The Chronicle INTERVIEW: Erna Witoelar
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| UN photo |
Erna Witoelar has been appointed UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals for Asia and the Pacific. She was Indonesia's Minister for Human Settlements and Regional Development and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia and Senior Regional Advisor of The Urban Governance Initiative, UN Development Programme, Asia Pacific. She is also a member of the Earth Charter Commission and chairperson of the Indonesia Biodiversity Foundation.
Biko Nagara of the UN Chronicle spoke with
Ms. Witoelar.
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What is the relevance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Asia and the Pacific?
I think the MDGs have been our goal for a long time for both central and local government and also for civil society. These issues of concern have been there, but the United Nations is giving MDGs the momentum of global solidarity. With the commitments made at the Millennium Summit, we have a different approach to these goals-seeing them together in an interdependent and holistic way. We can see the inter-linkage between each and every Goal, and work in this way to catalyze the process. Sometimes, it is certain regions which have more poor families who cannot send their children to school, who have malaria problems, or environmental destruction. And it's at that local level that this is happening; there's no problem at the national level. This opportunity of the MDGs is helping us see how to be more effective at the local level, while supporting more proper and more pro-MDG policies at the national and provincial levels. That way we can reach our MDGs better and faster.
What are the challenges you foresee in implementing these MDGs in the region?
One is that many of our countries—and also the United Nations—are used to handling them in a sectoral way and are not yet able to approach them in a more integrated and holistic way. That is something we need to improve. Another is that many Governments are working in a project-oriented manner, and we need to move to a more programme-oriented method so that it would be possible to delegate a lot to local governments. A third is that many countries still see them as government goals and are not yet incorporating all the efforts of civil society and the private sector in reaching those Goals. Much work on education and health has been done by civil society and the private sector. We need to include them together with government efforts. The fourth weakness is that in many countries the capacity to do statistics, benchmarking and recording progress is still weak. In addition, we actually have enough resources to reach the goals, but are not sometimes using them effectively. Linking the MDGs with good governance, better transparency, accountability and less corruption will help us in accelerating their achievement.
In the fight against AIDS, what are the lessons that have been learned in addressing the problem?
The main model for Asia is Thailand. They have been very serious and thorough in their efforts to reverse the trend of AIDS, and we can learn a lot from them. Countries should not underestimate the AIDS situation. Sometimes we focus more at the national level, but in some particular areas the problem is more severe. Each country has not only pockets of poverty but also pockets of malaria and AIDS. In these regions, we have to give extra attention and make extra efforts to solve them.
Quite a bit of the MDGs focus on financing development and economics, and now we are seeing efforts such as the Global Compact, yet the World Trade Organization talks in Cancun collapsed. What do you see as the relevance of these developments to the implementation of the MDGs?
I think this Office (MDGs Campaign Office for Asia and the Pacific) has been very active in this area. The focus during the first year was on Goal 8—developing a global partnership for development. We believe that only if this Goal can be seriously tackled will the other MDGs be achieved. In some areas, we have seen some improvements, while in others we need to work harder. In Cancun, we did not reach the results that we were expecting, but in the process the MDG campaign has become quite widespread. So have several other efforts, including in Dubai regarding the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF); I think we are quite solid and substantive in our campaign there and, whatever happens, the coordinated efforts have been quite strong. My role in the Asia-Pacific region is complementary to this one. There are parts of our region where there are non-governmental organizations (NGOs) campaigning especially on these issues, as well as the foreign ministries, who are also taking up Goal 8 as their campaign.
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| Photo/Mikel Flamm |
What role do developing countries in the region play in environmental issues, in light of controversies such as the Kyoto Protocol, which has been rejected by certain developed countries?
This is a continuing battle which can be strengthened by this new campaign for MDGs. My background is as an environmentalist, and we have been working on these issues for decades. It is moving so slowly that it is sometimes frustrating; but we are seeing that the MDGs are strengthening and complementing these efforts. Through them, people can see that whatever is being done to improve the environment will have a strong impact on poverty and diseases and will help people to improve their health and education.
What has your personal experience brought to this position?
I have been with NGOs all my life, except for twenty months in the government. So I have experience in putting pressure on governments from the outside, be it on the environment or consumer protection, and I have also experienced being inside, being pressured from the outside. I have directly experienced bad governance. My portfolio when I was Minister was public infrastructure and there was a lot of corruption there. I realized that it's not that we don't have enough money in the budget, but that we are not using that budget well. Poverty is not just the work of the departments of social affairs, but also has to be mainstreamed in the economic ministries and infrastructure, be it transportation or trade, in the countries themselves. Pro-growth policies need to be developed, and I see that in Indonesia this is a challenge. Many people in the government don't see poverty as their responsibility and so it has to be mainstreamed in the policies of all these departments.
What needs to be done to increase public understanding and participation?
The role of the media, as well as of civil society, is very important. It is civil society more than Governments that can get media coverage. For each and every Goal, there has been quite a lot of media coverage. Seeing MDGs as one needs to be campaigned in each country. My role includes talking as much as possible to the media in every country and encouraging them to cover MDG issues. In October 2003, we held a journalist workshop in Indonesia on MDGs, briefing them and getting them to help us understand how they can be more widespread—so we have to work together.
For countries in the region that are experiencing turbulent times, what can be done to help them reach the Goals?
There are still opportunities to work even in conflict areas, even in difficult areas. It requires a different approach, and done in a more comprehensive way, including conflict resolution, conflict prevention and humanitarian and development work leading to a transition. You cannot leave troubled areas alone until they solve their conflicts, to see whether they can catalyze their efforts in reaching the Goals. It has to be done together. It can be a part of conflict resolution, because many conflicts are caused by disparities, injustice and by people unable to have a proper life. So reaching the MDGs will reduce the sources of conflict.
One of the issues raised at the 56th Annual DPI/NGO Conference concerned the North-South divide. How can these kinds of disparities be bridged?
The MDGs are precisely aimed at reducing these divides, which have been there and still will be for several decades. We want to see these divides reduced, and we want to promote the understanding that we are in the same boat. Between the first, business, economic and the poorer classes, we cannot afford to let that gap grow too big. The first class and business class will also fall down if problems in the economic class are too severe to handle. Goal 8, on a global partnership for development, will help reduce this. We need to be realistic and acknowledge that there are historical and cultural situations that will maintain the gap, but it should not be that big. For this, efforts from both sides are needed. |
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