UNF Alert 9

Negotiations on the Post-2015 Declaration

On February 17-20, member states debated the elements of the Declaration for the post-2015 agenda– the narrative and vision of the agenda. If the goals and targets are the “what” of the post-2015 agenda and the means of implementation and financing are the “how”, the Declaration is the “why”. Many member states said that the Declaration should provide a clear vision that could be understood by young people, mothers, and ministers and be short, inspiring and positive. It should make the case for why the SDGs matter and should inspire action. Some governments thought that the Secretary-General’s six elements (“Dignity, People, Prosperity, Planet, Justice, and Partnership”) or something similar could be used to communicate the agenda; others suggested: “People, Planet, Prosperity, and Partnership.”

The March intergovernmental negotiations will focus on the SDGs and targets. Member states will also discuss initial input on indicators coming out of the UN Statistical Commission’s session, March 3-6.

Coherence between FfD and Post-2015 processes

At the first drafting session of the Financing for Development (FfD) outcome document in late January, member states and representatives from the UN, civil society and the business community reacted to the elements paper. The Co-Facilitators announced that a zero draft will be circulated by the end of February. The next drafting session will be April 13-17.

A major source of debate was the nature of the relationship between the FfD and post-2015 processes. Several governments have said that the Addis outcome should be “plugged in” as the means of implementation for the post-2015 agenda. This would ensure coherence between the processes, avoid duplication, and give added impetus for government leaders to come to Addis ready to make concrete commitments. Others were concerned that critical non-financial aspects of SDG 17, such as technology facilitation, have not previously been covered in the FfD track and would need to be integrated. Several member states proposed a joint FfD/Post-2015 MOI session in April to ensure coherence.

The SG’s Special Advisor, Amina Mohammed highlighted the links between the FfD, Post-2015 and Climate processes and said that while Addis would not be a pledging conference, it did need to signal a strong political commitment towards funding sustainable development efforts. Success in Addis will be crucial to providing momentum heading into both the post-2015 summit in New York in September, and the climate conference in Paris in December. Failure to agree an actionable and ambitious package in Addis could jeopardize bold agreements in New York and Paris.

Negotiations on the FfD Elements Paper by the co-facilitators

Overall, many governments supported retaining the structure of the Monterrey Consensus document and welcomed the addition of new elements relevant for today such as technology, capacity building and innovation as well as monitoring, data and follow up. Many also supported gender equality as a cross-cutting measure and called for a gender-sensitive approach to national budgeting. Specific statements can be found here. Highlights from the session are included below.

International Public Aid

Developing countries called for a renewed commitment to the 0.7% ODA target in a timely manner. Many governments, both north and south, agreed on the important and catalytic role of ODA, in particular for those countries most in need. The LDCs proposed that 50% of ODA go toward LDCs. The US highlighted the special needs of fragile and conflict affected countries, and the Small Island Developing States emphasized the special needs of those climate-vulnerable countries.

The G77, among others, emphasized the additionally of climate finance noting that climate finance should not be counted as ODA. Others contended that this was a false dichotomy and that climate and development could not be treated separately in practice.

The European Union said that the North-South dichotomy does not reflect the complexity of today’s world and that “Upper MICs and other emerging economies have an enhanced position” in today’s economy which needs to be recognized in the elements paper.

The African Group said that regional Development Banks could also play a role in providing concessional loans to support infrastructure projects where private investment has been limited.

Domestic Resource Mobilization and Tax Cooperation

Many emphasized the importance of domestic resource mobilization, good governance, effective use of resources and a transparent and enabling policy environment. The G77 called for an upgraded UN tax body on international tax cooperation, though this was not supported by some countries, including the US. Many supported enhanced capacity building in developing countries, for example, strengthening tax systems and tax collecting institutions. There was also broad agreement on the need to combat tax evasion, corruption, and illicit financial flows, including through automatic exchange of information.

Role of Private Sector

The G77 said that public funding should always take precedence over private financing and that “these two concepts cannot be put on equal footing,” noting the limitations of the private sector in generating social or environmental impacts. Donor countries emphasized that private finance would not be a substitute for ODA, but that ODA could be used to leverage private finance to increase the total scale of resources available through capital markets. Others pointed out the private sector’s innovative nature.

The African Group said that it was open to partnerships, but that we would need a “formal mechanism for ensuring predictability, reliability and sustainability of such partnerships.” The group said that innovative financing sources could be explored in low income countries where public-private partnerships have been limited.

Non-financial Implementation Issues

The G-77, the African Group, LDCs, and LLDCs proposed the inclusion of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in the FfD outcome. Many MICs emphasized that south-south and triangular cooperation are not substitutes for north-south cooperation.

The African Group emphasized sustainable agriculture; infrastructure development; science, technology and innovation; and value addition to primary commodities. The G77 and LDCs also called for the establishment of a clean technology facilitation mechanism.

On trade, the majority of developing countries called for the removal of trade-distorting measures, greater market access, a fairer rules-based trading system, and the conclusion of the Doha round. Some donor countries highlighted the positive impact of regional trade agreements and said that WTO efforts should not be duplicated.

On sovereign debt and systemic issues, many developing countries called for the establishment of an international debt restructuring mechanism and debt relief efforts, including for MICs. Some donor countries said that we should respect the IMF’s mandate on dealing with debt issues. Many developing countries also called to reform the international financial institutions and monetary systems in order to give a greater voice to developing countries.

On monitoring, data and follow up, there was broad support for better and more transparent data. Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, Thailand and the UK emphasized the need for gender-disaggregated data to ensure investments in women. The G77 highlighted the need for an FfD follow up mechanism, including monitoring on the role of non-state actors. The EU was in favor of a single and coherent monitoring mechanism for both FfD and post-2015 follow up.

Side Event on CBDR in the context of FfD

At an FfD side event on January 29 entitled “Applying CBDR in the context of Financing for Sustainable Development” hosted by the Mission of Brazil, CIDSE and Social Watch, a proposal was floated to think about CBDR in a non-binary way; that is, instead of categorizing countries as “developed” vs “developing”, using more nuanced categories such as LDCs, LLDCs, SIDs, and MICs. It was suggested that this could apply CBDR in a more modern way and could take into account the varying capacities of a very diverse set of countries.

PGA’s Debate on Means of Implementation for Post-2015

On February 9-10, the PGA convened a high-level thematic debate on Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda. The PGA and DSG opened the debate, and participants discussed how to scale up mobilization of financial resources from all sources, including the complementary roles that domestic finance, ODA, private finance, trade, and partnerships can play. The UN’s summary of that debate can be found here, and will feed into the ongoing negotiations on MOI.

February Must Reads

Ambassador Macharia Kamau of Kenya, Co-Facilitator of the post-2015 negotiations, authored 2015: The Cornerstone for Financing for Development in The Huffington Post, calling for a renewal of the visionary development cooperation that took place in the second half of the 20th century. Ambassador Kamau contends that the old development paradigm must be revamped to become a new model that is “fully financed, transformative, universal, equitable and sustainable.”

The 18th publication in Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Development Goals Occasional Paper Series, Exploring Domestic Financing Options for Post-2015 Development Agenda in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries, by Eberechukwu Uneze and Adedeji Adeniran, looks at tax revenue, domestic savings, capital flight, diaspora resources, financial transaction tax and domestic philanthropy to evaluate the revenue potential of domestic financing options currently being proposed for the post-2015 agenda. The paper uses Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa as case studies.

In this Hewlett Foundation blog, Financing the Data Revolution—Elements for Success, Sarah Lucas summarizes four ingredients needed to successfully finance the data revolution. She argues that country champions, a broader community of advocates, and answers to some of the toughest questions are also necessary to make the July Financing for Development conference a success for the data revolution.

Save the Children’s Jonathan Glennie writes for The Guardian: The saddest thing in the world is not poverty; it’s loss of dignity. He urges readers to see beyond the economic measures of poverty to the cost in human dignity, echoing Amartya Sen’s characterization of development as freedom.

This Op-ed by Alex Evans in The Guardian, Who’s going to cough up the cash to meet global poverty targets? sums up the need for political will to make July’s FfD conference a success. Describing the Addis conference as a make-or-break scenario, Evans calls for a clearer narrative of what the summit represents for the SDGs, more realistic yet still ambitious donor commitments, addressing the financing gap and private sector contributions, among other issues.

The latest policy piece from The Brookings Institution’s Homi Kharas and John McArthur, Nine Priority Commitments to be Made at the UN’s July 2015 Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, lays out nine concrete actions that could facilitate a positive outcome for the FfD conference, and in doing so, create a framework for an effective means of implementation for the post-2015 agenda. It delves into policy reforms, ODA, climate finance, and capacity building, among other issues.

This Future of the UN briefing paper by Roberto Bissio, The “A” Word: Monitoring the SDGs, focuses on the importance of accountability and monitoring for achieving the SDGs. Bissio says that governments have the primary role in implementation and that accountability to citizens is key; if the private sector is to play a role in implementation, specific criteria and accountability mechanisms must be established to counter any risks associated with partnerships.

Look Ahead

• February 27: UN Statistical Commission seminar on Indicator Framework (UNHQ).
• February 27: ECOSOC Special Event on Multi-stakeholder partnerships for Post2015″ (UNHQ).
• March 3 – 6: 46^th Session of the UN Statistical Commission (UNHQ).
• March 6: PGA’s high-level thematic debate on Advancing Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls for a Transformative Post-2015 Agenda (UNHQ).
• March 9-20: 59^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (UNHQ).
• March 23-27: Intergovernmental negotiations on SDGs and Targets (UNHQ and webcast).