POVERTY: Zimbabwe: Towards Eradication of Global Poverty

Published by the government of Zimbabwe 14 October 2010
The writer is an independent economist and finance analyst.

Harare — The UN Summit on Millennium Development Goals in September came amid a world awakening to the likely failure of meeting the 2015 deadline (against a 1990 baseline) with a mere five years remaining.
With the global economy still in the resuscitation ward from the devastating and debilitating effects of the global meltdown, UN secretary general Ban Ki- moon called for urgent action to steer the ship to harbour -- slashing poverty, hunger, child mortality under the auspicious theme "We can end poverty by 2015".
The Millennium Development Goals aim at eradicating global poverty, hence the millennium declaration: "We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to make the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want."
These have gone through an evolutionary metamorphosis drawing from different UN symposiums. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development adopted the same goals that were further refined in 2001.
The goals to which Zimbabwe is also part cover eight primary goals with 18 targets and 48 indicators. These in essence are:
l Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
l Achieving universal primary education;
l Promote gender equality and empower women;
l Reduce child mortality;
l Improve maternal health;
l Combat HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases;
l Ensure environmental sustainability;
l Develop a global partner for development.
The first review of these goals was done in 2005, however the stock take by the summit revealed a target miss by most if not all the partners unless and until measures to accelerate the growth pace are adopted.
A research synopsis done by DFID indicated a study done on 30 countries which shockingly revealed that only 15 of the signatories were on target to meeting the MDG 1 (eradication of extreme poverty and hunger).
In addition 20 of the nations needed corrective action attaining the MDG 2 target of universal primary education and that only seven were on track to meeting the fifth goal of maternal health.
President Mugabe spoke at the summit calling for the lifting of the debilitating effects of sanctions on Zimbabwe, which are derailing efforts by the inclusive Government to steer the country to former prosperity.
Sadc echoed his sentiments, which called for assistance to countries which, are way off the target and also further appealed for the lifting of sanctions against Cuba.
What has contributed to most nations failing to be on course to meeting the targets included poor resources among a host of other ailments especially for the African countries and the emerging markets. A general lack of focus, accountability and a general sense of laxity on the part of individual countries were identified.
Some frightening and eye-brow raising facts revealed that no country in sub-Saharan Africa was on course to meeting these goals. The general progress has generally been uneven.
Overally, it was identified that people still living in abject poverty and hunger surpass the US$1 billion mark.
The phenomenon of multiple crises has not made life any easier, climate change, the global financial crises, volatile energy and food prices, loss of biodiversity have all made it worse.
Sovereignty of nations, national ownership and leadership are indispensable in the development process. The summit alluded to the fact that all countries ought to draw a sense of ownership and responsibility from the citizenry to the statesman.
Gender equality and overall empowerment of women were noted as chief pre-requisite to economic and social development. A call for full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was emphasised.
It was also acknowledged and noted of the successes in developing countries in combating extreme poverty, improving school enrolment and child health (Zimbabwe topping the list in terms of literacy rate). Reduction of child deaths; expansion of access to clean water; improving the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV; expanding access to HIV and Aids prevention; treatment, controlling and care of malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases were also covered.
Overally the plenary noted that progress has been slow and uneven between and within countries. Hunger and malnutrition were identified as having risen in the period 2007-2009.
The need for external funding especially for developing countries was noted as a chief pre-requisite especially for the achievement of goal 8 -- developing a global partnership for development.
A call was made for the implementation of Almaty programme and focus shifted to the Brussels Programme of action for the least developed countries for the decade 2001-2010 and now focus is on the all-important Fourth United Nations conference on the Least Developed Countries to be held in Instanbul in 2011.
Way Forward
The summit conclusively agreed that all countries were to continue implementing and monitoring their development strategies.
A re-affirmation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha declaration on financing for development in its entirety was also stressed.
A call was made for further reform and modernisation of the global financial architecture to aid preventive and response mechanisms in cases of emergencies.
In line with the continual isolation of the developing countries, most of which are African, the plenary agreed on the need to have greater representation in world bodies namely the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
It was noted the importance of promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth for all countries in order to accelerate progress.
A strong promotion was done for the Global Jobs Pact and the need for job creation the world over stressed.
The donor community and aid agencies were called upon to provide adequate, timely and predictable assistance to conflict stricken countries.
The fight against corruption at both the national and international level was made a top priority red-light district.
The summit conclusively agreed that the promotion and protection of human rights will not be overemphasised as these are chief pre-requisite to global development.
Gender equality was also acknowledged as paramount to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
It was also noted of the importance of strengthening regional and sub-regional co-operation for accelerating national development strategy implementation.
Efforts to support South-South co-operation triangular co-operation were emphasised but the plenary agreed that this should not be a substitute for South-North co-operation but instead should be all embracing.
Over and above this, the summit was a resounding success in reminding humanity of the need to wipe away poverty for the betterment of mankind.
Most importantly it gave a refocus of the commitment each and every nation made and reminded the signatories to the MDGs of their role in improving the global community echoing the sentiments of the former secretary general Kofi Annan.
He said: "On this international day for the eradication of poverty, let us recognise that extreme poverty is a threat to human security everywhere.
Let us recall that poverty is a denial of human rights. For the first time in history, in this age of unprecedented wealth and technical prowess, we have the power to save humanity from this shameful scourge. Let us summon the will to do it".
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