International
Millennium Development Goals
“The Best Way to Break the Back of Poverty is Through Agriculture”
Yesterday I attended a packed event in the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament to hear His Excellency John Kufuor, Former President of Ghana and 2011 World Food Prize Laureate, speak on the progress his country has made on extreme poverty and hunger.
His Excellency John Kufuor won the World Food Prize in 2011 for his international and domestic leadership on promoting the value of agriculture in reducing poverty. Ghana is now recognised as the first developing country to reach the First Millennium Development Goal: Halve Extreme Hunger and Poverty.
His Excellency explained to the crowd how this remarkable progress was no accident. He recognised the role of Ghanaian debt cancellation, prioritising agriculture, putting in place clear and comprehensive plans of action and receiving donor support from the US Millennium Challenge Corporation in allowing Ghana to achieve this. However it was the economic reforms, a national school nutrition programme strengthened and substantially increased public investment in agriculture that took place under his stewardship that resulted in the greatest benefit. It was this public investment in agriculture that was a major factor behind the halving of hunger and poverty and the increase in Ghana’s gross domestic product, which quadrupled from £2.6 billion in 2000 to £11 billion.
However the former president was keen to stress to the crowd that investment alone did not bring about this change but Ghana’s comprehensive “joined up” agriculture plan. His Excellently told the crowd how providing farmers with education and farming tools isn’t enough without access to markets, and how diversification may not be possible without access to credit and micro finance. The Ghanaian plan considered all of these things in a holistic way, but ensured agriculture was the priority.
This agriculture prioritisation is crucial. Two-thirds of Africa, and in particular the poorest Africans, rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and therefore, His Excellency said “The best way to break the back of poverty is through agriculture”.
His Excellency John Kufuor’s leadership has helped lift millions out of poverty and hunger, but former present also noted leadership is needed at all levels to tackle hunger and poverty around the world. That is why we call on the G8 and the G20 to maintain their commitments to agricultural development and to align their investments with the plans of African countries. Together by fulfilling these pledges and building local knowledge we can ensure agriculture remains a global priority and so help lift millions out of hunger and poverty.
How well do you know your MDGs?
The Millennium Development Goals or MDGs are mentioned regularly by ONE (and many other campaigning organisations) – but how well known are they? Could you list all 8? And do you how many are likely to have been met by their target date of 2015?
The MDGs are a set of poverty-busting targets agreed by 189 nations in the year 2000. They cover hunger and extreme poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, AIDS / HIV, Malaria and other diseases, environmental sustainability and a commitment to global cooperation for development.
As a quick guide we’ve put together a new page that explains the MDGs and progress towards them, do have a look and share with your networks – we will continue to update this page as the clock ticks closer to 2015.
Please also urge your friends and family to join ONE. Now more than ever we need to make sure we hold leaders to account over the promises they made to the world’s poor.
2011 ONE Africa Award Winner Announced
I’m delighted to announce that Groupe de Reflexion et d’action, Femme Democratie et Developpment (GF2D), from Togo are the 2011 winners of the fourth annual ONE Africa Award.
The ONE Africa Award celebrates and bolsters innovative Africa-led, Africa-driven advocacy efforts to help advance one or more of the Millennium Development Goals, the world’s blueprint to fighting extreme poverty and disease. The goals specifically address critical issues to development, such as; halving extreme poverty; halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria and providing universal primary education.
GF2D helps women in exercising their right to participate in decision making processes of their country.
One of GF2D’s tools is the use of paralegals who are trained in Togolese laws by GF2D and empowered to communicate messages to communities about women’s rights, engage in mediations related to marriage, inheritance and children, and offer referral assistance for issues that need to be handled in court. Many of their paralegals are everyday women – traders, seamstresses, mothers, whose lives have been changed because of their paralegal training and some of them have gone on to seek local political positions. These women and men have become well-respected members of their societies because of their knowledge of Togolese laws and their ability to convey the rights of women to their peers in simple messages. GF2D has been integral to the increase in the number of female political office holders in Togo today.
As winners of this year’s ONE Africa Award GF2D receive $100000 in prize money.
As the award was announcement here in Johansburg, Léontine, GF2D’s General Secretary said:
“We dedicate the 2011 ONE Award to all Togolese women whose bravery and dynamism are well known. We want to recognize the silent majority of those who suffer from violence, discrimination and low incomes gained from their hard efforts. The announcement of the award was greeted with a great joy at the “House of women” by all the members and staff of GF2D.
This award represents the recognition for over 20 years of efforts to realize a vision where: women know their rights and fully benefit from them:
- Togolese women, freed from the constraints and socio-cultural burdens imosed on them, contribute to the development of their society
- equal participation of men and women exists in the political, social and economic decision making processes
- a genuine partnership exists between men and women in the management of their families, public and private institutions
We receive this award as an encouragement to persevere in defending the cause of women. We thank ONE whose mission is to recognize, reward and support the important work of African civil society organizations towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “
The runners up of the award this year in no particular order include: Prévention Information et Lutte contre le Sida (PILS) – Mauritius, Africa Youth Trust (AYT) – Kenya, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) – Ghana and Sylva Food Solutions Limited (SFSL) – Zambia
Previous award winners include Nigeria’s Development Communications Network (Devcoms) and Kenya’s Slums Information Development and Resources Centres (SIDAREC) and SEND West Africa.
We are here today to celebrate Africa’s unsung heroes and to play our part on changing the stereotype narrative on Africa. We don’t deny that there are challenges that exist, but, we also need to highlight the successes, the determination and the ingenuous creativity of the African people despite these challenges.
I’m sure you will join me in congratulating GF2D and our runners ups, and thanking them for the amazing work they are doing across the continent. We wish them every success in the future!
Good news: global education success in Copenhagen
Earlier this week, representatives from 52 countries met in Copenhagen, Denmark for the first-ever replenishment of The Global Partnership for Education. You may have read our coverage leading up to the Partnership’s big event.
In total, 57 pledges were made, constituting an initial commitment totaling $1.5 billion. It’s crucial to maintain this spotlight on education in advance of the 2015 MDG deadline, as the Partnership will continue their efforts during this replenishment period, raising an addition $1 billion before 2014 in order to send 25 million children to school (along with some other important goals). In addition to pledges from new donors, a dozen donors committed to predictable, multi-year contributions, ensuring the Global Partnership will provide stable assistance to partner developing countries. This pledging conference was about increasing funds for education across bilateral, multilateral and private channels. Five leading donors –France, European Commission, Germany, Australia and United Kingdom – committed to significant increases in bilateral support to education, ensuring their leadership in education assistance.
The United Kingdom continued its leadership within the Global Partnership, pledging $352 million for the period 2011-2014, more than any other donor.
Australia also made a robust pledge, of $278 million.
France pledged $65 million, and made commitments to divert a portion of the profits from a forthcoming Financial Transaction Tax to education assistance for developing countries.
Canada pledged $57 million,
the European Union $53 million
and Germany $21 million, all for the pledging period (2011-2014).
True to the Partnership’s name, this pledging conference was not just about traditional developed country donors. Developing countries, civil society organizations, and private sector companies were also represented. Twenty-eight Education Ministers from developing countries attended the event, coming with pledges of their own. Thirty developing country partners pledged to increase domestic expenditure for basic education by at least $2.2 billion during the pledging period (2011-2014). In addition to increasing domestic spending, developing country partners have committed to tackling barriers that prevent children from accessing a quality basic education, increasing school infrastructure, and increasing interventions that specifically target barriers to girls. Finally, developing country partners have pledged to recruit, train, and deploy hundreds of thousands of teachers.
Civil society, the teaching profession, the private sector and foundations also pledged to invest almost $2 billion of their own organizational resources to expand activities in universal quality basic education programs over the replenishment period. Just one of these pledges, from Education International, commits to provide technical and financial support for the development and implementation of competence profiles to ensure teachers are meeting quality guidelines, as well as to recruit and train 1.8 million teachers in Global Partnership for Education countries.
Congratulations to The Global Partnership for Education on a successful first replenishment event. These initial pledges will provide millions of children with a quality primary education. We look forward to donor and partner efforts to leverage this momentum around education into more ambitious commitments in the pursuit of quality primary education for all.
G8 countries show mixed results in efforts to meet aid targets
New analysis published by ONE today has given the final verdict on the aid promises that were made by world leaders at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 2005. The DATA Report 2011, also sets out the steps that need to be taken to make a renewed push towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. It suggests new innovative finance schemes and identifies other measures to support proven smart aid programmes that help the poorest people in the poorest nations build a path out of poverty.
Key points from the report are:
- Collectively the G7 delivered 61% of the increased aid they promised in 2005 to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010.
- The increases were largely a result of the UK making commendable progress towards its very ambitious target, and the US, Japan and Canada surpassing their relatively modest targets.
- Yet again Italy’s performance is condemnable, falling far short of its promises to the world’s poorest people.
- France and Germany have also failed to meet their ambitious targets.
- The failure of the G8 to keep their promises deprived the world’s poorest people of $7bn in financing for effective and life-changing programmes in 2010 alone.
- Despite the overall shortfall, there have been historic increases in aid to sub-Saharan Africa since 2000, and especially since 2005 and the promises of the Gleneagles G8 Summit which was a response to the global Make Poverty History campaign.
- Much of this smart aid went towards programmes that are delivering real results in sub-Saharan Africa. Together with African efforts, aid has helped to avert the deaths of 750,000 children from malaria; allowed 46.5 million children to enrol in school for the first time; provided 4 million Africans with anti-AIDS drugs; and helped boost agricultural productivity by 50% in 17 African countries.
- Emerging economies such as Brazil, India, China and Russia have been steadily increasing their aid to sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, along with increased trade and investment with African countries. However, because most of these new donors do not report their development assistance data to the DAC, the DATA Report does not compare them with traditional donors.
Launching the report Jamie Drummond, Executive Director of ONE, said:
“Unfortunately it comes as no surprise that Prime Minister Berlusconi has yet again abjectly failed to deliver on his promises – and we continue to call for Italy to be at least temporarily removed from the G8 for this reason. But it’s worrying that President Sarkozy and France are so far behind in a year when so much is expected of them as hosts of the G8 and G20, and at a time when African development, peace and democracy is at the top of the global agenda. It is also hugely disappointing that Germany – which has weathered the economic storm so well – has performed so badly on its development promises. These three nations must urgently get back on track by setting out clear timetables to meet the promises they made to give 0.7% of their national incomes as overseas aid by 2015. At the same time, non-European G8 countries like the US, Canada and Japan should set new, ambitious commitments for aid to sub-Saharan Africa.”
However, it is clear that even if G8 donors meet all their existing and future promises on aid, much more money needs to be invested in developing countries if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goals and pull millions of people out of poverty.
That is why the DATA Report outlines 6 options for the G8 and G20 to generate innovative financing for development. These range from financial sector levies to African diaspora bonds, and could each help to raise billions of dollars to help fund smart aid programmes.
In this time of global austerity, the DATA Report also looks at how donors have performed against targets to improve the effectiveness of aid to ensure that their investments have the biggest possible impact, although a thorough analysis of progress was not possible due to a lack of available data. However the report did note that some donors, notably the UK, US and Canada, are increasingly emphasizing results by setting clear targets for the outcomes they intend to achieve with their aid. When countries meet for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in South Korea later this year they should set clear standards for monitoring these results. They should also renew their efforts to improve aid and budget transparency and meet their commitments from previous aid effectiveness forums in Paris and Accra.
Check out the report, including interactive datasets, at one.org/data
Map of Africa’s major infrastructure
The French news publication, Le Monde Diplomatique, recently published a map showing major infrastructure, particularly energy, in Africa:
The image shows how infrastructure in Africa is growing rapidly, but is still largely concentrated in coastal regions and those with large mineral deposits. This means that rural and isolated populations often do not have access to modern energy and the benefits that it can bring.
In fact, only 30.5% of the total sub-Saharan population and only 14.3% of the rural population have access to electricity. Energy provision has been identified as a requirement to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore greater energy infrastructure and off-grid renewables are needed to bring power to isolated regions and help push on towards the Millennium Development Goals before 2015.
Bob Geldof: ‘We need to shout’
It’s sometimes hard, especially in tough economic times, to think about the real difference we are making in the fight against extreme poverty. So we took another look at Bob Geldof’s closing remarks at the end of September’s UN summit in New York.
Geldof called for the assembled delegates to confound the cynics and clichés, and to bring all countries to the table to continue to fight the ‘tangible condition’ of poverty. From high-level talks on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to each of us ‘giving a buck’ to projects abroad, Geldof stresses that we’re winning; we’ve got the ‘big heavy wheel of equity and justice turning’.
Progress on poverty is happening. You can see the astounding statistics and stories of success everywhere you look. So make no mistake we are making a difference. In the words of Goethe, quoted by Geldof, ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it’.
World Toilet Day
Toilets. It’s a subject that not many like to talk about but that is all about to change because today is a World Toilet Day!
Did you know that 2.6 billion people, about a third of the world’s population, do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet? And that the world is largely off track to meet Millennium Development Goal Seven – to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation?
Over 2 billion sounds like a big number – and we know the Millennium Development Goals are important – but for many of us, it is something that is simply out of our realm of comprehension. However, for many people living in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, this is a daily reality.
Globally, diarrhoea is a leading cause of illness and death with 88% of diarrhoeal deaths due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities compounded by unsafe drinking water and the unavailability of water for hygiene. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation – that’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. Not only does diarrhoea kill more children each year than malaria or HIV/AIDS combined, but it causes millions of adults and children to miss work or school, which has enormous social, economic and political consequences. It is estimated that every $1 spent on water and sanitation generates returns of $8 in saved time, increased productivity and reduced health care costs.
For World Toilet Day, don’t be shy; help spread the word about the bathroom habits of the 2.6 billion people globally who lack access to basic sanitation. And, if you’re feeling extra bold, find an event near you to take part in The Big Squat -“a movement for the toilet-less.”
Climate change talks spark opportunities for MDGs, Africa
Climate change poses huge threats to development in Africa. It has the potential to undermine recent gains in reducing extreme poverty, while the cost of reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) rises by 40% when climate proofing is taken into account.
However, there are also opportunities if progress is made in the international climate talks taking place in Cancun, Mexico next month. Kenya, for example, has just launched Africa’s first carbon exchange, seeking to take advantage of trade in carbon credits. These credits are purchased by polluting industries in the West and go toward funding clean energy and green growth projects in developing countries.
Indeed, there is increasing realization that African countries could be the global pioneers for a new form of sustainable pro-poor economic development, that meets countries’ needs to reduce energy poverty and create jobs in a way that jumps the traditional carbon-intensive industrialization path.
ONE will be attending next month’s Cancun summit to push this vision and ask Western countries to partner with African governments to deliver the technology and investment needed to make climate-friendly progress toward the MDGs.
Progress in eradicating polio
Whilst there is no cure for polio – it can be prevented through immunization. And thanks to concerted efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other leading medical and healthcare institutions, immunization programmes around the world are making a real difference.
Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can damage the nervous system and cause paralysis. Although vaccines and extensive immunization programmes have been successful in stamping out polio in many parts of the world, it is still prevalent in a number of countries.
According to new figures from WHO, there have been 706 cases globally this year, compared with 1,126 cases at this time last year; 17 countries have reported cases in 2010, compared with 21 at this time last year. In Africa, where outbreaks have occurred in recent years, only Nigeria, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have reported cases in the past 4 years.
In September, Sierra Leone and Liberia came off the active outbreak list (no cases in the past 6 months), but Russia and Turkmenistan were added to the list.
In a speech at the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York last month, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan underlined the strength that comes from innovative partnerships, the critical role civil society plays in ensuring access and accountability and the ongoing need for funding.
By continuing to work together we can eradicate the disease and achieve the MDG goal of combating HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases like polio.
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Agriculture, Ghana, Hunger Crisis, Millennium Development Goals, UK