one - The post-2015 development agenda: Building a global convergence on policy options

Summary

Introduction

The international community has been engaged in a post-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) policy conversation to forge a successor framework that is universally acceptable. The post-2015 development agenda must meet the minimum threshold of the current MDG framework, which successfully helped galvanise development efforts and guide global and national development priorities (ECOSOC, 2011). Multiple stakeholders, ranging from multilateral organisations, civil society and academic institutions, have been debating the form and substance of the post-2015 development agenda (Vandemoortele, 2012). In addition, different forums have been held and publications churned out prescribing the process and substance of the emerging framework. The task of formulating the post-2015 development agenda will not be easy, as it will need to be balanced by a plethora of other global development initiatives that have taken place over the past few years. The Rio+20 outcome document, for example, provides good insights for any emerging framework, as does the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

The emerging framework must also contend with the dynamics of a fast changing world. The unprecedented shift in global power with the rise of the South, the technological revolution of the last decade, and new challenges caused by climate change all require new thinking and a new approach to human development. This entails a reorientation in development approach through a South-South model as well as a focus on people-centred development. According to Collier (2007), the MDGs have been a major force in addressing the poverty agenda, but the world has changed radically since 2000, when they were first conceived of. The emerging countries of the South, for example, China, India and Brazil, would be expected to play a greater role in shaping the emerging framework based on their own success stories that could be replicated in other developing countries. The IT revolution that marks the advent of innovative tools, such as M-PESA in Kenya, that is promoting financial inclusion, offers an opportunity to leapfrog development. This requires thinking outside the box and moving away from the traditional approaches of addressing development challenges.

Unfortunately, the urgency for a successor framework to the MDGs does not afford the global leadership a luxury of time. The multiple initiatives that have been proposed to drive the post-2015 development agenda are a good indicator to this reality.