Mercy Global Concern - 2005

Mobilising Domestic Resources for Development

High Level On financing for Development

As representative of an NGO I am grateful to have the chance to take part in discussion of the critically important matter of Financing for Development.
Mobilising domestic resources for development is the single most important and challenging task facing every government.

If development is the new name for peace, then it’s essential that people and especially poor people are at the centre of planning; development is for people. The majority of our membership live and work in developing countries among the poor and the extremely poor. Many are engaged in projects of development, health and education at the community level.

It was encouraging yesterday to hear many ministers speak of their government’s determination to increase their levels of Official Development Assistance. But we are concerned with the lack of a real sense of urgency in addressing this running sore of humanity. Like it or not, we are in the same boat. So the welfare of one is the welfare of all of us.

“We are the first generation that can eradicate poverty and we refuse to miss this opportunity”[Eveline Herfkins]. Now that we have the capacity and we know how to do it, it becomes not just an economic issue but a moral one. We can find resources for security and military expenditure; we must also find them for development.

The greatest resource that any country has is its people. It is time to stop seeing the “poor” merely as problems; we must recognise the amazing resourcefulness and creativity of people caught in poverty. Civil society has a special place of trust and can mobilize and empower the poor

The need for coherence and consistency among donors and within the UN system is stressed. I suggest that it is time for all players, all the stakeholders to approach this crisis as cooperators and not competitors. Each piece of the picture - aid, fair trade, unconditional debt forgiveness, creation of jobs and, above all, a fair, participatory and democratic international financial system must be taken seriously. We need to change the flawed financial system that prevents harmonious development across all countries.

1. Countries must have a clearly articulated medium and long-term national development plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and beyond 2015. This plan must be made in harmony with the real needs of the people.

2. This raises the issue of participation. I wish to make special mention of one group of people – Indigenous Peoples. The recent Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues expressed concern that in the rush to meet the MDGs by 2015, Indigenous peoples who are among the poorest and most marginalized would be further disadvantages. “The MDGs and indigenous peoples: redefining the goals”

3. Good governance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for national development and for uplifting the lives of its citizens.

4. An enabling international environment is essential. It is nonsense to speak of creating a development plan to eradicate poverty if the bulk of the country’s finances goes to paying the interest on its external debt. Too few resources are available to improve the health or education of its citizens or to begin to build basic infrastructure to encourage investment and to create jobs in order to begin the climb out of poverty and indebtedness.

5. Loans or aid with conditionalities, such as forced liberalization of markets before they are ready, often makes the second state of such countries worse than the first. Recent displays of resistance by some rich countries to change entrenched positions on domestic agricultural subsidies remind us of how severely the playing field is tilted to favour rich developed countries.

6. Pressure to find quick means to repay loans and to be free of debt often means the poorest countries sacrifice the most precious things – their people, non-renewable resources, their environment, even their sovereignty – the very things that will in the longer term give them a more equitable place in the community of nations.

7. Along with the majority of civil society, we see an urgent need for radical adjustment in the multilateral mechanisms that shape decisions on debt, loans, aid and trade. Rich and poor, borrowers and lenders, highly developed market economies and those just beginning, must be part of more equitable and transparent decision making in those bodies that can hurt or heal the world in its poverty. The present way is not working. All stakeholders and not just shareholders should have the chance to shape the rules of the game. This means not only governments and business, but the poor, indigenous peoples, women, civil society, indeed all who have a stake in a more decent, peaceful, sustainable and equitable environment in which to live their lives. Let us dare to dream of a different future.

8. A holistic model of development is needed; one that is respectful of national sovereignty, but one that also knows we are inextricably bound together. A model must be found that is built on participation and justice, not on charity.

9. Facing a divided world with gross inequities that threaten to destabilize us all it is important to remember that we are the product of our history. Most of the world’s creditor- nations share a colonial past that exploited the human and natural resources of the South and plundered its wealth. Often today, global corporations have replaced States in continuing to extract and plunder the natural and ecological resources to the detriment of the country and its citizens. We need a new equation of justice to measure the debts and credits in an interdependent world. A new system of corporate accountability is overdue. Self-regulation will not carry us far enough.

10. That is why the multilateral and cooperative approach of the United Nations is essential if we are to find an integrated and sustainable way forward that brings prosperity, meet the needs of the people and preserves a living and breathing planet that can support life into another generation.

11. We are not just dealing with balance sheets, but the life or the death of millions of children and their families.

Prepared for the Roundtable 1 of the General Assembly’s High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, June 28, 2005 at UN Headquarters New York.
SISTERS OF MERCY