New and improved

Int'l development

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This year is set to be of historic significance in international development. At the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, world leaders will assemble and adopt a new development agenda, giving birth to a new development landscape. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were derived from Millennium Declaration adopted by the Millennium Summit in 2000, will be replaced by a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be implemented 2016 onwards with the goal of eradicating extreme poverty from the globe by 2030.

The foundation for the new agenda was set by the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil in 2012. Formal negotiations on the new agenda have continued at UN Headquarters since December 2014 and are expected to be concluded by the end of July.

While the new development agenda, a fresh blueprint for the international community for the next 15 years, will vary in several ways from the MDG framework, it will nonetheless be built upon its successes and failures as well as the lessons learnt. First, the new agenda will rest on the twin pillars of universality and differentiation, encompassing the global north and south.

Second, it will be based on all three dimensions of sustainable development—economic, social and environmental—in contrast to pre-eminence of social indicators in MDGs. A major feature of the new agenda is sustainable development through social progress, economic growth and environmental protection.

Third, unlike the MDGs, which were derived from the Millennium Declaration, the new agenda will be an outcome of inter-government negotiations. And fourth, in a major break from the past, the SDGs will be embedded with specific means of implementation both for particular goals and for the totality of goals in general.

The new agenda will comprise four major components: declaration; sustainable development goals and targets; means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development; and follow-up and review. The declaration will set the tone for the new agenda. It will not only demonstrate political will and commitment but also lay out a vision and a sense of shared responsibility for shared prosperity of future generations. The SDGs and targets will probably be based on proposals of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It undertook a comprehensive and arduous exercise for around 18 months (March 2013 to July 2014) with active participation of relevant stakeholders. The proposals it made were subsequently adopted by the 69th Session of the UNGA. If the final agreement is based on that proposal, there will be 17 SDGs ranging from poverty eradication to addressing inequality, from climate change to energy, and from health to education.

The new agenda will be based on a renewed global partnership involving all stakeholders such as governments, UN system, international and regional organizations, civil society, the scientific community and academia, parliaments, local authorities and the private sector. Moreover, global and country specific indicators will be developed to measure, follow-up and review the progress made.

Developing countries also known as global south are actively involved in framing the new agenda at the level of groups such as G-77, LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, as well as national levels. This is to make sure that the new agenda recognizes specific development needs and challenges and to devise mechanisms to mobilize enhanced and predictable financial and technical assistance. The new agenda is even more relevant for least developed and landlocked developing countries like Nepal as they rely heavily on the international development architecture to mobilize the resources they lack.

The differentiated and preferential treatment within the new framework in the fields of Official Development Assistance (ODA), trade, technology, capacity building, and Foreign Direct Investment are vital for LDCs. As a forerunner in shaping the new global development agenda, Nepal has consistently maintained that the Istanbul Program of Action (IPOA) for LDCs and the Vienna Program of Action (VPOA) for LLDCs need to be fully integrated into the new framework, with a view to addressing the specific needs and challenges of LDCs and LLDCs.

One of the most challenging goals would be to ensure the graduation of all 48 LDCs. Although the declaration and achievement of the goal of graduation is the policy priority of the nations concerned, these ambitions must be supported by their development partners and international community, thereby making significant progress in per capita income, economic vulnerabilities index and human assets index. It is worth noting here that Nepal has also announced her ambition to graduate by 2022.

This year will also witness two more global events of great significance in international development: Third United Nations Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to be held in July in Addis Ababa, and the 21st session of the UNFCCC or COP 21 being held in Paris, France in December. The outcome of both these conferences will play a key role in the success of the new development agenda: the former will prescribe the parameters for mobilization of resources whereas the latter will underpin our efforts to manage climate change.

The international community has a historic responsibility and probably a 'once in a life time opportunity' of framing this historic agenda, aiming at 'leaving no one behind' and 'ending poverty' in all its forms. Rising to the challenge of this 'historical opportunity' and attaining our 'aspirational goal' won't be possible without political vision and commitment from international community as well as without the involvement of stakeholders at all levels—global, regional, national, sub-national, and local.

The author is associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs