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This October has seen encouraging developments in global efforts to combat the scourge of poverty, On 14 October, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced its decision to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 to Abhijit Banerjee of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Esther Duflo, also of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Michael Kremer of Harvard University, “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. The Academy noted that “The Laureates’ research findings – and those of the researchers following in their footsteps – have dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice."
Three days later, on 17 October, the United Nations marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which focused on “acting together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty." In his message, the Secretary-General stressed that ending extreme poverty is at the heart of the world’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build a sustainable future for all. But success in leaving no one behind will remain elusive if we do not target the people who are farthest behind first.
This global setting offered a timely backdrop for spotlighting the contributions of public institutions in fighting poverty, whose role has somehow faded into the background in recent years. This trend should be reversed, if we are to achieve SDG 1 - ending poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. Indeed, according to the Special Edition of the Secretary-General’s Report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, while the decline of global extreme poverty continues, progress has slowed, and the world is not on track to achieve the target of less than 3 per cent of the world living in extreme poverty by 2030. People who continue to live in extreme poverty face deep, entrenched deprivation often exacerbated by violent conflicts and vulnerability to disasters. Strong social protection systems and government spending on key services often help those left behind get back on their feet and escape poverty, but these services need to be brought to scale.
This is where public institutions should step up to the challenge and scale up services to the poor and vulnerable groups. Among other steps that could be taken and adapted to country specific situations, I would recommend the following actions:
First, strengthen national legislative and regulatory frameworks for fighting poverty.
This is already happening on the ground. Recent voluntary national reports (VNRs) indicate that more and more countries are integrating the visions and principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into national legislations, with specific mandates to national and local governments to accelerate the progress toward the SDGs.
Second, strengthen inter-ministerial coordination to ensure a holistic, coordinated and coherent strategy for flighting poverty and achieving the SDGs.
Encouragingly, many national leaders have realized the critical significance of this step. With 17 goals, 169 targets, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for changing the conventional silo mindsets, and adopting a holistic, coordinated and coherent strategic approach toward the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Many leaders took the forward-thinking decision of leading the national SDG endeavour in person, supported by an inter-ministerial senior coordination group. Interestingly, some countries have also entrusted the coordination role to the Treasury or Finance Ministry to coordinate funding for this endeavour.
Third, equipping public servants with the knowledge, mindset and skillsets to fight poverty and advance the progress toward the SDGs.
This is where implementation challenges emerge on multiple fronts. For some years, investing in public services has been a low priority for many governments. Public servants who are on the frontline of ensuring access to basic social services, such as education, basic health care, job training, access to water, sanitation and energy, environmental protection, public safety, access to justice, public transportation, public spaces, essential community social services, etc, are often not given the social and economic recognition they deserve. In addition, many national and local governments have failed to take advantage of digital technology to improve public services to the most vulnerable groups. Empowering public servants with the public recognition and remunerations and skillsets for the 21st century is an imperative that should be given high priority by all governments.
Equally important, putting in place the accountability framework to ensure anti-corruption and transparency in public services, including funding of public services, must go hand in hand with measures to improve public services.
Fourth, strengthening international cooperation on institution-building.
Indeed, this is where the United Nations system can play a catalytic role. To the extent that public institutions often are part of the decision-making process and service providers, there is significant space for mutual learning and exchange of national and local experiences. The United Nations can provide a useful platform for such exchanges. For example, the UN system can catalyse mutual learning and training by identifying and offering capacity development opportunities, in partnership with academic, scientific and technological communities, businesses and civil society groups.
In this regard, there also exist specific guidelines and strategies for implementation. For example, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, during its 2018 session, endorsed a set of 11 principles and 62 related strategies prepared by the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA). These principles and strategies apply to all public institutions, including the administration of executive and legislative organs, the security and justice sectors, independent constitutional bodies and State corporations.
Joint UN-African Union workshop
I am delighted to share an upcoming event that aims to strengthen public institutions – a joint workshop co-organized by UN DESA and African Union’s African Peer Review Mechanism, which is taking place on 30 October to 1 November 2019, in Pretoria, South Africa. The workshop aims to enhance capacity of public servants in Africa to develop reform policies that strengthen institutions for implementation of the SDGs at all levels. You are welcome to follow the discussion at this website: (https://publicadministration.un.org/en/news-and-events/calendar/ModuleID/1146/ItemID/3022/mctl/EventDetails).
Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs