Strategies for moving forward towards the UN General Assembly Special Event, 25 September 2013

Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation, Government of Sweden, and member of High Level Panel (HLP) and Paul Ladd, United Nations Development Programme were the two main speakers at a meeting to launch the report of the COMPASS 2015 report Setting the post-2015 development compass: Voices from the ground, which was hosted by the Commonwealth Foundation in London on 30 July 2013. 

In her Keynote response, Minister Carlsson said that being on the HLP had been a rewarding experience, but that we had had the best of times in working to end poverty in our times. We will now have to move to address the needs of the most marginalized that have no voice. The time has now come to “lean forward to be more outspoken”. We need to update what we know about people who live in poverty: they are not poor, nor are they without aspirations, and they have the right to be part of processes such as globalization, digitalization etc. Their voices must be heard more loudly than before. She also emphasized the needs for practical changes.

Discussing her work on the HLP she focused on democratic governance, stressing the importance of its inclusion in the report. The HLP Report had addressed universal values, but are we speaking loudly enough? There is a need to look at the complexities of development and the Report in talking about free political choice is quite radical. Empowering people is important. The Report also addresses issues related to problems related to bad governance, eg land grabbing, corruption, oppression. 

UN has never had so much out-reach as it has in the process before the MDGs expire. Panel members related to what they heard ‘from out there’, which she noted was a different experience from the other panels of which she had been a member.

In conclusion she stressed the importance of addressing gender equality --  we still live in a world where women and girls do not have an equal share of opportunities and rights and face both poverty and structural discrimination. Governance and gender equality are key drivers for development: they are not optional extras and people should be treated as equals.

Paul Ladd, who heads the UNDP Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, began by focusing on the lessons learned from the MDGs process. The goals were not plucked from thin area, but came from the UN processes of the 1990s. They are technocratic in nature and do not cover everything.

At the beginning of 2011, the UN Secretary-General called for UN support for the most-participatory process ever to set the agenda leading to the post-2015 development agenda. The architecture, comprised of national and thematic consultations and web discussions, was in place and was being supplemented by other processes including those of civil society. There was a recognition of the importance of responding to the needs of people.

According to Paul Ladd, the areas included in the MDGs are fundamentally important. Moving forward future goals should be rights-based and more country specific, while focusing on ‘quality’. As he said “People do not live in silos.” He also reflected on the foresight of the Millennium Declaration, all of which has not been captured in the MDGs.

Currently the UN Development Group is involved in putting together another report on the consultations held, which could have a strong narrative around inequalities, reinforcing a participatory process; injustice and exclusion (eg economic, social, political); and insecurity, recognizing that if people are excluded, and/or discriminated against, they become vulnerable.

Paul Ladd said that the Secretary General’s report would go to Member States on 20 August. It is likely to include issues such as ‘indignities’ and focus on finishing the job of the MDGs within the broader context of sustainable development.

Finally, he also agreed that in the negotiating processes the HLP report provided a high-water mark and that civil society should now follow the processes carefully following the UN General Assembly Special Event in September.