Africa

1 March - Delegates have begun the final episode of deliberations on the role governance will play in the post-2015 development framework. Hosted by the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg, representatives from the grassroots, civil society organizations, academia, opinion leaders and parliamentarians from across the globe have gathered to deliberate on the Global Consultation on Governance and the Post 2015 Development Agenda; a culmination of a process of regional dialogues in Africa, Asia and Latin-America that is seeking people’s input into what they wish to be reflected in the post-2015 development framework with regard to democratic governance.

Preceded by a series of pre-meetings that sought to highlight the governance issues in “the African we want” statement by African delegates, the consultations have witnessed rich debates from academia, civil society and youth, among others, who have repeatedly emphasised that everything about Human Development has to do with governance and its tenets-transparency, accountability and inclusion.

Speaking during the opening session of the Global Consultations, UN Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjorven pointed out that since the turn of the millennium, “global poverty has continued to decline, access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded, 40 million more children are attending school, close to four million children are living who would otherwise have died, and more than 200,000, and an estimated 5.2 million people in low and middle-income countries are now receiving life-saving HIV treatment.” Among other examples, these demonstrate that enormous progress has been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. More could be achieved in more transparent and accountable societies in which the upholding the rule of law, tackling high levels of corruption, strengthened capacity in local governments and the inclusion of groups in governance processes are seen as the norm and not the exception.

In an unprecedented fashion, the United Nations is facilitating a process that aims at collecting views from citizens of the world on what they wish to live their lives after the year 2015-the target year for the current MDGs. Already 74 countries are working on their national consultations, along with the 11 thematic consultations and the global dialogue.

Taken together, these extensive consultations demonstrate that the UN is engaged fully in building a coalition of partners to ensure people in developing and developed countries, governments, non-governmental and grassroots organizations, the private sector, trade unions and workers, and the academic community are involved and participating in the decisions that affect their own lives.

Speaking during the pre-meetings, UNDP Bureau for Development Policy Director Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi stated that in addition to addressing “historical grievances regarding access to productive resources such as land, employment and other socio-economic opportunities there is need to “promote inclusive participation and accountability” as well “rethinking electoral architecture” and “the general management of the various diversities which are exacerbated by electoral competition.”

The African dialogue was concluded with a set of pronouncements among which was the recognition of the importance of the global development architecture to be responsive to national and regional priorities and conditions. African delegates emphasised, in the dialogue’s outcome statement that “The post-2015 development architecture needs to provide the space for nationally and regionally defined and owned priorities and goals. They noted that African development priorities must be owned, implemented and monitored through African-driven normative frameworks and institutions.

Delegates are continuing with their deliberations focusing on key sub-themes of governance processes in interactive and live sessions that will conclude on 1st March 2013.

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