Post-2015: It's Time to Harness Diaspora Power

Growth alone is not enough. The MDGs alone are not enough. Africa needs sustainable, inclusive development and in this, the diaspora could be key.

In 2000, the UN established eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. These targets helped create a co-ordinated effort to reduce poverty across the globe, and impressive progress has been made in a number of areas.

But even if all of the eight goals and targets are met, many countries would still remain poor and underdeveloped. This is because the MDGs – as valuable as they may be – do not deal with the underlying reasons why people remain poor. Furthermore, they fail to take into account the ways in which the diaspora, who remit nearly half a trillion dollars to developing countries annually, can be harnessed to help facilitate the structural and economic transformation so crucial to sustainable development.

Nowhere are these trends more evident than in Africa. The World Bank reports that the continent is growing at an average of 5-6% annually, yet poverty levels and unemployment remain high. Meanwhile, diaspora remittances are thought to significantly outweigh Western aid.

Following China's example

As Yaw Ansu, Chief Economist at the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), has pointed out, growth alone is not enough. That is why over 50 UK-based African diaspora organisations, under the Africa-UK umbrella, are pushing for a different focus for the post-2015MDG architecture. These groups take the view that international development must not focus solely on poverty reduction in line with the MDGs, but also foster wealth, drive structural reform and create employment opportunities.

Africa only has to look to the example set by countries such as China which has made one of the most impressive contributions in reducing poverty over the past 30 years but not through the MDGs. China used foreign investment and diaspora remittances to help accelerate a competitive industrial and agricultural policy, focussing on the development of infrastructure, education and skills. With the benefits of low labour costs and healthcare improvements, China was able to enjoy a dramatic economic take-off.

Whilst growth induced by commodity price rises, discoveries of natural resources or increases in foreign assistance can be significant, it is simply not sustainable without the infrastructure to support it. For Africa, this means relying less on aid and primary commodities, and more on industry, manufacturing, and knowledge-based services. It also means modernising agriculture along with upgrading skills and technological capabilities to compete in the global marketplace.

African diaspora is key

In this drive towards inclusive economic and structural transformation, the African diaspora can have an important role to play.

Take, for example, the diaspora-led social enterprise Sacoma UK which works in Kenya and Uganda to provide structural support to small-scale rural farmers. Through a combination of training, financial and technical services, this organisation works closely with communities to help prepare produce for export to a UK market. This not only helps certain rural populations earn sustainable incomes but contributes to the development of African small-holder agriculture and helps increase investment in African agribusiness.

As well as being uniquely placed to foster these kinds of partnerships, members of the diaspora can also be critical in providing additional foreign direct investment along with educated and skilled manpower.

Africa’s mobile technology boom, for example, began in part thanks to the contributions of better-known members of the diaspora such as Mo Ibrahim, who founded the telecommunications company Celtel. The growth of this sector has helped connect businesses to each other as well as rural dwellers to those in the city, providing unprecedented access to information and financial systems. It has been singled out as one of the most important tools for facilitating economic and development activity in Africa since the turn of the century. Studies on the use of mobile money services such as M-PESA, for example, suggest that rural Kenyan households using the technology have seen a rise in their incomes of 5-30%.

It is only through these kinds of transformations that Africa will be able to create enough productive jobs and impart the right skills for a modern economy, improving people’s living standards in economically balanced societies. And that calls for looking beyond short-term growth and taking a long-term perspective in setting an agenda for a sustainable economic future, something in which the diaspora can be central.

A Diaspora Ministerial Conference held in Geneva on 18 June urged the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda to include global diaspora alongside national governments in ‘Forging a New Global Partnership’. If Africa is to see genuine and inclusive growth, a post-2015 framework will need to incorporate these critical enablers of structural transformation as well as harness the resources of the diaspora, who must now be recognised as a global partner for development.

This blog by Onyekachi Wambu, Director of Policy and Engagement at the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) originally appeared on the Think Africa Press website. The original post is accessible here

Accaparement des terres, Excision, Maladies tropicales et OMDs

Bonjour à tous et bienvenue pour cette revue hebdomadaire des articles, rapports et initiatives sur le progrès social. Parmi les faits saillants de cette semaine :

• Securing Africa's Land for Shared Prosperity, cette publication de la Banque Mondiale sur la gouvernance et la réforme des terres en Afrique subsaharienne fournit des recommandations pratiques pour transformer l’accaparement des terres en une opportunité de développement. Une gouvernance malavisée des terres perpétue la pauvreté selon le rapport qui stipule un programme de réformes en 10 points pouvant attirer des investissements mutuellement bénéfiques, tant aux propriétaires qu’aux investisseurs.

• UN 2013 MDG Report: despite major progress, greater efforts are needed, ce blog écrit par Pauline Rose, Directrice du Rapport Mondial de Suivi sur L’Éducation pour Tous résume les principaux points du rapport du PNUD sur les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement, dans le cadre plus large des enjeux de l’éducation. L’éducation primaire pour tous ne sera pas atteinte en 2015 si les tendances se poursuivent. Même s’il y’a une réduction du nombre d’enfants non-scolarisés- de 102 millions en 2000 à 57 millions en 2011- cette tendance s’est ralentie ces dernières années et les inégalités demeurent tout aussi aiguës.

• Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change. Le récent rapport de l’UNICEF sur l’excision montre que ce phénomène est en perte de vitesse dans le monde. Il est moins probable que les adolescentes subissent ces pratiques de nos jours, comparées aux femmes âgées de 40 ans et plus, dans les 29 pays d’Afrique et d’Asie où cette pratique a lieu. Le rapport identifie les tendances sur les modes opératoires, la sévérité de l’acte et les attitudes de la population envers cette pratique.Extrayant les données de ce rapport, le journal, The Guardian, a produit une carte interactive de l’excision/mutilation dans le monde, carte qui permet de comparer les variations entre les États.

Ci-dessous, cette vidéo montre l’impact de cette pratique en Côte d’Ivoire

• Why neglected tropical diseases matter in reducing poverty. Ce document de travail de l’Overseas Development Institute, établit les liens entre le taux de pauvreté et les maladies tropicales négligées. Après avoir défini ce qu’elles étaient, et comment elles étaient traitées, le rapport explore leur importance quant à la santé et au bien-être des populations, utilisant les OMD comme cadre d’analyse et souligne certains facteurs pouvant permettre de contenir et d’éliminer ces maladies. Romina Rodrigue Pose, une des auteures du rapport, en souligne les principaux  dans ce blog et partage son expérience personnelle de recherche sur ces maladies à travers ces photos.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

• L’organisme, Skoll World Forum, a demandé à certaines personnalités leurs réflexions sur des enjeux actuels relatifs au développement mondial et comment y faire face. Parmi ces personnalités, Mthuli Ncube, Économiste en Chef de la BAD souligne dans cet article l’importance de la gouvernance et de l’appropriation par les États sur le progrès. Il montre qu’il y’a un consensus selon lequel la bonne gouvernance doit être basée sur des États efficaces, des sociétés civiles mobilises et sur un secteur privé dynamique; trois facteurs critiques pour un développement durable.

• How Africa's natural resources can lift millions out of poverty. Dans cet article Caroline Kende-Robb, Directrice Exécutive de l’African Progress Panel, basant son argumentaire sur le Rapport sur les Progrès en Afrique 2013: Équités et Industries Extractives en Afrique, soutient que les ressources naturelles endogènes suffisent pour sortir des millions d’individus hors de la pauvreté en Afrique. La transparence dans les contrats de concession miniers, la lutte contre la fraude et l’évasion fiscale et l’inclusion des citoyens dans le processus de décision sont parmi les recommandations préconisées. Les revenus tirés de l’exploitation de ces ressources pouvant ainsi être dépensés dans l’éducation, la santé et des politiques créatrices d’emplois peuvent sensiblement améliorer la qualité de vie des individus, comme ce fut le cas au Botswana, qui est passé de pays pauvre à un, stable, de revenu moyen supérieur, et démocratique en l’espace de 40 ans.

Passez une agréable fin de semaine et restez connectés pour plus de nouvelles sur le progrès et le bien-être.

Suivez-nous sur Twitter (@wp_africa), et sur Facebook (ici).

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

WIR Africa: land grabs; FGM/C; MDG Report; tropical disease

This Week-in-Review is part of the Wikiprogress Series on Networks, highlighting Wikiprogress Africa.

Hello everyone and welcome to another Africa-themed review of progress articles, reports and initiatives. Among this week’s highlights:

• Securing Africa's Land for Shared Prosperity. This World Bank publication on land administration and reform in Sub-Saharan Africa provides simple practical steps to turn the hugely controversial subject of "land grabs” into a development opportunity. Poor land governance perpetuates and traps people into poverty, according to the report, which stipulates a ten point program to scale up policy reforms and investments in a way mutually beneficial to land owners and investors.

• Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change by UNICEF shows that female genital mutilation/cutting is a declining phenomenon globally. Teenage girls are less likely to have been cut than older women in more than half of the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where it is concentrated. The paper identifies intriguing trends in who is performing the cutting, the severity of it and people’s attitudes toward it. Extracting data from the report, the Guardian produced aninteractive map of female genital mutilation/cutting, showing where in the world it is most prevalent and what the main variations are between countries. 

See video below on FGM/C in the Côte d'Ivoire.

• UN 2013 MDG Report: despite major progress, greater efforts are needed, a blog post by Pauline Rose, Director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report synthetizes the main point of the UN 2013 Millennium Development Goal report. The publication shows that the world is not on track to reach the goal of universal primary education by 2015. Despite a significant reduction in the number of out-of-school children – from 102 million in 2000 to 57 million in 2011 – progress has slowed in the last few years and inequalities remain high.

• Why neglected tropical diseases matter in reducing poverty. This working paper of the Overseas Development Institute aims to establish the links between neglected tropical diseases and poverty rates. The paper defines what Non-Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are and how they are treated, explores why they are important for progress in health and broader well-being, using the MDG framework as a structure for analysis, and reveals some of the factors that they see as critical to controlling and eventually eliminating NTDs before discussing some of the challenges going forward.

Romina Rodrigue Pose, one of the authors, highlights the main points of the report in this blog post and shares her personal experience of the field research through this slideshow (below).

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

• The Skoll World Forum asked a handful of speakers their reflections about the timely issues in international development and how they can be addressed. Among them, Mthuli Ncube, Chief Economist of the AfDB, states in this post how governance and country ownership are important for development progress. He argues that there is consensus that good governance should build on effective states, mobilising civil society and efficient private sectors – three factors which are critical for sustained development.

• How Africa's natural resources can lift millions out of poverty. In this article, Caroline Kende-Robb, Executive Director of the Africa Progress Panel report, bases her points on the recently released Africa Progress Report 2013: Equity in Extractives. She states that natural resources can lift millions of African out of poverty through transparency in the concession deals, tackling tax avoidance and evasion, and inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process. The revenues of these natural resources when spent on education, health and job-creating policies can sensibly improve the quality of life of individuals, as was the case with Botswana, which passed from a poor to stable, democratic and upper middle-income country in 40 years.

We hope you enjoyed this review. Stay tuned the same time next week for another riveting read on the week that was.

Yours in progress,

Ousmane Aly Diallo

The unknown people battling the world’s neglected diseases

To accompany this blog, the author has prepared a slide show on Flickr of images from her field research in Sierra Leone.

For the world’s poorest, difficult living conditions are often compounded by the prevalence of a threat to their health that for many years barely appeared on the global health agenda – a group of ailments known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Ninety per cent of the NTD burden can be explained by five diseases: Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness(causing terrible itching and lesions on the eye), Schistosomiasis or bilharzia (causing extensive organ damage), Lymphatic Filariasis, also known as elephantiasis (causing damage to the lymphatic system and painful enlargement of body parts), Soil Transmitted Helminths (causing diarrhoea, abdominal pain, chronic intestinal blood loss and anaemia) and Trachoma (the world's leading cause of preventable blindness).

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I first came across NTDs while conducting research for the health dimension of the Development Progressproject. I’ve been working on development - and particularly on health - for some time now, so it was quite a surprise to me that I had never heard of them before (I remember thinking: ‘well, indeed they are neglected!’). As part of the project, I had the opportunity to travel to Sierra Leone to conduct field research and see first-hand how NTDs are being addressed.

Sierra Leone was chosen because of the progress it has made in recent years in tackling NTDs. For instance, in 2005, elephantiasis was found endemic in all 14 health districts in Sierra Leone; by 2011, only one district remained endemic. In the case of river blindness, therapeutic coverage has consistently been over 70% since 2006, with the programme’s geographical coverage consistently reaching 100% since 2007, translating into an overall reduction in prevalence of 60.3% between 2007 and 2009.

By far the most striking aspect of the field research was meeting those on the frontline of the fight against NTDs. Known as Community Drug Distributors (CDDs), they are the most humble people you could meet, with scarce resources and no monetary incentives to do their job. Selected by their own communities, once a year they have the responsibility of distributing drugs to fight NTDs, with each CDD covering their catchment area over a period of three months.

Why has this experience of meeting the CDDs had such an impact on me? After all, community involvement is a well-known strategy to implement programmes in a resource-constrained setting. Well, in the case of NTDs, we are talking about a vastly different scale to normal – the strategy implemented through the CDDs is known as ‘mass drug administration’ (MDA). For an MDA campaign to be successful it must reach every corner of the country where NTDs are endemic (in Sierra Leone, this is the entire country) and at least 70%-80% of the people living in those areas. This is because most of these diseases, whilst transmitted by vectors, only develop in a human host. It is therefore necessary to reduce their prevalence in the community to a sufficient level that allows for the gradual interruption of disease transmission. Without meeting this target, all efforts will be in vain.

While on the ground in Sierra Leone, travelling through the countryside by 4x4 under a burning hot sun, I couldn’t help but feel admiration for the CDDs, who undertake similar and often even more remote journeys but on foot. During focus group discussions, they told us how they sometimes walk for four hours to reach the farthest and most remote settlements; once there, they still need to convince community members to take these vital drugs. Sometimes they must cross rivers, or walk in the rain (and I mean serious rain!) to cover their assigned catchment area, and all without what we in wealthier countries might consider the necessary outdoor wear.

Perhaps not surprisingly, when you talk with the CDDs, you hear a lot of complaints - that the job is very hard, that they need incentives and support beyond just their free CDD t-shirts and that they are sometimes not received kindly by those they are there to treat, particularly in the early days of a campaign. As I listened to all their troubles, I kept coming back to the question: ‘Why are you still doing this?’

The reason is a sense of community - the manner in which the NTD control programme is implemented empowers CDDs with an important role to play within their communities, despite the lack of financial reward. The CDDs are clear and straight forward when answering this point: they are doing this to help their communities, because they themselves have seen how the distribution of medicines has reduced the harm caused by NTDs amongst their peers. One told us: ‘I was sick with worms in the past and then I took the drugs and they relieved me, so I want to pass on the message and contribute’.

Their commitment is paying off. A key development actor told us how in the past he would go to certain towns and the majority of the people had lost their sight due to river blindness. Returning to those places after years had passed and after the work of the CDDs had begun, he could see the change in plain sight: far fewer people were blind.

Throughout our fieldwork, people gave testimony to the work of the CDDs, such as one woman who said: 'I was reluctant to take the medicine. We were suspicious but the CDDs explained to us why it was important. After taking the medicine, my itching stopped and I could see much better'. Thanks to their early efforts in reaching out to their peers, initial reluctance to take the drugs has faded and nowadays people start asking for the drugs even before the distribution campaigns start. 

CDDs are one, but a seemingly essential, part of this story of progress. The fight against NTDs is a collective effort, comprising many actors, from the World Health Organisation setting international guidelines and the support of a range of international partners, to Ministries of Health developing these guidelines into strategies for local implementation, non-state actors such as NGOs providing technical assistance and pharmaceutical companies donating the drugs themselves to fight the diseases on the ground. However, all these efforts would be doomed to fail without those at the sharp end of the fight, walking throughout their communities to distribute the drugs and convince their peers of the positive impact they can have in their lives.

View a slide show on Flickr of images from Romina’s field research in Sierra Leone

This blog by Romina Rodriguez Pose of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) contributes to the Wikiprogress Series on Health. It originally appeared on the ODI's Development Progress blog. 

Why neglected tropical diseases matter in reducing poverty

This working paper of the Overseas Development Institute aims to establish the links between neglected tropical diseases and poverty rates. While neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have been recognised for centuries – indeed as ‘biblical plagues’ – NTDs have, as the name implies, remained below the radar of most international and national policy-makers. In this working paper, Fiona Samuels and Romina Rodríguez Pose explore how NTDs constitute a critical area for improving health-care outcomes more broadly. They outline what NTDs are and how they are treated, explore why they are important for progress in health and broader well-being, using the MDG framework as a structure for analysis, and reveal some of the factors that they see as critical to controlling and eventually eliminating NTDs, before discussing some of the challenges going forward.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have a direct impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Without addressing these diseases, the broader aim of poverty alleviation is unlikely to be achieved. Straightforward and highly cost-effective strategies are available to control and eventually eradicate or eliminate NTDs. Success in controlling, eliminating or eradicating NTDs depends on partnerships between multiple constituencies that enable countries to adapt international guidelines to local contexts, integrate NTD programmes into health systems and engage communities in implementation.

The report is downloadable here

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

UN 2013 MDG Report: despite major progress, greater efforts are needed

This blog by Pauline Rose, director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, is part of Wikiprogress's Series on the Post-2015. 

The UN’s 2013 Millennium Development Goal report highlights the gains made so far in achieving the MDGs, but also describes the major challenges that remain. As the report notes, the world is not on track to reach the goal of universal primary education by 2015. Despite a significant reduction in the number of out-of-school children – from 102 million in 2000 to 57 million in 2011 – progress has slowed in the last few years and inequalities remain high.

In monitoring progress toward universal primary education, the MDG report looks at several related challenges, including early school leaving and literacy. It makes the important point that 25% of children who enter primary school leave early, a rate that has not changed since 2000. As our recent policy paper also showed, more than one-third of students in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia will not complete primary school.

In addition, youth illiteracy remains a major challenge: according to the MDG report, 123 million young people are still unable to read or write. According to the EFA Global Monitoring Report team’s own analysis, many children can spend more than 4 years in school and still not emerge literate. Clearly, greater efforts are needed not only to get children into school, but also to make sure that students stay and learn.

One portion of the report needs some clarification, however. The MDG report suggests that gender parity in education has been nearly reached in developing regions overall. This is misleading. When taking a closer look, the report shows that many countries are far from this goal: 36 countries have not achieved gender parity in primary education, with girls at a disadvantage in 30 of them. Gender parity at the secondary level is in a worse situation, with 61 countries off target.

Inequalities are even more striking when considering other circumstances, such as family income or where a child lives. In Ethiopia, Haiti and Yemen, 88% of the poorest young women have not completed primary school, while nearly all rich urban males in the same countries have. It’s important not to give misleading information on gender parity in education: progress has been made, but much work remains to be done.

A final note: the MDG report draws attention to the role of the Learning Metrics Task Force in addressing the global learning crisis, but neglects to recognize the contribution of many other global initiatives. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is expanding its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) model for developing countries, which will make a key contribution to measuring and tracking learning, and will be a crucial tool for policy-makers as they seek to identify solutions. The Global Partnership for Education has a key role to play in working with countries to strengthen the quality of their education systems. And last but not least, the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013-14 on teaching and learning will address the extent to which children from disadvantaged groups are missing out on learning opportunities. The Report will contain evidence-based recommendations for policy-makers to show how investing wisely in teachers is vital to extend learning for all.

This blog  was originally published on the World Education Blog.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history, the report says. Significant and substantial progress has been made in meeting many of the targets—including halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and the proportion of people without sustainable access to improved sources of drinking water. Remarkable gains have been made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis. There have been visible improvements in all health areas as well as primary education.

The 2013 report by the UNDP looks at the areas where action is needed most: hunger, maternal health, sanitation and environmental protection, for example. This report also shows that the achievement of the MDGs has been uneven among and within countries.

"In more than a decade of experience in working towards the MDGs, we have learned that focused global development efforts can make a difference," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says in the report. Through accelerated action, the world can achieve the MDGs and generate momentum for an ambitious and inspiring post-2015 development framework."

The whole report is accessible here 

Open Data pour l'Afrique, Participation des Jeunes et État des lieux des OMDs

Ce blog écrit par Ousmane Aly DIALLO, s'inscrit dans le cadre du focus de Wikiprogress sur le réseau Afrique.

 “African societies, like any other societies indeed, have to measure progress. But more importantly they have to define what is meant by progress. They have to hold a dialogue in a way that has not been done before.” - Pali Lehohla (Director General of Statistics South Africa).

Bienvenue à cette revue des initiatives, d’articles et de publications sur le progrès en Afrique. Parmi les faits saillants de cette semaine, nous avons :

·         Le rapport, « Global Humanitarian Assistance Report », qui cette année met l’emphase sur la manière dont l’assistance internationale s’est manifestée lors des crises humanitaires. Le rapport contient des sections sur le financement, les crises les plus urgences ainsi que les modes de réponse rapide à ces crises. En outre, le rôle croissant des donneurs non-traditionnels, la non-prise en charge des besoins humanitaires ainsi que l’importance de la transparence et de l’accès à une information fiable, sont à l’honneur dans ce rapport.

·         Abuja+12: Shaping the future of health in Africa. Les chefs d’État et de gouvernement africains se sont engagés lors du sommet de l’Union Africaine à Abuja, à éliminer les pandémies telles que le VIH/SIDA, le paludisme et la tuberculose, de même qu’à améliorer sensiblement leurs systèmes de santé nationaux ainsi qu’à renforcer leurs capacités pharmaceutiques. Le dernier sommet d’Abuja a été l’occasion pour les leaders politiques africains à renouveler leurs engagements formulés lors du Sommet du Millénaire, et lors du Sommet d’Abuja en 2001.

·         Le Rapport sur les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement de 2013 du PNUD met l’accent sur les domaines qui sont les plus critiques (à savoir la faim; la santé maternelle; l’assainissement et la protection environnementale). Le rapport montre en outre que l’atteinte des OMDs a été inégale même à l’intérieur des États.

·         L’initiative Open Data pour l’Afrique de la Banque Africaine de Développement est dorénavant disponible pour les 54 États africains. Composante du programme « Autoroutes de l’Information pour l’Afrique », cette plateforme permettra d’améliorerla collecte, la gestion et la dissémination de données sur l’Afrique. Elle permettra en outre de rendre accessible les données, facilitant ainsi la gestion et le suivi de la performance des États africains, notamment sur les OMDs. (voir vidéo ci-dessous).

·         La revue « The Economist » a consacré un bulletin spécial au Printemps arabe, deux ans après son déclenchement. L’auteur, Max Roedenbeck soutient que les aspirations derrière ce mouvement n’ont pas toutes été satisfaites avant de procéder à l’état des lieux. Duncan Green d’Oxfam passe en revue le bulletin et met en relief les faits saillants dans ce post.


·  Malala Yousafzai du Pakistan s’est exprimé à la tribune de l’Assemblée générale des Nations-Unies, ce 12 juillet, pour défendre l’éducation pour tous, particulièrement pour les jeunes filles. Ce blog discute des trois étapes nécessaires pour augmenter la participation des jeunes, à savoir, être à l'écoute, implication dans le processus de prise de décision et dans l'implémentation de la décision.

Passez une agréable fin de semaine et restez connectés pour plus de nouvelles sur le progrès et le bien-être.

Suivez-nous sur Twitter (@wp_africa), et sur Facebook (ici).

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

"Oui, Malala- Nous sommes à l'écoute"

Ce blog, écrit par la coordonnatrice de Wikichild, Melinda George, fait partie de la série de Wikiprogress sur le bien-être des enfants. Il traite des trois étapes nécessaires pour augmenter la participation de la jeunesse: être à l'écoute, implication dans le processus de prise de décision et dans l'implémentation de la décision.

Avez-vous déjà vu un enfant qui s’accroche aux habits de son père ou de sa mère, désirant un moment d’attention? Combien de temps cela prend avant que l’autorité ne se rende compte de la présence de l’enfant? Et combien de temps avant que cette figure, responsable du bien-être de l’enfant, ne lui réponde « Oui, mon enfant, je t’écoute », si jamais elle le dit?

Si notre objectif est d’améliorer les vies et le bien-être des enfants, alors il faudra d’abord se rendre compte de leur présence et les inclure dans les efforts que nous faisons, pour leur bien-être.

Écouter la jeunesse est le premier pas pour les impliquer davantage

Écoutons un extrait du discours de Malala Yousafzai à l'Assemblée générale des Nations-Unies

Tous les enfants ont une voix, et il nous revient d’aller vers eux et de les écouter. La semaine dernière, la jeunesse était présente à l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies pour le « Malala Day ». Cela représentait bien plus que la voix d’une jeune fille en faveur de l’éducation. Les jeunes ont toujours milité pour plus de droits et une meilleure considération depuis des siècles. La différence est que nous les entendons aujourd’hui. Nous écoutons ce qu’ils ont à dire et nous magnifions leurs efforts au niveau international, du moins de ceux qui ont accès à cette tribune. Il est nécessaire d’améliorer notre capacité d’écoute afin de recueillir les échos qui ne parviennent pas à nous.

Impliquer la jeunesse dans les processus de décision politique est la seconde étape.

Cela fait des années qu’on dit qu’impliquer la jeunesse dans les processus de décision politique est un facteur important pour générer un progrès durable. Agenda 21, un plan d’action exhaustif pour le développement durable au 21^e siècle décline clairement que 30% de la population mondiale est de la jeunesse. L’implication de cette catégorie dans l’environnement, dans la prise de décision et dans l’implémentation des programmes est nécessaire pour le succès à long terme d’Agenda 21 [[1]](“youth comprise nearly 30 per cent of the world's population. The involvement of today's youth in environment and development decision-making and in the implementation of programmes is critical to the long-term success of Agenda 21” [[2]]). Cet organisme soutient qu’au-delà de leur contribution intellectuelle et de leur capacité à mobiliser autour de ce projet, les enfants et les jeunes apportent des perspectives uniques qui doivent être prises en compte. Ce rapport et ces points ont été soulignés, il y’a plus de 20 ans.

Au mois de juin, Wikichild a organisé une discussion en ligne intitulée, Comment mesurer le bien-être des enfants dans le cadre des priorités de développement? Plusieurs participants ont mentionné la nécessité d’impliquer les jeunes sur la manière de mesurer leur bien-être, et même de mettre « faire entendre sa voix » comme un indicateur.

La discussion a été lancée lors du trentenaire de HBSC où a été abordée la participation de la jeunesse, présente lors de l’évènement. Le Commissaire Écossais pour les Enfants et les Jeunes a présenté les « 7 Règles d’or pour la participation » (voyez les diapositives ci-dessous).

7 Golden Rules for Participation from Wikiprogress_slides

Durant le même évènement, des jeunes du Canada, de l’Écosse, de l’Irlande et de l’Angleterre ont présenté une vidéo détaillant leurs participations dans les processus de prise de décision. Le public, qui comprenait des experts du domaine bien-être infantile, avait de nombreuses questions sur comment la jeunesse pouvait être mieux assistée par leurs écoles, leurs parents, les agences sur la jeunesse, et par leur communauté durant leur phase adolescente. Ces très riches échanges peuvent être résumés ainsi : aidez-nous, ayez confiance en nous et demandez-nous.

Voici une contribution formulée lors de la discussion en ligne de Wikichild

 “We need to ask young people in a more systematic and constructive way. They need to be involved in the development and the implementation of well-being measures.”

- HBSC Event Participant

La troisième étape consiste à impliquer la jeunesse dans le processus d’implémentation des décisions.

Partager les responsabilités avec la jeunesse dans le processus d’application des politiques est la dernière étape de leur participation. Un rapport de « Youth Visioning for Island Living (YVIL) » soutient que les jeunes, quoique dynamiques et innovateurs, ne disposent pas des compétences et des instruments pour mettre en œuvre leurs idées[3]. Il faudrait alors les accompagner dans le processus d’acquisition de ces compétences et instruments. Atteindre ce stade demandera du temps, de la formation et des investissements, mais le jeu en vaut la chandelle.

Ces trois stades doivent être atteints, en même temps que nous recueillons les avis des jeunes afin de continuer à améliorer les moyens par lesquels ils peuvent participer à la prise de décision et à l’implémentation des programmes.

Mais avant tout…. Allez-y les jeunes, nous sommes à votre écoute.

Melinda George

Wikichild co-ordinator

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[1] Agenda 21 a été établi suite à la la conference des Nations-Unies sur l’Environnement et le Développement (UNCED) qui s’est tenue à Rio de Janeiro, Brésil en 1992.

[2] Chapitre 25 de la Section III d’Agenda 21 intitulée “Children & Youth in Sustainable Development”

 [3] Supporting Youth in the Implementation of Sustainable Development Activities (following the review of the SIDS programme of action, Mauritius 2005), initiative de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies pour l’Éducation, la Science et la Culture (UNESCO).

Are High Bribery Rates in Poor Countries Blocking Development?

This post by Craig Fagan , Senior Policy Coordinator at Transparency International originally appeared on the Space for Transparency blog (here).

New findings from the United Nations show that global development commitments – called the Millennium Development Goals – are off track. Governance and corruption are one of the culprits.

Yet whole regions are behind on achieving the targets set for 2015, such as making sure all children are in school and that women get proper healthcare.


People from these same regions are more likely to pay bribes when using basic services, according to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013.

Percentage of respondents who report having paid a bribe to a key service in 20 of the poorest countries compared to the world average.

These results show the terrible impact corruption has on efforts to fight poverty. Almost one of every two people living in poor countries reports having paid a bribe in the last year when trying to do such basic things as seeking services from public utilities, enrolling their child in school, interacting with the police and getting an identity card.

You are twice as likely to pay bribes if you live in a poor country

The 20 nations included in the survey which fall among the least developed countries in the world have an average rate of bribery that is almost twice as high as the average for all 107 countries surveyed.

The survey, covering 114,000 people in 107 countries, shows that bribery levels were a shockingly high barrier to accessing public services in the world’s poorest countries. In Liberia and Sierra Leone more than three in four people report paying bribes to access basic public services like schools or hospitals.

Fight corruption, fight poverty

Many development goals such as increasing access to healthcare and literacy are undermined by corruption. More than one person in five coming into contact with education paid bribes in 20 of the poorest countries.

The human cost of bribery

For years teachers at a senior high school in Ghana reportedly demanded bribes of around US$35 from students in exchange for helping them pass their final exams. Read more

Efforts to fight poverty and build infrastructure will continue to be undermined unless new development goals include specific targets for increasing transparency and the ability of citizens to hold their leaders and local services to account.

Transparency International has called on the UN to adopt a goal on governance as part of new global commitments to succeed the current goals (or MDGs). Talks are already underway by governments on the issues that should make the cut for new commitments. A UN Expert Panel has pointed to governance being among them.

TI India works with officials to sign public pledges about what services will be delivered. The pledges are monitored by civil society to cross-check if they are upheld.

A good governance goal would give people more chances to monitor public services and hold to account public workers who break the rules. (Read what Transparency International chapters are already doing here.)

It would also respond to what people around the world are saying: more than 690,000 people surveyed in 194 countries have said that “an honest and responsive government” is among their top three development priorities.

This reflects what the Transparency International survey shows: the majority of people in the poorest countries think ordinary people can make a difference and are willing to get involved.

So the question is: will development efforts make the fight against corruption a priority?

Craig Fagan

Senior Policy Advisor

Transparency International