An Award for Activism

Congratulations to Ms. Sheila Watt-Cloutier for winning the prestigious Mahbub ul Haq Award for Excellence in Human Development.

According to UNDP, the award is presented every 2-3 years to a leader who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to furthering the understanding and progress of human development in a national, regional or global context.

Ms. Watt-Cloutier fits the bill. As an Inuit activist and political leader, she has fought tirelessly to raise global awareness about climate change on behalf of the Arctic communities of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, which are suffering from global warming effects. Ms. Watt-Cloutier also helped launch one of the world's first international legal actions on climate change, contending that unchecked gas emissions from the US violated Inuit cultural and environmental rights. Her inspiring leadership has brought global attention to global warming. It is now up to the world's leaders to take action.

Ms. Watt-Cloutier is also nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Financing the MDGs

The international community has set itself a massive task: achieving all 8 Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This task is both ambitious and expensive.

The final meetings of 'Financing Development to achieve the MDGs' held yesterday in Doha, Qatar thoroughly examined this question. This conference, jointly hosted by Qatar and the President of the General Assembly, was designed to bring governments, the private sector, civil society and the UN system together to discuss new methods of advancing progress on the Millennium Declaration.

Focus was on how to make financial assistance to developing countries more predictable and consistent as well as to evaluate efforts to implement programs advancing the MDGs with this aid.

See here for information on how the UN will continue to follow-up this process, bringing the developing world one step closer to relief.

Africa Progress Panel

Despite promises of increased aid on the part of the international community and better governance on the part of the African leaders, the continent's long-term development has somehow been left behind.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan formed the Africa Progress Panel in June precisely to address this challenge. This independent group aims to put Africa back on track with respect to the Millennium Development Goals, ensuring that both Africans and donors live up to their commitments. The article, New group breathes fresh hope in Africa, quotes Annan:

“It is vital that Africa lead its own development process. The imperative lies with African leaders to make a difference. Africa’s effort to improve governance and place international development goals, such as the MDGs, at the centre of their policies have shown positive results.”

Other members of the panel include Michel Camdessus, Peter Eigen, Bob Geldof, Robert Rubin, Graca Machel and Muhammed Yunus, a group that includes development experts, businessmen, and Nobel Laureates.

More information on the Panel can be found here.

Channeling aid to Somalia

Most of the time, it is not enough to simply give aid. Donors need to know what their money will be used for.

Yesterday, the US pledged $4 million in development aid to Somalia after several stalled attempts due to insecurity in Mogadishu and difficulties in gathering funding. A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said the funds would include 1.25 million dollars for the upcoming National Reconciliation Congress set for July 15.

The UNDP will act as the vehicle for this aid, ensuring that it is effectively delivered to organizations with expertise in providing emergency services to the population.

On the scene in Bangladesh

Though the UNDP does not specialize in immediate aid and relief, it recognizes a humanitarian crisis when it sees one.

Mudslides caused by heavy rains in Chittagong, Bangladesh have inundated one-third of the city, affecting the lives of approximately 1.5 million people.


Yesterday, the UNDP in Bangladesh allocated $20,000 to complement national efforts to respond to the emergency, as well as five vehicles, including fuel and drivers, to support ongoing relief operations.

Beyond this emergency aid, UNDP has several ongoing projects in the country relating to disaster prevention and environmental sustainability. These projects are designed to build Bangladesh's capacity including helping Bangladesh develop emergency response strategies.

Improved management

The UN is incapable of reform? Look again.

UNDP is working to improve its management by adopting a series of measures, such as financial disclosure and standardizing information available on the Internet, to improve efficiency and accountability at the agency.

Other measures include the establishment last year of an independent audit advisory committee which has since met four times. “In the ongoing dialogue, it is extremely useful to get that external advice; it’s the first time UNDP has opened up itself to that,” Associate Administrator Mr. Melkert said.

More on-the-ground help for South Sudan

Go local - this is the conventional wisdom behind development strategy. The UNDP takes this to heart when implementing projects in the field both by working with local partners and facilitating progress at the micro level.

Recently, the UNDP - working through its country office and with NGOs - has helped the local government of South Sudan set up 15 clinics to treat tuberculosis and test for HIV. 100 out of 1,000 South Sudanese are currently infected with TB and do not have access to health care. This is particularly frustrating because TB is easily curable with appropriate medical attention.

The UNDP, following a funding agreement last month, has also implemented training programs in local prisons to educate both warders and inmates about their rights, as well as the protocol for requesting and providing services.

Click here to watch two great videos on UNDP's work in South Sudan, as well as in several other African nations.

Teach a village to fish...

The Millennium Villages seek to end extreme poverty by working with the poorest of the poor, village by village throughout Africa, in partnership with governments and other committed stakeholders, providing affordable and science-based solutions to help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Teach a village to fish and watch development flourish.

Work is being done in more than 75 villages in ten different countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. Interventions include the following areas: nutrition, agriculture, gender equality, health, water, environment and infrastructure.

Watch this video for reasons why Jeffrey Sachs believes this project is a success.



Donate here to help villagers save themselves.

Africa needs more help

A report recently released by the UN stated that Africa is behind on achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

There were, however, several success stories that provide hope for the future:

Ghana is successfully implementing a national school feeding program using locally produced foods.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and many other countries have abolished fees for primary schools resulting in dramatic increases in enrolment during the space of a few years.

In 2006 Zambia cancelled fees for basic rural health services and Burundi introduced free medical care for mothers and children.

With support from the Red Cross Red Crescent, WHO, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control, African countries such as Niger, Togo and Zambia have successfully launched national campaigns for measles vaccination and distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated anti-malaria bed nets.

In Niger, hundreds of thousands of people in rural communities greatly improved their livelihoods and reduced their vulnerability to droughts through large-scale reforestation driven by national policy reforms.

Senegal is on track to achieving the water and sanitation goals through a national investment program financed with donor support.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested more aid from developed countries during the G8 meetings in Germany in order to implement the UN's MDG practical plan. More generosity combined with genuine will and effort on behalf of African countries will set the continent back on track. Much like climate change, poverty all over Africa can be significantly reduced if all countries work together.

See here for ways you can get involved with the MDG campaign!

Less armed violence, more development

When it comes to development, governments are getting better at setting concrete goals for cooperation.

Today, 42 governments adopted the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, hosted by the UNDP and the government of Switzerland.

If we are to have a chance of achieving the MDGs, we have to take an active interest in combating the illicit trade in small arms. The Geneva Declaration on armed violence and development, which we adopt this afternoon, clearly states our objective: Reduce armed violence by 2015.

Click here to read the Declaration.

Business and the MDGs

Ted Turner - the founder of CNN and the UN Foundation - has a nice op-ed in his hometown Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the MDGs.

In addition to calling on fellow business leaders to embrace the goals, he notes that

the attainability of the MDGs requires entrepreneurial ingenuity and a business skill-set. It takes smart entrepreneurs and trained managers to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, raise people out of poverty, supply HIV/AIDs patients with treatments and more.

Supporting the private sector in creating innovative solutions and jobs is an important part of development. UNDP has long recognized the importance of private sector development in achieving the goals through their ground breaking Unleashing Entrepreneurship report and programs like the Growing Sustainable Business initiative, which facilitate business-led solutions to poverty and the MDGs.

When you boil these global challenges down to their essence, what is at stake in the long-term if we fail in this effort — our livelihood and life's work, our global security, the welfare of our very children — is far greater than the risk of not getting involved.

For ideas on what you can do, check out here or here.

Women, you can vote too

Papua New Guineans will go to the polls at the end of this month to elect their new national leaders – but with one big change.

With the help of the UNDP’s Women’s Empowerment initiative, separate compartments for women voters will be set up at polling booths so that they can cast their votes in privacy. In the past, women voters have been intimidated by husbands, male relatives or other partisans, preventing them from voting for their preferred candidate. Workshops held by UNIFEM have also been conducted to train future female candidates in good governance and transparent leadership.

This is just one way the UNDP helps the voice of women be heard all over the world.

Malaria Kills, Nets Save Lives

Quick congratulations to our friends at UNF on their Nothing but Nets campaign winning a Webby yesterday. They received the People's Voice award in the non profit category.

If you haven't already, I strongly encourage you to learn more about their fight against malaria in Africa and how just $10 can make a difference.

Graduation

In the very long run, the true measure of success for development organizations is whether a country is able to grow, prosper, and no longer need aid. The small Baltic country of Lithuania is one success story. Since the end of the Cold War, with the help of organizations like UNDP, they have been able to transition to a flourishing democracy with a flourishing market economy. In 2004 their success was recognized with their acceptance into the EU and WTO.

While Lithuania needs help from UNDP less and less, they have learned valuable lessons that can help other developing countries. To help them begin making the transition from recipient to donor, UNDP has launched the Time to Help Others campaign. If you speak Lithuanian, you can check out the tv spot they produced.
The campaign is designed to "inform the public about development... increase awareness of development issues among members of the Parliament... establishing a database of Lithuanian [development] experts as well as defining the areas in which Lithuania can co-operate" and helping the government create their own overseas development agency.