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Statement by Abdoulie Janneh
26
March 2006 Your
Excellency Mr. Osman Mohammed Osman, Minister of Planning, Arab
Republic of Egypt, It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this High Level Plenary on Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Millennium Development Goals in Africa co-organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Commission (AUC). This meeting represents a partnership with the AUC and a clear expression of our commitment to up scale our collaboration. We at ECA consider our partnership with the AUC and African Development Bank (AfDB) as fundamentally critical for facilitating a shared and common African position on issues of vital importance to the continent’s development agenda. Ladies and Gentlemen, High-level events such as this are seldom the product of one single organization or entity. I would therefore like to begin my remarks by thanking the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt for so kindly agreeing to host this important Plenary. The Government of Egypt has stood by us since we began the process of putting this event together and has most willingly and generously responded to our requests and provided for our needs. Their support and assistance made the organization of this Plenary much easier and the hospitality and kindness extended to us since our arrival has been very warm, and very African. I would also like to thank all the Ministers of Finance who kindly accepted our invitation to participate in this meeting. I would like to recognize the presence of Ministers in charge of sector Ministries at this meeting and to thank them for coming. We made the deliberate decision to invite you, sector Ministers, to this High Level meeting because it is on your ministries that the burden of implementing the strategies that are hoped to reduce poverty lie. I believe that effective implementation of poverty reduction strategies greatly depends on sector Ministers and the Ministers of Finance having a shared view, a common understanding of what the national priorities are and how best to achieve them. Honorable Ministers, I know that your schedules are busy and I would not have liked to impose upon you. But the issues that this Plenary will examine are very important. Your presence here today is for me, a firm confirmation of that view. I would also like to thank the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for co-sponsoring this event and to thank the African Development Bank and the World Bank for honoring our invitation with their very high level presence. Ladies and Gentlemen, Five years ago, in response to popular and legitimate concerns, the World Bank and the IMF introduced the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (eHIPC). Under this initiative highly indebted poor countries were eligible for debt relief if they satisfied a number of conditions. One of those conditions was the preparation of a poverty reduction strategy paper. The idea behind this requirement was to ensure that resources freed would be used to address and mitigate the high and persistent rates of poverty in these countries. The PRSP framework was to be undergirded by five key principles: country ownership, broad-based stakeholder participation, results orientation and partnerships. The PRSPs were presented as a fresh approach to development. A few months after the introduction of the PRSP framework, in 2000, the international community, at the UN Millennium Summit, adopted the Millennium Development Goals to provide a metric for assessing our collective efforts to improve the human condition. These internationally agreed targets have since served, along with the PRSP, to galvanize action and mobilize our efforts and resources to address the key issues that circumscribe the human condition in poor countries. Soon after the PRSP framework was introduced, ECA, based upon the request of member States, set up the African Learning Group on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP-LG). Its purpose was to provide a forum for experience sharing among African countries on the PRSP process and to suggest ideas on how best to address emerging problems. The Learning Group conducted a series of studies and held three meetings. These studies and the conclusions show that the PRSP framework has had an energizing effect on our efforts to reduce poverty and grow our economies. The poverty focus of national development strategies have improved. Growth has resumed on a sustainable basis in many of our member states. Available evidence shows that at least fifteen countries have shown average growth rates faster than 5% consistently over the past 5 years. The incidence of poverty is falling in a number of countries. National ownership has improved as a consequence of broad stakeholder participation. The PRSP, although initially conceived as a three-year program, now serves as the basis for longer range national development strategies. And finally, the framework and the MDG targets are having a positive effect on the mobilization of external resources for development. As we all know, the G-8 at its Gleneagles Summit agreed to cancel the debt of 18 of the poorest countries in the World. Fourteen of the beneficiaries of this decision are African. So, it is safe to say that the framework has been especially useful.
Nonetheless, recent assessments of Africa’s progress towards meeting the MDG targets show that a lot more has to be done to quicken progress. In this regard, evaluations of the PRSP framework have identified areas where significant and important improvements can be made. For example, the framework paid insufficient attention to important areas such as growth, employment and gender. In addition, the framework has raised important new issues such as the emerging tension between broad-based stakeholder participation in policy formulation and the fledgling institutions of representative democracy in Africa. It was against this background that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his report, “In Larger Freedom”, called on member States with extreme poverty to “adopt and begin to implement by 2006, national development strategies bold enough to meet the MDGs”, that is, to make their poverty reduction strategies MDG-based. As many of our countries (some of them now free of debt), having reached the HIPC completion point, begin to formulate the next cycle of national development strategies, it is important that we explore ways to improve upon the successes of the first cycle of poverty reduction strategies and to identify how best to improve on the poverty and overall MDG outcome of such strategies. Experience shows, (as my colleague Mrs. Josephine Ouedraogo will explain shortly in her presentation), that there are four key, core areas that these second generation strategies, will need to, like a laser, focus on. These are: economic growth with poverty reduction; ownership, leadership and accountability for national development; national capacity to implement national development; and external assistance. Ladies and Gentlemen, The lessons of the past and the challenges of today present us with a focused and difficult task: How can the second generation (or cycle) of poverty reduction strategies build on the successes of the first generation (cycle) and at the same time avoid the constraints and limitations of the first? What principles should undergird this second generation? This is the task that this High-level Plenary has been convened to address. Conditions today are substantially different from the conditions that prevailed in 1999. This meeting thus presents an opportunity for Africa and its partners to not only distil the lessons learned from the first generation poverty reduction strategies but to also explore what the key underlying principles and focus of successor strategies should be. Distinguished Ministers, Poverty eradication is more than ever our overarching goal in Africa. In order for us to reach this goal, there are significant challenges that we, along with our development partners, must confront and overcome. The challenges are many but the key ones are conflict, HIV/AIDs, growth without employment and the related concerns of capacity development and utilization, gender, regional integration and the availability of reliable data. Let me say a few words on some of these challenges. We all agree that economic stability rests on stable peace and security and that peace and security is an essential prerequisite for achieving lasting development. But our continent continues to be plagued by new conflicts and festering old ones. These conflicts not only constrain progress but threaten decades of tangible achievements on the growth and development fronts. I am not saying that progress is not being made in this area. There is progress. The number of violent conflicts has fallen significantly over the recent past. Progress has been made in many countries, the most recent of which is Liberia where Africa elected her first female President a few months ago. We at ECA applaud this progress and will continue to support the initiatives of the African Union Commission to secure the peace and to prevent future conflicts. In this regard, let me add that the UN Secretary General’s Peace Building Commission initiative to support countries coming out of conflict is a resource for Africa and should be commended. Overall, our experience strongly shows that it is imperative that any national development strategy must have a strong component that addresses measures to secure peace and security. Second, we face the challenge of HIV and AIDS. When the MDGs were agreed, our understanding of the toll of this epidemic was rudimentary and superficial. Today, with improved knowledge and understanding, we know that our progress in meeting the MDG targets will remain severely constrained unless we effectively tackle this devastating scourge. And while confronting the challenge of HIV/AIDS, we must remain alert to the threat from resurgent old and emerging new diseases. A worrying example in this regard is the emergence of Avian Flu. This disease, if not speedily contained, could, like HIV/AIDS, present a real threat not only to our economic health but to our human health as well. Africa and her development partners must rise quickly to this threat in order that it does not contribute to the erosion of the limited progress we are making in reducing poverty. Third, we face the challenge of growing our economies in a manner that creates good, rewarding jobs. As I mentioned earlier, a number of our countries have recorded positive rates of growth on a sustained basis in the recent past. Concentrated in capital-intensive sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, and mining, this growth has largely been jobless, concentrated in the extractive sectors, unevenly distributed, and volatile. Furthermore, the rate of economic growth falls far short of the rate generally agreed as necessary to meet the first target of the Millennium Development Goal - halving the number of poor people by 2015. It is thus urgent that the current pattern of growth must change and that mineral wealth is mainstreamed into national development strategies. However, in order to do this successfully, it is critical that the production structure of Africa’s economies must be conducive. At the moment, there are significant challenges in this area. Except for a few countries, our economies are largely mono-cultural. Economic diversification is thus a compelling necessity. Without diversification it will be much more difficult to make growth strategies sufficiently pro-poor. Finally, Africa faces the challenge of deepening regional integration for poverty reduction. We must promote strategies that address the issue of investments in regional public goods to create regional markets. In addition, such strategies will need to address collective issues of energy, infrastructure, food security, industrialization, population migration, natural resource management, water, education and gender, among so many others. The scope of these strategies is, however, limited by the current architecture of regional integration in Africa. There are many regional economic communities in Africa, resulting in considerable overlap in their membership and programs. Many countries belong to at least two regional economic communities. This is burdensome for decision making, costly for the exchequer, and limiting of the scope for regional action to tackle poverty. In this context, ECA supports the African Union Commission’s ongoing efforts to explore ways to rationalize the regional economic communities. We stand ready to deepen our work with the AU and the regional economic communities on this very important issue. Distinguished Ministers, You are increasingly taking charge of your own development agenda. This is evidenced by your commitment to the MDGs. A number of countries have set up dedicated Departments or agencies to specifically track progress in meeting the targets. It is also evidenced by your adherence to the PRSP process, in spite of its shortcomings. Several of you have been innovative in your efforts to embed the MDGs in your national development strategies, thereby using the PRSP as an instrument for ensuring progress towards the MDG targets. A few examples of this innovation might be helpful. Ethiopia and Ghana costed their MDG requirements through a needs assessment exercise and explicitly incorporated the MDGs in their PRSPs by setting MDG specific targets. Sierra Leone’s PRSP explicitly indicates the links between each pillar of its strategy and the MDGs while Nigeria has established an MDG Tracking office. In yet other countries, increasingly, the three year poverty reduction strategies are considered stages (rolling plans) of long-term perspective plans- Vision 2020 as these long-term perspective plans are called in those countries. An important element of taking charge and ownership of national development strategies is the space to learn from the experience of other countries. This is very important in order to provide a very sound and informed principle on the basis of which the second cycle of the poverty reduction strategies can be constructed. Africa needs more policy space to exploit the advantages of the late comer. The region must leverage the experience of other developing regions in order to vitiate its many development challenges. As we know, recent experience shows regions and countries that have shown the greatest progress towards the MDG targets promoted national investment first and foremost. This was done by encouraging the growth of the private sector, increasing access to loans, lifting restrictions on capital flows, increasing and improving in transparency of information flows to investors, encouraging fiscal discipline through improved governance and in the provision of basic services. Without sufficient policy space, the scope for most African countries to benefit from this experience, to innovate, to find the right mix of strategies will remain limited. Ladies and Gentlemen, Africa will need additional resources to speed up progress towards the goal of poverty reduction and achieving the MDG targets. Indeed, Africa’s development partners have been important contributors to the progress and success recorded in the recent past. But a lot more remains to be done as both the UN Millennium Project coordinated by Jeffrey Sachs and the UK Commission for Africa both affirm. The UN Millennium Project Report “Investing in Development”, for example, makes the compelling argument that African countries will not be able to break out of the poverty trap without a large-scale infusion of foreign assistance. The report called for a “Big Push” or an increase in foreign aid to support investment in the core areas of infrastructure, human capital, regional integration and governance. The Commission for Africa, in its report, called for an increase in external financing for Africa’s development to the amount of $50 billion per annum over the next several years. Africa’s development partners are increasingly having a better understanding of the reality and needs of Africa. In 1937, as the United States of America was emerging from the Great Depression, then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: "The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little". That remark, although made for a different purpose and to a different audience, is as significant now as it was then and appears to be a view increasingly shared by Africa’s development partners. The international community has been recently very vocal about the need to help Africa decisively break the chains of poverty. We are seeing important decisions about increasing and targeting development assistance, canceling foreign debt, market access, and increasing trade in general. Africa and the international community must work together to ensure that the commitments are kept. Ladies and Gentlemen, While increased aid to Africa is needed and urgently so, it is the mutual responsibility of African countries and their development partners to ensure that aid does not become the caring hand that cripples. To improve the effectiveness of aid, there is need for development partners to improve the harmonization and coherence of their policies and to ensure that their policies and programs are properly aligned with the identified priorities of African countries. Much as Africa must strive to reach the global targets, we must not forget that these targets have to be tailored to national priorities and local circumstances. One-size-fits all approach to funding is unlikely to be conducive to improved effectiveness. Mutual responsibility must, in my view, be accompanied by mutual accountability. Africa is very often blamed for poor policy outcomes yet the decisions that led to the poor policy outcomes are seldom made by African governments alone. More often than not they are decisions jointly made by Africa and development partners. In addition, it is well known that the actions and policy choices of our development partners – such as in the area of market access - are as consequential for poverty outcomes in Africa as are ours. It is thus important for Africa and her development partners to hold each other mutually accountable for all policy outcomes. ECA and OECD/DAC have been working on this issue of mutual accountability in the past several years. It is our intention to share the results of this joint work with member States and the wider international community in order to raise awareness of the need for the widespread adoption of this principle. Distinguished participants, This meeting provides all of us with the opportunity to share our country and institutional experiences as a means to refine a new generation of poverty reduction strategies, including what we collectively recognized as absent or incomplete on the first round. I see this gathering as an opportunity for Africa’s development partners to rededicate themselves to strengthening their support for nationally-led processes, and consolidating a framework for the implementation and monitoring of progress and achievements in the region. The Africa of today is radically different from the Africa of yesterday. It is an Africa that is striving hard to fulfill its promise, to take advantage of its opportunities and to realize its potential. It is an Africa that is increasingly innovative, energized by democracy, driven by comprehensive national development programmes and encouragingly governed by accountable leadership. Some examples of recent innovations in the African governance arena include The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), instituted to secure the gains from these improvements in leadership, and the Peace and Security Council. These innovations point the way to the future of Africa and should be encouraged. The ECA, having created the PRSP Learning Group, will continue to play a crucial role in close partnership with the African Union, the UNDP and other members of the United Nations system, and in close collaboration with other agencies, remains committed to providing Africa with neutral but fecund ground for the development of ideas aimed at improving progress towards the MDG targets. In all these, Distinguished Guests, success and progress depend on real ownership of the poverty reduction and wealth creation agenda. In that regard, you, African leaders must articulate, implement and monitor your strategic frameworks, programs and projects within the context of a continent-wide vision of development. You have done so in your articulation and adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). In many countries, NEPAD is increasingly inspiring and framing country-level programs. But a lot more needs to be done, especially to ensure consistency between NEPAD objectives and the MDG-based poverty reduction strategies. My hope, which is one that I believe we all share, is that at the end of our deliberations, we will have at the very least instigated a discussion on the nature of successor national development strategies to the PRSP. It is also my hope that we will agree a consensus statement brimming over with original, at times unconventional, bold and innovative ideas on the nature of the second cycle of poverty reduction strategies and the principles upon which they will be based. This is imperative if we are to remain faithful to the commitment made by our leaders at the 2005 UN World Summit to adopt and begin to implement national development strategies bold enough to meet the MDG targets. I thank you for your attention. |
