Reclamando el derecho a la salud en el 4 Foro de Alto Nivel sobre Eficacia de la Ayuda al Desarrollo, en Busan, Corea del Sur. Crédito: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

Por Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, Corea del Sur, 1 dic (IPS)  El Día Mundial de la Lucha contra el Sida se conmemora este jueves 1 buscando lograr “cero nuevas infecciones por el VIH, cero discriminación y cero muertes relacionadas”. En África también se necesitaría cero tolerancia a la corrupción en el manejo de los fondos de ayuda a su combate.

“Solamente en África oriental, a Uganda le suspendieron su principal fuente de financiamiento en la lucha contra el VIH (virus de inmunodeficiencia humana, causante del sida). En varias ocasiones, Kenia estuvo a punto de correr un destino similar, porque había evidencias de que se había generalizado la indebida apropiación de fondos de la campaña”, dijo John Peter Kaguruzi, analista de políticas públicas en Ruanda.

“En Djibouti, de los 5,3 millones de dólares de concesión de fondos para la lucha contra el VIH, 750.000 dólares se usaron para gastos que no se pueden explicar. Historias similares pululan en Zambia y Malí. Es probable que más auditorías revelen un mal uso de esos fondos, lo que les ha negado a muchas personas el acceso a iniciativas preventivas y curativas”, dijo Kaguruzi.

Crear conciencia es importante en lugares como Kenia, donde los afectados son estigmatizados y considerados promiscuos. Cuando fallecen, los entierran en bolsas de polietileno.

Con el paso de los años, los keniatas se volvieron más conscientes de la pandemia, pero eso no redujo el estigma que se la asocia.

Tampoco redujo de modo significativo las conductas sexuales de riesgo. Alrededor de 1,4 millones de keniatas son portadores de VIH.

Estadísticas del Programa Conjunto de las Naciones Unidas sobre el VIH/Sida (Onusida) estiman que 22,5 millones de personas viven con VIH en África subsahariana. Poco más de la mitad son mujeres, y los niños y niñas representan 2,3 millones.

Años de investigaciones no han logrado acercarse a una cura para el VIH/sida (síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida) y, solamente en África subsahariana, la enfermedad se cobra por lo menos un millón de vidas cada año.

Pero si millones de africanos infectados con el VIH todavía están vivos es gracias a los fondos aportados por donantes, que les permiten acceder a fármacos vitales.

“Se necesita más financiamiento para brindar tratamiento”, dijo a IPS la enfermera keniata Mary Naliaka.

Pero tal vez no sea más financiamiento lo que necesitan los países africanos. Una auditoría realizada en 25 de los 145 países que reciben asistencia para combatir el VIH reveló que, solamente en Mauritania, 67 por ciento de la ayuda fue incorrectamente usada, explicó Kaguruzi.

“Esto no solo es una señal de que hay corrupción generalizada. En algunos países, los controladores no evaluaron la subvención total, sino solamente una parte. En Djibouti, por ejemplo, se auditó apenas 80 por ciento del fondo, revelando 30 por ciento de uso inapropiado”, agregó.

La falta de fondos afecta a programas que crean conciencia sobre el VIH/sida, así como a las campañas que brindan preservativos gratuitos.

“A menudo, los dispensadores de condones están vacíos”, dijo a IPS la consejera Ann Kariuki, quien trabaja en un centro de análisis voluntarios en Kenia.

Cuando en enero de 2002 se creó el Fondo Mundial de Lucha contra el Sida, la Tuberculosis y la Malaria como una asociación público-privada, el objetivo fue brindar apoyo financieros a respuestas mundiales ante esas tres enfermedades. Sin embargo, con el Fondo en medio de una crisis financiera, tal vez esto no sea posible.

“El Fondo Mundial salva diariamente 4.400 vidas en países pobres, como los africanos”, dijo el activista ugandés Peter Mwendwa.

“Suecia ya le suspendió 83 millones de dólares hasta que se resuelva la crisis”, señaló. Suecia es uno de los principales contribuyentes al Fondo.

En Sudáfrica, la Treatment Action Campaign, una organización de activistas contra el sida que brinda tratamiento gratuito a personas con VIH, dijo que cerrará sus puertas si el Fondo Mundial no cumple sus compromisos monetarios.

Para realizar gran parte de su trabajo, la organización recibió un subsidio quinquenal del Fondo, que también financia el tratamiento de 70 por ciento de los pacientes con VIH en países pobres.

Pero una evaluación de cómo se gasta el dinero del Fondo Mundial en África reveló gruesas incorrecciones en el uso de las concesiones, impidiendo que muchas personas infectadas y que necesitan tratamiento antirretroviral tengan la oportunidad de llevar vidas saludables.

Desde febrero, el Fondo Mundial dejó al descubierto el mal uso de dineros en 11 de los 145 países pobres receptores de estos aportes, por una suma total de 44,2 millones de dólares.

El Fondo Mundial “ya recuperó 4,5 millones de dólares y presentó evidencias que respaldan las investigaciones penales en Malí, Mauritania y Zambia”.

En estos países se llevaron a cabo por lo menos 20 arrestos, mientras el Fondo Mundial investiga los hechos de corrupción.

A Malí, Mauritania y Zambia también se les suspendieron sus concesiones. Lo mismo ocurrió con otros países, como Chad, Uganda y Djibouti.

Este año el Fondo emitió un comunicado en el que declaró que había establecido medidas estrictas “para reforzar sus salvaguardas financieras y aumentar su capacidad de prevenir y detectar casos de fraude y de uso inapropiado de sus aportes, muchos de los cuales ya están en curso”.

Según ese comunicado, estas medidas incluyen “expandir el mandato de las firmas que controlan los gastos en los países a fin de potenciar la prevención y detección de fraudes”.

BUSAN, South Korea, Dec 1, 2011 (IPS) – Inclusiveness was the winner as donors, recipient governments, emerging economies, multilateral lenders and civil society representatives hammered out a consensual document at the close of a major meeting in this South Korean city to boost development aid effectiveness.

Credit:Miriam Gathigah/IPS

“The process has been bumpy but we have landed safely. The challenge is to move ahead along a less divided and more unified front,” said Talaat Abdel-Malek, co-chair of the Development Aid Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Abdel-Malek was referring to the Busan Outcome Document, released Thursday, that has been endorsed not only by traditional donors but also by new players such as China, India and Brazil that emerged as key actors at the three-day Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4).

The document pledged to “establish a new, inclusive and representative global partnership for effective development co-operation” and spoke of Busan as reference for South-South partnerships “on a voluntary basis.”

The rise of new players that do not belong to the Northern countries, particularly China, has become a complex issue in the development world. China insisted that the document was voluntary.

Under the new South-South co-operation, the group of emerging donors has launched small- and medium-scale bilateral and multilateral aid projects in poor countries. They provide knowledge, funds and technical expertise that primarily call for a results-based approach.

The approach has raised concern and pressure is rising to encourage the new actors to join the DAC that is committed to regulations and principles that support transparency, democratic rule and diverse stakeholders.

Economic slowdown in the big donor countries, including the United States, the European Union and Japan, that led the way over the past half century, has raised the risk of a squeeze in funding.

Paul Okuma, head of Secretariat Africa CSO Platform on Principled Partnership, Kenya, explained that the changes in aid are here to stay. “The politics have changed,” he told IPS, echoing the common voice in Busan that the European Union and the U.S. are no longer the only drivers in the development aid seat.

“The thrust for all development actors is to get along with China to support the need of the state which is growth. The option we face is to work with citizens in developing countries to be more aware of their own development effectiveness. This is the lesson in Busan,” he explained.

Experts at the conference expressed viewpoints that supported the role of emerging donors in global aid.

“In order to create a space for diverse development actors, the road ahead must be one that calls for understanding and accepting differences. The danger is to compare apples and oranges and force countries such as China to join traditional donor groups. This will not work,” said a senior official at the United Nations who declined to be named.

Li Shaojin, a Chinese official at the co-operation division of the international poverty reduction centre, told IPS that China’s contribution to development is based on its own experience that depended heavily on its own manpower and natural resources.

“China built its country relying on simple resources in its own country. We gained expertise in such areas as water resource management that has mobilised people who worked hard with local materials to expand our agriculture, industry and economy. We can share what we have with poor farmers around the world,” she said.

The Chinese official brushed aside concerns raised by experts on southern co-operation ignoring partnerships with local civil society organisations (CSOs), pointing out that the education and capacity building at the rural level in China was done with local groups.

Such comments, according to Prof. Masayoshi Ohashi, a development expert in Japan, reflect the growing need to move cautiously on the unified global co-operation model.

“The perception among some of us is that Busan watered down aid commitments to push through a global partnership. There is indeed a perception difference with the traditional donor world where hard won breakthroughs to earn better transparency and accountability should have been beefed up… in Busan,” he told IPS.

Still, Northern aid is riddled with issues. Stark examples of poor performance include the Millennium Development Goals that may exceed the 2015 deadline and the inability of DAC donors to contribute 0.7 percent of the GDP for aid disbursements.

Korean aid expert Jee-hae Ha, at Korea Eximbank, said South Korea, a new donor and member of DAC, has played the role of mediator in the debate to accept partnerships with middle-income countries.

“The South Korean development experience is based on strong growth at the beginning and also democratic principles that have become important now. The political statement of aid has been Northern countries at the top which South Korea is helping to balance,” she said.

The OECD co-hosted the meet with the South Korean government. Busan, a thriving port city and the second largest in the country, has been the venue and, according to delegates from developing countries, an inspiring model of development.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik has promised to double aid to 0.25 percent of national GDP. The high-profile meeting, held for the first time in Asia, is symbolic of increasing growth and consensus and marks a dramatic shift in development assistance away from the West.

END

Demanding Right to Health at Busan. Credit: Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, Dec 01, 2011 (IPS) – As the curtain comes down on the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in this South Korean city, thursday, billions of people  will be marking yet another World AIDS Day –  this one themed ‘Getting to Zero,’ for zero AIDS-related deaths, zero new infections and zero stigma and discrimination.

But, in Africa, what may be needed is zero tolerance to corruption so that funds needed to fight HIV/AIDS and create awareness does not get siphoned away.

Creating awareness has been important in places like Kenya where those afflicted were considered extremely promiscuous.  When they died, they were buried in a polythene bag.

No one would drink from a cup that a person known to be infected with HIV had touched.

Over the years, Kenyans have become more aware of HIV/AIDS but that has not reduced the stigma attached to the disease. Neither has it significantly reduced risky sexual behaviour. Some 1.4 million Kenyans are currently infected with HIV.

Statistics by UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS prevention and cure, show that an estimated 22.5 million people were living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Slightly over half of them are women. Children have not been spared; they account for 2.3 million of this figure.

Since years of research do not seem to have brought scientists any closer to discovering a cure for HIV/AIDS, the condition claims at least one million lives every year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.

If millions of people in Africa infected with HIV are still alive it is because of donor funding that makes it possible for them to access life-sustaining drugs.

“There’s need for more funding to provide treatment,” Mary Naliaka, a nurse in Kenya, told IPS on an earlier occasion.

But more funding is perhaps not what African countries need. Widespread corruption has made it difficult for African countries to make any notable dent in HIV prevalence.

Programmes that popularise prevention of HIV/AIDS by creating more awareness of the condition, establishing HIV programmes in health facilities and providing free condoms are all affected by  diversion of funds.

“People are extremely afraid of HIV but they make choices which don’t reflect an understanding of the devastating effect that this disease has had on mankind,” Ann Kariuki, counsellor at an HIV/AIDS voluntary testing centre in Kenya, told IPS.

“In Africa, which continues to bear the highest burden of the disease, risky sexual behaviour remains rampant,” she said.

When the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was established in January 2002 as a public-private partnership, the aim was to provide financial support for global responses to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria.

For many African countries this was an opportunity to provide treatment for ailing people who at that time lived for an average of about six years

“In poor countries, treatment for 70 percent of HIV patients is financed by the Global Fund.

But evaluation of how the Global Fund is spent in Africa has revealed gross misappropriation of grants, denying many HIV-positive people in need of anti-retroviral drugs an opportunity to live healthy and normal lives.

As of February 2011 out of 145 poor countries that were recipient of this grant, the Global Fund had uncovered misuse of funds in 11 countries, totalling 44.2 million dollars.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that an estimated 63 percent of  misused funds were identified in four countries – Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, and Zambia. These countries have very high HIV prevalence rates.

According to Tiaji Salaam-Blyther, a specialist in global health, in line with its policy of zero corruption, “the Global Fund is reported to be seeking compensation of the funds and has already recovered 4.5 million dollars and submitted evidence in support of criminal investigations in Mali, Mauritania, and Zambia.”

At least 20 arrests have been made in these countries as the Global Fund gets to the bottom of who bear the responsibility of misusing funds meant for people with HIV, TB and Malaria for personal gains.

These countries have also had their grants suspended. Others whose funds have been suspended or frozen include Chad, Uganda and Djibouti.

In order to create transparency and accountability, the Global Fund released a statement earlier this year stating that it had established strict measures “to reinforce its financial safeguards and increase its capacity to prevent and detect fraud and misuse in its grants, many of which are already underway.”

According to the statement, these measures include “expanding the mandate of firms that monitor expenditure in countries in order to enhance fraud prevention and detection.”

END

África podría lograr los Objetivos de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para el Milenio mejorando la eficacia de la ayuda. Crédito Miriam Gathigah/IPS.

Por Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, Corea del Sur, 30 nov (IPS) Los delegados africanos al 4 Foro de Alto Nivel sobre Eficacia de la Ayuda al Desarrollo volverán a casa, este jueves, con muchas historias inspiradoras para intentar que sus respectivos países logren economías de medianos ingresos.

La mayoría de los estados de África tienen una situación mucho mejor que la que tenía hace cinco décadas el país anfitrión del Foro, Corea del Sur.

Este país, ahora con una economía sólida, ofrece una alternativa para los que desean crear asociaciones que permitan mejorar el crecimiento.

Los delegados africanos escucharon con atención al presidente surcoreano Lee Myung Bak en la ceremonia de apertura del Foro, el martes 29, cuando relató el largo y agridulce camino que debió andar su población para llegar a ser un país desarrollado.

Hubo que hacer dolorosos sacrificios, pero dio sus frutos, dijo.

“La historia del desarrollo económico y de la democratización de Corea del Sur está llena de alegrías y tristezas, de gente de a pie que trabajó duro para escapar de la pobreza y soñó con tener una vida decente”, señaló el mandatario.

“La gente suele preguntarme cuál es la clave del éxito de Corea del Sur. Sin duda fue el poder de la educación”, afirmó.

“Aun cuando no había suficiente comida para llevar a la mesa, los padres surcoreanos sacrificaron todo para educar a sus hijos”, remarcó.

“Esos niños y niñas crecieron y encabezaron el desarrollo económico”, indicó el mandatario. “Creo que la educación es la clave para el progreso de las personas, los países y el mundo”, añadió.

El consultor keniata Moses Dura espera que África esté escuchando. “La ayuda es una buena idea. Está destinada a complementar los recursos locales. Pero en la mayoría de los países africanos, los regímenes políticos son corruptos”, señaló.

En Kenia, por ejemplo, hubo varias acusaciones sobre corrupción en ministerios clave, como el de Educación, Agua y Tierras, apuntó.

La corrupción y la falta de responsabilidad en los gobiernos son un cáncer que se come los esfuerzos de los países africanos por convertirse en economías de medianos ingresos y ser menos dependientes de la ayuda.

La secretaria de Estado (canciller) de Estados Unidos, Hillary Rodham Clinton, exhortó en la misma ceremonia del martes a las naciones en desarrollo a asumir y ejercer su responsabilidad por la lentitud del desarrollo.

Muchas organizaciones de la sociedad civil aprovecharon la presencia de Clinton para señalar a Estados Unidos por su responsabilidad en la falta de efectividad de la asistencia. La secretaria de Estado reconoció que su país mantiene una ayuda condicionada que no puede ser totalmente libre.

Eso ocurre pese al consenso general de que la ayuda no condicionada es un elemento sustancial de la efectividad. Es decir que el dinero otorgado al país beneficiario bajo ese concepto se destine a la asistencia al desarrollo.

“Entre 2005 y 2009 duplicamos la proporción de ayuda no condicionada, de32 a68 por ciento”, detalló.

“Todavía necesitamos que un porcentaje de la asistencia siga condicionada para conseguir apoyo político para los presupuestos que transformamos en asistencia al desarrollo”, explicó Clinton.

A medida que se acerca 2015, numerosos países africanos se están muy interesados en que funcione la ayuda para alcanzar los ocho Objetivos de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para el Milenio (ODM).

El presidente Lee dedicó unas palabras a los países africanos que creen que es demasiado tarde para alcanzar esos objetivos.

“Cuando era pequeño, Corea era uno de los países más pobres del mundo. El producto interno bruto era menor a 100 dólares por habitante y el país estaba lleno de gente sin trabajo”, relató.

“Pero en medio siglo, Corea del Sur se reconstruyó, emergió de las cenizas de una guerra devastadora y de la extrema pobreza e instauró una democracia y una economía vibrante. Firmemente creo que el Foro de Busan permitirá alcanzar los ODM y construir un mundo mejor para todos”, añadió.

Ahora más que nunca, África tiene una gran oportunidad para lograr un crecimiento sustancial.

Michael Sudarkasa, experto de la Nueva Alianza para el Desarrollo de África (Nepad), señaló que hay nuevas oportunidades para movilizar recursos a través de asociaciones con China, India e incluso Brasil.

“Pero África necesita donantes que sigan las estrategias de desarrollo de sus países al tiempo que brindan ayuda”, indicó.

“El sector privado africano debe desempeñar un papel mucho mayor para alcanzar los ODM. Los inversores que llegan a África buscan representantes de ese ámbito para crear asociaciones de mutuo beneficio”, explicó Sudarkasa.

Clinton también subrayó la importancia de forjar alianzas para “ayudar a los países ricos en recursos naturales a escapar de la fuga de materia prima que los hacen ricos en petróleo y oro, pero pobres en todo lo demás”.

Con ese fin, Estados Unidos ya está trabajando con Ghana y Tanzania, y señaló que Brasil lo hace con Mozambique en el sector agrícola, pues los dos países tienen suelos similares, además del mismo idioma, apuntó.

Sudarkasa señaló que urgirá a los países africanos a “elevar el impacto combinado que ofrecen esas oportunidades y a implementar los fondos de los donantes de forma de reconocer que la ayuda es un catalizador para mejorar el desarrollo económico y humano”. (FIN)

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 30, 2011 (IPS) – There are many inspiring stories that delegates from Africa attending the ongoing Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness can take home to provide insights to their respective countries on making the transformation to middle-income economies.

Achieving MDGs through effective aid. Credit:Miriam Gathigah/IPS

Most African countries are in a much better place than the host of the HLF4 was five decades ago. South Korea, now a solid economy, presents an alternative for African countries keen on forming partnerships for better growth.

It was with admiration that delegates heard South Korean President Lee Myung Bak at the opening ceremony recounting the long and bitter-sweet journey that the Koreans took to become a developed country.

That journey involved making painful sacrifices, but it has borne fruit.

“The history of Korea’s economic development and democratisation is one of sweat and tears of ordinary people, who worked hard to escape poverty and dreamed of having decent lives.

“People often ask me what the key to Korea’s success was. Without any hesitation, I say that it was the power of education. Even when they did not have enough food to put on their tables, Korean parents sacrificed everything to educate their children.”

“These children grew up to lead the economic development of Korea,” the President said. “I believe that education is the key to the advancement of individuals, countries, and the world. ”

Moses Dura, a Kenyan aid consultant, hopes that Africa is listening. “Aid is a good idea. It is meant to supplement domestic resources. But in most African countries, political regimes thrive on corruption. In Kenya for instance, there has been a series of corruption allegations in key ministries such as education, water and land.”

Corruption and lack of accountability at the government level is the cancer that is eating into efforts to transform African countries from low to middle-income and make them less dependent on aid.

Hillary Clinton, the United States secretary of state, during the same ceremony, exhorted developing countries to take responsibility and show accountability for the slow place of development.

She said that often money that is set aside for sector budgets is supposed to be supplemented by aid. Unfortunately, “this money is usually allocated to other areas when these countries receive funding.”

Many civil society organisations saw Clinton’s presence as an opportunity to hold the U.S. accountable for its role in the ineffectiveness of aid. Clinton acknowledged that U.S. aid remains tied and cannot be completely free.

This although it is well understood that untied aid is a significant aspect of effectiveness. It means that all the money given as aid goes into the recipient country for development assistance.

“Between 2005 and 2009 we have doubled the percentage of untied aid from 32 to 68 percent. We still need a percentage of aid to remain tied in order to get political support for the budgets that we turn into aid for development assistance,” Clinton explained.

As 2015 beckons, many African countries are hard pressed to make aid work in order to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) launched in 2000 by a United Nations summit to fight global poverty by accelerating economic and human development.

For those African countries who think it is too late to attain these goals, President Lee had something to say. “When I was a child, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Our per capita GDP stood at less than 100 dollars, and the country was full of people without jobs.

“However, within half-a-century, Korea rebuilt itself, emerging from the ashes of a devastating war and extreme poverty to a vibrant economy and democracy. I firmly believe that the Busan forum will galvanise the world to achieve the MDGs and to make a better world for all.”

Now more than ever, Africa has a great opportunity to achieve significant growth.

Michael Sudarkasa, an expert with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) says there are new opportunities to mobilise resources through partnerships with China, India and even Brazil. “But Africa needs to have donors follow their countries’ development strategies while giving aid.”

“The private sector in Africa should also play a greater role towards achieving development aims. Investors coming to Africa are looking for strong private sector representatives to form mutually beneficial partnerships,” Sudarkasa said.

Clinton also emphasised the importance of forging partnerships to “help countries that are rich in natural resources escape resources curbs that make them rich in oil and gold but poor in all other ways.”

She said that towards this end the U.S. is already working with African countries such as Ghana and Tanzania, and noted that Brazil is working closely with Mozambique in the agricultural sector since the two countries share similar soil types.

Sudarkasa said he would urge African countries “to enhance the combined impact that all these opportunities for development present and to implement donor funding in a manner that acknowledges that aid is a catalyst to improve human and economic development.”

(END)

Hillary Clinton at Busan Credit:Miriam Gathigah/IPS

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 30, 2011 (IPS) – Women toil in the fields for most of their lives producing food and strengthening the largely agricultural economy of African countries, but when their fathers, husbands or older sons die, they are no longer welcome on land they may have tended for years.

This observation was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States secretary of state, at a special session on the status of women at the ongoing Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in this South Korean port city.

Some 2,500 delegates, including members of ministerial teams from 160 countries, civil society leaders, experts from multilateral organisations and academics are attending the HLF4 to discuss international principles and rules to improve development co-operation.

Many agreed with Clinton’s observation that created a strong image of the status of women in Africa and Asia who earn their livelihoods from natural resources.

“Many years ago I travelled to Africa and everywhere I went there were women working in the fields, gathering firewood and in market stalls, and so I asked an economic analyst, how do you account for these contributions by women? And, he said that they didn’t. Because it wasn’t in the formal sector.

“If these women could stop working, even for a day, that would have a huge impact on the economy.”

The situation has not changed significantly for many women in Africa and Asia.

“Women still account for at least 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people living in abject poverty. Women work two-thirds of world working hours, produce at least half of the food. Yet, they only earn a paltry 10 percent of world income and own a negligible one percent of world property,” said Michelle Bachelet, executive director of U.N. Women, an entity concerned with gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Despite statistics showing that countries that engage women and recognise their contribution achieve greater growth, many African countries are only too willing to offer lip service to the course of gender equality to improve their image at global conferences such as in Busan.

Said Bachelet: “We are saying that this is the time to move from speech line to budget line.”

“I can sense the same frustration in Bachelet’s voice as she made a case for gender equality. The same frustration that I feel. I ask myself, how much longer do we have to make this case?” Clinton said.

Clinton said this is in spite of the fact that credible sources such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have shown that the gross domestic product and per capita income could be higher if women were recognised and integrated into development.

From Clinton’s passionate plea for more commitment to gender equality in relation to better implementation of aid, she made it clear that discriminating against women hurts the economy.

“In Asia, statistics show that the economy loses about 89 billion dollars every year because of discriminating against women within the labour force. Sadly, this is a region with countries working hard to emerge as leading economies,” Bachelet said.

Leading champions of gender equality said women are empowered when they are given an opportunity to go to school, their children are better fed and they too stand a better chance of accessing a good education.

A majority of women remain poor with few opportunities to access work that is remunerated, little or no money and little chance to give their children a decent meal. During the recent drought in the Horn of Africa, U.N. statistics showed that of the four million people on the brink of death, two million were children.

But this could change. The Busan forum, that ends Thursday, can take this chance to redeem itself with a new and practical solution towards improving the lives of millions of women.

What is measured gets noticed, Clinton said. “We are now working on developing data on whose basis gender status can be improved. Today, I am pleased to announce a new initiative, the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE).

“EDGE is a new initiative to improve the availability and use of statistics that capture gender gaps in economic activity. It capitalises on the United States’ call to action at the May 2011 OECD ministerial session on gender and development and builds on recommendations of the U.N. International Agency and Expert Group on Gender and Statistics.”

Often, Clinton said, loans are given to small business enterprises without assessing how many of these are owned or run by women. “Consequently, she said, “women continue to face difficulties in accessing credit.

“In many countries, a man and a woman can go to the same lender for credit and even have similar collateral, but a woman will be treated differently. We can reform credit policies that discriminate and disadvantage women.”

Clinton lauded the Busan forum saying that it created an opportunity for new initiatives and partnerships critical to advancing the struggle for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

END

Escolares de Ruanda. Crédito: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS

Por Suvendrini Kakuchi

BUSAN, Corea del Sur, 29 nov (IPS) – Delegados de gobiernos y expertos de la sociedad civil, reunidos en esta sureña ciudad surcoreana, destacaron la importancia de la participación inclusiva y de la responsabilidad compartida para la ayuda al desarrollo, según el compromiso asumido en 2005 en París.

En la innovadora Declaración de París se plantearon objetivos para mejorar la calidad de la asistencia y su resultado. Tres años después, para acelerar el avance de la misma, se redactó en la capital de Ghana la Agenda de Acción de Accra, que propuso asociaciones más inclusivas e impactos que se puedan medir, entre otros puntos.

Representantes de donantes y de gobiernos beneficiarios así como de la sociedad civil remarcaron este martes 29, en la primera sesión del 4 Foro de Alto Nivel sobre Eficacia de la Ayuda al Desarrollo, la importancia de ir más allá de los objetivos técnicos para alcanzar indicadores inclusivos, que suelen basarse en datos sobre reducción de la pobreza.

Abdalah Kigoda, representante del gobierno de Tanzania, remarcó la falta de responsabilidad del parlamento en muchos de los países beneficiarios, donde presupuestos y planificación económica permanecen en el ámbito del Poder Ejecutivo.

“Los planes de desarrollo de los gobiernos apuntan a áreas elegidas y atendidas por las autoridades que ejercen el poder. El resultado es que hay una lucha con legisladores a la hora de distribuir responsabilidades”, indicó

Se considera que los mecanismos de desarrollo para incorporar a diversos actores, incluida la participación de ciudadanos en los procesos de decisión y la implementación de asociaciones equilibradas para lograr transparencia y abatir la pobreza, son señales de pertenencia y responsabilidad.

Los conceptos apuntan a fomentar la responsabilidad local a fin de que impulse un desarrollo efectivo con la participación de la ciudadanía. La prueba en Busan será lograr compromisos políticos que fortalezcan el proceso y abandonar una ayuda basada en el desembolso de los donantes.

Estudios realizados tras la reunión de París de 2005 muestran que más de 60 por ciento de los países donantes y de las naciones en desarrollo no cumplieron sus objetivos.

Faumuina Liga, representante del Ministerio de Finanzas de Samoa y jefe del equipo de negociación de su país, comparó la Declaración de París con un pollo al que le dieron libertad para andar a sus anchas, pero con una pierna atada a un poste.

“Nos culpamos cuando las cosas no salen. Pero la clave para lograr que haya responsabilidad es crear un diálogo entre los actores. No podemos separar donantes de beneficiarios”, subrayó.

Samoa se convirtió en un país que promovió una cultura de mutua responsabilidad. La isla del océano Pacífico implementó nuevos mecanismos de coordinación para crear un espacio inclusivo y que múltiples actores participen en el desarrollo nacional.

Por ejemplo, organizaciones de la sociedad civil y el sector privado coordinaron esfuerzos para preparar estrategias nacionales en materia de desarrollo, indicó Liga. Samoa será relevado del estatus de país menos adelantado en 2014 y, al año siguiente, se integrará a la Organización Mundial del Comercio.

El proceso funcionó. Samoa ahora puede discutir una hoja de ruta en materia de desarrollo nacional con los países donantes e instituciones multilaterales de crédito, según estudios del Foro de las Islas del Pacífico.

La mutua responsabilidad también es un asunto delicado para los países donantes. Martin Dahinden, director de la Agencia Suiza para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación, reveló la presión que tienen de los contribuyentes, quienes esperan mejoras concretas en materia de erradicación de la pobreza en un breve lapso.

“El peligro de la asistencia con poca visión de futuro es arrancar las frutas de abajo y ver los resultados a corto plazo como objetivos. Se debe destinar más tiempo a comunicar las implicancias negativas de esta ofensiva creando nuevos espacios de diálogo para promover el entendimiento”, indicó.

Un ejemplo de los riesgos de la responsabilidad a corto plazo es que la ayude se utilice para ofrecer vacunas, mientras se ignoran violaciones de derechos humanos, un espacio en la que los resultados de una intervención se ven a largo plazo.

Expertos remarcaron la necesidad de avanzar para lograr la efectividad de la ayuda en Busan, a fin de combatir el aumento de problemas de desarrollo, como la emergencia de nuevos actores en un contexto de desilusión por los resultados de los billones de dólares gastados en exterior.

Los métodos para contrarrestar eso incluyen la urgente necesidad de supervisar y difundir historias de logros en materia de mutua responsabilidad, como ganar la confianza de comunidades que suelen sentirse ignoradas en los debates sobre la ayuda.

Un ejemplo de ello ocurrió en Etiopía. La Protección de Servicios Básicos, lanzada por el Estado en 2006, contó con el apoyo de 11 donantes, y se prevé que reciba asistencia del fondo del Banco Mundial para países de bajos ingresos.

El programa, que cuenta con la estrecha colaboración de organizaciones de la sociedad civil, mejoró la calidad de servicios públicos como la educación, la salud, la agricultura, el agua y el saneamiento y la construcción de caminos rurales para cumplir con los Objetivos de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para el Milenio. La inmunización infantil aumentó de 70 por ciento, en 2005, a 82 por ciento, en 2010.

Una evaluación externa de las nuevas medidas reveló que la ciudadanía tiene más confianza en la ayuda y mayor consciencia sobre sus derechos.

Chang Hyun-sik, experto del Ministerio de Finanzas de Corea del Sur, resumió la experiencia de su país de pasar de ser beneficiario a donante. La responsabilidad y la participación local han sido la clave del éxito.

“La asistencia estadounidense desempeñó un papel vital en el desarrollo de Corea del Sur y la lección aprendida de nuestra experiencia es que lo logramos explicando nuestros objetivos nacionales. Esa es la forma de actuar”, remarcó.

Hasta este jueves 1 de diciembre, unos 2.000 delegados revisan los avances en las mejoras sobre la efectividad de la ayuda, antes de fijar los compromisos hacia un nuevo paradigma de desarrollo.

BUSAN, Corea del Sur, 29 nov (IPS) Aunque hubo considerables avances hacia la reducción de la mortalidad materna e infantil en el mundo, millones de mujeres, niños y niñas en África todavía necesitan mejores servicios de salud, alimentos y saneamiento.

Se estima que unas 250.000 madres mueren en África cada año, dejando a sus hijos con menos posibilidades de vivir más allá de los cinco años.

Estadísticas de la organización no gubernamental internacional Save the Children indican que países africanos ocupan nueve de los 10 últimos lugares en el ranking mundial de salud materna, integrada por 164 naciones.

Las reducciones que se han logrado “no van de acuerdo con la tasas previstas en los Objetivos de Desarrollo de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para el Milenio (ODM). Once años después de establecidos, muchos países todavía están lejos de alcanzar las metas”, señaló Ben Philips, de Save the Children.

Las metas cuatro y cinco de los ODM proponen reducir la mortalidad infantil y mejorar la salud materna respectivamente.

Los países tienen la obligación de reducir en dos tercios la tasa de mortalidad entre niños y niñas menores de cinco años y disminuir en tres cuartos la mortalidad materna.

Pero esto no ha sido alcanzado. De hecho, “los gobiernos africanos necesitan priorizar la salud de las mujeres y de los niños. También deben cuadruplicar el ritmo de reducción de esas muertes para alcanzar las metas cuatro y cinco para 2015”, dijo Philips.

Al comenzar este martes 29 el cuarto Foro de Alto Nivel sobre la Eficacia de la Ayuda, que se desarrollará hasta el 1 de diciembre en la sureña ciudad surcoreana de Busan, una de las dudas que se impone es si las mujeres y los niños en África pueden esperar resultados tangibles de los donantes.

Según Philips, hay poco para ellos. “Lamentablemente, el documento final de Busan, que básicamente resume la plataforma de acción para después de la conferencia, no es suficientemente ambicioso para mejorar la eficacia de la ayuda”, señaló.

“Por ejemplo, no hay fuertes compromisos para desvincular la ayuda”, esto es, dejar de imponer condiciones sobre origen o formas de distribución de la asistencia, señaló.

Expertos en Busan dijeron que, si los donantes mostraran un fuerte compromiso para desvincular la ayuda, esta podría incrementarse entre 15 y 20 por ciento.

Y esa no es la única forma en que los donantes están abandonando a las mujeres y a los niños de África. Los países del Grupo de los Ocho países más industrializados (G-8, integrado por Alemania, Canadá, Estados Unidos, Francia, Gran Bretaña, Italia, Japón y Rusia) prometieron destinar 0,7 por ciento de su producto interno bruto a la asistencia al desarrollo, pero ninguno ha actualizado ese compromiso.

Solo Gran Bretaña ratificó que destinaría ese porcentaje a partir de 2013.

“Hay un claro déficit de ayuda que dificulta a los países pobres canalizar dinero a presupuestos para mejorar los servicios de salud, contratando a enfermeras calificadas e incluso teniendo mejores instalaciones en áreas a las que los pobres puedan acceder fácilmente a ellas”, dijo Dan Badoo, investigador de estrategias públicas.

Pero los donantes no son los únicos que están defraudando a las mujeres africanas.

Once años después de la declaración de Abuja, en el que los jefes de Estado y de gobierno de África se comprometieron a destinar al menos 15 por ciento de sus presupuestos nacionales a la salud de las mujeres, poco se ha visto en el terreno.

Según Save the Children, solo seis de 53 estados miembros de la Unión Africana han alcanzado este compromiso: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Níger, Ruanda y Zambia.

A pesar del devastador impacto que tuvo el genocidio en la población ruandesa, ese país se ha convertido en un ejemplo de cómo priorizar la salud de mujeres y niños.

La tasa de mortalidad materna en Ruanda cayó de 750 por 100.000 nacidos vivos en 2005 a 540 en 2008, según el Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas. Estadísticas del gobierno muestran que la tasa se ubica ahora en 383 muertes maternas por cada 100.000 nacidos vivos.

Mientras, “Malawi es uno de los países pioneros. Destina 15 por ciento de su presupuesto en salud, salvando unas 13.000 vidas”, destacó Philips.

En cambio, Kenia es uno de los rezagados en este aspecto, vuelca apenas cinco por ciento de su presupuesto a la salud materna. Ese país es uno de los que ha hecho menos avances hacia la meta 5 de los ODM, según un informe de 2010.

“En este contexto, la conexión entre la ayuda y salvar vidas es clara. La eficacia de la ayuda tiene que ver con prestar servicios sociales que permitan a las personas tener vidas decentes y explotar todo su potencial”, dijo Badoo.

Las madres que mueren durante el parto en tugurios como los de Old Fadama o Jamestown en Accra, Ghana, de Kiberia en Kenia o de Kyalisha en Sudáfrica son una muestra de que los gobiernos africanos no están atendiendo correctamente el problema.

“Cuando decimos que es el cuarto Foro de Alto Nivel suena técnico y elitista. Lo que las personas comunes y pobres realmente necesitan es experimentar cómo la ayuda a la salud puede darle una mejor calidad de vida y salvar a las madres y niños”, subrayó Philips.

LIMA, Nov 29, 2011 (IPS) – Three countries in South America’s Andean region, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, have a great deal to teach and share with those meeting in Busan, South Korean this week to discuss, among other things, how to make sure that development aid incorporates a gender focus in order to be effective.

Indigenous women from the Andes, like these women queuing up in a village in Peru's Puno region, require budgets and aid with a gender focus. Credit:Milagros Salazar/IPS

“Tell me what you spend on and I’ll tell you what your priority is,” Juana Quispe, who lives in one of the dusty shantytowns in the hills on the outskirts of Lima, told IPS.

She is convinced that only if the government invests in reducing inequality between men and women will progress be made on that front, just as she puts a priority in her own budget on feeding her two children.

Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru have taken different steps to recognise the different needs, concerns, interests and realities of men and women, and to assign resources to reducing inequality.

U.N. Women has created gender responsive budgeting (GRB) as a special tool for combating this inequality.

Quispe bases her views on her experiences in her bleak dun-coloured working-class neighbourhood which is home to thousands of migrants from the country’s impoverished highland regions.

But she concurs with what Mónica Novillo, head of advocacy and lobbying at the Coordinadora de la Mujer, a Bolivian umbrella organisation made up of 26 women’s groups, told IPS.

“It is only possible to close the gender gap if public policies are implemented towards that specific objective, and if these policies are adequately funded,” she said in La Paz.

U.N. Women stresses that reducing gender inequality requires not only incorporating the issue in public policies, but also assessing the effectiveness of the funding earmarked for that purpose by national governments and of the development aid that is received.

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, running from Tuesday Nov. 29 to Thursday Dec. 1 in Busan, is seeking to improve the impact of development aid, under the premise that the effort will require a priority focus on gender.

In this respect, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru have a great deal to offer, in terms of the progress they have made as well as the pending challenges.

Peru, for example, has made advances on the legislative front. A law that went into effect in 2007 stipulates that each of the country’s 25 administrative regions must have a plan for promoting equal opportunities for women.

And the general budget law was amended that same year to require that all government institutions assess their policies and programmes with a view to adopting a gender perspective.

“No other country has a law with that mandate,” Karen Suárez, coordinator of GRB in U.N. Women Peru, told IPS. “This is a huge stride, because it is obligatory.”

But the new laws have not yet been fully implemented. So far, 17 of the country’s regions have drafted an equal opportunity plan for women, while only five have a full understanding of the requirement that gender spending must be assessed, Cecilia Beltrán, who heads the women’s rights section at the Defensoría del Pueblo (ombudsman’s office), told IPS.

“The reality is different in every region, and these differences are not yet seen,” said Beltrán, who added that “gender budgeting and its implementation with a view to closing gaps is not being prioritised.”

In the central government, the Ministry of Economy and Finance is promoting the implementation of budgets that reflect concrete results. In the view of U.N. Women, this could help make the effort to reduce inequalities more effective.

Under this approach, four pilot programmes are being carried out at the national level, related to projects involving productive activities, to diversify the traditional focus of programmes against violence.

“Our aim is for not just any activity related to women to be seen as investment in reducing inequality. That means both a greater effort and a change of mentality are needed,” said Suárez.

U.N. Women estimates that in 2011 Peru has earmarked 151 million dollars, or 0.7 percent of the budget, to visibilising and reducing the gender gap. But that amount only includes regional and central government programmes against domestic violence and assistance for children, as there are no complete figures yet as to what has been spent on gender questions in the country.

Suárez says it is first necessary to work on establishing clear, specific criteria on what GRB means – on the part of the Peruvian government as well as in terms of international cooperation.

“Without that, it is very difficult to monitor the budget and the results,” she added.

Ecuador has taken its own approach. It has a unique gender equity office in the Finance Ministry, since the 2008 constitution stipulated that a gender focus must be incorporated in the national budget and planning.

To live up to that requirement, the ministry adopted gender equity among its functions in the 2010 budget, under the letter “K”. That same year a new planning and finance code was established, which includes a focus on equality and stipulates the incorporation of expenditure to close the gender gap.

“The funds for gender equity were all over the place, and this way we found a transparent way to identify where they were and how to target the resources,” Soraya Arévalo, director of gender equity in the ministry, told IPS.

In 2010, the so-called “Función K” won an international prize in Germany, among other reasons because of its transparency, user-friendliness and availability to be replicated by any other country in their computer systems.

For the 2012 budget, Ecuador has improved that function with a “spending orientation classification” system – a computer accounting code that makes it possible to register and group all of the national government’s expenditure on behalf of women.

“It also makes it easier to link the budget with public policies and national planning,” said Arévalo, who noted that employees in the public sector in the country’s seven regions have already been trained in using the new tool. She added that representatives of women’s groups taking part in a national meeting said it was easy to use and very useful in their oversight work.

With this new classification system, in the national budget for 2012, 1.245 billion dollars in expenditure – 7.5 percent of the total – has already been projected for closing the gender gap. And this figure includes only current expenditure of the central government, she said.

Using Función K in 2011, only 31 million dollars in expenditure were registered, “because it was more complicated to discern” this kind of spending, she said.

Arévalo said the classification system will also facilitate informing donors about what is needed to close the gender gap, and will make it easier for them to verify how their aid is being used.

In Ecuador, the focus on GRB has been growing at a national level because the incorporation of a gender focus is a constitutional mandate for all branches of the state. But rules about budgeting with a gender perspective are only binding for the central government, and not for municipal and provincial authorities.

In Bolivia, by contrast, these efforts have emerged at the local level.

Since 2006, municipal governments have had to assign resources to the gender policy programme. And since July 2010, the framework law on autonomy and decentralisation has made a focus on gender equity mandatory, and requires that planning mechanisms be created with the participation of civil society.

Due to the process of growing local and provincial autonomy in Bolivia, the promotion of these issues “at the local and indigenous levels takes on special importance to guarantee that public policies reflect the diverse realities of women,” Novillo told IPS.

The head of advocacy at the Coordinadora de la Mujer said “this is a historical moment for putting women on the agenda at the local and national levels,” and for gender equity to be taken into consideration as a step forward in the development of people and the reduction of poverty.

* With reporting by Estrella Gutiérrez. (END)

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 29 , 2011 (IPS) – Key actors meeting in Busan on Tuesday, the first day of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), lay emphasis on inclusive ownership, mutual accountability and the platform of the groundbreaking 2005 Paris Declaration.

Credit: IPS TerraViva

Speakers representing donor and recipient governments and civil society experts stressed the importance of going beyond technical targets to meet challenges in achieving inclusive indicators that are commonly based on concrete figures in poverty reduction.

Addalah Kigoda, from the Tanzanian government, pointed out the lack of parliamentary accountability in many aid recipient countries where budgets and economic planning remain in the domain of the executive.

“The governments’ development plans are aimed at selected areas that are served by the politicians in power. It is to this sector that the government takes responsibility. As a result, there is a tug-of-war with other parliamentarians when it comes to bringing in mutual responsibility,” he said.

Developing mechanisms to create diverse stakeholders, including citizen participation in decision-making and implementation of balanced partnerships to achieve transparency and poverty reduction have been defined as some of the landmarks of ownership and accountability.

The concepts are aimed to encourage domestic accountability that will foster development efficiency through the participation of grassroots-level citizens. The test in Busan is to implement political commitments to strengthen the process and move away from shaping aid narrowly through donor disbursements.

Still, surveys post-Paris indicate that more than 60 percent of donor and developing countries have not met their targets.

Faumuina Liga, representing the ministry of finance, Samoa, and a chief aid negotiator of his country, likened the Paris Declaration to a chicken that has been given the freedom to roam around but with one of its legs still tied.

“We blame each other when things do not succeed. But the key to good accountability is to develop a dialogue between the stakeholders. We cannot separate the donor and recipient,” Liga stressed.

Samoa has raised its profile as a country that has taken steps to push forward a culture of mutual accountability. The Pacific island has implemented new coordination mechanisms that create an inclusive space for multiple stakeholders to participate in national development.

For example, local civil society organisations (CSOs) and the private sector have joined panels to prepare national strategies to work towards development, said Liga. Samoa will be upgraded from its current status as a least developed country in 2014 and join the World Trade Organisation next year.

The process has worked. Samoa is now, according to reports from the Pacific Island Forum, able to discuss road maps for national development with donor countries and multilateral lending institutions.

Mutual accountability also remains a sticking point for donor countries. Martin Dahinden, director, Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency, pointed to pressure from tax payers in donor countries who expect concrete improvement in poverty eradication in shorter spaces of time.

“The danger in this short-sighted aid is to pluck the low-lying fruit and view short-term results as the goal. There must be more time spent to communicate the negative implications of this thrust by developing new areas for more dialogue to promote understanding,” he said.

An example of the risks of short-term accountability is aid being used to supply vaccines while ignoring human rights violations, the latter an area where results can take longer.

Experts pointed to the need to move ahead in achieving effectiveness in Busan to combat widening development issues – the emergence of new aid players against a backdrop of global disillusionment with the results of trillions of dollars already spent in overseas development.

Counter methods included the urgent need to monitor and disseminate success stories of mutual accountability, such as gaining the trust of grassroots communities that often feel ignored in the aid debate.

An example in Ethiopia is a case in point. The country’s Protection of Basic Services launched in 2006 is supported by 11 donors and is expected to receive additional support from the World Bank’s fund for low-income countries.

The programme, working closely with CSOs, has improved public service delivery in education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation and rural roads to meet the MDGs. Child immunisation has increased from 70 percent in 2005 to 82 percent in 2010.

An external evaluation of the new measures indicate that citizens now have more trust in aid and are better aware of their rights.

Chang Hyun-sik, expert at South Korea’s finance ministry, summed up his country’s experience of moving from aid recipient to donor, explaining that local ownership and accountability have been a key in the national success story.

“American aid played a vital road in South Korea’s development and the lesson in our story is we did it by explaining our national goals. This is the way forward,” he said.

Some 2,000 delegates will, until Dec. 1, review progress in improving the the effectiveness of aid, before making commitments towards a new development paradigm.

END