Day (1/ 2/3): (Stimulating Radical Ideas/Rethinking the Caribbean Future/Taking Action) Session (number): (title): 6B Bold Action and Outcomes: Governance Challenges Moderator: Alison Drayton – Senior Advisor Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean Speakers: Presentations: Governance Challenges in Development Planning Ms Amina Mohammed – Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General The Role of Multilaterals in strengthening good governance. Dr Inder Jit Ruprah – Lead Economist, Inter-American Development Bank. Caribbean Governance: Are we missing Forecasting Skills. Professor Anthony Clayton – Alcan Professor, Caribbean Sustainable Development, Institute for Sustainable Development, the University of the West Indies Mona Campus. Discussants: Caribbean Governance and Multidimensional Security Threats. Dr Wendy Grenade – Lecturer, Department of Government, Sociology & Social Work, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. New Governance Scenarios for Small States Professor Lino Briguglio – Director, Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta Have Caribbean Growth Strategies Failed? Dr Justin Ram – Director of Economics, Caribbean Development Bank Organized by (Institution in charge of plenary): UNDP Rapporteur: Rosemary Lall 1. Background/Context 1 This session sort to explore approaches to advancing good governance as the foundation for sustainable development, particularly in the context of the post 2015 sustainable development goals and agenda. The post-2015 sustainable development agenda will be adopted by the world’s governments at the UN in New York in September. World leaders will pledge to eradicate poverty, end hunger, take action to combat climate change, protect the environment and build peaceful societies (among many other things) all within the next 15 years. The key messages from the two reports ‘A Million Voices’ and ‘Delivering the Post-2015 Development Agenda’ which summarize the findings from the global conversation are clear: People want to be a part of delivering this new agenda and hold governments and businesses accountable for their promises and commitments. People stressed the importance of participation, inclusion, as well as strengthened capacities and partnerships. 2. Summary of Presentations by the panelists A number of ideas were proposed as to the challenges posed by issues of governance. Globally governance goals of the SDGs (Goal 16) were see as the most challenging to agree among parties. How do we transition from the theory of what is our aspiration to the practical implementation. Three areas were identified as necessary for the success of this goal: Ownership, implementation and data and statistics. Ownership- the ownership comes from country’s representatives in the UN system who have input to the SDG process and therefore ensure that this goal reflects national priorities. The indicators are a work in progress but are meant to be brought together in a manner that is participatory. In addition, many countries already have indicators that can be built on. Implementation has to take into consideration the broad range of stakeholders which the SDGs are targeting who may view the issues of governance differently. Two key groups are the private sector and parliamentarians. Parliamentarians have responsibility for laws, appropriations and oversight. The inclusion of the private sector can be challenging to align with the SDGs since their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tend to reflect business models and not necessarily the wider issues beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Data and statistics are required to be able to capture issues across sectors. The availability of this data is a test of the level of commitment to the goal. Countries should examine the level of data literacy and leverage the technology to address this issue as well as build on what is currently available as much as possible. In Nigeria there was the need to change the mind set attached to data which was very politicized such that it was not open and transparent. To do this funds were leveraged from debt relief and invested in the MDGs. In addition, in order to build the trust between the government and the people civil society was encouraged to carry out monitoring and evaluation of programmes/ projects. This required time (2 years) and resources be invested in building the capacity of civil 2 society to do this. Civil society was also encouraged to take the results to Parliament and Parliamentarians were then asked to use the parliament to encourage action. In addition to leveraging civil society there was also the use of data from sources that were sanctioned by external parties such as data in the health sector. The multilateral agencies tend to partner with countries in areas that build trust through projects related to generating information on crime which is then made public, and by supporting countries to build the quality and quantity of data generated. One of the conditions of IDB assistance is that the data must be made public. Interestingly no Caribbean countries have taken part in these initiatives. IDB focuses on lending to governments to enhance national service i.e. to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and openness of government processes. One possible area to explore is greater e governance processes which may lead to shorter processing time and less danger of exploitation of the system. There are also Enterprise Surveys which seek to assess transaction time for accessing national processes. Of note is that the multinational development partners can only respond to requests that are made through national governments. The programs are designed in conjunctions with the national partners. It was advocated that to grow economies requires two keys things: Increasing the size of the workforce- transition more people from informal to formal economy Increasing productivity- training, incentives, etc Training should train in areas that are productive and in “sunrise” industries not ones that are dying or nearing maturity. The trends point to technology polarizing jobs into very highly skilled, mobile jobs and those that are low skilled and low paid. There is also the possible shrinking of jobs in areas traditionally the purview of the middle class (civil servants, architects, lecturer in teaching universities). Technology is expected to make the government civil service leaner and smaller e.g. Singapore. Solutions include not just training but building knowledge networks consisting of researchers, investors and governments. Necessary to have a gap analysis done of where we are, where we would like to be and what gaps need to be filled to get us there. There are scenarios of the future that should be considered since the alternative is to become obsolete or be left behind. 2. Comments by discussants: 3 It was advocated that we need to take the leap from planning and vision statements to implementing. However, it was pointed out that a common agreed vision of the Caribbean is necessary in order for there to be ownership for the way forward. Why do we not implement? It was surmised that we need the political will for change to take place. Perhaps doing so would undermine the power base of the existing political systems. Idea- look at developing a visual production of the scenarios of the future for the Caribbean which can then be used as an educational and public awareness raising tool. Challenge civil society to be less entangled with political parties. There is the need to have the youth be involved in supporting programmes in the prisons. And re ignite community leadership programmes by harnessing young leaders. Move beyond politics for survivability to politics for sustainability. Our political structures reflect the society structures. What is required is a politics of unity. Suggest a CARICOM Commission on governance and security with a mandate to address the lack of healthy democratic practices. Also suggest merging of IMPACs and RSS. Caribbean SIDS vary widely due to differences in resource bases. But all are vulnerable partly due to exposure to external shocks. Need to build resilience by 1. Addressing productive base proactively- dealing with scenarios and planning for economic changes. Identify where knowledge based labor is needed. This generates more income per hour than other types of labor. Very skilled technicians generate wealth for the countries. Very successful small countries – Iceland, Singapore and Malta have significant private sectors 2. Regional infrastructures which can benefit from shared resources of the region. To do this countries have to share or pool sovereignty so there must be a willingness to sacrifice some aspects of sovereignty. The Caribbean growth strategies pursued after independence were successful and appropriate for that time and there were economic gains for the society. But these strategies are now outdated and need to be changed. It is important that we measure GDP and growth in the correct manner by using depreciation and discount rates on the national asset base. This asset base should be maintained and used properly. This asset base includes natural assets (green and blue), human assets, social capital and man-made capital. Policy responses- 1. the Caribbean needs to have fiscal consolidation i.e. increased efficiency of expenditure, maintenance of capital investment and reform subsidies and transfers to ensure they reach the most vulnerable and poor. This allows the utilisation of savings in productive ways 2. Increase incentives for renewable energy 3. Ensure education addresses quality issues 4. Increase savings rate so that there are resources available for investment 5. Labor markets reforms so that there is the ease of labor movements regionally. Encourage remittances back to home countries. 6. Special economic zones 7. Efficient regional transport 4 3. Questions and Answers Youth needs to be involved particularly in addressing justice in prisons- expenditure on security apparatus is not sustainable. Is there a space for developing innovative relationships between private and public sector delivery to strengthen institutions to increase public sector delivery Youth inclusion should mean that youth are included in designing their programs Need policies and programs that promote good values- social studies and ethics needs to be taught in schools. Our beliefs and values drive our behaviour. How did Nigeria deal with corruption? Theories need to reflect the reality of the Caribbean. It was pointed out that in Nigeria the greatest success was when a military person headed the government, that when any leeway was made and an election led to a change in government which was not supportive of prior efforts then progress was halted or reversed. It was also stated that the challenge can come down to how we address core value in the society that leads to corruption. There is the need for a values reorientation and a period of national re building which could be reflected in constitutional reform. The educated middle class is key to change. But this requires a commitment to making a contribution beyond “their day jobs” so that the role of citizen is also taken seriously. Also taking responsibility for personal behaviour is critical since we have a responsibility to behave ethically in our roles and consider the implications of what we do on the future of our countries. There should be open spaces for consultation which are embedded in the process of governance. 4. Action Points • • • • • Design programmes to involve youth in the justice system which are inclusive of youth Re examine school syllabi to include civic duties; revamp community leadership initiatives; develop visual aids on good governance for use in schools Assess the new possible productive sectors that allow the greatest value added for the country and the region (gap analysis) Examine potential for greater use of e government approaches Access IDB data collection/survey initiatives (COMSOC, Enterprise Surveys, etc) for the region 5 • Develop capacity of civil society to monitor and evaluate small scale programmes with a view to scaling up M&E capacity 6. Other Comments/Personal views and opinions There was the need to address specifically the areas of accountability, transparency and corruption in a democratic system. How do we achieve these things? How have other more politically mature countries done it. How do we do it in our context? What are the checks and balances required and who is best placed to perform these functions? 6