Feedback from the US-EU Summit

Nov 10th, 2009 10:36 AM EST
By Eloise Todd

Last week leaders from the United States and European Union met in Washington DC for the regular US-EU Summit.

The team at ONE has reviewed the summit’s declaration [PDF] and picked out some of the key points.

Overall the document contains some very positive language on the need to work together to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 and development has been ratcheted up the agenda as a focus for cooperation. There’s also a separate annex on Development. The main point is that the US and EU want to work together with more urgency towards the MDG Summit and up to 2015:

‘we recognize that a coordinated international effort is needed to assist developing countries accelerate progress towards the MDGs’

The Declaration itself pledges to re-launch US-EU dialogue on development, and the first meeting to re-launch of this dialogue will happen at ministerial level very soon. Ministerial level meetings will thereafter be annual, with meetings of the re-launched High Level Consultative Group on Development to be held in between.

The Annex to the declaration outlines 3 areas for close cooperation between the US and EU:

• Food security and agricultural development: initial focus on Africa, will join efforts in a Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition; support for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.
• Climate change: focus on country-driven adaptation strategies and a pledge to concentrate on the development aspects of climate change.
• MDGs: ‘recognizes that a coordinated international effort is needed to assist developing countries accelerate progress towards the MDGs’. As well as Overseas Development Assistance, policy coherence for development, aid effectiveness and new innovative financing mechanisms mentioned.There are plentiful references to measuring outputs and results of development cooperation as well as a focus on Accra and aid effectiveness.

The declaration comes at a timely moment at the beginning of a new European Commission and Parliamentary mandate in Brussels, and gives us a good kick-off to help ensure that achievement of the MDGs remains high on the political agenda in both Brussels and Washington DC.

‘A New Global Order’

Oct 28th, 2009 5:24 PM EST
By Joseph Powell

A panel including UK Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander and Director of the Millennium Development Campaign Salil Shetty assembled at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on Tuesday evening to discuss the hope for ending global poverty in this generation.

Alexander told the audience that the top priority was now to agree a global deal on climate change at Copenhagen in December, suggesting that it could have an even greater impact than the Gleneagles aid commitments of 2005. The UK position is that the developed world must commit to substantial emissions cuts and provide genuinely new and additional sources of finance. He also stressed the need to conclude a Doha trade agreement and talked powerfully about the role that individuals and NGOs can play in pressuring governments to meet their commitments on international development.

“It’s not the banking system that’s too big to fail, but the Millennium Development Goals” Shetty told the audience to applause. 2010 will see the UN General Assembly meet to come up with ideas on how to accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) so that the 2015 target looks more realistic. ONE has committed itself to be part of this push for a new MDG plan of action and it was encouraging to see that so many of the audience members had this on their minds.

Paul Vallely, associate editor of The Independent, looked at what lessons could be learned from the Gleneagles G8 Summit negotiations in 2005 and suggested that closer cooperation between environmental and development NGOs is essential to influencing the political process. This was backed up by Alexander who extolled the benefits of a united NGO front entering Copenhagen. Vallely also offered praise for the way high profile individuals such as Bono and Bob Geldof can raise awareness on development, and play a key role in the lobbying of political figures.

The event concluded with a reminder that change ultimately comes not from government or other leaders, but from the people themselves. It is through millions of individual actions, like the remarkable demonstration of solidarity in the Stand Up Against Poverty day, that the hope of a world free of extreme poverty can be kept alive.

The State of Debt Cancellation

Oct 19th, 2009 1:33 PM EST
By Andreas Huebers

For those unfamiliar with the term, certain countries are considered Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, or HIPC. These are countries that can get special assistance from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The annual “HIPC Status of implementation” report was published a couple of weeks ago. The report has some interesting information in it:

In total, 35 out of 40 HIPCs have qualified for assistance; and 26 have reached completion point. For the 35 post-decision-point HIPCs, poverty reducing expenditures between 2001 and 2008 increased by 2 percentage points of GDP, on average.

The total amount of debt cancellation now stands at $117 billion, out of which $72 billion was cancelled under HIPC and $45 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. This is an increase of roughly $5.5 billion in cancelled debt since last year. However, the number of post-completion-point countries that are at risk of re-incurring unsustainable debt (especially due to the global economic crisis) has increased from four in 2008 to five now.

This highlights the importance of continuing and expanding the initiative. Post completion point countries must have a chance to maintain bearable levels of debt even when shocks, such as the global economic crisis, occur. This can be done by providing grants rather than loans for example. Otherwise, financing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in many countries will be tantamount to re-accumulating unsustainable debt.

Financing for health update

Jun 9th, 2009 11:54 AM EST
By Lisa.Fleisher

At the very end of May, the High Level Task Force on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems released a set of recommendations for potential ways to raise new money to fill the gap in financing the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Launched in September 2008 at the UN Summit and led by Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick, the President of the World Bank, the Taskforce has set out to make recommendations on the mix of financing mechanisms that could raise new funding in an efficient and effective manner.

While financing for global health has nearly doubled in the past decade, and remarkable progress has been made in reducing child mortality and expanding access to care and treatment for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, progress toward meeting the health MDGs remains off-track, especially in Africa.

Donor funding at its current levels will not be enough to turn this around: new, innovative ways of raising funds that are additional to current levels of development assistance are needed, and current mechanisms can be expanded. Among the array of options put forward by the Taskforce as options to mobilize and make better use of existing funds, the Taskforce is recommending that more countries consider solidarity levies on airline tickets and explore the feasibility of levies on tobacco or currency transactions.

ONE welcomes entrepreneurial thinking by major donors for how to raise new money and make better use of existing resources for health in developing countries. We look forward to future discussions on how these resources will be channeled and hope that the G8 seriously considers innovative financing as a way to increase the quantity and quality of aid.

-Lisa Fleisher

European Commission Update

Apr 9th, 2009 12:32 PM EST
By Eloise Todd

On Wednesday April 9th, the European Commission launched its yearly update on how EU donor countries are helping to meet the MDGs. This year President Barroso and Commissioner for Development Louis Michel used the opportunity to make some key announcements on advancing crucial development assistance for African countries. It’s fantastic that the leadership of the Commission is putting development matters so high on his political agenda. Less than a week after the London Summit, the Commission outlined three main ways it would act to help developing countries combat the effects of this economic crash:

1. Pushing EU governments to meet their aid promises and ensuring the highest degree of aid effectiveness possible. Development Commissioner Louis Michel’s message was: “We know what we must do: meet our aid targets, advance our money to have an impact when it is most needed, refocus our existing programmes to tackle the crisis and then make every Euro count”.
2. The EU is proposing spending more cash for the poorest countries to help fill some of the financing gaps created by the economic downturn. The €1billion Food Facility was intended to be spent over 3 years- now the Commission have promised to spend €800m of it by the end of the year to inject much-needed cash into the agricultural sectors of countries most in need of support for farmers. A whopping €3billion will be brought forward for African, Caribbean and Pacific country governments and another €500m for spending on health, education and other vital social spending.
3. Thirdly aid effectiveness is the Commission’s priority. When Louis Michel spoke of ‘making every euro count’ he was alluding to some research he had commissioned which showed that just by working together more effectively, the European Commission and the 27 governments could save a huge €7billion a year which could be freed up to save lives in this downturn. The Commission wants more coordination between donors- it’s common sense that not every donor should work on every sector in one country, and we should be seeing more of donor countries playing to their strengths and taking the lead amongst donors in their specialist areas.

All in all the announcement yesterday was a very positive step- it shows the EU has not just read the G20 communique and agreed- it is doing that rare thing of acting quickly upon agreements. We hope it will convince other G20 countries to do the same, and fast- we’re particularly looking toward the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF to raise more funding for Africa in grant form. Any loans that are given we will argue should be extremely concessional so they don’t spark another debt crisis. There are of course some concerns about the announcements yesterday– Will governments replenish those funds when there’s not enough in the pot next year? Ironically, if the EU alone kept to its 2010 promises, that would mean another €20 billion on overall assistance over the next two years. So the message is simple- we welcome these announcements, on the condition that EU governments stick to their ODA promises.

-Eloise Todd

African Finance Officials Call G20 to Action

Nov 14th, 2008 11:12 AM EST
By Beth Adler

This past Tuesday, a group of African finance officials met in Tunis to discuss the impacts of the global financial crisis on the continent and strategize about how to address the likely consequences. The meeting was a call to action from the African financial community to the leaders attending the G20 summit to put the concerns of the developing world on the agenda for the meeting, which begins tomorrow in Washington, D.C., and to consider Africa’s dire situation when addressing the financial crisis. As we’ve outlined in previous posts, for many African countries the financial crisis could mean an increase in poverty and inflation, a decrease in economic growth, and a deepening of the food and fuel crises already gripping the continent.

ONE’s Edith Jibunoh in Nigeria has sent along a few highlights from the communiqué issued at the meeting which detail important points for this weekend’s G20 summit and the upcoming Financing for Development conference in Doha.

• Ministers said that the financial crisis is undermining Africa’s progress made in the last ten years and, along with the impact of climate change, will hamper countries’ abilities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. They also expressed concern for the impact the crisis would have on trade and investment.
• On trade, the ministers urged a successful conclusion of the Doha Round of global trade negotiations, especially considering the spillover of the financial crisis to trade. They promised do their part by taking steps to improve the supply capacity in African countries through enhancing competitiveness, building infrastructure, and promoting greater economic integration within Africa. Ministers also promised to deepen their economic reforms and strengthen structures of governance and accountability.
• The Ministers also emphasized the importance of the international community keeping their commitments to Africa to improve aid quality, consistent with the Paris Declaration and Accra Call to Action. They asked that the F4D conference in Doha endorse these issues and reiterate their commitments.
• Finally, the participants asked South Africa to convey their views at the upcoming G20 meeting, although they stressed that one country representing the continent was not a substitute for inclusive African participation. They called for “new multilateralism” that fully reflects current realities and ensures the proper representation of all countries.

ONE will be bringing you information about the outcome of the G20 summit next week, so be sure to check back here.

-Beth Adler

Back to the Basics

Oct 15th, 2008 12:11 PM EST
By Nora Coghlan

Government ministers and global health advocates from across the world are making their way to Almaty, Kazakhstan this week to focus on primary health care. The summit marks the 30th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Conference, which took place in the Kazakhstani city before the collapse of the USSR.

In the years since 1978, Alma-Ata has become somewhat of a hallmark and source of nostalgia in global health circles. The conference was the first of its kind to put the concept of health equity on the international agenda. Aiming to launch a campaign for health for all, attendees laid out their vision of primary health care. Identifying health as a fundamental human right, they argued that health care should not only be universal and affordable, but should be delivered in collaboration with local citizens in a way that is appropriate to the context.

These tenets were laid out in the Alma-Ata Declaration, which gave countries and international organizations a target date of 2000 for implementation.

Thirty years later the ideals of Alma Ata are far from being realized. Here at ONE, we know the stats on the global health deficit all too well: over 9 million children die before their fifth birthday every year from preventable, treatable causes; half a million mothers die every year during childbirth. While many at the time branded Alma-Ata and utopian, in retrospect its failure was more a result of unforeseen social and economic challenges that shaped the global health landscape of the 1980s and 1990s. WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, speaks to this in a recent article featured in the Lancet:

Nor could the visionary thinkers in 1978 have foreseen world events: an oil crisis, a global recession, and the introduction, by development banks, of structural adjustment programs that shifted national budgets away from the social services, including health…The emergence of HIV/AIDS, the associated resurgence of tuberculosis, and an increase in malaria cases moved the focus of international public health away from broad-based programs and towards the urgent management of high-mortality emergencies.

(more…)

Bono Blogs on Meeting French President Sarkozy

Sep 22nd, 2008 12:59 PM EST
By Virginia Simmons

Bono has been blogging today from the United Nations’s Summit on the MDG’s in NYC. The below post he wrote after meeting with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. You can read his complete posts at FT.com.

Tough meeting with the Président de la République of France. He’s a tough guy. We like tough guys because they get straight down to business. They don’t waste their time or yours. The French budget is out this Friday and in it we will see if France intends continuing its leadership role on the continent of Africa. In the last few years, French aid has been falling.

My point was that as much as Africa needs French aid and the energy that Sarkozy himself provides, he/we need Africa. Why? Africa has never been so strategically important as it is now, economically and politically. Just ask…

Read the full post here.

-Virginia Simmons