An Inclusive Multilateralism and The Accra Agenda For Action
Even as the finish line of the set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, the task of pulling people out of poverty is not happening fast enough. Development delivery, as it were, has stalled. In the last half-decade, if all the symptoms that have beleaguered development effectiveness were to be aggregated, two major culprits begin to emerge: the varyingly weak status of institutional capacity all over the world; and the new global shocks emerging from a combination of nationally and trans-nationally originated factors – food crisis, climate change, financial crisis and so on. Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals hinges on capacities of individuals, organizations and societies to transform their current level of capabilities, in order to reach their development objectives. While increased financial resources are indeed critical, there is little point in having well funded, planned and budgeted programmes if there is insufficient institutional and systemic vision, knowledge, management know-how and technical skill to implement them. Such capacity limitations are cited by least developed and middle income countries alike as one of the biggest hurdles they face in delivering on their human development promise.
The climate change challenge and global poverty are not the concerns of specific interest groups – they belong to all, at the margin. A new spirit of multilateralism must be sought that can drive adaptation and mitigation, a responsible market response, social safety nets, crisis prevention – it is a call for a more comprehensive approach to support the capabilities required to sustain and grow human development. This is a call to the UN development system. And the need for the United Nations system to respond vigorously, publicly and predictably to strengthen national capacities to undertake this complex agenda is more compelling today than ever.
The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), 2008, articulates this decisive trend.
Read more about this topic: Capacity Development
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