Policy Asks 2010

Policy calls for 2010

Do our share for the Millennium Development Goals – accelerate growth in the aid program and commit to 0.7% of GNI to aid

Key asks

increase the planned rate of growth of the aid program and increase the aid commitment to reach 0.7% of GNI.
support innovative ways to rapidly increase global aid levels such as increasing funding through the International Finance Facility and also through an international tax on all financial transactions.

The situation

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed by the nations of the world in 2000 to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Although some encouraging progress has been made many of the goals are lagging well behind.
Currently almost 20 children die every minute mainly from preventable diseases. That’s 8.8 million children who die every year before they reach their 5th birthday. While almost all countries have reduced their child mortality rates, over 70% of developing countries are off-track to achieve the goal to cut child mortality by two thirds.
At least 350,000 women in developing countries die each year from complications in pregnancy and childbirth.3 And for every woman who dies, there are approximately 20 more who are seriously injured or disabled.
While there has been some encouraging progress towards the MDGs and wealthy nations have increased their aid levels they are still far short of their promises and the estimated aid required ($120 bn vs $175 bn ).
Australia’s current level of aid – budgeted at 0.34% of GNI in 2009/10 – compares with an average country effort of 0.48% by all donors in 2009.
Much higher levels of aid are required from Australia, for example health funding needs to double as does aid for agriculture and rural development.7

Key arguments

Australia is not currently doing its fair share:

Australia is one of just a few developed countries not committed to reaching 0.7% – 16 out of 23 have committed to reach 0.7% by 2015 at the latest
the latest comparison which covers 2009 Australia’s ODA level put us at 16th in generosity out of 23 donor nations
some countries have targets higher than 0.7% of GNI
countries like the UK with much higher debts have committed to reach the 0.7 target.11
the current aid program costs only a little over 1% of the Australian federal budget and would still cost less than 3% if we reach 0.7% of GNI.
0.7% is only 70c in each $100 of income. This is a very small cost to save the lives of millions of children around the world.
Moving from 50c to 70c is enough for Australia to save at least a child’s life every minute (ie 500,000 per year).
When Australians are surveyed, 80% support joining most other donors and committing to 0.7%.
Increases in Australian aid could be effectively used to reduce child and maternal mortality, provide food security, improve basic education and support infrastructure such as clean water and sanitation services. The international need in each of these areas is very large and effective strategies to provide these services exist.
The huge existing needs and the short time left to reach the MDGs mean that Australia needs to accelerate its progress towards providing its fair share of ODA.

Aid works:

Since 1990 global child deaths have dropped from 12.5 million to 8.8 million a year. Vaccination programs, better responses to diarrhoea and malaria as well as micronutrient supplements have all played a role in this improvement. Child mortality rates have dropped in every region including Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2000 primary school enrolments have been growing at 6 times the rate of the 1990s. Thanks to additional aid and debt cancellation for many countries over 34 million extra children in developing countries are able now to attend and complete primary school. For example, after school fees were abolished, enrolment rose from 3.4 million to 5.7 million students in Uganda and from 5.9 to 7.2 million in Kenya. In Tanzania aid has supported policies to remove school fees, construct classrooms (particularly in remote areas) and provide text books – this has resulted in another 3 million kids in school.
Over 4 million HIV/AIDS sufferers are now receiving antiretroviral drugs (up from 250,000 7 years ago) and millions of lives have already been saved.

Further improve the focus and quality of Australia’s aid and do our share to meet the MDGS

Key asks

Further increase the share of Australian aid going to the key MDG sectors of food security, basic education, gender equality, basic health (particularly of children and mothers) and the major infectious diseases, sanitation, clean water and hygiene.
Accelerate reforms agreed under the Paris and Accra agreements on aid effectiveness to make aid more long term and predictable, harmonised around country systems and needs, coordinated with all other major donors in each country and accountable to beneficiaries.
Strengthen civil society engagement in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the aid program. This should include relevant groups in Australia, in each country and in the communities affected by Australia’s aid programs.
Improve the transparency and accountability of the aid program by providing up-to-date information about all funded aid activities.
Allocate 5% of aid funding to effective evaluation and sharing of lessons learnt and greatly increase the involvement of local communities in evaluation of Australia’s aid programs.
Increase the share of Australian aid funding going to the poorest countries in our region.
Significantly reduce the use of Western technical assistance as a share of total aid funding by increasing the use of local consultants and the provision of budget and sector-wide support to partner countries.
Improve the community focus of the Australian aid program by increasing the portion of official development assistance delivered through NGOs from 8% to at least 10% of total ODA.
Increase the active oversight of multilateral agencies to ensure maximum effectiveness of these agencies in the reduction of poverty.
Establish AusAID as a separate department and create a cabinet level minister for international development.
Restrict bilateral support to a small number of countries outside our region and wherever possible delegate funding through existing effective major donors to that country.

The situation

The quality of Australia’s aid program has improved significantly over the last few years however there is still more that can be done.
Despite increases, Australia is still not allocating its fair share of support to the key MDG sectors. For example funding for sanitation, hygiene and water is around $300m and our fair share (based on our share of donor country income) will rise to $500m per year by 2015. Current funding to health is around $600m per year while Australia’s fair share is $1200m. To achieve our fair share of health funding Australia will need to increase the total volume of aid and increase the share of the aid budget allocated to health.
Many of the most populous and poorest countries of our region receive relatively low per capita funding from Australia.
Australia still provides a very high level of technical assistance compared with many other donors.
Despite improvements in consultation and information sharing it is still not possible to get a comprehensive up-to-date view of all AusAID funding allocations.
There have been improvements in Australia’s compliance with international aid effectiveness principles, however evaluations by the OECD indicate that more progress is needed.

Key arguments

Growth in the aid program needs to be focussed on the poorest and more populous countries in our region to ensure maximum poverty reduction.
Despite a drop in the share of funding going to Western technical consultants it is still too high20 – in most cases aid should be spent in-country and should remain in-country to improve local skills and economies.
Improved transparency by AusAID and more thorough consultation processes, especially with community beneficiaries, is required to improve the relevance and sustainability of Australia’s aid.
At present AusAID is a part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and its focus on poverty reduction is too often subsumed by Australian foreign affairs and economic interests – international development needs to be made an equal partner with foreign affairs and trade.
Recent research by AusAID confirms that Australian NGO programs have significant impact and are considered high value for money.
Increases in Australia’s aid budget should be focused on providing effective support to a limited number of countries and not spreading our aid too thin.

A safe climate

Key asks

Commit to cut Australia’s greenhouse emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 and 95% by 2050.
Rapidly increase Australia’s assistance to countries to help them adapt to climate change and to develop along a low-carbon path.
Contribute our fair share to the costs of such funding estimated to grow to around US$200 bn a year by 2020 and directed primarily through the UNFCCC.
Ensure assistance for climate change is additional to ODA funding of 0.7%

The Situation

Climate change is happening and is impacting first and worst on poor people in developing countries.
Climate change is seriously putting at risk the achievement of the MDGs by threatening food production, increasing natural emergencies and threatening environmental balance.
Rich developed countries are historically responsible for most of the climate change we are currently experiencing.
Climate change has contributed to an extra 100m people facing hunger through use of biofuel feedstocks and drought.
Many developing countries, including Pacific Island countries, are already facing significant issues from climate change. Small island states including many in the Pacific – Tuvalu, Kirabati, Federated States of Micronesia – face their countries becoming uninhabitable due to rising sea levels, tidal surges and salination of their agricultural land and fresh water supplies.
To avoid extreme effects climate change temperature rise must be kept as far below 2 degrees as possible.

Key arguments

The 0.7% aid commitment predates the issue of climate change and assessments of the cost of achieving the MDGs indicate that around 0.7% of GNI in aid is required. The cost of adaptation and mitigation of climate change are on top of this.
Climate change is a global problem and needs a global response and Australia must play its part.
Poor developing countries do not have the resources to adapt to climate change alone and they also are largely innocent victims in this situation – they require and have a right to assistance from wealthy countries that have benefited from their production of greenhouse gases.
The cost of action now will be far less than the cost of inaction.
Without action hunger will increase, health will deteriorate, millions of climate refugees will be created and instability will increase.

Food for all

Key asks

Commit to a transparent plan of action and a specific timetable to meet Australia’s responsibilities under the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative agreed at the 2009 G8 Summit.
Meet Australia’s fair share of the existing need for humanitarian food assistance.
Reverse the long term trend of reducing agricultural aid by doubling the proportion of Australia’s development assistance to agriculture and rural development to around 14% of sector allocable aid by 2012.
Promote policies to strengthen the rights and participation of rural women and children in all food security interventions. Particular attention is needed to address the double discrimination faced by girls because of their gender and age.
Prioritize investment that supports small-holder farmers, the majority of whom are women, to sustainably diversify and increase agricultural productivity as well as improve their incomes and assets.
Make sure that agriculture-trade related agreements to which Australia is a party strengthen, not hinder, food security for the most vulnerable.
Ensure that health programs provide adequate nutrition support for mothers and children under two years of age.

The Situation

Over the last three years the price of most basic foods has increased significantly due to a range of factors including: increased demand from growing economies, food price speculation, oil prices, poor weather and the increase in biofuel production. The FAO reports that the price of staples such as rice and wheat almost tripled between 2005 and 2008 and have remained around twice as expensive as they were in 2005.
As a result the number of hungry people has increased, reaching over 1 billion in 2009. In Sub-Saharan Africa more than one in three people are chronically hungry.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization 2009 was a devastating year for the world’s hungry, marking a significant worsening of an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996.
Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – one child every five seconds.
At the 2009 meeting of the G8 in L’Aquila, Italy world leaders committed US$20 billion over three years for sustainable agriculture development and safety nets for vulnerable populations. Called the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI), the effort has been endorsed by 27 countries and 15 international organizations.
In 2008 and 2009 Australia contributed around 2% of total funding for the World Food Program however the total funds available to the WFP have still been insufficient for need.

Key arguments

The world has the resources to ensure that hunger no longer exists.
Adequate nutrition is central to healthy communities and in many countries agriculture is the main source of income. Any threats to small-holder farmers can have a devastating effect on both the health and economies of communities.
The share of aid supporting agriculture and rural development has dropped significantly over the last twenty years.
Simple nutrition interventions for mothers and children up to two years of age can significantly improve health.

Global leadership

To achieve the development agenda outlined it will be important for the Australian government to play an important role in facilitating greater coordinated action by other donor countries to assist developing countries and achieve the MDGs. During 2010 there are a number of international meetings at which key development decisions will be made – active support by Australia could make a significant difference.

Key moments for global leadership

Play a lead role in the development of a comprehensive action plan and a timetable to lift support for the MDGs at the UN MDG review meeting in September including active involvement in the development of a UN Global Action Plan on Maternal and Child Health and a strategy to end hunger.
Play a lead role in establishing an effective international response to climate change, especially through the UNFCCC process, and work to ensure that special needs of developing countries are addressed. Also promote early, significant action to assist developing countries to deal with the effects of climate change especially through UN multilateral grant funding mechanisms which meet their adaptation needs.
Encourage rigorous consideration by the G20 of an international financial transactions tax (FTT) to help fund key international priorities (MDGs and climate adaptation finance) and dampen speculation.
Promote the adoption of a clear development focus for the G20 including action on international tax havens, transparency in extractive industry contracts, and greater integration of low income countries into the global economy in ways that support their overall development objectives. Also ensure that the G20 considers the recommendations of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis at its summit meetings this year.
Promote an overall doubling of funding by donors at the three-year replenishment meetings of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Encourage the acceleration of the Doha trade round negotiations and advocate pro-poor conditions in this agreement.

Recent achievements of the Australian government

Since MPH launched in Australia in 2005, the Australian government has made some significant policy developments in line with Make Poverty History’s calls:

The Australian Government has committed to increase Overseas Development Assistance from 0.26% of GNI in 2005 to 0.50% by 2015. This will be an additional $6 billion a year.
The Government has made the MDGs central to Australia’s overseas development assistance program.
Aid for basic services has increased significantly. For example aid to maternal and child health increased by 46% in 2009/10 and the Government has promised to lift aid for water and sanitation by $300 million.
Support for effective multilateral agencies such as UNICEF has increased significantly and the Government has supported a number of important international development agreements designed to improve coordinated action against poverty.