June Monthly Monitor: FfD agreement goes to Addis

Financing for Development Negotiations on the Addis Outcome Document

The FfD negotiations were meant to wrap up on June 19, but after a marathon 37 hour informal negotiating session that stretched through that weekend, negotiations continued on and off over the last two weeks. The co-facilitators, Ambassador George Talbot of Guyana and Ambassador Geir Pedersen of Norway, along with President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, the Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and UN DESA’s Under-Secretary-General Wu Hongbo, reminded delegates of the importance of the Addis opportunity, and sought compromises and consensus ahead of the conference (July 13-16 – program attached). The Deputy Secretary-General noted to member states that the Addis outcome is not just about maintaining momentum for the Post-2015 and Climate summits; he reminded that Addis also a test of multilateralism. Several suggested that reaching agreement would determine the level of participation at the FfD conference and allow the host country to make preparations.

The latest draft (dated July 7) of the Addis outcome document includes positive signals to launch a renewed global partnership supporting the following cross-cutting priorities (list not exhaustive):

• Delivering a new social compact and essential public services for all, including to end poverty and finish the unfinished business of the MDGs (this builds on the call to Leave No One Behind);
• Scaling up efforts to end hunger and malnutrition;
• Establishing a new forum to bridge the infrastructure gap;
• Promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization;
• Generating full and productive employment and decent work for all and promoting MSMEs;
• Protecting our ecosystems for all; and
• Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.

 

It will take all sources of financing to achieve these ambitious priorities, including unlocking new resources by:

• Enhancing tax administration and improved transparency and effectiveness of tax systems
• Increasing catalytic aid to Least Developed Countries (LDCs);
• Inviting the private sector to engage and invest as partners in the development process;
• Investing in science, technology, innovation, capacity building and data.

 

Building on the priorities in the outcome document, many hope that announcements on the sidelines in Addis will play an important role in spurring momentum and translating the text into concrete, sustained action, through the September Summit and beyond in the spirit of the Addis agreement. Currently, more than 200 side events are planned in Addis. If governments, multilateral development banks, businesses, and other stakeholders are prepared to make announcements on the margins and in the months before and after, then the legacy of Addis may extend well beyond its outcome text.

Some of the most sensitive issues within the negotiations have included:

• Tax– Despite strong language on domestic public resources and international support for capacity building, disagreements persisted over “upgrading” the existing UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation on Tax versus strengthening what exists. At issue is the idea of representation, as developing countries argued that the existing initiatives are not universal and don’t give them adequate voice, while others suggested that existing mechanisms should be strengthened and that tax experts should address these matters.
• Follow up and review – There has been disagreement over whether to have separate follow up and review processes for FfD and the SDGs. While there is broad support for the post-2015 agenda as being universal, many developing countries assert that the FfD agenda is not, and while related to the post-2015 agenda, it is separate and requires its own follow up process.
• Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) – CBDR was a continuous thread throughout the FfD negotiations, as in other negotiations. Donor countries contend that CBDR has no place in FfD, as it is an environmental concept, whereas developing countries argue that if we are looking at the FfD agenda with a sustainability lens, then CBDR applies. This debate is likely to continue throughout the post-2015 process as well, as it gets to the core of North-South political dynamics and what type of global partnership will be needed to implement the post-2015 development agenda.

 

Post-2015 Negotiations on the Zero Draft

During the week of June 22, in parallel to the extended FfD consultations, member states had an initial opportunity to react to the zero draft of the Post-2015 Outcome document, to be adopted at the Summit in September and issued by the co-facilitators of post-2015, Ambassadors Donoghue of Ireland and Kamau of Kenya. The draft is entitled: Transforming our World by 2030: A New Agenda for Global Action, and is divided into the following chapters: a Preamble; a Declaration; the SDGs and Targets (taking the OWG’s list of SDGs in its entirety); the Means of Implementation and Global Partnership (with placeholder language for the Addis outcome); and Follow up and Review.

The most contentious issues in the debate on the Zero Draft included:

• Need for a concise and inspiring vision – Many agreed that the outcome document needs to speak to and inspire those outside of the UN – from citizens to world leaders. In this regard, there was support for the “5 P’s” in the Preamble: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership – though some delegates took issue with the “Peace” element, and others called to add a 6^th “P,” on Participation. Others thought the 5 P’s could be strengthened by further elaborating specific actions under each P.

• Concern about “cherry-picking” of goals in the Preamble’s 9 elements (see page 1) – The co-facilitators said that they viewed these items as a communications device, simply to help explain what this agenda is about to the outside world. However, many were uncomfortable with the framing, as they viewed it as a reprioritization of the SDGs. Others pointed out that the elements were especially weak on the environmental dimension, and left out key issues like energy and water. The G77 suggested either to remove the Preamble, or to include all goals.

• CBDR vs universality and shared responsibility – There was ongoing tension between the concepts of universality and differentiated responsibility based on historic footprints – although compelling cases were made for how these two concepts could be married. It was noted that “universality” does not mean “uniformity,” and that the concepts can be mutually reinforcing.
• Whether to tweak targets – The debate continued as to whether the 21 “tweaked” targets in the zero draft’s annex should be integrated, or whether all targets should be left as is, due to the delicate political balance achieved by the OWG. Developing countries felt that if any targets were tweaked, this could open up a “Pandora’s box” of issues, which could put at risk some of the most sensitive issues (i.e. SRHR, Goal 16 issues). Donor countries generally favored the idea of tweaking targets, and a few proposed that they go even further than the 21 proposed targets. The co-chairs said that this left them in a very tough spot for the next iteration of the zero draft.
• How to fit the Addis outcome into post-2015 means of implementation (“MOI”) – Many considered it premature to have a serious discussion on the MOI chapter of the zero draft before the Addis outcome was agreed. Several delegates said it may make sense to revisit this chapter following the Addis conference. Most donors viewed the MOI chapter as “placeholder” language for what comes out of Addis, and the G77 saw Addis as a complement, rather than a substitute, for Goal 17 on MOI. Others suggested including the Addis outcome as an annex to the post-2015 outcome, rather than trying to renegotiate an “Addis lite” summary following the conference, noting that this would maintain the FfD’s interlinked but independent nature.
• How prescriptive the follow up and review process should be – Many delegations agreed that this chapter was a good start, but were concerned that it was overly prescriptive. Member states broadly supported the principles of national ownership, transparency, participation, and inclusiveness, but wished to leave flexibility in the process, to be able to adapt after 2015. Most supported a multi-stakeholder approach, though there was some push back on the idea for regional peer review processes, as many said this should be left to regional groups to decide.

 

Closing the week’s debate, the co-facilitators said they would take into account what they had heard, and issue a “final” zero draft ahead of the final negotiating sessions, July 20-24 and July 27-31. The Co-facilitators said that their job would not be an easy one, as they have some very divergent views to resolve, but that the task was not “insurmountable”. The timing of these last two post-2015 sessions is particularly significant, as they follow directly after the Addis conference, which will clearly set the stage for the final round of negotiations, and the outcome that will ultimately be adopted in September.

 

Must Reads

• In his long-anticipated encyclical letter “Laudato Si of the Holy Father Francis On Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis urges the 7 billion inhabitants of the planet to take up the responsibility of combatting climate change and protecting the environment.
• Kofi Annan, former UNSG and Chair of the Africa Progress Panel, and Robert Rubin, former US Treasury Secretary and member of the Panel, argue in the Washington Post that it is: “Africa’s Moment to Lead on Climate.”
• National Public Radio in the U.S. broadcast two stories back to back this week on the MDGs and SDGs, one on the surprising progress on the MDGs as reported in the recent UN’s MDGs Report for 2015 and a second on “How to Eliminate Extreme Poverty in 169 Not-So-Easy-Steps” in which the simplicity of the MDGs is compared with the much broader set of SDGs which is described as being about a new paradigm that goes beyond aid and it includes poor countries taking the lead, bringing in private investment to expand economies, and citizens holding their government to account. Mark Malloch Brown, Mark Suzman, and Thomas Gass are quoted.
• Southern Voice’s Debapriya Bhattacharya and ODI’s Yurenda Basnett’s paper: “Exploring spaces for economic transformation in the SDGs” examines how economic transformation can be achieved without sacrificing social and environmental objectives.
• In this blog for the Center for Global Development, Nancy Birdsall shares her five “Wishes for Addis: Something Old, Something New,” which include: sin taxes, a billionaires’ club to fund global public goods, more IMF resources, renewed multilateralism, and more outcome-based aid transfers.
• Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution and John McArthur discuss “Bringing the social compact to life,” and how to translate this ambition into a reality, on the UN’s FfD blog
• Simon Maxwell’s blog “2015: The Choreography” discusses 3 possible scenarios for how the year 2015 may pan out, and suggests concrete steps for brokering successful global deals.
• The report “From Declaration to Delivery,” by NYU’s Center on International Cooperation’s David Steven, is based on a series of “reality check” roundtables that explored the challenges of delivering the SDGs in eight countries. The roundtables found that delivery will only be possible with strengthened national policy plans, cross-government mechanisms, country-wide partnerships, and timely data.
• Andrew Scott, Paula Lucci, and Tom Berliner of ODI’s report: “Mind the gap? A comparison of international and national targets for the SDG agenda identifies the gaps where most work is needed to alter political priorities in order to achieve the SDGs, by country grouping (LICs, MICs, and HICs).

 

Look Ahead for July

June 26 – July 8: Third Meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development “Strengthening Integration, Implementation and Review” (UNHQ, NY)

July 10: BRICS Summit (Ufa, Russia)

July 11 – 12: CSO Forum at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia): Register here.

July 13 – 16: Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). Provisional List of Side Events

July 14: International Business Forum at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

July 20 – 24 and 27 – 31: Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda Outcome Document (UNHQ, New York, NY)

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