specific Reviews are completed by end 2nd quarter 2017. There is no evidence that this work has started as January 2017 is racing to an end. This underlines the urgent need for UN Member States, UN System: UNO, WBG and IMF and Partners to demonstrate and be seen to demonstrate genuine commitment towards addressing the serious issues of serious business demanding their serious attention raised in this Paper and supporting Papers.

There is a need to more seriously address World Problems of Hunger, Poverty, Insecurity, Terrorism, Climate Change, Migration and this underline the need to ensure that Brexit is Force for Good. A renewed approach towards Design and Delivery of 2030 Agenda Vision in both North and South Countries through improving North North, South South and North South Cooperation could deliver WIN WIN to all Community to Global Stakeholders.

In the work towards tackling these World Problems from Community to Global levels, UN Member States are looking up to the UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF for practical help and support but UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF themselves need help before they can provide UN Member States with the needed practical help and support. 2016 DCF and 2015/2016 DCF Accountability Survey highlight issues that Stakeholders need to address and on time.


There are Bright Prospects of Success, should DCF, ECOSOC, UNDESA as well as UN Member States; UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF; CSOs/NGOs; Private Sector; Academics and Researchers’ Internal and External Consultants be each genuinely committed to contributing its quota towards achieving 2030 Agenda Vision Intention and Reality across our World.

Contact:

Director General
International Society for Poverty Elimination /
Economic Alliance Group
Akure – Nigeria, West – Africa.
M: +234-8162469805

Email: nehap.initiative@yahoo.co.uk                                            23 January 2017.