The famous eight (8) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have significantly influenced development policies and strategies of many low-income nations since year 2000, will be coming to an end in 2015. In recognition to this, since 2012, the United Nations has been spearheading the process ...Click here to read more

The famous eight (8) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have significantly influenced development policies and strategies of many low-income nations since year 2000, will be coming to an end in 2015. In recognition to this, since 2012, the United Nations has been spearheading the process of developing a successor Global Development Agenda which will be pursued for another 15 years from 2015 to 2030. A key starting point in the process of formulating Post 2015 Global Development Agenda is Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want”. This document outlines the roadmap and major milestones for the process of formulation of Post MDGs Development Agenda. With regard to the roadmap and timelines, Rio+20 outcomes document requires that a proposal for the new goals should be developed by Mid-2014 whereas heads of states summit should convene in September 2015 to endorse the proposed goals.

Against the aforementioned background, over the past two years, the UN in collaboration with an “Open Working Group” of 70 governments have undertaken a broad consultations and negotiations and come up with a proposal of 17 goals. The new proposed goals are called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) meant to replace the outgoing 8 Millennium Development Goals. The 8 MDGs has 18 targets whereas the 17 SDGs have 169 targets. The 17 proposed SDGs are:-

(i) End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
(ii) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture;
(iii) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;
(iv) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all;
(v) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
(vi) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;
(vii) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all;
(viii) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;
(ix) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
(x) Reduce inequality within and among countries;
(xi) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
(xii) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
(xiii) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;
(xiv) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development;
(xv) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss;
(xvi) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels;
(xvii) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for development.

Now that the 17 SDGs have been proposed, a process of consultation with stakeholders as well as negotiations continues. In Tanzania, a dissemination workshop and consultations for the proposed SDGs was conducted at Economic and Social Research Foundation on Monday 27th October 2014. For the case of Zanzibar, consultation workshop for SDGs was conducted on Thursday 30th October 2014. The Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) therefore, through TAKNET forum is hereby inviting views of stakeholders on the proposed SDGs. Kindly make your contribution by responding to one or more of the below questions. You are free to make contribution on any other issue, which you believe can enrich Tanzanian delegation during negotiations. Some of the key guiding questions for the discussion include: -

1. How do we move from Global aspirations to national targets?
2. How to focus SDGs on few simple goals and targets like MDGs?
3. How to Mainstream the SDGs into the national development strategies?
4. What type of partnerships is needed for SDGs to be a success?
5. What are the lessons from the MDGS implementation?
6. What type of capacities is needed to make SDGs a reality in Tanzania?

Thank you for posting an interesting topic for discussion. No one can deny that development of Post MDGs Agenda is such a very crucial process that development stakeholders we need to understand and follow. We all know the extent that MDGs influenced development process of developing countries since they were endorsed in 2000 to date. For example, the focus of Tanzania's development strategies through PRSPs (PRS 1, MKUKUTA I and MKUKUTA II) were greatly a reflection of international commitments particularly the MDGs. Most likely therefore, Post MDGs development agenda will equally influence development strategies of our countries for the next 15 years (2016 - 2030).

Every keen individual right now is keeping his eyes and ears wide open to know the newly proposed goals (menu); these will have enormous implications to activities of governments, research and academia, civil society, the media, the UN etc. If I have understood you well, the objective of this TAKNET discussion forum is to collect views of the people on the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). My suggestion will be, in order for people to share their views then we should start by awareness raising/information sharing/dissemination. Those who know a bit about this process (including me & you Hassan) should be using the forum to share tips related to the process - in this way, many will be enlightened and perhaps join in the discussion.

That is my first reaction. I'll be coming up with more. Otherwise, thank you for posting this.

Sango

Danford Sango

Research Fellow

Directorate of Programmes

In my previous contribution I pointed out three false starts (technical, cultural and political false starts) which Tanzania has adopted in the enadeavour to join the SDGs agenda. I will now elaborate on what i said in my first contribution, that the time has come for Africans to aggressively re- assert their presence in international affairs as it used to be in the 1970's when African was fighting for political liberation, at least in Southern Africa, and Tanzania was the home and headquarters of the Liberation Movement.

We Africans cannot join the SDGs agenda at equal par with other non-African nations especially because the whole agenda is Eurocentric! That is the centre of gravity of the international economic order is Euro-Atlantic - centred on the European identity! For us Africans to assert our presence and economic sovreignty we need to critique the mainstream Eurocentric global economic ehegemony. One way of doin that is to adopt what may be calle 'Conscientized Afrocentricity'. this means that every African intellectual should liberate himself/herself from being objectified by Eurecentric interests, i,e taken advantage of culturally, politically, economically, environmentally or even developmentally! It means seeing oneself as a proactive subject, within history rather than a passive object of Western historiography. This 'Afrocentrism', i.e. the Afrocentric intellectual movement, means re-establishing Africa and its descendants as centers of value, without in

any way demeaning other people and their historical and epistemological contributions to world civilization or development. This term 'Afrocentrism' is being introduced in our Eastern Africa context as a way to describe an alternative understanding of the task of analyzing and interpreting economic theory and practice in a manner that suggests an alternative to the mainstream economic analysis of Africa by Eurocentric economists. However, being an Afro-centrist does not entail replacing Euro-centrism with an equally exclusive “centrism” based on a mythology of anthropological superiority complex.

From an Afro-centric perspective, the following critical statements are made:

1. The gifts of created nature gifts are for the use of all to live, not for the few to accumulate wealth . This is because creation, including humankind, has a naturally creative intrinsic value and purpose that cannot be commodified. Unfortunately it was Eurocentric mentality which commodified human beings by selling them as slaves! moreover, how do you explain the disgusting riches of some individuals whose bank accounts ammount to billions of dollars, and yet we have millions of human beings who do not even have one square meal a day?

2. Economic relations are always embedded in people’s social, cultural and political realities. Once these relations are separated from the socio-cultural and political context, the legacy of economic neo-liberalism is the deepening of inequality of wealth and power not only among individuals, but also between and within nations. These days we speak of lists of competing wealthy people to outsmart others in ored to be gine the title of "The Richest person in East Africa", imitating what the Eurocentric world has been doing since the slave trade, when they were competing in possessing the greatest number of African slaves! This scenarion explains the increase of instability, resentment, resistance and rejection, and the global economy resembles earlier eras of colonialism that depended for their protection on mounting levels of repression and militarization. In other words, as markets become global, so do the mechanisms that protect them.

3. People’s concrete experience shows that market-driven economic growth is inequitable, unsustainable and irreconcilable with economic justice and a caring economy. Also the experience around the world is that SAPs redistributed wealth and power from the poor to the rich and deepens structural inequality. The defense of this unbearable reality amounts to an economic theology of human sacrifice! The international division of labour visibly rewards an elite of property owners, and promotes a race to the bottom for the majority of the world’s population through de-unionization, structural unemployment, exploitation in free trade zones and contemporary forms of slavery known as 'contractual employment'.

4. The SDGs agenda is actually a new restructuring that is designed to maintain and enhance the profits of global corporations by sacrificing people and the earth. Creative destruction in fact promotes the survival of the fittest and the non-survival of the weakest, and contradicts the African vision of care and love for the poor and vulnerable. The most fundamental understanding of democracy, justice and self-determination underlines that the only way to secure genuine good economic governance is through the regulation of capital and markets to serve the needs of the people, as defined by the people themselves;

As a matter of fact, in the Eurocentric spirit of the survival of the fittest, markets and capital are highly monitored to secure the maximum benefits for the owners of capital. But this is done in the name of liberalization to free capital and markets from social obligation; and from an Afro-centric perspective is unethical and irresponsible by definition. This freedom is achieved through the agency of the states dominating the international institutions of the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO).

(to continue)

CDNKassala

Good governance, as pointed out by many contributors, remains pivotal in any development agenda. Many will agree with me that Tanzanians are good at paper work i.e. designing good funding proposals . For the past five decades, we have witnessed inflow of millions of dollars as aid but to-date we aren't different from what we were at independence. Transparency, accountability, participation are all missing. If we committed to changing our lovely nation and its people, we ought to invest in good governance. Lastly, the Wananchi ought to take their places. Sometimes we think the government is there to do everything for us. It cannot be a panacea. We too have the role to play in building our nation.

Anthony Gikuri

Kizumbi Campus

Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU)

Kizumbi Campus

P.O.BOX 469

SHINYANGA

Tanzania

Mobile +255713634382/+25589448244/+255768805441

Website: www.muccobs.ac.tz

Sincerely

B.Kaale

Wonderful Mr Sango! Your first question confirms what Mwalimu Nyerere always argued, i.e. if you depend on aid you are no longer free to chart out your development map. Home grown solutions need not be completely irrelevant to the global agenda. The point is: how can we be sure that 'non-homegrown solutions' will work? At least we have evidence that ESR, a home grown strategy unlike SAPs, provided people with basic economic skills which worked meaningfully (many have now family agro/animal husbandry businesses) until when it was jeopardized by the Uganda war. For that reason an African home grown trategy would be meaningful and sustainable, because then Africa, being stronger than each individual African country, would make sure that no other force derails its programme.

As for SDGs being a global-oriented project,with issues like environment, climate change etc which you can't solve in isolation - all

countries need to collaborate, experience shows that the globalization impacts on Africa are negative: think of rich nations' farm and tariff policies which discriminate against locally (i.e. in Africa itself) processing of commodities (e.g. tanzanite cutting in India; cashew nut processing in Malysia, diamond cutting in South Africa!), hence making African producers hostage to the declining or very low prices of raw materials. The same policy is being used with oil and gas. Just imagine: the price of coffee in New York, Tokyo or Geneva is more than ten times the price of the same coffee produced in Tanzania!

Because of the in-built negotiation mechanism of the WTO African negotiators lack the resources and information needed rto promote their interests at the WTO. The IMF and WB are still arrogant, ignorant of local cultural conditions, and are still applying 'one-size-fits-all' policies in the name of being global! They impose tight fiscal policies which cut down funds for education and social spending. Little of the foreign aid/investment which was promised to follow the MDGs implementation had materialized. Above all, the foreign debt overhang is crippling the efforts of even the best ru governements.

However, we should not put blame on foreign factors, we also have to blame ourselves for failures to build trade, integrate with with other economies. Unfortunately there is still poor leadership which causes poor governance. Leadership provides vision for governance tom work. A visionless leadership cannot come out with a good and workable governance arrangement. Just imagine: How wasteful are the devstating conflicts and armamnets due to political leaders who have no long term vision? (to continue)

CDNKassala

You had advised that I should elaborate a bit on the process of developing the proposed SDGs. This is a complex process and therefore with a few words in this forum will at most succeed to make a rough sketch. The starting point is the review of MDGs in 2010 which gave mandate to the secretary general of the UN to start the process of developing Post MDGs Agenda.

More impetus comes with the review of RIO summit/earth summit in 2012. This review comes with a document "the future we want". In response to these processes, the UN secretary general forms a high level panel of 27 eminent persons to advise him on the Post MDGs development Agenda. The panel finishes its work in May 2013 and advices the spirit of the new agenda: the panel advises that the new agenda should focus strongly on poverty reduction and sustainable development (sustainable development is closely linked with environmental management).

The process of developing SDGs starts led by a Open Working Group (OWG) of 30 countries Tanzania being one of them. This process involves rich consultations with diverse categories of stakeholders in the respective countries. The OWG submits its report in July 2014. It came up with a proposal of 17 goals and 169 targets which forms the basis of the ongoing TAKNET forum. These proposals are only proposals; they are subject to change during more negotiations. It is expected that discussions and negotiations for Post MDGs process will continue up to last quarter (Oct - December) 2015 when they are going to be endorsed. Part of the process will include also financing for development conference to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 13th - 16th July 2015. In nutshell, this is how the process takes place.

The major defining feature of the process of SDG is that it was very inclusive. Much as the process of formulating the SDGs and Post MDGs Agenda is praised by reason of the fact that it was very inclusive process; inclusiveness has come with its own challenge. This process is being criticized that it is encompassing “all things to all people” and thereby presenting a risk of failure.

Sango

The MDGs and now SDGs are global attempts to remind all of us some basic things that should be universally addressed to make this world a place better to live for every human being.

I would also like to take a big exception on what you have said about democracy. Whether we like it or not, democratic values are universal. There is no one set of values for Africans and another for ‘Wazungu’. Introduction of multiparty in Tanzania was not really forced on us by the SAPs conditionalities but rather by realities of our time. Changes were inevitable. The late Mwl. Nyerere, brilliant and visionary as he was, very ably red the signs of times and encouraged the country to re-introduce multiparty democracy. I can’t imagine how the situation would have been if the country was still a ‘One party state’!

Our country independence can only become meaningful if we govern ourselves well; in a system that cherishes and practices transparency, accountability, rule of law, patriotism and human rights.

Many thanks.

I concede there are global issues which cannot be tackled by individual countries or even regionally. My worry is that taking the global perspective moves the focus.from local concerns. For example, climate change could be given priority over education, health, etc. because that is the the concern of those who hold the pulse strings. Also there are regional differences. What is critical to east Asia is not necessarily critical to an east African. I propose the conceptualisation of SDGS should have adopted a down-top and regional focused approach.

Firstly, how do you embrace home grown solutions while you depend on aid at significant proportions?

Secondly, there is this whole issue of globalization - global village as some call it. Have you noted that the Post MDGs Development agenda is referred to as global development agenda? contrary to MDGs which focused primarily at improving human development in poor countries, the proposed SDGs are reframing development as a universal project encompassing all countries to tackle global, national and local challenges. There are issues like environment, climate change etc which you can't solve in isolation - all countries need to collaborate.

May be (.....and just may be) the two issues above help to explain as to why development cooperation/MDGs, SDGs/Global development templates are necessary.

Sango

people have lost these basic functional skills because there is no Functional Adult Education Programme! There is too much oral dependency in generating and recording (i.e. by memory) of whatever is acquired in the often-foreign-language seminars and workshops! And this has been worsened by 'developmental' usage of mobile phones and the social media.

It is also a cultural false start! The whole development agenda is taking placing within the globalization setting. In this setting the development narrative has a reference to Americanization if not Westernization! The socio-economic values that are drummed up in the whole MDG/SDG transition processing are too materialistic for the humanistic cultural mentality of Africans to absorb and find meaningful. A very good example is the pandemic of rural communities/villages protesting about the way planners and decision makers deal with the local communities, especially farmers and pastoralists, when it comes to servicing (foreign) investors demands. The underlying mentality by those in charge (LGA/CGA/FDI) is 'profits first, people last'. That is, to put it more philosophically: 'materiality is more valuable than humanity'. As a result, the people pay so much in terms of social and economic opportunity costs, although LGAs/CGA/FDI gain so much in terms of fiscal and accounting costs. This cultural false start, if not rectified in time, will continue the chain reaction of protesting from one generation to another in Tanzania. The reason is: land injustice is the root cause of all wars that have been fought in the history of mankind.

If a community is deprived of its 'geographical identity', it loses all other identities, and therefore it becomes non-significant in the materialist equation of the market economy varaibles. It is also a political false start in reverse. I always believe that the development agenda should confirm further and enhance our political independence in terms of our national sovereignty. But international/global powers that be are using the UN technical systems and legal frameworks to contain African countries so that they do not assert their hard won political independence. One only needs to remember the way the 'multi-party democracy' agenda was brought into the country. The environment to decide in favour of Western type of democracy was prepared by the conditionalities of SAPs, despite the majority of Tanzanians believing in another (African?) type of democracy. Since that fateful decision of 1992 in Tanzania, not unlike in many other African countries, the political sovereignty of the people is subdued by the economic imperialism (now euphemistically called 'globalization') and the materialistic value-free of the liberal market. No wonder the 'presidents' (CEOs) of multinational organisations are more assertive than the 'presidents' (EXCELLENCIES) of multiethnic political entities we call 'nations' or 'sovereignties'. (to continue)

The sustainable development goals will soon replace MDGS. I would suggest that the Tanzanian delegation who are invited to contribute to SDGS should form a team of east Africa cooperation (Since these countries have more or less similar problems) and tackle their problems economically, socially, financially, security etc. Let them find solution to these problems. Once that is done, the next step to find out how to progress for the benefit of their nations. Where there was a failure, they should not repeat. Let them build success out of failure. Let them do things in new ways.

Chinese are becoming very successful and powerful economically and financially. Let us learn from them. I believe what Chinese can do, we Africans can also do. All we need is technicalities and our brain. We have talented people in Africa.

Explanation and background much appreciated.

In my last contribution I suggested that we should start by posting of something which can summarize the approach and actions taken by UN and world governments (including Tanzania) since 2012 in developing Post MDGs Development Agenda. This will enable the contributors understand the origin of the SDGs. My understanding is that in 2012 Post MDG Development Agenda consultation process started in Tanzania and involved several categories of people. The main objective of the consultations were to enable stakeholders to contribute on development of appropriate Post 2015 Development Agenda for Tanzania. My colleague - Mr. Sango will take us through the approach and process to SDGs. Meanwhile,I am attaching a link to presentations that give good understanding of the process towards the proposed SDGs: http://www.esrf.or.tz/ebrief/038.html

I subscribe to your viewpoint that the essence of this TAKNET forum should include also creating awareness/dissemination/information sharing on the Post MDGs process. Certainly there are many people in Tanzania and around the world who are not aware of this process. I will therefore suggest that we should start by post something which can summarize the approach and actions taken by UN and world governments since 2012 in developing Post MDGs Development Agenda. Secondly we should mention the proposed goals, the third step should be to zero in one goal after the other and ask people their views on each of the proposed goal.

That approach can help to have a rich TAKNET forum.

Hassan

Thank you for posting an interesting topic for discussion. No one can deny that development of Post MDGs Agenda is such a very crucial process that development stakeholders we need to understand and follow. We all know the extent that MDGs influenced development process of developing countries since they were endorsed in 2000 to date. For example, the focus of Tanzania's development strategies through PRSPs (PRS 1, MKUKUTA I and MKUKUTA II) were greatly a reflection of international commitments particularly the MDGs. Most likely therefore, Post MDGs development agenda will equally influence development strategies of our countries for the next 15 years (2016 - 2030).

Every keen individual right now is keeping his eyes and ears wide open to know the newly proposed goals (menu); these will have enormous implications to activities of governments, research and academia, civil society, the media, the UN etc.

If I have understood you well, the objective of this TAKNET discussion forum is to collect views of the people on the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). My suggestion will be, in order for people to share their views then we should start by awareness raising/information sharing/dissemination. Those who know a bit about this process (including me & you Hassan) should be using the forum to share tips related to the process - in this way, many will be enlightened and perhaps join in the discussion.

That is my first reaction. I'll be coming up with more. Otherwise, thank you for posting this.

Sango

The UN in collaboration with an “Open Working Group” of 70 governments have undertaken a broad consultations and negotiations and come up with a proposal of 17 goals (see the introduction above). The new proposed goals are called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) meant to replace the outgoing 8 Millennium Development Goals. The 8 MDGs has 18 targets whereas the 17 SDGs have 169 targets.

Now that the 17 SDGs have been proposed, a process of consultation with stakeholders as well as negotiations continues. The Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) therefore, through TAKNET forum is hereby inviting views of stakeholders on the proposed SDGs. Kindly make your contribution by responding to one or more of the below questions. You are free to make contribution(s) on any other issue, which you believe can enrich Tanzanian delegation during negotiations. Some of the key guiding questions for the discussion include: -

1. How do we move from Global aspirations to national targets?

2. How to focus SDGs on few simple goals and targets like MDGs?

3. How to Mainstream the SDGs into the national development strategies?

4. What type of partnerships is needed for SDGs to be a success?

5. What are the lessons from the MDGS implementation?

6. What type of capacities is needed to make SDGs a reality in Tanzania?

This topic is Moderated by: Dr. Tausi Kida, Dr. Oswald Mashindano, Mrs. Margareth Nzuki, Mr. Danford Sango and Mr. Abdallah Hassan