Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Tonderai Matonho
20 August 2007
opinion
Harare — Despite gobbling a potpourri of economic prescriptions, the poverty status of the developing world has not changed for the better, according to a recent global report on sustainable development.
The main reason cited is that the economic reforms always tended to address the symptoms rather than the causes of poverty.
Thus, the major common denominator, within developing countries is high poverty levels. A 2006 Sustainability Watch Report; "Implementation Barriers to Sustainable Development: A Civil Society Assessment in 15 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America," notes that the world would never make poverty history unless governments implement international agreements within their borders.
"While the Sustainability Watch network recognises the great achievement of the global community in forging international agreements . . . Sustainability Watch has found many barriers to the implementation of international agreements in the countries it has assessed," says the report.
These barriers include issues brought about by the market-oriented economic and trade development framework, weak governance, lack of sustainable development strategies, inconsistent and contradictory government policies and allocation of inadequate resources.
Unless these barriers are overcome, the report says, the targets set to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, may not be realised by 2015 or even beyond. The 133-page report also warns that efforts to achieve sustainable development are threatened by the continually increasing poverty levels and the continuous overexploitation of natural resources.
The report, the first for Sustainability Watch network, summarises the findings of national reports developed in 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Sustainability Watch is a network of civil society organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America working to promote governmental accountability for sustainable development through ongoing qualitative monitoring and constructive dialogue at national and international levels.It focuses on the pursuit of MDGs in the context of monitoring the implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. In this process, Sustainability Watch seeks to increase Southern civil-society networks' ability to engage more efficiently in advocacy for pro-poor sustainable development.
In Zimbabwe, Sustainability Watch network is co-ordinated by ZERO, a regional non-governmental organisation with an interest in environment and development issues. The government's MDGs task force recognises the input of such watch members in the production of MDGs reports.
Partnerships have been forged between the United Nations Development Programme, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
Seven countries participate in Sustainability Watch network in Africa - Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe - according to the report.
All Sustainability Watch countries in Africa are classified as highly indebted poor countries, with the exception of South Africa.
Poverty statistics have, in some cases, been over or under-estimated because of the limiting monetary definition of poverty, populations living on less than one United States dollar per day.
Lamenting lack of commitments in accountability and transparency, the report notes that many developing countries, whose poverty levels have to be halved by 2015, still have not made a total commitment to fight against corruption as a scourge that may hinder the achievements of the MDGs.To offset such fears, Zimbabwe is currently fighting this menace under the direction of the minister of State for State Enterprises, Anti-Monopolies and Anti Corruption, Dr Samuel Undenge, and the Anti-Corruption Commission. The Commission has vowed to leave no stone unturned in this endeavour.
"Interventions towards achieving sustainable development have been made more difficult due to problems associated with governance. Some of the countries are characterised by weak and often corrupt governments," says the report. Most national reports indicated the lack of clear linkages between MDGs 1, 7 and 8 in spite of the recognition that the goals cannot be achieved in isolation.
Also, the majority of the Sustainability Watch reports from Africa highlight the fact that the MDGs country reports did not address the MDGs plus targets, nor any mention of the capacities needed to monitor MDGs implementation.
According to the report, in Zimbabwe the sustainable development agenda is still confined to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism headed by Cde Francis Nhema.
This has significant influence on resource allocation because many of the sustainable development issues are overshadowed by different priorities in other ministries. Currently, the sustainable development agenda remains a vague concept, which has not been translated into operational programmes in the country.
Some countries have experienced a steady decline in donor aid brought about by non-delivery on promises made by the developed countries, governance problems and donor conditionalities. Zimbabwe has a similar case. The official development assistance and foreign direct investment have drastically dropped in the last five years due to Western sanctions.
ODA flows fell sharply by 67 percent from a peak of US$400 million in 1995 to just US$132 million in 2001, while net FDI experienced a 95 percent decline from about US$598 million in 1995 to US$5 million in 2001, notes the report.To make matters worse, Britain has not honoured its obligations under the Lancaster House Agreement.
South Africa is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa with policies that integrate principles of sustainable development.some thoughtful legal and political instruments and processes have indeed been put in place to facilitate and sustain democracy. These have recently been supported by generous allocations from the national budget.
In 2005, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism received additional allocations for projects such as tourism infrastructure and the conservation of areas managed by South African National Parks.
However, the number of people living in poverty has not changed significantly between 1996 and 2001. The MDG country report states that the number of poor people in South Africa is estimated at between 48,5 and 57 percent.
In Mozambique, the economy is becoming increasingly narrow and is currently based mainly on aluminium, gas and titanium mega-projects. These have dangerous political, economic and environmental Implications.
These mineral and energy projects have been given such huge concessions that they pay few taxes and profits do not remain in Mozambique. Mozal, for example, required an investment of half the country's annual gross domestic product but only employs 1 200 Mozambicans, not enough to make a noticeable impact on unemployment.Almost all the countries in the Sustainability Watch network have highlighted lack of a holistic approach as a major barrier that is limiting progress toward sustainable development.
As a result, institutions and regulatory and governing structures operate in an unco-ordinated manner. Conflicting policies, strategies and incoherent regulatory frameworks are often implemented in a way that does not benefit poor people. In addition, the ministries in charge of key economic sectors tend to defend private interests and economic growth rather than sustainability and have more political power than environmental authorities.
Debt servicing obligations have also severely impaired most African countries' ability to attain sustainable development. As a result, the national effort to meet the MDGs especially poverty alleviation and achievement of sustainable development could prove difficult. Another central aspect pointed out in all Sustainability Watch reports is the role of civil society in political and socio-economic arrangements.
"The national Sustainability Watch reports identified that most countries lack strategies for engagement and consultation with civil society," says the report. Thus, planning and monitoring processes are not informed by the needs of the people and are limited to consultations with the private sector. This is because planning and monitoring is often done only upon the request of donors.
The Sustainability Watch Network in Zimbabwe has so far trained CSOs, media personnel and Government officials on national budget tracking or monitoring and MDGs policy monitoring.
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