Although the final outcome document from Doha was not as ambitious as ONE had hoped, the “Doha Deal” struck on the last day of the conference does contain some important language on ONE’s core issues and opens the way towards a strengthened follow-up-process for financing the Millennium Development Goals.

Some positive outcomes of the deal include the following:

• Aid promises: Pledges on aid quantity and quality were weakly reaffirmed. The historic commitments made in Gleneagles to increase ODA by $50 billion globally (with $25 billion of that increase dedicated to Africa) were repeated in a contorted way, by welcoming the Hokkaido-Summit declaration that the G8 are “firmly committed to working to fulfill these commitments”.
• Innovative finance: The outcome document mentions existing mechanisms such as Advanced Market Commitments (AMCs), IFFIM and the air ticket tax.
• Trade and investment: The final document recognizes that development assistance can play a catalytic role in mobilizing private flows. On trade, it reaffirms “special and differential treatment” of developing countries and urges countries to reach agreement by the end of the year on modalities for the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations. It also calls for timely and full implementation of aid for trade commitments as a complement (not a substitute) to the conclusion of the Doha Round.
• Tax evasion and capital flight: The outcome document requests that the UN’s Economic and Social Council make a proposal on this issue. The World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) is mentioned in general language and the document calls for additional measures to prevent transfer of stolen assets from developing countries to accounts in the developed countries.
• External debt: The “Doha Deal” mentions a “debt restructuring mechanism based on existing frameworks and principles,” (which can be interpreted as the continuation of the debt negotiations in the creditor-driven Paris Club) and also speaks of “joint responsibility for debt sustainability.”
• Role of developing countries in shaping a global response to the financial crisis: Participants agreed to hold a high-level UN conference in 2009 on the financial crisis and its impact on development. Many other decisions (such as a strengthened follow-up mechanism) were pushed to spring 2009, and a follow-up conference in 2013 is being considered.
• Role of emerging donors: The document includes very general language on South-South cooperation and calls on “new donors” to adhere to principles of aid effectiveness.

The conference was also used to kick off a couple promising new initiatives- the UK launched its Aid-for Trade Strategy and announced that it will spend £400 million annually on aid for trade by 2010. The international task force on innovative financing for health met for the first time and decided to have the next meeting in the spring in London. Germany, Pakistan and the Global Fund also signed a debt2health agreement, through which Germany will cancel $40 million of Pakistan’s debt and Pakistan will contribute $20 million to the Global Fund. Subsequently, the Global Fund will increase their financing of health programs in Pakistan by that amount.

-Andreas Huebers

-Chris Scott

There is a final document! We don’t have to reschedule our flights. And there seem to be quite some people who think that this is a good outcome.

We are not too overwhelmed by the results. Clearly: this was a difficult environment for such a conference with one of the biggest financial crisis since decades going on and the US as most important player in-between two administrations.

In the final communiqué donors gave a weak reaffirmation of existing commitments. Interesting is the language on timetables encouraging all donors to present by the end of 2010 timetables how they want to reach their aid commitments. This is particularly relevant for the EU countries. They will have to tell their population and development partnershow to reach the famous 0,7% by 2015, the fraction of GNI which is supposed to go to development. It also includes detailed language on aid effectiveness, without explicitly endorsing the Paris declaration.

What we think is positive is that it is acknowledged that adaptation to climate change in the developing countries will demand additional funds – but not specifying who has to contribute those additional resources (which is not so positive). The climate change conference in Poznan will have to confirm that it is the polluter (i.e. developed countries) that should pay.

The main thrust in the area to tackle corruption came through a number of side events. This topic was clearly on the top of the list of many NGOs and was muched talked about in the hallways. The document mentions “effectively combating tax evasion” but unfortunately does not name measures against tax havens explicitly. It also urges all states to “consider ratifying” UNCAC.

It is quite a success for the developing countries that they managed to have a UN-conference in 2009 on the highest level about the impact of the financial crisis on development. This was something they and many NGOs fought for very hard because the concern was that the poorest countries would not have a say in the new financial architecture if it would be only discussed among the G20. Other language on trade and debt relief were rather general.

These were interesting days, talking to delegations and journalists and following the negotiation process. The special envoys of the Secretary General, the German Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and the South African Minister Trevor Manuel did a good job in pushing for more and better aid and encouraging progress on innovative financing for development. The story will continue next year in London at the G20 conference. Until then we say “over and out” from Doha! Thanks for following us through these days!

-Sergius Seebohm

Rumors are flying back and forth in the hallways of the Sheraton hotel at the 3rd day of the Doha conference. While the side events at the conference continue and stir useful discussions about new and innovative financing or Africa’s reaction to the financial crisis (check out Miki only steps away from Tanzania’s president Kikwete) the delegations are wrestling behind closed doors about the final outcome document.

And while we are busy finding out if the new agreement would be a good or not so good outcome we are struck by the news that the delegations are renegotiating large parts of the document again.
After several hours and a repeatedly postponed press briefing of the US delegation the heads of the US, German, Japanese and other industrialized countries took an unusual break: Obviously tired from endless negotiations in closed hotel lobbies they decided to meet for a quick chat among themselves at the terrace of the hotel – attracting quite some attention by the participants.

But obviously this airy meeting under the starry skies of Doha did not lead to the final breakthrough. Right now the negotiations are still ongoing, particularly about how to reflect the financial crisis. The poor countries want to have more influence on the global financial framework reforms.

-Sergius Seebohm

The UN Doha Conference kicked off Saturday. As expected, there were many world leaders present, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Emir Sheikh Hamad of Qatar, President Sarkozy of France (also the president of EU), President of the EU Commission Manuel Barroso, and many African leaders, including President Kikwete of Tanzania (also the president of AU) and President Kibaki of Kenya. President Sarkozy called for the Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and the IMF) to be more inclusive and for better African representation within the UN Security Council.

In a very frank statement Emir Sheikh Hamad al-Thani said that oil-producing states, like Qatar, often “have the feeling that there are some attempts to put the whole burden of development” on them, and cautioned against excess of expectations, above and beyond their capabilities. Alongside the plenary sessions we often listen to a long line of leaders and heads of delegations who read out their speeches … a-always very, um, interesting..!

The contents of the Conference outcome document is negotiated in a different room at the working level. Most of these meetings are not open to the civil society, so we weren’t able to listen to the actual negotiations, but we hear that tough negotiations are going on between the member states, and we, the NGOs are working hard to make sure that the aid commitments that were reiterated in G8 Toyako Communique are not toned down. One thing really stirred the participants up: At noon there was the news that EU and the G7 already agreed on a final text for the outcome. The excitement was soon over as it turned out that Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and particularly the US still had a number of reservations on the text. So negotiations will go on for a while. There are still some issues in the areas of reforming trading systems, timetables on ODA, debt, the consequences of climate change and of course about the consequences of the current financial crisis.

There are lots of side events going on here too, and we’ve attended several very interesting ones. Yesterday, an event that looked at innovative sources of development finance was opened by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and the French government introduced some of their initiatives such as the airline levy. Fellow activist David Hillman from Stamp Out Poverty also made a strong case for taxing currency transactions and using it to finance development. Our picture shows you Andreas and Sergius at that event. We also try to express our views to the media – so for example on Sunday Olly Buston gave a brief interview to Reuters and the Arabic channel of Al Jazeera.

On Monday, there is a couple of Africa-specific side events scheduled, so we look forward to attending those events – and of course we are keen to follow the further negotiation process.

-Sergius Seebohm

The capital of Qatar is a fascinating place. The vision of Sheikh Hamad bin Chalifa Al Thani, who is audaciously reinventing his country to be a leading player in the 21st century, is visible everywhere: skyscrapers are growing into the sky where only a few years ago there was nothing but sand. Together with his wife, Sheika Mozah Bint Nasser al Misned, the Emir is investing the wealth stemming from rich oil and gas resources to modernize Qatar. One of the best known expressions of the Emir’s ideas was the establishment of the broadcasting station Al Jazeera in 1996.

The Qataris were aware of the fact that they would not be able to bring about an economical upswing all on their own. So they invited guest workers from around the globe to help build the country. About 80 percent out of Qatar’s approximate 1.5m inhabitants are foreigners. College professors, engineers, but also maids, taxi drivers and construction workers: it is a vivid and multinational community – which is impossible to overlook in Doha’s streets – and which contributed to transforming Qatar into one of the most modern places in the world within just a few years.

At the same time, the Qataris strive to remain self-assured of their cultural heritage. Just now the Doha museum of Islamic Arts is opening its doors. It’s a bold pioneer project, which presents a unique collection of Islamic culture from the 7th to the 19th century, and which is stirring attention around the globe. Just a few walking minutes from there you can stroll around the Old Market of Doha and find many more fascinating impressions of oriental culture. Traditional musicians play under open air which is scented by the smoke of the shishas that you can enjoy after a meal at any of the many excellent restaurants.

It is for all of these reasons that Doha is an exciting place to host this conference. In line with their potential as a diplomatic hub, between north and south, rich and poor, east and west, between faiths and between tradition and modernity, the countries in this region, and Qatar in particular, have taken efforts to step up the quantity and quality of their aid. This conference is an opportunity to consolidate this engagement.

- Sergius Seebohm

250 people, from civil society organizations around the world, met for 2 days this week to prepare for the upcoming Doha conference. The purpose of these two days was to discuss the outcome-document of the official Doha conference and suggest specific improvements.
 
The drafting committee had done a good job, and paragraph-by-paragraph, the participants compiled their comments on the document. Some of the main suggestions were full reiterations of existing aid commitments. Another important issue discussed was adapting finance to help developing countries avoid major development setback due to climate change. And many delegates wanted the UN Tax Committee upgraded into an intergovernmental body, to strengthen and coordinate the fight against tax evasion.
 
The Civil Society Declaration – the final document on the civil society meetings at Doha – had been a very rough draft when the conference started. After breaking out in six working groups , it became a substantial document. Our ONE staff in Doha engaged in those meetings: Andreas Huebers attended the session on systemic issues, emerging issues and the follow-up process. Mikiko Imai attended the session on increasing international financial and technical cooperation.
 

The final Civil Society Declaration emphasizes energy, food climate and finance. It states that northern governments are responsible for these crises but that the consequences are felt globally, particularly in the south: “Most countries are falling far short of meeting their aid commitments. Overcoming these crises requires decisive action and leadership from the global community.”
 
Looking at the actions by governments in the US and Europe to save financial systems, it is not surprising that the Civil Society Document comments: “The swift and massive response to bail out banks with more than three trillion USD of guarantees and funds, is in very stark contrast to their failure to respond decisively to the unabated crisis of poverty.”
 
The declaration is not uploaded yet but will be available at http://www.ffdngo.org/.
We will observe during the coming days to what extend world leaders will listen to these demands.

- Sergius Seebohm

A team from ONE is going to Doha this week for the UN Financing for Development Conference. This is a follow-up conference to the 2002 conference, where the famous Monterrey Consensus (well, famous at least among development geeks like us) was adopted by the heads of states around the world. The “Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus” (phew, long name!) aims to “assess the progress made, reaffirm goals and commitments, share best practices and lessons learned and identify obstacles and constraints encountered, actions and initiatives to overcome them and important measures for further implementation, as well as new challenges and emerging issues”.

The Doha Conference occurs at an economically challenging time, but we are going to try our best to make sure that the rich countries don’t backtrack on their development promises, and to try to explore new opportunities for funding development. In particular, we are going to focus our efforts on the following points:

• G8 countries to reiterate their existing commitment to increase ODA and reassure developing countries that these will be forthcoming
• International community to explore concrete steps that can be taken to advance innovative financing mechanisms, including carbon finance for development
• Encourage new donors, especially oil exporting countries, to follow the example of Scandinavian and other countries, to spend more on fighting poverty

  
Stay tuned to the ONE Blog for updates from our team on the ground in Doha!

-Mikiko Imai

UPDATE: ONE’s policy brief for Doha conference.