Martin Henry THE LARGEST-ever gathering of world leaders took place under United Nations (UN) auspices in September 2000. The leadership of 189 nations, with many heads of state, met to set up 'Millennium Development Goals'.
The UN is very much in the news these days over the conflict in Iraq. Its sidelining by the United States and a handful of allies in carrying out the war has led many to question the relevance and future of the UN. And its own operations in Iraq have been blown up, forcing a scaling down of its operations with withdrawal being considered.
The organisation, in 58 years, has not succeeded in its objective of getting its multiplying members to beat their weapons into ploughshares. But through a range of agencies, some very useful work has been done, and continues to be done, by the UN. One very useful service performed, for the last 13 years, by one of its agencies, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is the annual publication of the Human Development Report (HRD).
The HDR indexes countries on a human development index based on a basket of social and economic factors. The rankings usually have some surprises and generate some controversies.
LANGUISHING IN JAIL
For instance, Cuba is 26 places ahead of Jamaica while executing hijackers fleeing the country, having dissidents languishing in jail and receiving a petition with over 14,000 signatures calling for a referendum on civil liberties. But one is far less likely to be murdered in Cuba than in Jamaica. The country has a near 100 per cent literacy rate, a year more of life expectancy, and, surprisingly, a higher per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The arrival of the HDR in Jamaica has been rather low-keyed this year. But for years it has been a must-buy, must-read for me. The compilation of easy-to-follow comparative development data is hard to match. This year the thematic report focuses on the Millennium Development Goals which the world set in 2000. The eight goals seek to reduce poverty, promote human dignity and equality, and work towards peace, democracy and environmental sustainability. The eight goals are pretty straightforward. If only achieving them could be as simple as stating them!
These goals are to:
- eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- achieve universal primary education
- promote gender equality and empower women
- reduce child mortality
- improve maternal health
- combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- ensure environmental sustainability
- develop a global partnership for development
When we are gentler with ourselves, we recognise that Jamaica is not too badly off on any of these goals.
Our Prime Minister was at the UN last week again advocating more aid for developing countries, including Jamaica. Much to the chagrin of our beggarly Government, international agencies and developed countries do not regard us as being among the poor.
On the 2003 Human Development Index, at 78/175, we are near the top end of the medium human development band. We have long achieved, or are approaching First-World ranking, on several factors like life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality, gender equality, and access to primary education. Hunger and malnutrition have been much reduced in Jamaica, and despite criticism of the Prime Minister's claim of poverty reduction, poverty in 2003 is quite a different condition from just a generation ago. Poverty now wears shoes and sports a cell phone. Malaria was declared eradicated 30 years ago in 1963 and many other tropical infectious diseases are under control.
The Government now needs to bring under control crime and corruption, our two biggest growth industries, stimulate economic growth, fix the manageable problems in education, health care and infrastructure and watch us rise to match Barbados, the Caribbean's number one country at number 27, right up there in the middle of the high human development league. Most of the English-speaking Caribbean leads us, with the exception of St Vincent and the Grenadines (No. 80) Guyana (No. 92) and Grenada (No. 93).
Surprises here!
When one moves from the world to the CARICOM region, comparisons become painful. Why with all our assets are we trailing so badly? This year's HDR, fatter than usual, has 38 pages of comparative data on movement towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by countries.
LIVING BELOW US$1 A DAY
These tables give data on indices like the examples following, with Jamaica's most recent numbers quoted in brackets : population living below US$1 a day (2%), children underweight for age (4%), infant mortality rate (20 per 1000), maternal mortality ratio (120 per 100,000), ratio of girls to boys in education -- primary (0.96), secondary (1.02), tertiary (1.86), female share of non-agricultural wage labour (46%), population with sustainable access to an improved water source ( 85% rural, 98% urban) and total debt service as % of exports (16.8).
"The Goals", the HDR 2003 says, "will succeed only if they mean something to the billions of individuals for whom they are intended. The goals must become a national reality, embraced by their main stakeholders people and governments. They are a set of benchmarks for assessing progress - and for enabling poor people to hold political leaders accountable. They help people fight for the kinds of policies and actions that will create decent jobs, improve access to schools and root out corruption. They are also commitments by national leaders, who must be held accountable for their fulfilment by their
electorates."
Very nice. But there's always the "but". Fresh from lobbying at the UN, perhaps the Most Honourable Prime Minister, in his last days in office, could seriously push the numerous development plans generated in this country since 1989 and leave a brighter legacy.
Martin Henry is a
communication consultant.
