“Only
through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future,
based upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalization
be made fully inclusive and equitable.” (A/res/55/2)
The
need to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for
all the worlds’ people was identified as the central challenge
of today by the heads of State and Government during the Millennium
Assembly at the United Nations in September 2000. Government
leaders agreed that the benefits of globalization – faster
and more sustained growth, higher living standards, more employment
and large human dividends from advances in technology –
required concrete action at both the national and international
levels, and cannot be left to the operation of market forces
alone. It was determined at the Millennial Summit that globalization
and its accompanying market energies must be guided and harnessed
to become inclusive forces for sustainable, people-centered
development.
Civil society, businesses, and multi-lateral institutions world-wide
have also been looking at the changes being wrought by globalization
and discussing how, whether, and for what purpose, these forces
can be harnessed in order to advance the goals set out in the
Millennial Declaration.
The Financing for Development (FfD) High-Level Event process
is unique. It recognizes governments, international organizations,
private entities and civil society all have a role to play in
trying to meet the challenge presented by the unevenly shared
and distributed benefits. For the first time, the World Bank,
the International monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization
(WTO) have come together with the United Nations to try to determine
collective ways whereby the international monetary, financial
and trading systems can better support equitable and just development.
A most remarkable evolution in the fight to alleviate poverty
is that the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, World
Trade Organization and the business community have increased
their interest in the Financing for Development process.
For the first time too, the private sector has played an active
role in UN activities. Private corporations, firms and banking
institutions, were deemed major stakeholders in the Financing
for Development process, and it was considered essential to
hear their views on the issues and policies, which are relevant
to their goals and operations.
The Financing for Development Secretariat held public hearings
with prominent business representatives from around the world.
A collection of the papers submitted by the participants (based
on their speeches) and the dialogue between the participants
and the UN delegates formed the basis of a document that was
prepared by the Secretariat and was submitted to the Preparatory
Committee.
Together, with a number of governments from developed countries,
they are pushing for sound political, economic and financial
governance, standards and codes, public-private partnerships
(PPPs), capacity and institutional building, enhanced Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiatives and Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (PRSP) conditionalities to Official Development
Assistance (ODA) and increased debt-relief.
Civil society hearings were also held and the results from that
meeting were likewise submitted to the Preparatory Committee.
Many CSOs are supporting the developing country proposals for
more and effective ODA, market access for developing country
goods and services, debt cancellation beyond the HIPC initiatives,
no new conditionalities such as the PRSPs, reform of the IFIs
and IFS and WTO, more FDI for developing countries, and Currency
Transaction Taxes.
As the FfD process has evolved, many new CSOs have joined, bringing
with them their anti-IMF/WB, anti-WTO and anti-Davos campaigns
into the FfD process. Many of the NGOs are also focusing their
campaigns on ‘changing the neo-liberal paradigm’ underlying
the FfD process. Over time, the IMF, WB, WTO and the business
community have stepped up their interest in the FfD process.
This diverse assembly of institutions has prompted the gathering
of other groups, which traditionally have not been directly
involved in UN activities. Civil society organizations that
focus on monitoring and lobbying the Washington-based financial
institutions have been drawn to the UN where they are now working
with other groups whose focus has been strictly on UN activities.
In bringing together all stakeholders, the Financing for Development
Process is working to begin implementing the outcomes of the
Millennium Summit.
The relationships between these different stakeholders are as
diverse as they are numerous. Outside of the UN, the process
and rules of interaction are often strikingly different from
one meeting to another. Over the course of the last year and
a half, civil society representatives who have been calling
for significant changes to the World Bank, IMF and WTO, and
lobbying against regional trade agreements, have frequently
found themselves separated from the decision makers by police,
process and fences. These meetings, such as the Summit of the
Americas in Quebec, have often been marked by antagonistic opposition
and denunciation. There were no real mechanisms for substantive
civil society involvement; rather input was often limited to
non-interactive parallel processes.
While the UN has its own set of challenges, it is a world institution
that has developed a culture of collaboration between stakeholders.
In the Millennium Declaration, governments have resolved to
give greater opportunities to the private sector, non-governmental
organizations and civil society in general. These actions will
contribute to the realization of the Organizations’ goals
and programmes. Instead of being separated by kilometers of
fence, during the Financing for Development Meetings, World
Bank, IMF, government, UN and non-governmental organization
representatives sat together and debated ideas and proposals.
The Financing for Development Process has brought together a
wide diversity of stakeholders, with a wide variety of interests.
This diversity does bring challenges:
- Reaching
a decision when there are multiple points of view can be a
slow and sometimes cumbersome process.
- Many
groups have developed a distrust of multilateral processes
believing that while they may be consulted, ultimately their
point of view will not be heeded. This has incurred a dilemma
of sorts for civil society organizations about whether to
work outside or inside the official multilateral processes.
Should such processes not work, it may well prove to be difficult
to regain the trust of groups to try to work collaboratively.
Likewise, there is a concern among some that the mandates
of the Bretton Woods Institutions will be challenged. The
United States has been clear in saying that any challenge
to the mandates of the World Bank and the IMF may lead them
to withdrawing from the process.
- Another
difficulty challenging these new and dynamic partnerships
is the risk that some participants may use such multilateral
fora in order to further a narrow and exclusionary agenda.
- There
are also questions of whether the arrival of financial and
business groups into the UN environment marks a negative departure
by the UN away from its original focus.
Ultimately,
the variety of stakeholders also presents us with an opportunity
to bring together a wealth of ideas, perspectives and insights.
If we continue to work together, challenging ourselves and each
other, keeping foremost in our minds that the key goal of our
collective efforts is rescuing the more than one billion men,
women and children from abject and dehumanizing poverty, we
will be able to meet the laudable and critical goals set forth
in the Millennium Assembly Declaration. In this effort, governments,
international organizations, private entities and civil society
all have a role to play, in a spirit of true partnership.
