Millennium Development Goals

Debate between Stephen O'Brien and Gareth Thomas

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr O'Brien]

I will not give way, as I want to make some progress and there is a lot to get through.

Tremendous progress with MDGs has been made globally. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development and the USA’s Raj Shah showed in the MDG countdown event at the UN last September, countries such as Brazil, Zambia, Peru and Nepal have demonstrated how political commitment, good policies and targeted resources can make a real difference to the lives of the poorest people.

Over the next four years, we will continue to showcase and celebrate the successes that have been achieved. Of course, that is very important in building and maintaining broad public confidence and consent. However, in 2015, millions of people around the world will still be living in conditions of extreme poverty. It is important that we do not lose the momentum created by the MDGs: 2015 will be the moment to update the framework, building on the success of the current one, so that it can reflect the new challenges and opportunities that we face in a world that has changed dramatically since 2000. The process of building global consensus on that updated framework is starting now.

The MDGs have played an important role in generating global political consensus on development and worked well as a communication and advocacy tool, both with the UK public and internationally. The framework, with its tightly focused set of targets and indicators, has also helped to strengthen the availability of data in developing countries and thereby made it easier to put a greater focus on results. However, the MDG framework has had its limitations.

A number of critical themes and issues were not included—the importance of economic growth or conflict and fragility, for instance. There are concerns that in some cases the poorest and most vulnerable have been neglected and not even explicitly referred to or focused on. An example is people with disabilities—another point mentioned by the hon. Member for Workington. There are concerns that the plight of the poorest and most vulnerable has often been masked by the average success rates in countries where progress has been very uneven.

Ownership of the MDGs at country level has been patchy and has not always been closely linked to a country’s own plans and objectives. In some cases, the framework has also created perverse incentives. For example, it has incentivised a focus on measuring school attendance, rather than the quality of education or retention of students in education. It has also made it more difficult to deal with critical problems that are best tackled multi-sectorally.

An updated framework will need to deal with the weaknesses, while capitalising on the strengths of the current MDGs, ensuring that we retain the simplicity of the current goals, intensifying the political imperative to focus on poverty reduction and building on the progress achieved so far. An updated framework needs to reflect the new global context. Of course, the world has changed since the original MDGs were created: it is no longer as easy to divide the world into countries that we would classify as either developed or developing. India alone has more poor people than all of sub-Saharan Africa, but India faces rich-world and poor-world problems at the same time.

An updated framework will need to resonate with the Governments and citizens of emerging powers such as India, as well as dealing with the needs of low-income countries. Moreover, in parts of the world, aid is likely to become a much smaller share of external financing for development in the future. As aid dependence falls in certain countries, a development framework that focuses mainly on targeting aid will be less relevant.

The principles for an updated framework are fourfold, so people are not being quite as cautious as the hon. Member for Harrow West feared. Four principles seem to be emerging from the discussions about post-MDGs. The Secretary of State is considering whether those principles would help to take forward the revision of the framework. I can confirm that we have already set up a team of officials in the Department for International Development’s policy division. That involves the most senior officials. Ministers are already having regular discussions with international counterparts on the post-MDG question.

The first principle is that the process to agree an updated framework needs to involve new powers and engage citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable and marginalised. Last time, the OECD-led process meant that ownership at country level was weaker than it should have been.

Secondly, there is a need to retain a simple set of global goals, but to enable greater ownership and accountability at national level, allowing nationally defined indicators and targets. National targets should still link into a global agenda that enables us to get a sense of overall progress.

To pick up one of the ODI points referred to, the third principle is universality. There is a strong view that, after 2015, we will need goals that resonate with the aspirations and challenges of citizens in emerging powers and OECD countries, as well as those in poor countries. However, there is also the view that we need to seek universal outcomes to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable are not neglected and, indeed, that inclusiveness applies.

Fourthly, an updated framework must incentivise action beyond aid. Goals should recognise that we are talking not only about aid transfers, but about all financial flows, including domestic public and private revenues—a framework that incentivises better resource allocation and helps to measure results. That is vital to the points on governance and anti-corruption measures that my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White) rightfully highlighted. It is a useful point to make that the international Open Government Partnership, which the UK is chairing with Brazil, will provide opportunities to build alliances to ensure that governance and transparency are incentivised as part of the successor framework to the MDGs.

The discussions about what should happen to the MDGs after 2015 are getting going on the international stage. We are in the early stages of the process, but the coalition Government are already actively engaging with old and new partners to shape the debate. Thanks to the all-party consensus on the 0.7% and the UK’s broader credibility and status on development issues, we have the potential to play a critical leadership role on this agenda internationally.

The Secretary of State has spoken to the UN Secretary-General, indicating our readiness to continue to play a leadership role. The Rio plus 20 sustainable development conference in June will provide a key occasion for the UK to further the debate. We are seeking opportunities on every occasion to develop consensus on a post-MDG framework. We are doing that with others in the UN and the G8, with other Governments, with foundations and with the private sector.

[Mr Thomas]

I specifically asked the Minister what discussions he has had with colleagues in Europe. Let me ask him even more specifically whether European International Development Ministers, at the regular formal meetings that take place, have discussed the post-MDGs summit and whether a British Minister from the Department for International Development will go to Rio plus 20. One would expect someone from the Department of Energy and Climate Change to go, but surely a Minister from DFID should attend as well.

[Mr O’Brien]

Of course, discussions have been happening both at the formal level and in the informal like-minded group—the hon. Gentleman will be aware that those are also very important meetings. They are broad discussions, but in relation to establishing the principles for the post-MDG framework, the primary focus has been on the more international, UN-driven bodies. Of course, he is right to identify—to some degree, this answers the point raised by the hon. Member for Workington—that discussions are going on around Europe, but as yet it has not become a critical focus. It is something that we are trying to lead and push on, as we have those various meetings.

Particularly with regard to the UN, it is important to recognise that the discussions are held with other bilaterals, groups of countries and key Governments such as Brazil to ensure that the interest in the sustainable development goals, to which the hon. Member for Harrow West referred, and the post-MDG agenda are brought together. That is a cross-Government agenda involving DFID, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Given that cross-Government basis, the hon. Gentleman is quite right: of course there will be ministerial attendance at Rio. I am not in a position at the moment to confirm which of the Ministers will attend—that would be premature—but I can certainly assure the hon. Gentleman that the matter is being given the very high importance that he would expect.

We hope that there will be broader engagement by all interested parties, the UK public, the private sector and others to help us to define the agenda for international development for the next generation, not least because the MDGs were very useful in setting not just the advocacy but the aspirational drivers that supported it politically.

The four principles that I articulated, which are the key to ensuring that the post-MDGs are framed in the correct way, are the ones that the Secretary of State in particular and personally is taking forward. Those principles are that the updated framework on development needs to be legitimate, that it needs to balance better the relationship between the global and the national, that there needs to be universality and inclusiveness and that the updated framework must incentivise action that will be owned at country level.

I am thinking about the example that the hon. Member for Workington gave about education. Looking at education in relation to the post-MDGs, we will want to build on the dramatic progress on enrolment, but also to shift the focus on to incentivising learning outcomes. This is not just about retention and particularly getting girls into school and enabling them to sustain their education to secondary level, but about ensuring the quality of education and the attendance of the teachers and ensuring that that is sustained throughout. I do not know whether the hon. Member for Workington would like to make a short intervention now; there is about two seconds to go.

Humanitarian Disasters

Debate between Stephen O'Brien and Gareth Thomas

Tuesday 8th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)]

I thank the hon. Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas) for raising this very important and timely issue. He has ministerial experience in the Department on which he has been able to build relevant knowledge. He is right to say that, in 2010, 263 million people were devastated by natural disasters—110 million more, as he said, than by the tsunami of 2004. Experts predict that the number of floods, famines and other climate-related disasters could increase to affect 375 million people every year by 2015.

Meeting global humanitarian need is a top priority for the UK coalition Government, which is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development set in train an independent review of the UK Government’s response to rapid onset emergencies, so we can learn how to do this better.

May I take the opportunity to touch on the current hot spot? We are, of course, responding to the humanitarian situation in Libya and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State was only last week at the Tunisian border, where he witnessed the complex situation first hand. He vowed that the UK would do everything possible to give the stranded shelter and to get them home as quickly as possible. It will come as no surprise to the hon. Gentleman that DFID was one of the first donors on the ground, responding quickly by placing experts on the borders to assess the situation. We immediately sent 38,000 blankets and 1,400 tents from DFID’s stores to provide shelter for 10,000 people.

It was quickly established that at that point the situation on the borders was a logistical emergency rather than a humanitarian crisis. We sent chartered flights to take the returning migrant workers home, and yesterday the last of those flights was returning more than 500 Bangladeshis. We have also returned more than 6,000 Egyptians. That, along with the logistics experts that we have deployed to the airport, has significantly relieved the situation on the Tunisian border.

As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, however, the United Kingdom cannot address these grave issues alone. We must work as part of an international system. I was pleased to note yesterday that Baroness Amos, the United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator, had launched a flash appeal for Libya. It sets out the immediate needs of the affected population, and provides the all-important framework that donors and humanitarian agencies need in order to co-ordinate their efforts. It will also help to ensure that our international support always targets those who are most in need with the most appropriate support, doing no harm and respecting people’s dignity.

As I said earlier, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has set up an independent humanitarian emergency response review, and my noble Friend Lord Ashdown will provide his assessment of it in the coming weeks. The review will consider how the United Kingdom can improve its effectiveness and prepare for the challenges of the 21st century. The hon. Gentleman himself said that he did not expect me to anticipate its outcome, but I can put on record that its recommendations will involve seven key lines of inquiry. They relate to the impact of UK humanitarian assistance; what an effective humanitarian response from the UK should look like; how the UK should support partners to deliver an effective response—a crucial point raised by the hon. Gentleman; how the UK can be an effective member of the international response community—another point that he raised; and how the UK should address the issue of accountability in humanitarian response. The review will also recommend an assessment of DFID’s humanitarian policy, and urge the UK to ensure that the Department is “fit for purpose” in the context of 21st-century humanitarian challenges. I hope that the House will have an opportunity to debate the review’s findings when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is able to set out his recommendations for future UK policy and action.

In view of the priority that we place on improving the effectiveness of the international system, the Secretary of State also commissioned a multilateral aid review. A statement on the review was made in the House on 1 March, so I need not go into the details, but it is worth noting that it showed most—although not all—humanitarian agencies to be good performers providing good value for money. The reviews have identified key priorities for reform. We want to work with the agencies to ensure that the international response becomes better and the hard-pressed UK taxpayer receives value for money for every UK pound that is spent.

The reaction around the world since the announcement of the reviews from many Governments, donors and partners alike, and indeed from various international agencies—non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, analysts and commentators—has been one of great interest in the process in which the international development team has been involved, not least in regard to the multilateral aid review. I hope that—partly in response to the hon. Gentleman’s encouragement—the review will be seen as both a template and a pathfinder, and that the process will be taken up not just by individual countries but by the United Nations itself and its various agencies at all levels. We will try to ensure that that happens.

Notwithstanding earlier observations by a couple of Members about recent disasters in Haiti and Pakistan, I thought it might be helpful if, rather than dwelling on those disasters, I mentioned some of the lessons that have been learned. It is important that the innovations that can be brought to bear be understood. The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has established itself as pivotal in leading and co-ordinating the humanitarian response. It has strengthened the system of humanitarian co-ordinators in-country and the establishment of the UN cluster approach, as well as ensuring that humanitarian needs are met through joint assessments and that the finances are available to resource humanitarian action, all of which are crucial components of our modern toolkit.

[Mr Thomas]

At the same time as the Minister’s Department was releasing details of its funding for the CERF conference, which I welcome, it briefed that CERF faced a shortfall of $100 million for the current financial year. Will the Minister therefore write to the US and France asking them to contribute more funds to CERF?

[Mr O'Brien]

I was about to come on to CERF, but may I first make sure that I confirm the point that through the appeals process not only are we becoming better at preventing the duplication of effort and improving value for money from a response, but we are much more focused on the evidence-based and results-based management that will help to improve that further? The UK is pressing this point on almost a daily basis, and various contacts and discussions have taken place.

When in opposition, we fully supported the establishment of CERF when that was introduced by the hon. Gentleman’s colleague, the then Secretary of State. It was an innovation that improved UN country leadership and co-ordination, and resulted in a more timely and equitable humanitarian response according to needs. Since it was set up, the UK has been one of its top donors, and it recently did well in the multilateral aid review. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has authorised a doubling of the UK’s support to CERF, announcing in December a £40 million pledge to this year’s appeal for funds to it. We are recognised as leading by example, and I am very pleased that CERF is already swiftly providing financial support to the people of Libya.

To answer the hon. Gentleman’s question, a considerable number of meetings are taking place with our various US opposite numbers and the French. I noted what he said about an annual international forum. That seems to me to be too infrequent. There is also the question whether there should be a similar forum for the EU. Rather than a set-piece meeting, there are frequent ongoing meetings. Indeed, I was in Paris on Thursday and took the opportunity to raise these points through a series of bilaterals.

It is important to recognise that we need not just to reduce the risks associated with disasters when they happen, but to have much better co-ordination on identifying and preventing risks before they happen, while also recognising the general unpredictability. Working through the bilateral aid review, and therefore now the country programmes, that type of resilience and preparation has been put in place, and it is, I think, fair to call into evidence what we have already done in the preparations in respect of southern Sudan.

While, as ever, there will be calls for a total review of the international system, we already have enough evidence and experience to know broadly what the problems are. The lessons from Pakistan and Haiti led to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declaring improved response to major crises as one of the top eight UN priorities for 2011. Through international forums and the EU, we are having a series of discussions intended not only to back up what the UN may be discussing, but to make sure that on those bilateral and regional bases there is a continuing set of discussions and a focus that will ensure that we not only learn lessons but construct our ability to respond most effectively. The new mechanisms established five years ago are starting to result in improved responses, but they need to continue to improve, particularly in terms of leadership.