Midway Through MDGs: Accelerating Progress Through ICTs

OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) is the south Asian centre of the OneWorld International Foundation and uses ICTs for promoting sustainable development and human rights in south Asia. OWSA sees itself as a civil society network that is engaged in the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Towards the realisation of these goals, OWSA has identified priorities on:

• Using new media tools for voicing the voiceless
• Capacity building and strengthening civil society organisations through the use of  ICTs
• Building ICT capacity among grassroots communities and people
• Advocating for people friendly ICT policies

With a strong network of more than 800 civil society organisations as partners, OWSA works symbiotically to achieve these objectives through three major programme interventions: ’voicing the voiceless’ through grassroots communications; channelising information and knowledge for developmental efforts through new media technologies; enhancing partners’ capacity to communicate and advocate for inclusive and pro-poor ICT policies.

About the Annual Regional Meeting

The Annual Regional Meeting (ARM) is an annual activity of OWSA. Its objective is to provide a platform where various agencies and individuals, partners and non-partners engaged in advocating on developmental issues can congregate to pool knowledge and leverage it through partnerships to meet common objectives. The ARM also seeks to highlight new opportunities provided by ICTs to amplify the voices of the voiceless, and empower them to participate in processes for sustainable and equitable development in the region.

Theme for ARM 2007

The most significant aspect of the MDGs is that they are extremely simple, easy to understand and follow. One major criticism about the MDGs has been that they lack ambition and are minimalist. And yet, five countries in south Asia are heading towards failure in meeting these goals.

Now that we are midway through the MDGs - the basic humanistic sustainable development goals that 189 countries committed themselves, their governments and peoples to in September 2000 – it would be appropriate to review the progress, identify key learnings and concerns, chart out mid-course corrections, and upscale strategies that work. It would also be critical at this juncture, to identify tools and strategies that will help us meet the MDG targets, definitely by 2015.

It is with this perspective that we have chosen to focus on a mid-term review of the MDGs and to enhance understanding and strengthen strategies for accelerating joint south Asian action enabled by ICTs. The theme of the meeting, therefore is, Midway Through MDGs: Accelerating Progress through ICTs.

South Asia’s status on the MDGs: a quick review

An assessment of progress in the South Asian region from 1990 reveals that the challenges of poverty remain great, even though the region as a whole has seen moderate economic growth.

Sri Lanka’s development outcomes stand out for their success. It has made giant strides towards achieving universal primary school completion, relatively low under five mortality rates (19 deaths per 1,000 lives births), low maternal mortality rates (92 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000), and relatively high access to water and sanitation (World Bank 2004 c; UNDP 2004: WHO and UNICEF 2004).

Bangladesh has seen mixed success, having made enormous strides in education, infant mortality, and gender equality, but still has a high maternal mortality rate and very high levels of poverty. Rural areas in Bangladesh suffer from poor water quality and arsenic contamination. It is estimated that 46-57 million people in Bangladesh may be exposed to arsenic poisoning (PRB 2002).

Since 1990, Pakistan has seen persistently high poverty and slow economic growth accompanied by modest declines in undernourishment; however there is significant reduction in child mortality. Nepal and Sri Lanka also are pursuing these goals in spite of political instability and insecurity.

India has seen strong economic performance over the past decade. Per capita incomes have grown by almost four percent a year, fueled largely by strong agricultural growth, a rapidly expanding services sector, and an increase in export-based and other manufacturing activities (World Bank 2004c). Rapid growth has led to significant declines in poverty rates. The World Bank estimates that the percentage of people below the poverty line has dropped sharply to 35 percent in 2001, and national estimates show levels falling from 37.5 percent in 1990 to 26 percent in 2000 (Chen and Ravallion, 2004; Bajpai, Sachs and Volavka, 2004).

Remaining challenges include high rates of under nutrition, large numbers of out of school children, poor health indicators, and wide disparities in social and economic indicators, particularly for women, girls and a number of low-caste and tribal populations. In the health sector while India has a well developed primary health system in theory, in practice, access to services is compromised by high rates of health worker absenteeism and often inadequate supplies and poor infrastructure.

By the end of 2005, India had 5.7 million HIV positive people, thereby becoming the country with the highest number of people living with HIV, thereby surpassing even South Africa (Report on Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS, 2006). India is also one of 22 TB high burden countries that together account for 80 percent of global TB infections.

Kathmandu Resolution: Collectively addressing issues of concern

While the MDGs enfold time-bound measurable targets related to food security, poverty, education, women’s political participation, health and sanitation, environmental sustainability and global partnerships, the Millennium Declaration specifies a much broader agenda of human rights and equity. A review of progress on the MDGs could render invisible some of the processes in the region, and the consequences thereof. Problems of social equity, continuing violence and conflict, lack of people’s participation and voice in development debates of direct concern in their own lives, lack of access to basic facilities leading to human development and alarming consequences of climate change – all these pose major hurdles to unhindered progress, and need to be addressed.

It is true that many in south Asia know how to prevent mothers from dying in labor. They know how to encourage girls to complete sixth grade, so that they have more choices than their mothers. They know how to vastly increase maize yields to feed villages. They know how to plan cities to avoid the misery of slums and how to connect remote villages to markets and schools. They know how to combat violence against women and girls. They also know what it takes to make sure that all citizens have equal rights and opportunities to make choices. Yet this knowledge remains in isolated pockets of the country, and the benefits of its application are not accessible to the ones that need it most.

OWSA proposes to facilitate sharing of knowledge, experiences, learnings and best practices and to highlight the possible use of ICTs to accelerate the pace of progress on the MDGs by focusing debates on the following concurrent themes:

1. Responsive governance for human development
2. Equity and empowerment
3. Development in conflict zones
4. Tackling climate change

Through the ARM, OWSA is looking at encouraging civil society organisations to collaborate on achieving the MDGs. We hope that the discussions with throw up innovative ideas around the use of ICTs and new media technologies for empowering people. OWSA plans to come up with a Kathmandu Resolution – a joint statement of intent - that charts the way forward for collaborative action.

Thematic focus

Responsive governance for human development

Sustainable human development is an overwhelming developmental concern that has long been neglected. The number of poor in the south Asian region is the highest in the world, and there is no substantial progress in education, health, livelihood and food security. The human development index places south Asia lower than all regions other than sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty not only increases the vulnerability, dependence and helplessness amongst the marginalised but also deprives the society of productive energies, often leading to instability and social unrest.

A majority of the problems persist due to lack of responsive governments. Given the fragile democratic character of south Asia, it becomes relevant for citizens to push their claim for responsible governments capable of safeguarding the human rights of all.

Governance in south Asia has witnessed poor accountability, along with rising corruption, improper coordination and lack of transparency - leading to increasing poverty. Governments play a critical role in ensuring fundamental rights, addressing the basic needs of citizens, and in making the MDGs achievable. It is now imperative that we advocate for good governance to ensure that the benefits of development efforts reach the poorest and most marginalised.

Getting serious on a poverty-free south Asia requires a hard-headed assessment as to how far south Asian countries have come on the poverty front and how far they have to go. Here ICTs can play an important role in terms of creating alternative livelihoods, increasing access to information, raising awareness, initiating campaigns for ensuring people’s right to health, education and other social security issues.

Key issues that could be taken up for deliberation at the meeting are: 

• New knowledge, skill and competency requirements for sustainable human development.
• Responsive governance for people’s voice in human development
• Effective services delivery through ICT
• ICT assisted equitable livelihood opportunities  

Development in conflict zones

Growing conflict in South Asia impacts and delays the progress of MDGs. Constant threats to life and survival and continued violence result in human rights violations and limit human capacities and impede the attainment of basic living conditions. Large portions of national budgets that could be spent on human and economic development are directed towards defence and arms acquisition.

The entire south Asian region is a zone of conflict and unless we factor this into our work and strategies, the MDGs will remain a mirage. Thus there is a need for bringing together, highlighting and strengthening the work of various forums that are working for peace in the region, through ICT-based knowledge sharing, monitoring and campaigns.

The workshop proposes to identify key areas of concern and ways to strengthen regional advocacy efforts for peace in the region, leading to human security and human development.

Equity and empowerment

One of the reasons for the failure to achieve the MDGs has been the inability of governments to raise awareness around these commitments, and to mobilize and facilitate the participation of common people in the development process. Development can only be achieved with participation of each individual in debates and processes leading to pro-poor policy and programmes on the ground. This includes the participation of women, tribals, Dalits, differently abled persons, persons with alternative sexualities and other marginalized or ostracized communities.

Overcoming these divides, empowering the disempowered and ensuring full and active participation of the people in all aspects of governance is essential for success in achieving the MDGs.

Key issues that could be taken up for deliberation at the meeting are: 

·         Social inclusion and equity

·         Progress and the powerless

·         Knowledge and empowerment

Tackling climate change 

Climate change presents significant threats to achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals. In its Third Assessment Report (2001), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that developing countries, and primarily the poor, will be the most adversely affected by climate change. The poor are more dependent on climate-sensitive economic activities (such as subsistence agriculture) and local ecological resources. They also typically have more limited financial, institutional and human capacity.

According to the International Institute of Sustainable Development, in Asia, there has been an increase in extreme events such as floods, droughts, forest fires and tropical cyclones. The sea level rise and an increase in intensity of tropical cyclones is likely to displace tens of millions of people in low-lying coastal areas of temperate and tropical Asia. Even a modest increase in global temperatures can have a large impact, direct and indirect, on people in developing countries.

The latest IPCC report re-iterates that the increase in greenhouse gases is dominated by human activities, and calls for immediate response in terms of mitigation and adaptation.  More than ever before, we need to adopt local and community policy interventions that reduce vulnerability of populations, improve their adaptive capacity, and lead to long-term economic development while incorporating measures that will mitigate the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

For for information visit our ARM-2007 We Site at http://arm.ekduniya.net/