Post on 15-Apr-2017
Sustainable DevelopmentGoals Teach-In
Friday October 23, 2015
Facilitated by Martin S. Edwards
Associate Professor SHU Diplomacy
martin.edwards@shu.edu
• Overview of the Goals (Edwards)
• Break• Breakout Sessions (3)• Break• Op-Ed Writing (Edwards) • Advocacy (Neel)
Today’s Agenda:
• James Daly (Education): Goal 4
• Nalin Johri (SHMS): Goal 3
• Alyson Neel (UN Fdn): Goal 5
• Joseph O’Mahoney (Dipl): Goal 16
• Catherine Tinker (Dipl): Goals 6, 14, and 15
Breakout Sessions:
• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG
Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered
Questions• Bigger Lessons
Agenda:
• Inspiring external evaluation: • Integrated Commission on
Multilateralism• Commission on Global Security, Justice,
and Governance• Inspiring UN internal appraisals:• 1325 Review• HIPPO Panel
• Inspiring policymaking:• Financing for Development (July)• Post 2015 Development Agenda Summit
(September)• Paris Climate Change Summit (Nov-Dec)
The UN at 70:
• Unveiled the Sustainable Development Goals• Goals and Targets• Means of Implementation• Follow-Up and Review Process
• The SDGs are the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have been completed
• The SDGs are intended to guide global policymaking until 2030
The September summit
• Several places, actually!• OECD DAC, which created
International Development Goals in 1996
• UN, which held a Millennium Assembly in September 2000
• Intensive follow-ups to produce a composite list of goals, targets, and indicators
Where did the MDGs come from?
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG
Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered
Questions• Bigger Lessons
Agenda:
• A good overview is at the link below, but this is not without problems: • http://
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2015/Progress_E.pdf
Recapping the MDG Experience
• Answering the “Did the MDGs work?” question isn’t easy:• Counterfactual: What would
countries have done had the MDGs not existed?
• Respecting the baseline: These goals were ambitious!
• Implementation: The pathway from goal to outcome is complex
• What’s the question? Are we ascertaining if the targets were met, or are we measuring something else?
Recapping the MDG Experience
• Whether targets were met varies regionally:• Target 1a (Halve, between 1990 and
2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day) was met globally, but not in SSA
• Child mortality (Target 4a) has been cut considerably, but progress in Oceania has been especially difficult• Again, the target was a 2/3
reduction. We’re at more than 50% globally.
Here’s what we know:
• Domestic conditions matter:• In conflict-affected countries, the
proportion of out-of-school children has increased since 1999
• Urban-rural divides in developing countries make progress on child and maternal mortality difficult
• Progress on many targets hampered by global recession
• Lack of data is also a barrier to policymaking
Here’s what we know:
• More countries produce better data: • The percentage of developing countries
that had two or more data points for at least 16 of the 22 MDG indicators rose from 2% in 2003 to 79% in 2014.
• Domestic reforms do make a difference:• A forthcoming UNDP-commissioned
study of 50 countries found that 2/3 of them developed national strategies for reaching the MDGs.
Here’s what we know:
• Need to change the process and make it more inclusive
• Need to change the focus to the world as a whole
• Need to change the goals themselves to focus on improving states too
• Need to rethink monitoring of the goals to make sure they’re met
• Need to strengthen data architecture so that countries measure what counts
Lessons from the MDG Experience
• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG
Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered
Questions• Bigger Lessons
Agenda:
• Key Document: Rio + 20 Summit Declaration (2012)• SD has three dimensions
• Economic• Social • Environmental
• Called for the formation of an Open Working Group and extensive civil society involvement in creating the goals
From MDGs to SDGs
• Technology provided another input to the goals• World We Want survey: 7 ½ million
people voted worldwide on priorities for their families
• Top two priorities: education and health
• But note! The next two priorities are not in MDGs:• Better job opportunities• Honest and responsive
government
From MDGs to SDGs
Does the MyWorld survey suggest the US is different?
Top US Priorities1. A good education2. An honest and responsive
government3. Access to clean water and
sanitation4. Affordable and nutritious
food5. Better healthcare6. Freedom from
discrimination and persecution
Global Priorities1. A good education2. Better healthcare3. Better job opportunities4. An honest and responsive
government5. Affordable and nutritious
food6. Protection against crime
and violence
• Open Working Group• Originally had 30 members, then
moved to 70• US shared a seat with Canada and
Israel • 2 co-chairs appointed: Perm Reps
from Hungary and Kenya• Civil Society offered advice
through 9 Major Groups and other stakeholders
From MDGs to SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
• Consistent Themes: • Poverty, Hunger, Health, Education,
Gender, Environment• Some New Wrinkles:• Access to Energy• Infrastructure• Growth and Employment• Inequality• Cities• Governance• Climate Change*
Comparing the Lists
• The goals are more ambitious for those that ‘carried over’• Poverty: Eliminate extreme poverty
($1.25/day)• Hunger: End malnutrition• Health: End preventable deaths of
newborns and children under 5• Gender: End discrimination, VAW,
and child marriage, forced marriage and FGM.
Comparing the Lists
• MDGs had eight goals (such as “Improve Maternal Health”) and 18 targets (“Reduce under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015”)
• By contrast, the SDGs have 17 goals and 169 targets
• Put another way: the SDGs are the MDGs on steroids!
Key Difference: Scale
• The sheer number of goals and targets has invited criticism.
• It is hard to imagine the alternatives.
• We committed to a public process based on an expansive view of SD, and this was the outcome.
• The SG’s attempt to reframe the goals by grouping them under six headings failed to catch on.
Too Big to Work?
• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG
Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered
Questions• Bigger Lessons
Agenda:
• Indicator Overload• Follow up and review• Footing the Bill for Post-2015
Some Unanswered Questions
• With more goals and targets, there are more indicators, which places a strain on state capacity. Indicators are to be completed next year.
• At present, only 17% of the 300+ proposed indicators are feasible by National Statistical Offices
Indicator Overload
• Needs to be substantive to be consequential
• Example that’s often referenced is Universal Periodic Review
• Three questions• Is the review process going to name
and shame?• How will it avoid burdening
countries?• How will national and regional level
reviews work?
Follow up and review
• Financing for Development (FfD) talks held over the summer in Addis
• States are paying their own way through creating stronger tax systems• Para 51: “We encourage ODA
providers to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to LDCs.”
Footing the Bill for Post-2015
• It’s not surprising that FfD agreement was more ambiguous than SDGs• States negotiate harder over $!
Financing for Development (FfD)
• Ambiguity!• What makes the SDGs work is
their clarity. • FfD outcome document far
from this standard• Agreement language doesn’t
obligate states• Doesn’t outline benchmarks
Key difference between SDGs and FfD
• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG
Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered
Questions• Bigger Lessons
Agenda:
• Post-2015 agenda is packaged as a done deal, but it still a work in progress.
• International cooperation is always a difficult balancing act of reconciling different interests. This is as true today as when the UN was founded.
Bigger Lessons
• Involving civil society in the development of SDGs has been a game-changer.
• The future of the Post-2015 agenda, though, turns on how much civil society can help turn pledges into action.
Bigger Lessons
STAGE
Education Gender
HealthOceans, Land, Water
Peace and Justice
EXIT
THANKS SO MUCH!
For more info:@MartinSEdwards
martin.edwards@shu.edu