Looking back at ECOSOC’s High-level Segment: the AMR and DCF

The annual substantive session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) took place from 28 June – 2 July 2010 at UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was opened with statements by the President of ECOSOC, Hamidon Ali (Malaysia) and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Ban said that Millennium Development Goal 3 – ‘Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women’ – would be a central focus in deliberations this year. Achievement is crucial, he said, because “until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals – peace, security, sustainable development – stand in jeopardy.”

In his remarks, the ECOSOC President emphasized that the Council was tasked to not only exchange views and experiences, but also to produce tangible results in terms of policy guidance or the promotion of coherence. “Results which are understood by not only those of us in this room, but also the public at large. In the end, all of us are judged in the court of public opinion.”

Two key elements of the High-level Segment were the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) and the biennial High-level Development Cooperation Forum (DCF). The focus of the AMR and the DCF were to review the progress in international development and to advance the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which world leaders aim to achieve by 2015, as well as the other Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs).

The Annual Ministerial Review

The theme of this year’s Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) was “Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women,” and the ECOSOC President, in his opening remarks, said the theme was particularly opportune and timely as women all too often are the poorest and most marginalized. Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Chairperson of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), called upon all countries to share their success stories and challenges so that they could learn from each other and replicate the most effective initiatives in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Many keynote speakers raised concern regarding the still inadequate representation of women in all facets of economic and political decision-making. Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, noted that while strong transformations had taken place in Chile, elsewhere many women remained invisible in the political sphere. Therefore it is of utmost importance to make gender equality a reality; without it, human progress will not advance, she stressed. Some countries highlighted their efforts to deal with this issue. Moushira Khattab, Minister of State for Family and Population Affairs of Egypt, noted that Egypt had allocated a quota of 64 parliamentary seats for women. Norway has an equal balance of men and women in Cabinet. Portugal underlined the making of laws on women’s political participation as to strengthen democracy and development.

In his presentation, Bob McMullan, Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development, highlighted the need for more attention to be focused on violence against women, which, so far, has been an issue neglected by developing and developed countries alike even though there has been an alarming surge in such violence.

This year’s AMR also saw a record in National Voluntary Presentations (NVPs) as 13 countries (Australia, Brazil, France, Guatemala, Moldova, Mongolia, Namibia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Republic of Korea and the United States) volunteered to present their national level progress and challenges in implementing the IADGs, including the MDGs, and particularly regarding gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Parallel with the NVPs, was the discussion and thematic debate of the Secretary-General’s Report prepared for the AMR entitled “Current global and national trends and challenges and their impact on gender equality and empowerment of women.” The report reviews the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as well as the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly and its contribution to include a gender perspective towards the achievement of the MDGs.

While introducing the report, Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, drew attention to a number of concerns raised in the report, including the need for societies to include boys and men much more in their efforts to promote gender equality; the very high number of women that have low-paid or vulnerable jobs with limited or no social protection, basic rights or voices at work; and their lack of inadequate representation in economic and political decision-making.

While many mentioned the progress made since the 1995 Beijing Declaration, it was also noted that in many countries there is still insufficient attention to gender equality, as Victor Bodiu, Minister of State, Republic of Moldova admitted was the case for Moldova. Participants also underscored that women have felt the negative impact of the global food, climate and financial crisis to a greater extent than men. Therefore, many participants called for the urgent establishment of the new United Nations Gender Entity.

The Development Cooperation Forum

From 29-30 June, the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) was held, providing a platform for diverse stakeholders to have in-depth discussions on aid effectiveness and global development cooperation as well as the wider debates surrounding policy coherence for development. A number of key themes were discussed: promoting greater coherence; accountable and transparent development cooperation; South-to-South and triangular cooperation; the impact of multiple crises; and realizing efforts to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

The ECOSOC President opened the second high-level Development Cooperation Forum by noting that this year it took place at a time when a confluence of crises still threatened to derail the development process, with the global economic landscape and aid architecture both changing dramatically. Now, more than ever, he stressed, the role of aid and other development financing were particularly significant in ensuring progress towards attaining the MDGs. “Political momentum and a focus on turning pledges into implementation are urgently needed,” he urged.

In his keynote address, Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development, emphasized the need for coherent policies and political commitments to turn global visions into action, forming a new development-policy paradigm. This would require more credible information about aid delivery and its impact, as well as less fragmentation.

During the policy dialogue on “Promoting greater coherence,” Nguyen The Phuong, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment of Viet Nam, showed the benefits of working towards greater coherence. He noted that Viet Nam had received agreement and strong political support from the international community after it had implemented reforms and the right development policies within the country. This support was then translated into more official development resources (ODA) that Viet Nam was able to use for implementing socio-economic development initiatives. Thus, it was able to move from being an under-developed country towards a mid-low income country and was able to meet most of the MDGs.

Kampeta Sayinzoga, Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda, said Africa was changing and it was time for the international community and recipient countries to see if they were “on the same page” about the way forward. She called for country ownership, national-level coherence and targeted initiatives, warning that a proliferation of promises and projects would not lead to attainment of the MDGs.

Rwanda had pressed ahead with a home-grown development policies, with the assistance of partners, and had, for example, initiated an insurance programme that was now a model in Africa and beyond. “So we need to be wary of letting evidence choke innovation,” she cautioned, adding that it was also necessary to identify ways in which domestic resources could leverage development. That could be achieved by creating a tax base that could drive pro-poor policies along with broader socio-economic development. “We are beggars today, but we don’t want to be beggars tomorrow,” she stressed.

Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee, OECD, stressed that much research and analysis has been on policy coherence questions in many policy areas: “But what is important is not just understanding the policy issues, but understanding the political economy, and what needs to be done to work effectively to improve PCD (Policy Coherence for Development).” He further added: “Promoting policy coherence for development requires a strong political commitment to take into account the needs and interests of developing countries in domestic policy-making and the evolving world economy.”

The second policy dialogue on “accountable and transparent development cooperation” was moderated by Anders B. Johnsson, Secretary-General, CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation said in this regard: “We are trying to apply a technocratic solution to a political problem, so it’s no wonder we are failing.” She also called for a re-balancing of civil society’s access to decision-making processes

During the policy dialogue on South-South, triangular and decentralized cooperation, participants emphasized the rise of new actors in development cooperation and supported particularly South-South cooperation. According to Christoph Beier, Managing Director of the Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), South-South cooperation is “not a better way, but another way” to implement effective policy solutions, not a substitute for traditional North-South development initiatives.

Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary-General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) pointed out that local governments are neglected in the United Nations and little thought was given to their skills and authority. Statistics show that less than 10% of ODA reached the local level, contributing to the ineffectiveness of aid.

The policy dialogue on the “impact of multiple crises: allocating resources among competing needs” looked at the economic slowdown and how poverty has risen as a result. Participants suggested that developing countries with institutionalized safety partnerships could cope better with the crises than those relying on ad hoc donations. Also ODA has protected many countries for the financial crisis, however it was emphasized that long-term development plans cannot address short-term issues.

Carlos A. Primo Braga, Acting Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank, warned that State budgets are under pressure and that all countries want more aid. “If history is a prologue of what is ahead, we will see problems in terms of fiscal capacity,” he warned. Interest rates will then go up, making it harder to implement a future-oriented development agenda. Alonzo Fulgham, Chief Operating Officer of USAID, noted that the major risk ahead over the near and medium term relate to how the advanced countries manage their fiscal balances and indebtedness. “Most striking is evidence that countries which entered the crisis with sound macroeconomic management, a bank of international reserves and the fiscal headroom to expand social spending were able to protect their populations from the worst impacts of the global slowdown,” he said.

The final policy dialogue focused on “achieving the MDGs by 2015: an agenda for more and improved development cooperation.” The dialogue identified key areas which would have a multiplier effect for development, such as investing in women and girls. It was once again emphasized that donors must live up to their commitments, preventing aid flows to fall to inadequate levels. Also more aid should be directed to sub-Sahara Africa, which lags far behind. However, aid dependency needs to be prevented, as well as a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Outcomes: a Ministerial Declaration, the establishment of UN Women and a President’s Summary

The Economic and Social Council, concluding its High-level Segment on 2 July, adopted a Ministerial Declaration that emphasized women’s role as agents of development and the need to implement comprehensive national policies and action plans to achieve the internationally agreed goals and commitments to gender equality and empowerment of women. More noteworthy, it welcomed the establishment of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment, to be known as “UN Women.” In it, leaders pledged their full support to get the new agency up and running, which would strengthen the ability of the United Nations to support the attainment of women’s rights and empowerment worldwide. The resolution that establishes the new entity is part of a larger resolution on System-wide Coherence (A/RES/64/289, paragraphs 49-90 relate to the establishment of UN Women) and is the result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and active advocacy of women’s groups and civil society.

For more information, also read: UN Women, A new era in the UN’s work for women

The DCF closed with a Summary Statement by the President of ECOSOC that highlighted the need to accelerate progress in ensuring coherence between development cooperation and “beyond-aid” policies on trade, investment and technology; to better use ODA to foster innovation and to leverage domestic resources and other innovative sources of financing; to set concrete annual targets to increase the proportion of aid going to countries with the greatest development needs, financing gaps and structural vulnerabilities to external shocks; to increase public funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation; to improve and broaden aid quality assessments; to strengthen national, regional and global transparency and acountability mechanisms; to further support South-South cooperation, and etcetera.

Recently the more detailed President’s Summary on the DCF was released, which will serve as input into the MDG Summit in September.

ECOSOC side-events

NGLS co-organized two side-events during the DCF:

ECOSOC Side Event – New Actors in Development Cooperation and the New Aid Architecture: the Role of Regional Governments and Local Authorities (29 June 2010) — Co-organized by NGLS, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Government of Catalonia

ECOSOC Side Event – Development Cooperation to Promote Gender Equality and Achieve the MDGs (30 June 2010) — Jointly sponsored by the Governments of Spain and Rwanda, who were recently named co-chairs of the MDG Advisory Group, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), the Women’s Working Group on FfD, and ActionAid.

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