SOUTHERN AFRICA: NGOs complain ignored by govts at World Summit

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 12 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Civil society organisations in Southern Africa have complained about a lack of government consultation in drawing up progress reports on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be presented at the 2005 UN World Summit this week.

NGO coalitions in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and Angola have accused their governments of giving civil society the cold shoulder in preparing their reports on the MDGs - a set of development goals which range from halving poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

The three-day UN World Summit will bring 191 countries together in New York on Wednesday, and although the MDG report has been bumped off the main agenda by the controversy surrounding UN reforms, it remains one of a series of high-profile events.

The world body is expected to review progress on meeting the MDGs concerning poverty, education, health, HIV/AIDS and hunger, among others agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000.

However, the Malawi Economic Justice Network, a coalition of 69 NGOs, said it was not even aware that the government was required to submit a progress report on the MDGs at the World Summit. "We only know that the summit is happening this week," said Dalitso Kubalasa, the network's programme manager.

The South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO) said it had been trying to engage the government on the progress report since last year. "Civil society consultation is not a luxury that can be ignored or included at will, but a fundamental necessity to the joint commitment to the eradication of poverty and inequality," said SANGOCO spokesman Hassen Lorgat.

South African government spokesman Sibani Mngadi countered SANGOCO's criticism by saying that the report had only been finalised two weeks ago. "We then gave it to SANGOCO to make its input at a stakeholders' workshop."

Giving civil society organisations less than two weeks to comment was "not true and genuine consultation," retorted Lorgat. "The process of consultation must begin from the very beginning - namely, around acceptable indicators for each goal, information collection and, finally, the format of the reporting itself."

The Botswana government has also rejected complaints of "inadequate consultation" by the Botswana Council of NGOs. "Our national development - our vision for poverty alleviation efforts - all involve NGO participation," said government spokesman Jeff Ramsay.

The UN advocates civil society involvement at all levels in the efforts to meet the MDGs.

"Although it is governments who are responsible for achieving these goals, civil society organisations ... need to hold government to account. Whether your organisation is locally, nationally or regionally focused, the opportunity exists to link your efforts with the MDG campaign at all levels," the UN Millennium Campaign website notes.

Civil society organisations in Zambia, such as the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR), have played an active role in monitoring government policies but allege that the authorities no longer pursue input from NGOs.

"We have become aware of the country's report on the MDGs through newspapers. We are greatly concerned over increasing poverty and hunger in Zambia, which we feel will affect the country's attainment of all the MDGs," said JCTR's Jack Jones Zulu. He noted that in the UN's 2005 Human Development Report Zambia was placed at 166 out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) - down from 164 last year - and that life expectancy had dropped to 37.5 years.

The HDI ranks 177 countries and focuses on three measurable dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life; being educated; and having a decent standard of living.

According to the latest monthly survey by JCTR, a food basket for a family of six in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, cost about US $115 in August, while the minimum monthly salary of a Zambian nurse was about $100, teachers earned around $90, policemen took home about $82 and security guards got around $26.

"We consider ourselves [civil society] as equal partners with government in achieving the MDGs, however sadly we are now sidelined. Government cannot simply parachute policies without consulting people," Zulu commented.

In a defiant move, SANGOCO has released a "shadow report" on South Africa's progress towards meeting the MDGs. While acknowledging the South African government's achievements in addressing the legacy of apartheid by providing formerly disadvantaged black communities with access to basic services like water, electricity and communication, the report noted that many among the poor cannot afford them.

More than 30 percent of South Africa's population was living on less than US $2 a day, while the UN's development report ranked South Africa as the 52nd richest country in the world, Lorgat observed.

The "poor have carried the brunt of 'the rainbow nation's success' and suffered disproportionately when compared to employers and other classes. The economy has only grown slowly, at under four percent a year, but not sufficient to create jobs," the SANGOCO report pointed out.

SANGOCO warned that failure to act could lead to greater social unrest, "which may undermine our formal political rights/democratic gains achieved since 1994", when the country's first democratically elected government took power.

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