By Ochieng' Ogodo
Journalist-Kenya
[NAIROBI]
Accountability framework will be key in achieving the Post-2015 the Sustainable
Development Goals that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), stakeholders
say.
The
stakeholders that met at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa this
month (21-23 August) are saying that should be based on a set of core
principles, accompanied by bold goals and targets and a plan on the means of
implementation.
The
stakeholders from the African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) spectrum, the media,
the international CSOs as well as government representatives met to deliberate
and propose measures for ensuring an accountability framework for the Post-2015
Development Agenda.
The
forum, proposed key elements for an accountability framework, which is expected
to feed into the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly in
September.
Ambassador
Marjon Kamara, Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, who chaired the
meeting underscored the importance of statistics in determining an
accountability framework. She called calling for “concerted action, genuine
commitment, and empowerment of African society, including youth, women,
faith-based organisations, as well as the business community”.
AU
Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Anthony Maruping, stated that Africa was not
starting from the scratch when it comes to accountability mechanisms since the continent
had experiences with other regional, sub-regional, national accountability
frameworks, such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)”.
The
ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Abdalla Hamdok, stated that the objective of
the consultative meeting gave participants’ “wide-encompassing deliberations [needed]
to identify key elements to build an accountability architecture for the
post-2015 development agenda that is aligned from the global to continental to
national levels”.
Eugene
Owusu, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP/Ethiopia advised participants to play a role
in “demanding real accountability for one billion people, emphasising
participatory mechanisms, in which it is possible for the people to hold their
leaders accountable”.
Amina
Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development
Planning told the participants that there was a significant momentum for this
new agenda that comes with a high political mandate. She stressed the
importance of crafting an accountability framework that is “fit for purpose”
for the Africa region.
Participants
unanimously agreed that an accountability framework for the Post-2015 and the
Sustainable Development Goals, which will replace the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) by 2015, should be based on a set of core principles, accompanied
by bold goals and targets and a plan on the means of implementation.
They
emphasised the need for an accountability framework to be implementable across
the broad spectrum of society in a “bottom-up and people centered” approach. The
participants also called for country-level commitments to action skilfully led
by a multi-stakeholder partnership represented by public, private, civil
society and citizen interests.
The
forum also talked of the need for a strong culture of reporting, based on
accurate and timely data – making a case for evidence-based accountability to provide
the basis for measuring progress and also mobilise citizens and civil society
to hold institutions and partners accountable towards their commitments.
Ochieng’
Ogodo is a Nairobi-based journalist whose works have been
published in various parts of the world including Africa, the US and Europe. He
is the English-speaking Africa and Middle East region winner for the 2008 Reuters-IUCN
Media Awards for Excellence in Environmental Reporting. He is the chairman of
the Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association. He can be reached at
ochiengogodo@yahoo.com, ochiengogodo@hotmail.com or ochiengogodo@gmail.com
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