Although it is important to acknowledge that the UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa continues to confront challenges to its implementation, it must also be recognized that progress has been made over the two years since it was launched, says Mr. James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). "The UN system is sustaining its commitment," he told Africa Recovery, "and positive signs are emerging in programme formulation and implementation in many countries."
-- James Gustave Speth, UNDP Administrator and Special Initiative co-chair
Photo: UN / M. Grant
One of the prime motivations for launching the Special Initiative two years ago, notes Mr. Speth, was to rationalize UN system (including the Bretton Woods institutions) assistance to Africa. "This means coordinating effectively, acting synergistically, seizing opportunities for genuine partnership, building capacity at every level -- in short, as the UN charter says, uniting our strengths."
While the Initiative has marked progress in a number of areas, including governance, health and information technology, Mr. Speth cites education as one sphere in which improved coordination has played a particularly strong role. The World Bank's commitment to the Special Initiative and its collaboration with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other UN agencies have brought about greater "programme coherence," which in turn holds out "a promise of additional resources."
Beyond the role of such coordination in improving assistance from the multilateral institutions, it has also "spurred support by bilateral donors" for primary education in Senegal and Mozambique, Mr. Speth reports. France, in collaboration with UNESCO, UNDP and the World Bank, is helping overcome "policy impediments" in Senegal and the result will be greater resource flows through sector investment programmes. For Mozambique, a UNESCO-organized consultation on education generated bilateral support for government efforts to give higher priority to primary education within an overall development framework. Based on these experiences, Zimbabwe has asked the UN Resident Coordinator to liaise with UNESCO for a similar consultation on an education sector strategy.
To help better share such "best practices and approaches to problem-solving," Mr. Speth acknowledges that reliable and timely information must be disseminated. "It will be of tremendous value in building the credibility of the UN Special Initiative," he adds. "A common communication strategy is also critical to effective political mobilization, African ownership, donor support and internalization within the UN system."
While donor coordination is vital, Mr. Speth stresses, it must be provided in support of programmes and strategies developed by Africans themselves. Through the Special Initiative, he says, "country-driven strategies should become the primary basis for donor assistance." The Initiative "is demand-driven, not donor imposed." He recalls that from its launch in 1996, the first goal of the Initiative has been "to help Africa help itself." African ownership of the Initiative has increased since it was launched two years ago, most notably in the support accorded to it by the June 1997 summit of African leaders. "In that decision," he notes, "the heads of state reaffirmed their ownership of the Special Initiative and undertook to ensure its fullest implementation."
Support from non-governmental and civil society organizations also is essential, Mr. Speth adds: "The Initiative will bring the results we hope for only if it is clearly owned, not only by African national authorities, but also by African civil society organizations. At stake is greater efficiency in development cooperation. This can happen only if the coordination function of the country itself is strengthened, based on internal capacity and broad consensus on development orientations through a participatory approach involving all stakeholders."
In a similar fashion, sustainable programmes for good governance cannot be imposed from the outside. "Let us be clear: there can be no conditionality in governance programmes,"
Mr. Speth affirms. "The way we approach governance in the context of the Initiative takes into consideration the weaknesses identified in the experience of development cooperation. National ownership and leadership are key in this approach." For this reason, the annual Africa Governance Forums are intended to promote wide participation leading to national consensus, and to build partnerships in funding national governance programmes.
Mr. Speth adds that while "good governance is not conditionality," it nevertheless is "the best way to attract external partners, both public and private, and to ensure the positive and durable impact of the countries' own development efforts."
The Special Initiative, Mr. Speth concludes, "represents the fulfillment of the goals and visions of the first UN Development Decade of the 1960s. It unites our strengths at every level, from that of the village to that of international governmental cooperation. And we cannot fail, because we cannot afford to fail."
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