Blog Contributor:
Erin Thornton
May 2nd, 2011 3:28 PM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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It’s a funny thing to be back on the pages of ONE. I spent eight amazing years as ONE’s policy director and was fortunate enough to learn so much about development and what it really takes to make an impact in that time. With ONE, I got to work on the various elements of development that all must work in concert to truly alleviate poverty — whether those be on specific health interventions, improved access to education, basic food and water and of course, those difficult-to-describe but incredibly important investments in improved governance and economic growth.
Lightness and Christy Turlington Burns
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Aug 3rd, 2010 9:12 AM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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On Friday, the Obama Administration unveiled the United States’ plan for meeting the Millennium Development Goals, eight ambitious targets aimed at reducing global poverty and disease by 2015.
Entitled Celebrate, Innovate and Sustain: Towards 2015 and Beyond, the strategy is the first official document to articulate the US approach towards the MDGs. It does so from a unique angle. To underscore the interconnectedness of the MDGs and the need for a comprehensive approach to achieve them, instead of cataloguing inputs to each of the eight individual goals, it lays out four overarching imperatives to guide US development policy broadly – leveraging innovation, investing in sustainability, tracking development outcomes (not just dollars) and enhancing the principle and practice of mutual accountability.
The strategy also outlines the elements critical to achieving these principles, many of which have been tested across a variety of US development programs over the past decade and are included in ONE’s recommendations to all member states ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting to review the MDGs. For example, the plan identifies good governance and broad-based economic growth as critical to achieving sustainable poverty reduction and preserving development gains already achieved. Investing in local capacity to strengthen service delivery is also included as a key component of sustainability, as is the empowerment of women and girls and the mainstreaming of gender into core development efforts. The strategy also has a welcome focus on results and accountability. It calls for a “relentless commitment to impact” through enhanced monitoring and evaluation and strengthened data collection capacity, and acknowledges the gaps between rhetoric and action on donors and partner country efforts to improve aid effectiveness.
With less than two months left before the UN meeting, the US has now taken the first step towards providing leadership in New York. However, a successful outcome in September – with a global, results-oriented action plan for 2010 to 2015 – will require some more details on how this plan will become a reality. The US has now articulated a solid set of principles to guide its efforts to fight poverty – something that has been missing in US development policy to date. To fully deliver on President Obama’s pledge to come to this year’s UN summit with a global plan to make the MDGs a reality, the next step will be to work with partners to turn these principles into a globally agreed strategy.
To do this, the US should first clarify how its four principles – innovation, sustainability, tracking development outcomes and mutual accountability – will complement other countries’ efforts to meet the MDGs and feed into the global plan that is adopted in September. All countries will be coming to the UN in September with their own strategies and commitments to achieve the MDGs. It is critical that these are bound together into a comprehensive package so that all actors can be held accountable to their commitments after September.
Second, the strategy says that across its development agencies the US will “retain, improve, and, when appropriate, also expand development-related activities that further these four imperatives.” Further details on this – including a clear timeline, process, and metrics for success – are critical to ensuring that the strategy is implemented.
Finally, as the Administration begins to develop a plan for implementation, it also needs to provide clarity on how this new strategy will fit into ongoing efforts to reform US development policy – including the Administration’s Presidential Study Directive and Congress’s rewrite of the Foreign Assistance Act. Coordination across the US government will ensure that all US development tools are maximized and that any new strategy is elevated as a cornerstone of US foreign policy for the long-term.
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Jun 25th, 2010 12:13 PM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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Cross-posted from the Huffington Post:
A promise is a promise.
Or is it? Is it really a promise if it’s not legally binding? Or if not everyone really meant it?
It’s hard to know, and advocates would argue that when it comes to promises made to the world’s poorest people, it doesn’t matter — there are no acceptable escape clauses and the letter of the commitment should be delivered. But the art of promise-making has evolved, and there are now some crafty ways to sound supportive without actually being committed. International summits like those held annually by the G8 have been littered with some in the past several years.
Ultimately, crafty language may earn some golf-applause, but if no real results are delivered for the world’s poor, then what’s the point?
Advocates and donors alike have come to the same conclusion that going forward, there needs to be much greater accountability for commitments made to development. Too much time is spent crafting language or twisting words, and too little time monitoring the actual delivery on the ground.
The G8 published their own accountability report this year — the Muskoka Accountability Report — which was released on Sunday in advance of the annual G8 Summit this weekend. It’s a welcome change of pace to have the donors themselves collecting information about their efforts to fulfill their commitments and proactively publishing an assessment that clearly reveals where the shortcomings remain.
ONE started its own accountability exercise in 2006. At the Gleneagles Summit in 2005, we celebrated when donors announced their intent to double foreign assistance, cancel debts and make trade work for Africa. But, as we noted at the time, the celebration would only truly be warranted if the rhetoric translated into results.
Every year since, we’ve issued an annual report card on the anniversary of the Gleneagles Summit to examine how well donors have done in delivering on those commitments. We worked with individual donors to translate — to the best of our ability — the true intent of their promises, with the hope that so that in the following years, we could spend time debating what they had actually delivered as opposed to what they had promised in the first place.
The results have been mixed. In this year’s report, ONE estimates that the G7 are on track to deliver roughly 61 percent of the development assistance they committed to sub-Saharan Africa. They have delivered on debt cancellation (even though there are some worrying signs of new loans accumulating) but they have been slow on improving the quality of assistance and have virtually nothing to show for their lofty language about making trade work for Africa. On more targeted sectoral commitments such as those for health, education, water and sanitation and agriculture, there are varying results: the more targeted, quantifiable goals such as those to distribute bednets or enroll children in school are more on track than systemic investments in building health systems or ensuring that children complete their schooling.
And therein lies a simple truth — that the quality of the commitment itself impacts the delivery. Both the Muskoka Accountability Report and the ONE Report reveal that much more has been done against those commitments that were made in a transparent manner with clarity as to the way success would be measured and the date by which results are to be achieved. Other commitments — like those to “make trade work” and to prioritize investments in water and sanitation — leave little to be held accountable to and that ultimately makes a difference.
It’s fantastic that the G8 has put accountability front and center on their agenda. To the optimist, it could mean that the days of empty promises are nearing an end. If this report ushers in a new era of annual reviews, and if the criteria suggested in the report mean that promise-making will now be done in a way that removes the wiggle room for future dodging, then developing countries can look forward and plan for a real partnership with donor countries going forward.
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May 25th, 2010 9:49 AM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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 Today, ONE is launching its fifth annual DATA Report— our annual exercise in accountability and the final chapter in a series reviewing progress on commitments to Africa since 2005. This year’s report gives a final verdict on the G8’s progress in meeting their Gleneagles commitments to sub-Saharan Africa and recommends a renewed strategy for 2010-2015.
Background
The idea for the DATA Report began in 2005. When we reacted to the unveiling of the historic Gleneagles communiqué, ONE knew that the commitments it included would have a tremendous impact on Africa’s development efforts— but only if they were delivered. The importance of accountability rang clear, even back then, and so every year since Gleneagles we take a day to reflect on the progress made and what has been delivered.
This year’s report follows that same approach, but it takes on special significance because it’s 2010 ¬- the deadline the G8 gave themselves to deliver the Gleneagles commitments to ‘help Africa build the successful future all of us want to see.’ In addition to tracking the commitments and offering a final verdict on progress to date (based on available data and projections of 2010 figures), the 2010 DATA Report draws on the lessons learned over the past five years to offer recommendations for the years ahead, especially the final five years to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The report also evaluates some of the new realities facing Africa, including new stakeholders, new challenges like climate change and the critical importance of African governments’ commitments to their own development efforts.
The Findings
The 2010 DATA Report evaluates the G8’s collective progress on the main commitments and also reviews each country’s progress towards its individual promises.
On Development Assistance:
The DATA Report finds that the G8 will deliver 61% of their promised increases in development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2004-2010, the G8 have delivered an historic increase of $13.7 billion, the largest on record from the G7 to sub-Saharan Africa over a six-year time period.
Within the 61%, donor performance varies – the UK is on track to deliver an ambitious commitment (though it is not yet clear how close they will come to the target), while the US, Canada and Japan are on track to meet or surpass relatively modest commitments. France and Germany both set ambitious targets and are on course to deliver about a quarter of them by 2010, while Italy is in a category of its own as the only G7 country to have cut development assistance from 2004 levels. By the end of 2010, Italy will be responsible for an estimated one-third of the G8’s shortfall.
On debt, trade and aid effectiveness:
Despite the historic cancellation of 100% of debt for African countries, the global economic crunch and new lending mean that many countries could be facing a new debt crisis in the coming years. While the commitments on trade and investment were vague and weak, the G7 donors have delivered very little to advance them. Further, while some countries have at least developed country action plans, overall progress has been slow.
On health, education, agriculture and water and sanitation:
Where commitments have been delivered and matched with investments from African governments, impressive results have been achieved: 3 million people with HIV now have access to antiretrovirals in Africa, 42 million children were enrolled in school between 1999 and 2007 and the Global Fund has delivered 104 million bed nets to protect against malaria.
In general, the most progress has been made on certain health commitments but not on building sustainable systems to address basic health in Africa; progress has been impressive getting children into school but more of a focus is needed in improving quality and completion rates; the most ambitious commitments on agriculture are too recent to monitor but funding trends have turned around in recent years while donors may have delivered on the letter of the commitment to water and sanitation, the very vague commitment means that there is little improvement on the ground to show for it.
Looking ahead:
In addition to looking back at progress made, this year’s DATA Report also looks beyond 2010 to what is needed accelerate Africa’s progress towards the 2015 deadline for the MDGs, with an eye to the UN High-Level Summit in September. A new strategy should both take stock of lessons learned since Gleneagles (such as the need for stronger accountability and incorporating new partners) as well as target progress in governance, equitable and sustainable economic growth and further increases in smart, effective development aid that is tailored to achieve results.
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Apr 26th, 2010 5:03 PM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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There was a quiet victory last week for an emerging powerhouse in Africa’s development. The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a critical resource for the continent. It’s funded by—and for—Africa with additional assistance from outside donors and it has been playing an increasingly important role financing some of Africa’s most critical needs both for poverty reduction and for economic growth such as infrastructure, the private sector and governance.
The Group consists of the African Development Bank which provides “hard” lending to qualified countries and the African Development Fund which provides concessional finance to low income countries. Unlike the regular envelope of resources allocated through its replenishments, the Bank can fund middle-income countries which can often be regional engines of growth and can also finance private sector entities in any country—low or middle income. In fact, more than half of the private sector operations done by the AfDB last year were in low income countries.
Because of its role, demand for Bank financing has been on the rise—especially in the face of the financial crisis. Last year, the G20 asked the Bank to make more resources available more quickly and in so doing, the Bank basically exhausted its available resources. But growing economies—that have posted impressive expansion rates—need continued access to such resources in order to continue growing.
The African governments have already signaled their recognition of that fact this winter when they gathered in South Africa but this past week they met with external shareholders as well to discuss the future of the African Development Bank. Thankfully, the news was good. The “Governors” agreed to recommend a 200% capital increase for the African Development Bank to the Board of Directors. If the Board approves the decision at the annual meeting in May, it will mean that 200% more borrowers will be able to access financing for creditworthy investments in the continent’s growth. And that’s the sort of growth Africa needs.
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Mar 30th, 2010 1:57 PM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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Last night I had the privilege of moderating a fantastic interactive conference call with Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Melanne Verveer—the first-ever U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. The call was a great opportunity to speak directly with ONE members about the fight against global poverty, including our new initiative Women ONE2ONE. As I said on the call, we may be faced with overwhelming statistics about the inordinate burden poverty places on women, but it’s most important that we focus on the more positive fact—that women are one of the best investments in global development and are really key to improving education, healthcare, agriculture and economic progress in communities across the developing world.
It was really an honor to get to hear firsthand from Melinda and Melanne about why they’ve personally become engaged on these issues and to hear about steps they’re taking through the Gates Foundation and the U.S. government to address them. During the call, more than 4,000 ONE members from all over the country had the chance to ask questions directly and to participate in real time via a live Facebook feed. We got some great comments and questions. In case you missed the call, you can listen to it in full below.
Full call:
Melinda Gates:
Ambassador Melanne Verveer:
Erin Thornton:
PS- During the call, I mentioned a petition ONE members can sign right now, encouraging our senators to sign on to a letter calling for the Senate Budget Committee to uphold President Obama’s $58.5 billion International Affairs Budget. You can add your voice here.
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Mar 10th, 2010 12:42 PM UTC
By Erin Thornton
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ONE’s board, along with a few staff and advisers, are on a ten-day listening and learning trip through Senegal, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya. Below, ONE’s Global Policy Director Erin Thornton provides their first post from the ground.
In Senegal, they define youth as anyone up to age 40 (which I really like). On the first day of our trip, we decided to look at what economic opportunities are available for youth in Senegal. Unfortunately, the news wasn’t good. Young people face incredible unemployment rates in Senegal. Up to 50% of youth do not have formal jobs and so must rely on the informal sector to earn resources for their families. On a trip where we’re focusing on economic growth, this challenge of job creation is of special importance.
We met with a group of young street vendors to discuss their day-to-day legal, financial and even social challenges; and to consider what is needed to enhance their opportunities to generate income and to improve the lives of their families.
In the bustling Sandaga market, where many people in Dakar do their daily shopping, there is a clear distinction between those that own shops, those that have table stalls ‘les tabliers’, and those that hawk their wares on foot ‘les ambulants’. The latter two often experience harassment and are unable to access credit to expand their business due to a lack of collateral – such as a land title or even enough inventory.
Many of these traders are members of one of the three main associations: SYMAD (Synergie des Marchands dits “Ambulants” pour le Développement), FAMAT (Federation des Associations des Marchands de Tabliers de la region Dakar) and GNJMD (Groupement National des Jeunes Marchands de Dakar). These associations advocate for their members’ interests at local and national political levels, and are currently engaged in a battle to protect traders from a government roadside clearance program. In addition to advocacy, they operate as a social security service for members who incur medical bills, set up apprenticeships for the unemployed youth, hold literacy classes and provide skills training.
The question of financing was especially compelling to many of the entrepreneurs we met. They clearly have the drive to build their businesses but the resources-both in terms of business skills and advice and, of course, financial assistance are very limited. One organization working to address this gap is BIRIMA. BIRIMA was founded by Youssou N’Dour in 2007 to provide small loans to young people with business ideas. N’Dour came up with the idea when a young man asked him for CFA60,000 (~$120USD) to buy and sell shoes. After the man returned the money N’Dour realized he could help young people get around the problem of access to credit with small loans that could allow them to set up profitable businesses. BIRIMA has now lent CFA200M (~$400,000USD) to 1,182 individuals.
After hearing presentations from each of the four organizations, we broke into smaller groups to meet some of the traders, hear their stories, their aspirations and their concerns. These are hard working and inspiring folks who have the will to improve their lives-they just need the opportunities. It served as a strong reminder for all of us on the first day of this listening and learning trip-that perhaps the most important element to driving development is creating a sense of opportunity.
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