Summary of Outcomes from the 2009 Policy Forum

After 2015: Promoting Pro-Poor Policy after the MDGSMichael Tribe (DSA)

andAurélien Lafon (EADI)

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Structure of the Presentation

The plenary sessions at the 2009 Policy forum consisted of:

• Three high level presentations by Panels of invited speakers in three theme areas• Questions from the floor• Responses from the Panels

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Theme 1 - What has been the impact of the MDG paradigm on poverty reduction and what does that mean for an MDG plus

agenda?

Salil Shetty (Director, United Nations Millennium Campaign) – Respecting the rights of poor countries and people

Action points:• De-Aid the MDGs;• Move the action to the local rather than the

technocratic and statist;• Get serious about monitoring and reporting;• Identify what has worked and what hasn’t worked

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Enrico Giovannini (Chief Statistician, OECD)Action points:• Focus on the concept of equitable wellbeing – a prize

system adopted by President Sarkozy represents a fantastic opportunity but it needs to be used effectively;

• Transform information into knowledge in the new era of online networking;

• Build a new narrative. The current financial crisis may help in that respect.

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Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Professor in International Relations, New School, New York) - MDGs and the international development agenda

Action points:• The MDGs need to be internalised• Add elements of human rights• Most importantly an explicit goal on the reduction of

inequality needs to be added

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Theme 2 - What are the key meta-processes shaping development over the next 10-15 years and what do they imply

for an MDG plus agenda?

Charles Gore (Special Coordinator Cross-sectoral Issues, Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, UNCTAD)

Action points:• The MDGs should not be abandoned, but could and should

become ‘rights’;• It is necessary to develop a new consensus which is not

based on the MDGs but on sustainable productive capacity;• Wellbeing (poverty reduction) objectives should be built in,

including taxes based on global transactions.

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Alfred Nhema (Chief Executive, Pan African Development Centre)

Action points:• Take into account local, regional and international

dimensions;• Include a process whereby African countries learn from

other parts of the world;• Promote a ‘bottom-up’ approach.

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Richard Morgan (Director of Policy and Practice, UNICEF)

Action points:• Rethink the urban vs. rural paradigm;• Address the issue of physical protection;• Promote local ownership of development goals.

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Theme 3 - Towards an MDG plus agenda

Louis Kasekende (Chief Economist, African Development Bank) – Pro-poor Policies After MDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Action points:• Focus on fragile states;• Broaden Goal 7 to include sustainability. Divide MDG 1 into

wealth creation + lowering inequality;• A higher level of public expenditure/ODA for the delivery of

basic social services is needed; • Issues related to the prioritisation, sequencing and coherence

of financing are important.

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Claire Melamed (Head of Policy, Action Aid)

Action points: • National governments need to deliver• Shift of funding mechanisms from uncertain ‘aid’ to

more predictable redistributive mechanisms including innovative financing such as the Currency Transaction Tax (previously known as the ‘Tobin Tax’) which can provide aid based on rights rather than as charity.

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Yehualashet Mekonen (Coordinator, Information and Statistics, African Child Policy Forum) – Why development should be seen from the individual person’s perspective

Action points:• There should be no more universal targets;• Indicators should be qualified in terms of quality;• Population dynamics need to be taken into account more effectively;• Long-term capacity building programmes should be added on Science

and Technology;• Policy space should be emphasised.

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Andreas Rechkemmer (International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change, United Nations University, Bonn) – MDGs and Global Environmental Change: Governance, Innovation and Learning

Action points:• Learn from socio-technological shifts in the past; • Design a new meta-narrative for the future incorporating

uncertainty; • Prioritise development of a new global governance

system.

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Andrew Steer’s Summing up

• A new and different narrative is needed;• The MDGs need to be tailored to individual country

circumstances;• The link between the MDGs and international development

finance is already a subject of debate;• It is necessary to draw from the present strengths and

weaknesses – note the recent contributions by Richard Manning;

• A more integrated approach is needed including the private sector and NGOs etc.;

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Andrew Steer’s Summing up – cont’d

• Ethics and values are very important;• There is a lot of hard work ahead – including

research (note the points made by Enrico Giovannini and by others on this issue);

• There will be a large number of meetings devoted to the issues which have been discussed during the Policy Forum and it will be necessary to maintain a high degree of coordination with as little repetition as possible.

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