Development Minister Shahid Malik spent over an hour answering your questions this morning, on the worldwide fight against poverty in our Number 10 webchat.
Read the transcript below:
Moderator says: On 25 September Gordon Brown will join world leaders at a specially convened meeting at the United Nations on the Millennium Development Goals. Development Minister Shahid Malik will join us at Number 10 for a live webchat on the MDGs the following day - Friday 26 September from 11:00 BST.
Shahid says: Hi All
This is Shahid and I’m really looking forward to your questions - as long as they are friendly!
The High Level Event has now taken place in New York and Gordon made a very powerful speech and concluded with four goals:
1. On Health, to recruit 1 million extra health workers who would save the lives of 3 million mothers and 7 million children;
2. Stop all malaria deaths by 2015, with a bed net for all and research to help develop a vaccine;
3. On Education, to get 24 million children into school by 2010 - hence on track to universal education by 2015;
and
4. On famine, to fund and deliver seeds and fertilizers to 30 countries in time for planting to help stop starvation in the Horn of Africa, but ‘then to invest 10 billion in Africa so it can help feed not just Africa but feed beyond Africa with exports’.
Of course there is much more but this is just to kick off the questions — now over to you…………….
Kate Eardley from World Vision: How will the UK Government ensure that pledges made in New York this week are translated into real investments and don’t remain hollow commitments like so many made previously by the G8 and others?
Shahid replies: Hi Kate, You’ve obviously ignored my request for ‘friendly questions’!
Seriously, a good and important question. We (the UK) are very clear that both donors and developing countries need to meet their commitments on poverty reduction. The UK is on track to do so and we will be using our influence to persuade others to do more. Gordon Brown has given a historic commitment to ensure that by 2013, 0.7% of our gross national income will be spent on overseas development assistance.
So our commitment is very clear. Our challenge is now to ensure that we continue to work alongside governments, NGOs, private sector, faith groups and civil society in a new partnership to deliver real change.
Vicky Astbury: How is DFID monitoring inclusion of disabled people in its programmes aimed at meeting the MDGs?
Shahid replies: Thank you Vicky for raising this important question. Although there are numerous ad hoc examples of how in our country programmes people with disabilities are included, I’m sure we could do more. It is quite often very difficult in the developing world, when people are worried about basic necessities, such as clean water and staple foods for them to prioritise other areas. But issues like disability must never be allowed to slip off the agenda. I will certainly think about how we can improve both in terms of monitioring, but also more generally in terms of disability issues. Thank you very much for putting it on the agenda.
Melissa: India is behind on its MDG targets and still has almost 800 million people living below the poverty line – more than the entire population of the African, Caribbean & Pacific countries combined. At the same time, the UK, along with other EU member states, is pursuing a far-reaching FTA – for which initial assessments predict a decline in real income and private household consumption and significant job losses across a range of sectors in India. What is DFID doing to ensure that trade negotiations with India do not further undermine the scope to achieve the MDGs?
Shahid replies: Hi Melissa. Thanks for your question
You are right to say India is absolutely crucial if we are to meet the MDGs by 2015. A third of the worlds poor live in India and that is precisely why, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in Delhi earlier this year, he announced a £825m progeramme over three years, easily making India the UK Government’s biggest development programme.
While I understand the genuine concerns you have about the FTA, this is something that the Indian government are open to negotiations on. India is a rapidly developing country and the improved access that this opportunity will provide India with to EU markets will faciltiate further export led growth in India. We recognise your concerns about India opening up their market to EU firms. Indeed, this has to be considered and only done if the Indian government and the people of India are happy that this will be to their benefit. One clear benefit will be lower prices for consumers as tariff barriers come down.
Negotaitions are in early stages and DFID is committed to a pro-poor outcome.
Apologies for the short answer. There are many questions to get through in the next hour. Please feel free to write to me for a fuller answer.
Genna Wilkinson: What measures have been taken to ensure we listen to the voices of the people in rural Africa and allow and enable them to be the source of their change?
Shahid replies: Hi Genna
In all of our country action plans we believe that it is crucial to listen to all voices in the country, from the government to civil society and from urban to rural dwellers. We specifically have a rural development strategy which, in the face of rising food prices, is becoming more critical. We are clear that ordinary people and civil society organisations working in rural and urban areas are critical to eradicating poverty and to holding government to account. For this reason we have invested £130m into a global governance and transparancy fund which has its largest emphasis on communities in Africa. This initiative will enable ordinary people in their communities to hold their government to account and to democratise institutions by doing so. Hence, as you put it, these people are becoming “the source of their change”.
Marco van der Voorn: Do you as a minister of international development also agree with the fact that the emphasis is too much on debt relief and that instead we should focus more on denying aid to corrupt government officials because that is more the way of helping a country to develop?
Shahid replies: Hi Marco. The three main instruments to deal with poverty are aid, trade and debt relief. The UK has been a world leader in all three of these areas. We have written off 100% of the debt owed to us by the world’s most heavily indebted poor countries. In Zambia debt reflief has supported the abolition of school fees, giving universal education for all children. We are extremely keen to ensure that no primary school aged child goes without education. The Prime Minister has launched an “education for all” initiative and the UK has committed £8.5m over the next ten years to help achieve these objectives.
Corruption is a challenge, not only in the developing world, but also in the so-called developed world. There are a number of initiatives that the UK has led in order to help eradicate corruption. For example, the UK is leading the way in the International Aid Transparancy Initiative (IATI) supported by 13 other donors including the World Bank. The IATI aims to give the tax payer greater information on aid effectiveness. We are also working in many countries helping to set up and develop anti-corruption commissions and agencies. One of our main criteria for engagement with a country is that they have a committment to good governance and good financial management. There are many checks and balances that we are able to utilise, which gives us confidence that the UK’s taxpayers’ money is being wisely spent to change lives and save lives. The truth, of course, is that if we are to wait for perfect governments and systems then many people would suffer and many would die.
Ultimately, good governance and economic growth are key in achieving sustainable outcomes for the poorest countries. These are priorities in all our programmes.
Kate Eardley from World Vision: Still only one third of people living with HIV who need it are receiving life-saving antiretroviral treatment, and for children this proportion is even lower. How will the UK Government ensure that financial and political resources are committed to achieve the international goal of Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010?
Shahid replies: Hi Kate. A bit cheeky getting in a second question, but it’s a good one so I will answer
The challenge of HIV/AIDS is significant. For every two people who are able to access antiretroviral therapy there are five more people that are infected with HIV/AIDS. We recently committed £1bn to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. The future does look promising and the USA has played a blinder by committing $30bn to tackle HIV/AIDS. This, coordinated with our resources and the international community, will start to really upscale our efforts in achieving treatment, care and support. For a fuller answer please write, have first time questioners waiting. Sorry!!
Anna Collins: Haven’t we been pledging for years to achieve the 0.7% target how do we know this time our government really means it and will get there.
Shahid replies: Hi Anna. Have faith! This is the government which created DFID and has trebled aid since 1997. We have already secured, through the comprehensive spending review (CSR) the budget for the planned increase that will allow us to achieve that historic 0.7 by 2013. No previous government has had the guts to even give a committment with a time scale. We intend to honour our committment because it is a political committment and not contingent on economic conditions.
William Brown: How about channeling extra agricultural aid to Mozambique which has the potential to become the bread basket of Africa?
Shahid replies: Hi William, thanks for your question. The Prime Minister yesterday actually said the exact thing that you are suggesting in his speech. We believe that Africa has the potential not only to feed itself, but also to help feed the rest of the world. If you don’t mind I shall refer to my introductory comments which focus on this critical area. Click here for more information on DFID’s work in Mozambique.
Jeremy: How will these promises be kept on track, and how will countries hold each other accountable to keeping them.
Shahid replies: Hi Jeremy. Your question is of course crucial to the success of the MDGs. I think people like you actually have a key role to play in pushing us even further. Through the Call to Action that was initiated by Gordon Brown last year, we managed to get world leaders, heads of multinationals, international NGOs and faith communities all coming together with one single objective - to refocus and redouble the world’s efforts in a bid to get the MDGs back on track and change the world for the better.
But the UK is also uniquely placed, as the largest contributor to the World Bank this year, to influence what is regarded by many as the most effective aid agency in the world. In a bid to achieve our anti-poverty objective for the world in these difficult economic times, it is more crucial now than ever before to honour our pledges and keep the MDGs on track. In this interdependant world, if we do not succeed we shall not just fail the people of the developing world but we shall be failing ourselves.
Liz Dodd: The global food crisis the hitting the poorest workers and farmers the hardest, and threatens the achievement of all the MDGs. Do you see a role for fair trade in helping to tackle this?
Shahid replies: Hi Liz. I absolutely do see a role for Fair Trade and other responsible producers. Over the last eight years British shoppers have doubled their purchases of Fair Trade products every two years. This is a point I regularly make when I’m abroad and is a great example of how responsible consumers themselves can play their part in changing the world for the better.
I visited a garment making factory in Bangladesh recently which produces 8 out of every 10 baseball caps worn in the USA, (I of course would never wear one, none of us shall ever forget William Hague!). I believe this, in part, is due to the fact that the terms and conditions of their workers were amongst the best in Bangladesh. Our mission has got to be to convince the private sector that fair pay and conditions for workers will lead to an increased demand for their products and ultimately greater profitability, and conversely poor conditions should lead to bankruptcy. Consumers across the world, year on year, are becoming much more discerning and long may it last.
Shahid says: Really sorry but we only have a one hour session scheduled today. I would like to thank everybody for their excellent questions. We received many messages, each of which I have looked through. But instead of trying to get through them all I have tried to take the time to consider your questions and respect each one by giving a full (ish) answer. Before I go, there are a few facts and figures that you might find interesting in the context of this web cast.
Yesterday, at the UN High Level Event on the MDGs , the world saw the broadest ever alliance assembled to fight for the common goal - over 90 Heads of State and leaders of NGOs, business, faith groups, philanthropic organisations and cities. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced over $16bn of new commmittments including:
$4.5bn for education and;
$3bn for malaria
Yesterday the international community committed a total of $11.5bn of new committments at the High Level Event for the UK’s priority areas of malaria, food security, education and health.
But we must continue to monitor our progress. The Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly called for an MDGs Review Summit in 2010.
If your question hasn’t been answered please feel free to write to me at The Department for International Development, 1 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5HE and I would be delighted to respond.
As the fourth richest country in the world, I beleive we have a responsibiltiy to those who are less fortunate than us. The poorest people in the poorest countries of the world are relying on us all to deliver for them and then to empower them to deliver for themselves - Keep up the fight!
Best Wishes
Shahid
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