International Association of Economic and Social Councils
and Similar Institutions
(AICESIS)
CONTRIBUTION
TO THE 2015 PLENARY ASSEMBLY
OF THE UN ECOSOC
(UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL)
ON THE THEME
HOW TO ACHIEVE A TRANSMUTATION OF THE
MDGS INTO SDGS THAT COULD LIVE UP WITH
THE EXPECTATIONS OF ALL THE COUNTRIES?
Rapporteur: CNES of Algeria
Second note
EN
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Reminder
During the Board of Directors held in Rabat, Morocco on 10-11 December 2014, Algeria
proposed to lead two working groups that mark the AICESIS participation in the great annual
debates by the ILO and the United Nations ECOSOC;
A first note on the transmutation of the MDGs into SDGs had been issued and sent on 10
February, 2015, introducing both the general structure of the note and the analytical tracks
that should ensure an equitable exercise of such a transmutation.
This second note is edited on the basis of the contributions by UCESIF, Brazil, Guinea and
Mauritania. Basically, those contributions matched perfectly with the doctrinal line of the
proposed document, related to the tracks that could allow the success of such a transmutation.
This is why we considered it appropriate to integrate them in the end of the note as countries’
experiences likely to render more enriching the added value of the AICESIS in the general
multi-level debate on this issue.
Introduction
The year 2015 is on the verge to mark a number of ruptures in the economic and social fields,
both internationally and regionally. On the economic level, it will experiment the start of a
new step in the crisis that the world has been living since 2008, with a light, but yet difficult,
recovery in the economies of the developed countries, after a long recession that lasted for
nearly seven years and the externalities that it induced. This recession has been followed by
an energy crisis, worsening since the second semester of the year 2014, with a negative
impact on the rest of the world, mainly the developing countries. If the crisis is to last longer,
it risks – by extension - to contaminate the great economic powers and produce in fine a
completely uncertain situation.
On the level of human development, this year will mark the reference of many years of global
mobilization for fighting against hunger and poverty, within the framework of the universal
platform of MDGs. Those years during which world countries, namely the poorest ones,
strived hard and went into a true battle against this scourge.
This year will also be transitional for a shift to another vision of development, the one that
will meet the requirement of the sustainability of assets and actions. It concerns the attempt to
bring the agenda of the Millennium Development Goals into the SDGs corpus. The strong
signal that we wanted to deliver in favour of this “merger” consists in the imperious necessity
for all countries of the world, to opt for the same matrix for evaluating development and
submit the latter to the prism of long term sustainability and the preservation of the socioeconomic and environmental assets.
Besides, given the extreme ambition of the new agenda, we cannot help having some
apprehension about the possibility of providing effective and sustained mobilization of
all actors and involved parties, considering the world economic situation that is posing
challenges to all countries, but also with regard to the “inherited” pitfalls of the current
development agenda. Because, if the MDGs’ agenda has been more specifically
designed for poor countries, the new one concerns all world’s countries, including the
induced issues related to the universality of the fixed objectives and the countries’
shared responsibilities.
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This contribution suggests to develop a reflection around this issue which is currently
being debated in UN bodies, associating States, resource persons and specialized
organizations. It is based on opinions expressed in various released documents, and
enriched by the vision of the Algerian Economic and Social Council of which theme
has been, for more than a decade, the leitmotiv of its most remarked works.
It attempts to reconsider the minimal prerequisites able to ensure such a transmutation
of the MDGs into SDGs, without increasing the so-called “outcast” regions, or worsen
the fractures that are prevailing throughout the world.
A brief reminder of the process and assessment of the MDGs
To promote an integrated approach of development and break away from the
hegemony of the GDP per capita, especially under cover of the Amartya Sen theory of
“capabilities”, quantifiable objectives of development were adopted in September
2000 Summit on the Millennium of the United Nations. The eight goals that were
supposed to be reached no later than 2015 consisted in: (I) Eliminating extreme
poverty and hunger; (ii) Providing primary education for all; (iii) Promoting equality
of genders and women’s autonomy; (iv) Reducing infant mortality; (v) Improving
maternal health; (vi) Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (vii)
Providing a sustainable environment; (viii) Setting up a global partnership for
development.
MDGs have then constituted a priority for development policies in all countries of the
world, and soon, this framework revealed to be a strong catalyst for development;
public aid was also identified as an essential lever.
Besides, the assessment of the process of initiating the transmutation of the MDGs into
SDGs, has revealed mixed results for many observers, as all the objectives have not
been reached, and those which have been achieved are still suffering some regional
and sub-national disparities.
Some statistical references, released in the last UNDP report, are very illustrative of
this fact:
The first objective of the MDGs, which consists in reducing by half extreme poverty
in the world during the period between 1990 and 2015 has actually been reached (36%
in 1990 against 18% in 2010). Nevertheless, the situation in Africa is still worrying,
particularly in the Sub-Saharan region where the proportion of individuals living under
the poverty line has just shifted from 56% to 48%. Despite the progress achieved in the
world, there still remain about 842 million persons, i.e. one person out of eight, who
are suffering from chronic hunger. Most of these persons (827 millions) live in
developing regions. Moreover, as regards employment considered as an efficient
means of fighting poverty and creating wealth, many precarious forms continue to
dominate the market activities, as 60% of women and 54% of men declared in 2013 to
have a precarious employment (10% in developed countries). The biggest disparities
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between genders are located in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and
Oceania.
Concerning the objective related to education, the battle for providing to all
children the opportunity to complete their primary education has not been won yet, as
in 2012 the gross enrolment ratio reached only 78% in Sub-Saharan Afrfica (52% in
1990), while this rate increased from 80% to 90% in the developing world. In this
regard, the report of 2014 highlights three obvious facts:
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The half of 58 million children not attending primary school live in zones
affected by conflicts;
More than one child out of four attending primary school in developing
regions will probably leave school;
781 million adult persons and 126 million young persons in the world are
illiterate; more than 60% among them are women.
Infant mortality, which is the fourth objective of the MDGs, even though it has been
reduced to 6 million deaths in the period between 1990 and 2012, remains one of the
major challenges that have not been met yet. Indeed, if the infant mortality rate has
reached significant levels in developed countries (6 for every 1000 in 2012 Vs 15 for
1000 in 1990), in the developing ones, the average rate is 55 for 1000 (99 for 1000 in
1990). Among these, only North African and East Asian countries have been able to
achieve this objective. While maternal deaths have also significantly decreased,
passing from 380 to 210 for 100.000 live births in the world between 1990 and 2013,
there is no region that is likely able to achieve the objective of reducing it by
three/quarters between 1990 and 2015, except, may be, for East Asia. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, the rates are located in a much larger range (990 deaths for 1000 in 1990 to 510
in 2013).
As concerns the HIV/AIDS infection, of which objective was to reverse the trend of
propagation, the incidence rate in 2012 was very high in southern Africa (1,02 for 100
persons aged from 15 to 49 years), by comparison with Latin America (0,03 for 100)
North Africa and East Asia (0,01 for 100).
Concerning the preservation of environmental assets, damage is still continuing:
about 13 million hectares of forests have disappeared in the world, under the combined
effect of natural disasters, urbanization and a large scale expansion of agriculture.
World CO2 emissions reached 32,2 billion metric tons in 2011, i.e. an increase of
48,9% compared with their level in 1990, with a quicker rhythm after 2000 (35% from
2000 to 2011 Vs 10% from 1990 to 2000).
In the same time, the world consumption of ozone depleting substances decreased
more than 98% between 1986 and 2013. Nevertheless, the average emissions per
capita in developed regions remained significantly higher than those in developing
regions (11 metric tons of CO2 in developing regions). This poses the sensitive
problem of equitable sharing of responsibilities.
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The report states that, among other things, deforestation “decreases the biodiversity
and access to clean water, increases soil erosion and carbon emission to the
atmosphere”, rendering thus the problem more complex: the most exposed regions in
the world to an irreversible threshold are North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, West
Asia and South Asia, Caucasia and Central Asia where these rates exceed sometimes
50%.
Basically, we can say that the world would have, in 2000, accessed to the MDG
monitoring framework in a disorganized way in terms of base-line situation, and is
about to engage a Starting Block for post-2015 in a similar unequal situation. The
research works, undertaken by the United Nations, independent researchers and
specialized research centers have revealed the causes that produced those situations. It
can be noticed that most MDGs have been based on merely social results, and could
not thus give enough interest to the factors likely to produce the expected welfare
throughout the world.
Besides, the indicators related to this framework and assessed on the basis of national
averages can surely justify the governments’ records, but fail in hiding inequalities
between regions and population categories. In a word, the difficulties to translate
global objectives into specific national ones, and therefore into action programs, have
provided generated a greater influence to the donors on national policies.
Thus, we are witnessing today two concomitant situations: the first one promises
renewal, and the second acts as a brake. On the one hand, persisting poverty with all
its forms and deepening inequalities between and within countries are a handicap to
any initiative to go ahead, and on the other hand the emergence of new contexts
encouraging the convergence toward a sustainable development gives the hope of a
more equitable world framework.
In terms of security and stability, which are a key element in any development process,
the world is experiencing during these last years a disturbing increase of violence,
sometimes presented under the banner of democratic revolutions, claims for the right
of freedom, and sometimes under the cover of economic crises working for the
reconfiguration of the geopolitical world map. The same is true for situations of
violations of human rights, namely in terms of freedoms, in many places of the world,
while the latter is about to reach a qualitative higher degree for assessing its own
development.
Premises of a new development agenda to 2030
During the two last years, two parallel conceptual processes have emerged within the
context of global discussions about the new post-2015 development framework. The
first one consists of a work plan implemented by the United Nations in order to
achieve a new post-2015 framework for the MDGs, including the post-2015 Special
Team of the United Nations System and the High-level Panel of Eminent Personalities.
The second one is related to the Rio+20 conclusions, and more particularly the
working group of the United Nations General Assembly on the Sustainable
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Development Goals. The AICESIS contribution to this initiative was a remarkable
one, especially through the report prepared by the working group with the title:
“Further steps to achieve sustainable development through green economy”.
In its conclusions, the working group identified the main objectives consisting in the
“eradication of poverty, the modifying of non-sustainable patterns of consumption and
production, followed by the promotion of sustainable patterns and the protection and
management of basic natural resources necessary to the social economic
development”. It also enhances the necessity to “[…] take into account the
intergenerational equity in terms of access to resources so that today’s decisions will
not harm the future generations”. The High-level Panel of Eminent Personalities
insisted in its report on the fact that the post-2015 development agenda should be
“focused both on populations and the state of the planet”.
Hence, even though they are separate, these two processes have recognized the
intrinsic link of interdependence between poverty and sustainable development,
advocating thus for the fusion of both processes and the creation of a single
development agenda. A first list of the objectives assigned to the new development
agenda has been established. This list highlights a profusion of objectives in
comparison with the current MDG framework (from 8 objectives to 17), more than a
hundred targets and three hundred indicators:
1. Put an end to poverty in all its forms and everywhere.
2. Put an end to hunger, ensure food security and adequate nutrition for all, and
promote sustainable agriculture;
3. Reach a healthy living for all people of all ages;
4. Provide equitable and inclusive quality teaching and opportunities for lifelong
learning.
5. Achieve gender equality, women’s and girls’ empowerment everywhere;
6. Provide water and sanitation for all, for a sustainable world;
7. Ensure access to energy services for all, that are modern, affordable, sustainable
and reliable;
8. Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all;
9. Promote sustainable industrialization;
10. Reduce inequalities between and within the countries;
11. Build cities and human settlements that should be inclusive, safe and
sustainable;
12. Promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production;
13. Promote actions at all levels to fight climate change;
14. Manage to achieve a conservation and a sustainable use of the marine resources,
seas and oceans;
15. Protect and restore the terrestrial ecosystems and put an end to the biodiversity
loss;
16. Manage to set up efficient societies, legal systems, institutions, in peace and
inclusive;
17. Foster and improve the means of implementation and world partnership for a
sustainable development.
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Key elements to achieve the transmutation of MDGs into SDGs
In reference to the context briefly described above, it seems particularly sensitive to
open up new horizons for the world development while we have inherited a situation
full of cumbersome issues which have not been resolved yet. Otherwise, how can we
succeed in achieving the expected transformations in the patterns of “consumption,
production, protection and management of the natural resources underlying the
economic and social development” if we start up with the same actors and operate in
the same ways of intervention?
Consequently, it becomes obvious that the MDG agenda needs a thorough review on
the paradigmatic plan so that we can take into account the new contexts and be able to
meet the new demands conveyed, especially, by the new technologies of information
and communication. However, for all the reasons above mentioned, without a
complete revision of the way in which the international community’s commitments are
implemented, particularly toward the territories with numerous risks and
vulnerabilities, it will be difficult, even impossible, to project a new vision of
development that is supposed to be fair, and supported by more demanding criteria.
This would probably widen more the gap between the different regions of the world.
On this matter, issues related to governance and finance are essential; they are at the
core of any strategy of development. These issues have become significant for both
developed and developing countries. Concerning the financial aspect, as an example,
the public aid for development which reached 134,8 billion dollars in 2013, is less and
less aimed at the poorest countries (LDCs) which receive only the third of it. In terms
of consistency, the net bilateral aid for Africa where are located 34 from the 48 LDCs,
decreased to 56% in 2013! The same report predicts for the next few years the
possibility of an additional “[…] 5% continued decline in the country programmable
aid (CPA) for LDCs and low income countries, particularly in Africa”.
This shift of interest for the benefit of the middle income countries at the expense of
the least developed ones could be explained by the translation caused by the extreme
poverty that is substantially concentrated in those countries. New forms of aid could be
granted in the medium term; they would be based on “low interest loans”.
Beyond the symbolic nature of global solidarity contained in the principle of the
international mutual aid, such as it is explicitly conceived as regards Goal 8 of the
MDGs, and renewed as such in goal 17 of the new project, this principle carries a
compelling meaning that is justified by the fact that the economic, food or climate
crises when they happen, question the improvement of populations’ welfare and affect
in a structural way the sustainable development of all countries. The evidence of this is
the difficulty that faced the progress achieved in the world and caused by the world
economic crisis in 2008, and the precarious situations worsened by the demographic
growth, increase of inequalities, reduction of natural resources and climate change.
Moreover, despite all the controversy on the nature of the links that could exist
between a sustainable economic growth and the reduction of inequities, the latter
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should be detected by the radar that the new agenda is planning to set up in order to
account for progress achieved by societies, because it is the guarantor of stability and
balance in societies. Taking into account the concept of equity needs inevitably the
coordination of actors and a fair distribution of charges and responsibilities at the core
of development strategies.
This new agenda would be more relevant in a context of resource scarcity if the
principles of solidarity, knowledge sharing, structural transformation of international
trade so as to hand over market shares to weaker economies, and finally support to the
diversification of the weaker economies and the so-called extractive economies, were
massively supported by the international community.
In this spirit, some lines of thought can be more deeply explored with the aim to set up
the basic core that could provide the whole planet with a serene shift to SDGs:
a) Support the main levers able to reduce the gaps existing between the major
world regions, namely:
- integrating the cultural dimension in the projects of development; this
could play a leading role in mobilizing the different actors;
- developing national statistical tools and systems necessary to monitor
efficiently the progress and assess its impacts, and;
- speeding up the digital connection throughout the world, particularly in
Africa.
b) Place peace, security and integrity of sovereign territories above any interest
or consideration of development;
c) Reinforce the public aid for development by giving priority to projects based
on equity and local initiative capacities, including public and private actors and
civil society;
d) Reconcile economic growth and equity of access to development:
- Support for the creation of spaces for monitoring and orienting public
policies;
- Support for acquiring tools helping to produce evidence concerning
public policies’ impacts;
- Strengthening human capacities in the fields related to inclusive
development;
e) Support the combination of efforts made by national and local-regional actors
likely to serve stakes of equitable sustainable development:
- Support the strengthening of the participative democracy and the role of
women and youth in development;
- Instill further the values/principles of dialogue and exchange with the
dynamic forces of the society.
Raised in such a way, the problem has no relation with the relevance of the decision
consisting of reviewing the global framework of development after 2015; in contrast, it
requires adequate tools, mechanisms and processes that would allow the achievement
of this transmutation in an optimal way, taking into account the contexts and
difficulties inherent to the current MDGs agenda.
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Such is, in essence, the problem facing today States and institutions representative of
development issues. These are introductory elements, supported by opinions contained
in the various consulted references, that should quite logically form the basis designed
to contribute to the conception of the next framework of sustainable development.
Contributions by ESCs – Sis
Union of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions of the Francophonie Member
States and Governments
The contribution by the Economic and Social Councils, members of the UCESIF, to
the benefit of the ECOSOC working group, consists of a note dated on 3rd October,
2014, introducing a comparison between the Social Charter adopted on 17th December,
2012, in Rabat (Morocco) and “the first United Nations proposals to define the
Sustainable Development Goals for post 2015”. As a result of this overlapping, the
UCESIF expressed its approval of the proposals suggested by the United Nations
working group during its meeting held on 19th July 2014, namely about the 17 Goals
and their associate targets.
However, such a review revealed that “a number of operational goals identified by the
Economic and Social Councils members of UCESIF in their Social Charter, even if
they are consistent with the SDGs, do not seem to have been taken into account
specifically by the open working group set up by the United Nations” and of which an
extract is given hereafter:
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The right to continuing education which is one of the prerequisites for
securing the professional careers, including in developing countries where
training for all ages is an important means to fight poverty and exclusion.
- The right to enterprising which is a key element for economic growth in
developing countries where legal standards are often ill-adapted to the
needs of companies facing international competition.
- The right of intellectual property without which the risk taken by artists and
researchers will not be sufficiently rewarded, and consequently could not
lead to important achievements in the scientific and cultural fields.
Freedom and union right, founding principle of any society where the workers
are represented in economic, social and political decision making.
The social responsibility of organizations that makes it possible to integrate all
dimensions of sustainable development within the economic strategies
implemented by companies, which would become actors in the social welfare.
The promotion and protection of the associative action, namely through
improving the legal and regulatory framework, and enables the creation of
intermediate bodies within which the citizens of a Nation can express
themselves and act collectively.
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Regionalize the elaboration and administration of the social development which
is conditioned by the integration of the principle of subsidiarity, execution and
assessment of policies, and which makes it possible to involve all the local
actors in the collective effort for sustainable development.
4.2 Economic and Social Development Council (CDES) – Brazil:
The note by the CDES contains two experiences related to the present subject
consisting of (i) its participation/contribution to the United Nations Conference on
sustainable development (Rio+20); and (ii) the conclusions of the 8th Round Table of
the European Economic and Social Committee (CESE) with the civil society of Brazil
(CDES). The Round Table was dedicated to the debate on the post-2015 agenda and
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
a) The agreement for sustainable development dedicates the will of the civil
society to participate to the Rio+20 Conference and produce a joint proposal
with the Brazilian Government, preparing a political/strategic position
regarding the discussed topics in view of future actions. No less than sixty six
social, environmental and entrepreneurial institutions signed the agreement and
recognized the importance of coordinating world efforts towards sustainability.
b) Round Table on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) : European
Union / Brazil : This round table is a permanent space of dialogue and
cooperation established in 2007 between the civil society of Brazil and the
European Union (EU). The 8th Session of this Round Table, held in Brasilia on
the 15th and 16th September 2014, adopted a series of joint
observations/recommendations which state:
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The problem consisting in putting an end to poverty should be addressed from a
perspective of equality, i.e. active policies, including social protection policy,
are essential;
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Call for constant participation of the civil society in the deliberations that will
continue to take place around the MDGs within the next year and its effective
contribution in monitoring and assessing these goals in the future.
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Realize the necessity to include the goals related to the social rights,
particularly the goals on reduction of poverty, full productive employment and
decent work, as well as reduction of inequalities;
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Consider as essential the inclusion of the goal on equality of genders and
welcome the renewed interest in healthcare and welfare, inclusive and equitable
education, as they are considered to be the pillars supporting sustainable
development.
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The importance of promoting and developing sustainable patterns of production
and consumption through inclusive value chains (concerning technology,
logistics and access to information) both between small and big companies, as
well as between countries with different levels of development;
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The necessity to have an equitable process of transition towards a new pattern
of development, that is more inclusive and sustainable which has the capacity
to protect employment and the rights of workers;
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Reaffirm the strategic role of States and public resources in the achievement of
MDGs, stressing the importance of the public sector in the creation of jobs and
its role in the financing instruments, such as public-private partnerships;
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Recognition of the necessity to provide a large variety of means to implement
the SDGs, including national and international resources, international
commerce, the private sector, capacity building and technological cooperation.
Public aid for development should continue to play a major role with respect to
the goals, without prejudice to the other complementary measures.
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Recognition of the need for reforming the international financial institutions, so
that they may be better represented and their action as actors in cooperation and
development could be strengthened.
Economic and Social Council (ESC) – Guinea:
As regards Guinea, the MDGs still remain a powerful tool for assessing the progress
achieved throughout the world, despite the contrasting results within different regions.
With respect to the note, it stated its full support to the analysis suggested by Algeria.
A national report on the Millennium Development Goals drafted by the Republic of
Guinea in 2015, states that, globally, the opportunities to achieve the MDGs in 2015
have significantly been eroded. While the initial trends were in favor for the MDGs 2,
3, 5 and 6, none of these goals seems to be achievable today.
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Consultations about the post-2015 development agenda and priorities of development
in Guinea have been achieved. These consultations made it possible to form a
consensus on pursuing the objectives set in the former framework and bring about
improvements.
The priorities of development set for medium and long run are based on four pillars:
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Improving governance, peace and security;
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Accelerating and diversifying the economy;
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Developing the social and human capital sectors;
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Preservation of the environment and resilience to climate change
National Economic and Social Council of Algeria (CNES):
The National Economic and Social Council of Algeria, in cooperation with its partner,
the UNDP Algeria, organized to the benefit of the Maghreb countries and those of the
Sahel-Saharan space, a high level international Symposium, under the title: “Human
development and the welfare society in terms of the post-2015 agenda”, on 9th and 10th
June 2014, in Algiers.
The participants discussed, on the basis of their respective experiences, the opportunity
of renewing the concept of human development, and therefore achieve a greater
synergy between the involved parties about the goals and assessment of human
development, both on national and international levels, with a view to operate a
transmutation of MDGs into SDGs in the post-2015 agenda.
Experts from Human Development Report Office (HDRO) and from different
institutions of the United Nations System having authority to elaborate Human
Development Indices (UN Population and Statistics Divisions, ILO, FAO, UNFPA,
WHO, UN Women, UNAIDS, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF), have also
been invited to give comments and clarify their ideas on the theoretical and practical
aspects for elaborating human development indices.
In conclusion, a common declaration was unanimously adopted of which founding
principles:
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Support the necessity to learn from and capitalize on the experience of the
Millennium Development Goals conducted in the last 15 years;
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Call for States to fully play their role of leadership and coordination in
development;
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Reaffirm the necessity to set up the new project around a more efficient system
of governance, based particularly on the respect of human rights;
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Recognize the need to move toward an inclusive sustainable development,
focusing on the welfare and eliminating the structural causes of inequality and
inequity in all its forms (intergenerational, inter-category, inter-gender,
interregional) relying on a qualitative growth;
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Support the necessity to promote a regional, continental and international
solidarity, with a shared but differentiated responsibility;
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Call for consolidating the role of the organized civil society in the process of
human development and its effective participation in developing the principles
and world decision-making;
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Recall the major importance of paying more attention to the climate change
issue and its impact on the environment and world economies.
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