OutcomeDocumentofthe SouthAsianConsultation

CentreforPovertyAnalysis Colombo,SriLanka

INTRODUCTION

Background
Since their adoption in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) took centre stage as a framework for national and international development efforts and cooperation, policymaking and resource mobilisation. They were a practical and measurable articulation of the Millennium Declaration andenjoyedsupportfromgovernmentsandthedevelopmentcommunities.Theyfocusedlargelyonthe social aspects of development, and while there has been considerable progress towards their achievement,therearealsosignificantdisparitieswithinandacrossthecountries. The backdrop to the MDGs was the Asian financial crisis that pointed to a need for systemic reforms, and the end of the cold war that led to expectations of increased ODA. Despite their centrality, the MDGs were seen as a suboptimal response to the shelving of systemic changes as the world economy recoveredfromthefinancialcrisis,andasanattempttowintheconfidenceoftaxpayersinthenorthon the effectiveness of ODA. They were largely developed in apolitical vacuum,emanating from a series of highprofile international conferences during the 1990s.On top of this, the MDGs were executed aroundasetoflargelypreexistingandnarrowlydefinedtargetsinspiredbytheHumanDevelopment paradigm. Today,almostadecadeandahalfaftergovernmentssigneduptotheMDGs,itisevidentthatthereisa need for a post2015 agenda that balances the social, economic and environmental aspects of development.Thediscussiononanewsetofpost2015developmentgoalsaimstointegratethedebate thathasbeengathering sincethe Rio+20summits declarationoftheneed forsustainabledevelopment goals(SDG),andthepost2015discussiononthenextroundofmillenniumdevelopmentgoals(MDGs). Currently, there are propositions made by various groups on what the overarching principles should be, whatthegoalsshouldcontain,andhowtheyshouldbeimplementedandinternalisedbycountries.The setting of goals is a complicated exercise, as decisions are dependent on the ambitions and interests of sovereign states, their political leadership, and lobby groups with diverse vested agendas. If endorsed and adoptedbythe world as inthe case ofthe current MDGs, sustainable post2015 goals can impact aid architecture, tradepolicies, technology development andtransfer,and internationalcooperation, as wellasshapedomesticdevelopmentpoliciesofindividualstates. The discussions display some scepticism about the effectiveness of growthcentred models to eradicate poverty. South Asia, for instance, is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but it is also home to the largest concentration of people living in extreme poverty. The future development orientation will have impacts on South Asia and for each country in the region, and there remains the question on whether a universal framework can address the critical development concerns of South Asian and othervulnerableeconomies. 2

 There are also more scientific agreement, evidence and lived experiences that highlight the threats of environmental degradation on human well being. Climate scientists predict that South Asia will be one of the regions worst affected by climate change, and that will significantly reducethe impact of poverty alleviation efforts. Poor people are disproportionately reliant on natural assets and vulnerable to climate and scarcity risks. The current models of development are also the main drivers of unsustainability, and a global framework that would work within the natural limits of the planet would require developed countries to adhere to a programme of sustainable production and consumption. Whetherthiswillbeapracticalrealityisstilltobeseen. Much of the ongoing discussions on the post2015 development agenda have been provided by northern institutions. It is critical though, that as South Asians, we focus on the ongoing global debates in the context of post2015, and ensure that the concerns, development priorities, and aspirations of South Asian countries are also given greater voice and are included into this debate. The SouthernVoiceonPostMDGInternationalDevelopmentGoalsisleadingtheefforttoincreaseSouthern (Asian, African and Latin American) think tank perspectives and ideas and has strong potential to influence the highlevel discussions on the post2015 development framework. The Centre for Poverty Analysis, in collaboration and shared ownership with the Centre for Policy Dialogue (Bangladesh), the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (Pakistan), Practical Action (Sri Lanka) and the South Asia Policy Research Institute (SAPRI) brought together about forty participants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and representatives from Mauritius, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and the UK into aconsultationinColombo.Theconsultationenabledanintegrateddiscussionofbothsustainabilityand socioeconomic issues in the context of the post2015 development agenda, with special reference to Asia, and South Asia in particular. The dialogue was multidisciplinary, and included economists, environmentalists, technologists, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and policy makers fromdifferentlevelsinthepublicandprivatesectors. Theconsultationwasstructuredaroundfivemajortopics:economicgrowthwithinnaturallimits,equity and sustainability, shared societies and governance, the role of technology and ownership and instruments of delivery; and based on thirteen academic papers presented by the participants focusing ontheseissues. This outcome document summarises the key outcomes of this consultation. A more detailed report of thediscussionisforthcoming. Alldocumentsrelatedtothesymposiumareavailableat
http://cepa.lk/index.php/en/events/annual-poverty-symposium-2013.

Videocoverageofthesessionscanbeviewedon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kp8MiTmfsg&list=PLsNHgk0wbmKSaX697Py9Dxpk9L5oU 6bJ&index=1. 3

OUTCOMES

AgreedPrinciples
Participantsintheconsultation: agreed that human rights needed to be integrated into the post2015 development framework, which should be based on respect for diversity, individual dignity, equal opportunity and protectionfromdiscrimination. proposed that just governance be included as a fourth pillar of the framework. Just Governance expands the concept of good governance, currently used in the global debate. It translatesintoagovernmentthatisresponsivetotheneedsofthepeople.Theconceptofjust governance seeks to put into place honest and accountable political institutions that allow public participation in decision making and oversight; promotes nonviolent modes of conflict resolution leading to safety, security and respect of separate identities; ensures transparency, accountability and access to information and respects the interdependence of individual and collective dimensions of social existence. The principle needs to apply not only to public institutions but also to the private sector, to global governance institutions and to the developedworld. recognisedthattheglobalpartnershipgoalreceivedtheleasttractionintheachievementofthe MDGs, and emphasised the need to take a critical look at the international system, the neo liberal economic paradigm that drives it, and the role and relationship of its different constituents. The global post2015 development framework needs to encourage alternative homegrownmodelsandbeinformedbythem,withoutbeingprescriptive.Italsoneedstotake into account the numerous United Nations conventions that address rights and obligations of globalactors,suchasCEDAWandUNFCCCandusethemasthebasisforthenewframework. concurred that economic growth must continue to underpin the new development framework, but reiterated that the processes of achieving economic growth needs to take place with a strong recognition of the worlds natural limits and of the need to leave no one behind. This viewpoint is not as readily apparent in the proposed principles and goals of the HLP, as it is in the discussion on the SDGs and in the UNNGLS consultations and it is necessary to strengthen the argument if the principle of sustainable development at the core is to be pursued in the post2015agenda. acknowledged that the role of technology in development was broader than the current discussion of technology transfer put forward as the main strategy for addressing the technology gap to bring about green economies. Technology justice, or access to technology for all should be a key element in the development framework and needs to include local technology development, and greater flexibility in negotiating intellectual property rights and tradetreaties.

KeyIssuesfromtheSouthAsianRegion
Just,equitableandsustainablegrowth The issues of growth, inequality and governance underpinned much of the discussions. This was not surprising given that South Asia is a region where high rates of economic growth have not resulted in the eradication of poverty in all its dimensions, or in significant reduction of income and other disparities. The recognition of natural limits highlighted the importance of addressing the high end of the consumption spectrum, and of encouraging more sustainable consumption and production. Participants agreed that there would definitely need to be targets for sustainable consumption for developed countries, and for higher income groups within developing countries. The recognition of natural limits must be accompanied by measures of distributive justice and concerns for intergenerationalequity. Growth enables more than a trickle down of incomes to the poor. It creates the fiscal space for social development and mitigating action on climate change and can lead to a positive transformation of the economy. But, it was also pointed out that unlimited growth can be uneconomic and exceed the carrying capacities of the environment, for example by leading to the reduction of resources (e.g. by over fishing) or excess production of waste (e.g. chemical byproducts, emissions). Uneconomic growth may not be detected easily as it can be positively shown in a nations national accounts (e.g. dealing with the health costs of pollution contributes to the GDP). So while tools exist to measure environmental impacts of our actions (e.g. the measurement of the carbon footprint of a person, an institution or a nation) they are rarely used to ascertain the real environmental cost of products or services. Some perceptions that constrain the shift to more sustainable production are, that the costs outweigh benefits, the lack of demand for greener products and services and the lack of adequate financing and technical knowhow. The key issue that emerged is that economic growth has two qualifiers:justiceandequityinthedistributionofbenefits,andsustainabilityintermsofuseofresources andwasteemissions. Multidimensionalequality Equality was seen also as an important crosscutting issue that the post2015 development agenda needed to take into account, especially since it was omitted from the MDG framework. When considering the countrieswithinSouthAsia, there appears to bea concentration ofwealth in the hands of a few. The average earnings of the richest 10 percent are nearly eight times the income of the poorest 10 percent in the region as a whole.1 The participants recognised that inequality is multidimensional. Ongoing debates already highlight the exclusion of some groups, minorities, women and youth, but the conversation needs to go beyond these and other incomeinequalities to include
1

Gunasekera, V. I., November 2013. Addressing life on the margins: Moving beyond rhetoric and putting inequality at the heart of the post 2015 development agenda, Position paper presented at 13th Annual Symposium of the Centre for Poverty Analysis,

Colombo: Centre for Poverty Analysis. Online. http://cepa.lk/images/Addressing_life_on_the_margins_CEPAsymposium2013_Equity_positionpaper.pdf

asymmetries in access to knowledge and information, lack of opportunities to participate in decision making, group based inequalities such as those relating to caste, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and the privileging of certain actors (e.g. corporate) over others (e.g. citizens). This must result in the emphasisonnondiscriminationinallthefuturegoalsandtargets. Justgovernance Theissueofequalityislinkedtotheotherkeyissueofgovernance.DeliveringwhattheClubdeMadrid2 calls a shared society requires institutions that are relevant, based on the principle of subsidiarity, and which consider the long term perspective without compromising immediate needs. Just governance was understood to mean political institutions that were honest and accountable at the local, national and international levels, and allowed free and equal public participation in decision making and oversight, with progressive tax systems and domestic resource mobilisation, and a responsible private sectortoincreaseitseffectiveness.Asharedsocietyneedsalsotoextendbeyondthenationalsphereto the international, which indicates the need for greater southsouth cooperation, northsouth negotiations with stronger southern voice, and the reform of global rules and institutions relating to trade,investment,technologyandintellectualpropertyrights.

KeyfactorstoconsiderintheformulationofGoals
RecommendationsfromtheSouthAsianConsultation The South Asian Consultation, with its high representation of South Asian development and environmental professionals, and interested representatives from outside the region, presents the following factors to be considered in the negotiations that will lead to the finalisation of the goals, targets and indicators for the post2015 development agenda. Many of the proposed factors resonate with the discussions taking place around Sustainable Development Goals and the High Level Panels recommended12goals,andcontributetomakingsustainabilitythenextmetric. TheSouthAsianconsultationwasveryclearthatwithoutanoverarchingcommitmenttorespecting naturallimitsandjustgovernance,thepost2015developmentagendaisunlikelytoeradicatepoverty ortransformeconomiesthroughsustainabledevelopment. Workingwithinnaturallimitswouldrequiretargetsandindicatorsthatwouldensurethatcountries:

have national policies that respect natural limits and have incorporated them together with other environmental and social indicators to an expanded measure of the GDP. This would mean a revised formulation of what constitutes GDP, and could stimulate a new growth paradigm.

The Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization composed of over 90 democratic former Presidents and Prime

Ministers from more than 60 different countries. For more information go to http://www.clubmadrid.org/

provide incentives for sustainable production and consumption to manufacturing companies and to consumers; ensure that the private sector adhere to the concept of the triple bottom line and use pricing and promotion mechanisms to create a demand for sustainable goods and servicesthatbenefitstakeholdersratherthanshareholders. protectthesecurityofecosystemservicesandbiodiversityandthattheymanagetheirnatural resources;andcomplywithotherglobalcovenantsontheenvironmentandclimatechange. develop broad strategies for developing countries to access science, technology and innovation beyond the conventional northsouth technology transfer; ensure more public funding for research and development; and, at a national level, build on indigenous knowledge and experience to develop locally appropriate technologies with supportive policies. Encourage more participation of the public in science and technology and develop the capacity to critically respondtothetransferoftechnology.

Thestandalonegoalonjustgovernancewillconsidergovernanceissuesatinternationaland nationallevels,andfocuson: the reform of the international rules of the game (for international trade, finance, taxation, business accounting and intellectual property rights) consistent with achieving sustainable development goals and equity; in particular the development of a global institutional architecture to provide greater support to highly vulnerable states and least developed countries. generation of adequate domestic and international public finance not just towards ending poverty, but also for the provision global public goods, capacity building and transferring technologies. anincreaseinthevoiceofcitizens,throughdecentralisedandmorelocalmodesofgovernance based on the principles of subsidiarity and through ensuring that people enjoy freedom of speech, association and peaceful protest, are able to participate in political processes and civic engagement at all levels, and are guaranteed access to independent media and information. Just governance would see an end towidespreadbribery and corruption and ensure that public andprivateinstitutionsareheldaccountable. in particular, the goal could be formulated to read as Universally accessible and just governance processes and mechanisms that ensure the bottom decile are participants in decisionmakingprocessesandoversight

In addition to the above, the South Asian consultation supported several of the goals and targets that havebeenpresentedthroughthetwinprocessesoffollowuptothe2010postMDGdiscussionandthe 2012Rio+20conference.

The South Asia consultation saw the need to bring back a rights approach to development, as a prerequisite for dealing with the multiple inequalities that exist within the South Asian region and across the world. The rights based approach would be strengthened by the existing conventions that should compel countries to deal with vulnerability and reduce inequality, such as the UN Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilitiesetc. Thedebateoninequalityshouldbeframedasadebateonachievingsocialjustice,andtherights based approach would have to take into account the rights of poor women and men to productive employment and decent work, to land and property, to water and sanitation. It would have to commit to end all forms of gender based violence and to end discrimination and inequalityinaccesstopublicservices,theruleoflaw,participationinpoliticalandeconomiclife onthebasisofgender,ethnicity,religion,disability,nationalorigin,socialandotherstatus.This may require frameworks for affirmative action and the implementation of progressive social protection policies. It also implies that economic growth needs to be both inclusive and job generating. Addressing inequality also means that macroeconomic policies need to be reviewed through the lens of intersectionalities, including discrimination based on caste, religious, sexual and gender identities and that the post2015 agenda should promote, in particular, a gender transformative, gender inclusive and gender responsive policy framework that is guided by the principlesofgenderequalityandequity.

Someadditionalconsiderations
The South Asian Consultation reiterated the need to have greater access to data, disaggregated data alonggender,geographic,incomeandothergroupingsinparticular,especiallytomonitortheoutcomes of affirmative action, and to track changes from other development policies. Affirmative action and social protection programmes for the most vulnerable were seen to reduce groupbased inequality. It wasalsomentionedthatlegislatedcorporatesocialresponsibilitycanhaveadistributiveeffect. The discussions also proposed that the state and the private sector should be encouraged to use triple bottom line policies, progressive tax structures, incentives and subsidies and green accounting to encourage the growth of green economies and to reduce inequality. The importance of reforming the Intellectual Property Rights regime needs to be incorporated into the discussions on science and technology,andtheconversationsontechnologytransferneedtobemodifiedtotakeintoaccountlocal andindigenousknowledge.

A presentation from Nepal proposed the social solidarity economy, as a means of securing access to commonpropertyandenhancingcommunityautonomy,landtenureanduserrights. An overarching concern was how to establish improved global partnerships that could build productive capacity, crosssectoral linkages, southsouth partnerships, and establish shared but differentiated responsibilitiesforthefutureoftheplanet.Itwassuggestedthattheinterestintransformationshould be giving the global north a strong message about their role in natural resource wars and incentivising themtoplayamorematureroleinbalancingglobalpowerrelations.

CONCLUSION
TheexpectationsoftheparticipantsoftheSouthAsiaConsultationarethatthediscussionswillgoalong way into influencing the global discourse on the post2015 development goals, and that they will contribute to making sustainability the next metric. The ideas from the discussions form part of the discussions and presentations of the Southern Voice Initiative, and the Club de Madrids discussions on Shared Societies. The Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) was also able to share the outcomes with the Asia delegates to the Commonwealth Peoples Forum held in Sri Lanka. In addition to these targeted events, many of the delegates present have the opportunity to present these ideas at different forums that they will also attend as part of their contribution to the debate. The main challenge however will be to influence South Asian government delegations to make the Southern Voice heard, and take these ideastothenegotiatingtables.