Press reports on “Delivery of the MDGs in LDCs and Reflections on Post-2015 Issues,” jointly organised by CPD and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) at BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium on Saturday, 21 September 2013.
Published in The Daily Star Business
Post-MDG Framework: Equality, decent jobs in focus
Star Business Report
The post-MDG framework should target creating decent jobs and reducing inequality along with making efforts to cut poverty, provide quality education and ensure human rights as the backbone of the new universal agenda, analysts said yesterday.
They also called for ensuring more voice for the least developed countries in setting the next development goals.
“The post-2015 agenda will be a universal one in nature. It is also to be seen how a universal framework will accommodate the specific concerns and interests of the countries,” said Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
He spoke at a dialogue — delivery of the MDGs in LDCs and reflections on post-2015 issues — at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka.
The CPD and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), a foundation of Social Democratic Party of Germany, co-organised the dialogue.
As the terminal year of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) draws near, the state of actual delivery regarding these targets has become a matter of renewed and intense debate, Debapriya said.
“An explicit understanding seems to have emerged that the MDGs are going to continue beyond 2015 in one form or other. The particular aspect has created enhanced demand on the lessons to be learnt for the future from the MDG implementation experience.”
He said the post-2015 international development framework should put due emphasis on goals and targets on employment and income and quality of outcome for helping the LDCs achieve better results.
Bhattacharya said like the MDGs, whose deadline ends in 2015, the post-2015 agenda would be non-binding and voluntary targets.
He said private involvement in achieving the post-2015 agenda would be critical. “We will also have to better use the existing resources and mobilise more domestic resources.”
The economist also called for reforming global rules that are holding back fuller market access for the LDCs.
CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan said the LDCs have achieved encouraging results in the MDGs, banking on the private sector efforts, remittance flows and domestic resources mobilisation, as international aid was not available as committed.
So, when it comes to setting the post-2015 agenda, the developed world will have to give explanation for its failure to honour its aid commitments to the developing countries, he said.
The economist said the post-2015 agenda should set measurable targets that would ensure a transformed and better world in 2030 when the deprived and disadvantaged would live in a different condition.
“2030 can’t look like as the improved version of the current world,” he said, calling for a closer look at whether the MDGs have changed the lives of the people targeted.
Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud, a former caretaker government adviser, said Bangladesh should consolidate its gains on the MDGs so the achievement does not slip.
He also said Bangladesh spent less on healthcare and education but achieved higher results in the two areas due to some homemade solutions, which are culturally adaptable and low-cost. “This is a remarkable achievement in Bangladesh.”
“The next phase will be costlier if Bangladesh wants to reduce child mortality by making hospital-based healthcare facilities affordable, and ensure quality education in the secondary level,” said Mahmud, also a member of UN Committee for Development Policy.
Shahidul Haque, foreign affairs secretary, said Bangladesh will get opportunities to reflect some of its concerns about the post-2015 agenda during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been invited to speak in at least three high-level discussions.
“So, Bangladesh will have a say how the creation of the agenda will look like,” he said.
Neal Walker, UN resident coordinator, termed Bangladesh’s achievement in the MDGs “clearly awesome”.
“As a result, Bangladesh has a legitimate voice and position in the global debate on the next paradigm,” he said.
But the hardest job is yet to come, Walker said. “Bangladesh will have to look at whether the current education system is providing quality education to students. I do not think the quality is there.”
Walker said the next phase should not leave the agenda only at the hands of governments and civil society organisations. Private sector must be involved, he added.
Rasheda K Chowdhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, said the ever-increasing military expenditure by all the countries following the 9/11 attack on the US dealt a blow to the MDGs, as less money was available for achieving the development results.
Nurunnabi Khan of the International Labour Organisation in Dhaka said the post-2015 agenda must provide special focus on job creation.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, country director of the Hunger Project, said many MDGs do not require much money to achieve higher results. They, however, require proper awareness raising initiatives.
M Shamsul Alam, a member of the Planning Commission, said the developed world should keep their aid commitments to help the LDCs achieve their development results.
Henrik Maihack, country representative of the FES, said the issue of decent jobs has to be included in the next phase, as it is missing in the current one.
CPD Executive Director Prof Mustafizur Rahman called for inclusion of the LDCs while devising the next development targets, as their voices were not taken into account when the current targets were finalised.
“The LDCs should participate in the global debate on equal footing with developed countries,” he said. MDG Goals
Published in The Daily Star
Bangladesh top achiever along with Cambodia
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh, jointly with Cambodia, according to a new study topped the chart of the least developed countries in achieving Millennium Developed Goals thanks to its steady progress in major targets.
The first of its kind study by the Centre for Policy Dialogue said both countries were likely to meet eight out of the 14 targets under review, while they made progress in four other areas. It was conducted by CPD Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya and his three researcher colleagues Towfiqul Islam Khan, Umme Salma and Gazi Joki Uddin.
The report was disclosed at a dialogue titled: Delivery of the MDGs in LDCs and reflections on Post-2015 Issues. It was jointly organised by CPD and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung — a foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany — office in Bangladesh, at the Brac Centre Inn in the capital yesterday.
“Bangladesh, however, is off-track in two areas: proportion of land area covered by forests and employment to population ratio, where the situations have deteriorated since 1990,” said Debapriya during the presentation.
Bhutan came third in the Country Ranking based on the MDG Index, while Rwanda secured the fourth place. Mali and Nepal took the fifth position jointly.
The report said that four African countries were at the bottom of the list.
The study also revealed that 46 out of the 49 LDCs will achieve at least one target among the 14 indicators. Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Somalia are unlikely to meet any of the targets.
Bangladesh is likely to meet targets in proportion to population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption, net enrolment ratio in primary education, ratios of girls to boys in primary education, under-five mortality rate, infant mortality rate, proportion of one-year-old children immunised against measles, maternal mortality ratio and HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years.
The four other areas where the country has made substantial progress are: proportion of population below poverty line, literacy rate of 15 to 24-year olds (men and women), proportion of population using an improved drinking water source, and proportion of population using improved sanitation facilities.
Published in Dhaka Tribune
Bangladesh leading performer in MDG index: Debapriya
Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
Of the 49 least developed countries (LDC), Bangladesh and Cambodia were the best performers in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) index, Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Debapriya Bhattacharya, told a discussion on Saturday.
The dialogue on “Delivery of the MDGs in LDCs and Reflections on Post-2015 Issues” was organised by the CPD and Germany-based think-tank FES, at the Brac Centre in the capital. Debapriya said the Asian LDCs were likely to achieve two out of eight MDGs, and could come very close to achieving six other indicators.
“Asian LDCs as a group performed better than African or island LDCs,” Debapriya said, adding that the targets of poverty eradication and survival of children under five-year of age were likely to be achieved by the Asian LDCs.
According to the economist, the indicators that the Asian LDCs are most likely to come close to achieving are maternal survival ratio, HIV prevalence, survival of infants, improved drinking water, improved sanitation and net enrolment ratio in primary education, the economist said.
Implementation, resources, and reforms in global rules were the major challenges for the post-MDG international development framework, which will be drawn up after the 2015 deadline, he said.
The employment situation in LDCs, including Bangladesh, was now worse than what it was before the MDG programmes began, Debapriya said, adding: “For employment to population ratio, the situation has deteriorated since 1990.”
Also regarding the employment sector, CPD Chairman Rehman Sobhan said there should be qualitative change in terms of income and social rights.
Commenting on education in the country, Gonosastho Kendro founder Zafrullah Chowdhury said the past trend of meritorious students from rural areas receiving higher education in public universities was almost impossible in today’s Bangladesh.
UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Neil Walker, whilst acknowledging Bangladesh’s remarkable progress, said there were many challenges ahead.
Also present at the programme was former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Chowdhury who said the global system had changed after the 2001 twin tower attacks. The increasing military expenditure had eaten up funds for development expenditure, she said.
However, speaking at the discussion, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said no country could develop without peace and stability.
Published in the Financial Express
Bangladesh stays far off many MDG targets: CPD-FES roundtable blames lack of good governance
FE Report
The country’s economic and social progress has seriously been hampered due to lack of good governance, speakers said at a roundtable in Dhaka Saturday.
Bangladesh is far behind from achieving many targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in sectors like rural development, agriculture, health, education, income equality and environment, they said at the dialogue.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), organised the dialogue on ‘Delivery of the MDG in LDC and Reflection on Post-2015 Issues”, held at BRAC Centre Inn auditorium.
Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, former Advisor to the caretaker government and member, the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP), former Finance Minister Md. Syeduzzaman, Secretary, the ministry of foreign affairs Md Shahidul Haque, and UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Neal Walker spoke, among others, at the dialogue.
Neal Walker, who attended the programme as the chief guest, said Bangladesh has made remarkable progress towards the MDGs, but this is not the time to be complacent rather to work with full spirit to attain the rest of the targets.
Both CPD Chairperson Prof. Rehman Sobhan and economist Wahiduddin Mahmud stressed the need for improving education quality in the country’s secondary educational institutions and public universities and ensuring equal health facilities for both urban and rural people.
“Most damages were done in secondary level education,” said Mr Wahiduddin also stressing the need for low-cost local solution to most of the problems.
Despite Bangladesh’s achievements in development indicators, Mr Wahiduddin Mahmud said there are still problems in energy security, problems in completion rates and standards in education and very serious problem in values as it is important in corruption and governance issues, access to technology, population pressure and degradation of environment.
Rasheda K Chodhury, Executive Director, CAMPE and former Advisor to the Caretaker Government and Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member, the Planning Commission attended the dialogue as distinguished panelists.
Professor Rehman Sobhan chaired the dialogue where Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD presented the keynote speech.
“The country has no option to feel complacent for the success it achieved in some of the indicators, they said at a dialogue.
Mrs Rasheda K Chodhury said gender and income inequality remained strong in the country although it achieved many progress in the MDG. Many of the basic needs of the people remained unmet in the country, she said.
She said education became expensive and commercialised. A large amount of investment is going for non-productive sector instead of human development and development.
Questioning about the accuracy of the government statistics and achievement in the MDG, Dr. Zafarullah Chowdhury Coordinator, Gono Shasthya Kendra said the rate of population growth is growing and the income inequality between rural people and urban people is increasing.
“About 80 per cent delivery is still conducted in dwelling houses,” said Dr. Zafarullah stressing the need for improving the traditional health services.
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Country Director, the Hunger Project said the government has little contribution to achieving success in the MDGs. “Our government is not a good government for which the country is not progressing as it should be,”
The paper discussed the economic performance of the LDCs since the launch of MDGs, reviewed different approaches and methods applied in tracking movements towards achieving the MDGs. A total of 14 MDG indicators have been analysed in the paper. The LDCs have made some progress in social and human development, but many of the goals and targets are yet to be achieved.
The Asian LDCs, as a group, according to the report, performed better than two other counterparts – the African and island LDCs. Lack of access to resources, falling foreign aid and lack of good governance and accountability are the reasons behind the poor performance.
Mr Shamsul Alam highlighted Bangladesh’s achievement in the major targets of the MDGs, including the targets of poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary levels of education and under-five mortality rate reduction.
Bangladesh is still lagging behind in areas like hunger-poverty reduction, employment generation, primary school completion rate, adult literacy rate, income inequality and creation of decent wage employment for women, he said.
Published in The Independent
Most LDCs fail to meet MDGs
Special Correspondent
Dhaka, SEPT 21: Although Bangladesh has achieved most of the targets under the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there are some areas, such as hunger and poverty reduction, employment generation, quality education and inequalities between urban and rural population, which need greater attention.
Speakers at a round-table conference on ‘Delivery of the MDGs in LDCs and Reflections on Post-2015 Issues’, expressed this view, emphasising the issues of forest coverage, human resource development, gender inequality, improvement of governance and institutional capacity, and increasing resilience to economic and natural shocks.
UN resident coordinator Neal Walker, who attended the programme as the chief guest, said Bangladesh had made remarkable progress towards the MDGs, but this is not the time to be complacent, but rather to work with full spirit to achieve the rest of the targets.
Bangladesh is still lagging behind in areas like hunger and poverty reduction, employment generation, primary school completion rate, adult literacy rate, income inequality, and creation of decent wage employment for women, said the speakers.
Though the country, speakers said, has demonstrated its capacity for achieving the goal of poverty reduction, within the time-frame, attaining food security and nutritional well-being, reducing income inequality and low economic participation of women, still remain challenges and major concerns.
The private sector think-tank, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), organised the conference in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Foundation, to discuss the progress made by the LDCs, unfinished agendas of the ongoing MDGs, and new agendas and goals for the next MDGs. CPD’s distinguished fellow, Debapriya Bhattacharya, presented the key-note paper on the issue.
The paper discussed the economic performance of the LDCs since the launch of MDGs, and reviewed different approaches and methods applied in tracking movements towards achieving the MDGs. A total of 14 MDG indicators has been analysed in the paper.
The LDCs have made some progress in social and human development, but many of the goals and targets are yet to be achieved. The Asian LDCs as a group, according to the report, performed better than two other counterparts — the African and island LDCs. Lack of access to resources, falling off of foreign aid and lack of good governance and accountability are the reasons behind the poor performance.
Despite Bangladesh’s achievements in development indicators, speakers said, there are still problems in energy security, problems in completion rates, and standards in education, very serious problems with values, which are important for corruption and governance issues, access to technology, population pressure, and environmental degradation.
Both CPD chairperson Prof. Rehman Sobhan and economist Wahiduddin Mahmud stressed the need for improving the quality of education in the country’s secondary level and public universities, and for ensuring equal health facilities for both urban and rural people. “Most of the damage was done at secondary level education,” said Wahiduddin Mahmud, also stressing the need for low-cost local solutions to most of the problems.
Many of them, including former adviser to the caretaker government, Rasheda K Chowdhury, expressed their concern over growing military expenditure in South Asia, which, they said, was eating up most of the development funds.
They said that importance should be given to history, heritage and culture, which were neglected in the MDGs. “About 80 per cent of deliveries are still carried out in homes and dwelling houses,” said Dr. Zafrullah of Gono Shashthya Kendra, stressing the need for improving traditional health services.
Held at the Mohakhali BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium, the round-table conference was also addressed by, among others, former minister Md. Syeduzzaman, foreign secretary Md Shahidul Hauq, Planning Commission member Dr Shamsul Alam, Dr Mojibur Rahman and Badiul Alam Majumder, country director of The Hunger Project.
Shamsul Alam highlighted Bangladesh’s achievement in achieving the major targets of MDGs, including the targets of poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary levels of education, and under-five mortality rate reduction.
Bangladesh is still lagging behind in areas like hunger-poverty reduction, employment generation, primary school completion rate, adult literacy rate, income inequality, and creation of decent wage employment for women.
Though Bangladesh has demonstrated its capacity for achieving the goal of poverty reduction within the time-frame, attaining food security and nutritional well-being, reducing income inequality and low economic participation of women still remain challenges and major concerns, the report titled ‘MDGs: Bangladesh Progress Report-2012’, stated.