Transcripts For ALJAZAM Inside Story 20151007

Welcome to inside story. Im ray suarez. 15 years ago, a conference of the worlds nations agreed to the Millennium Development goals. The ambitious set of targets were meant to lift the worlds poore poorest eradicating poverty, and many more things. It was time limited and came to a close this year. The world did well. Around the world the way health and poverty are conventionally measured show improvement. Ambitious. Reporter back in 2000 the former u. N. Secretary general came up with the plan, the Millennium Development goals consisted of eight targets. The mdgs would run for 15 years. That time is now up. So was it a success . Well, its mixed. One target was to half the proportion of People Living on less than a dollar a day. That was met in 2010. The other goal, reduce the Maternal Mortality ratio, that number did not go down at all. Theres a whole new set of complex and Ambitious Goals called the sustainable Development Goals. Theyll be called the global goals. There are many pressing issues for them to discuss this week including the refugee crisis in europe and conflicts in the middle east. Do they risk being overshadowed . I think our goals matter. If you invest in them, we will put syria out of business and its war. Well put the migration issue out of business. People will remain in their countries. Migration will be about planned migration and not forced. I think that we are the panacea for many of the issues that we see today. You have the 17 goals, the answer to resolving many of the crises that will come. One of the biggest issues wont be completely covered by the new goals. The sustainable Development Goals will include the commitment to tackle Climate Change but it remains a highly controversial issue and the details will have to be worked out at another special summit meeting in paris in november. Im joined first by paul obrian, Vice President for policy for oxfam america. If we think of this as the worlds to do list, are the sustainable Development Goals that different from what was in the Millennium Development goals . Yes, they are. Three important pways. First, unlike the mdgs, they dont plan to make incremental progress. They plan to finish the job. So eradicate extreme poverty. Theres no reason why 900 Million People live on less than 1. 25 a day. They want to tackle some of the chronic global challenges were facing like Climate Change and inequality and failure of governorance. Those are in there as well. The third reason is they represent the legitimate aspirations of the developing countries where so much extreme poverty still exists. We now have goals like Economic Growth, energy, industrialization, infrastructure. Those goals now represent the legitimate aspirations of the global community. And finally one of the things we love about them if they dont just apply in developing countries. They apply here too. You know, my colleague james sort of sent out a report card and when he said that Maternal Health had missed the mark, i guess theres a couple of ways of looking at it. In gross terms if you measure the entire world it missed the mark. But some countries met and exceeded the goals while others fell far short. Right. I dont know. Glass half empty. Half full . Im not sure what to make of those numbers where some of these measurements had stars who took the goals and ran with them behind. Thats right. I think one of the big things that the Global Development community has realized is that you cant just increase aid, deliver it to the places where people are poorest, and expect results to turn around automatically. We still need aid. There are countries without the resources. We need political will in each country to do their own job. We need the institutions that are not just going to deliver it for a day but sustain ably over time. So one thing thats happened is sta sustainable Development Goals is no longer just a conversation in places like new york and washington but it will also be a conference in developing countries. Youre right, some countries will take ownership in meeting their goals and others probably will fall behind. My guess is those countries falling behind will find themselves in the International Political wilderness if they dont step up. Theres the rub. The Donor Community has to figure out how to respond. Do you concentrate on the places that have not succeeded, the National Ministries of health that really are disorganized. Or do you put more money in the places that have run ahead and been stars to encourage what theyre doing . How do you calibrate your response to a globe where some people are succeeding and some are not. Thats right. I think what donors have to face is use their aid in far more sophisticated ways than before. You cant create political will where it doesnt exist. You cant fix a problem that the local Political Leadership doesnt want to fix because theyll find a way to waste that money. But you can find a way to help countries that are genuinely committed and at the same time incentivize those countries to start looking more into how to fix their problems. In some countries, youll work along side that government to build those hospitals and skills because theyre demonstrating will to use their own money too. But in other countries, youll use aid to clean up corruption or fix the institutions that dont have the will the. There are many more goals set out in the sustainable Development Goals than there were in the millennium goals. Yes. Does that send you rushing off in 16 Different Directions instead of being more focused and targeted, it seems like because there are so many goals, its for diffuse. It is. But its also more comprehensive. This agenda finally represents not just what donors want to do for developing countries but what they want to do for themselves and some of these big chronic challenges like inequality and planet change. The trick is you cant invest in all 17 goals at the same time with the same resources. We have the money to address all 17 goals over time. But its not just aid money. Its going to be about tax money. Its going to be about making sure that private sector corporations are better regulated to leave behind more of what should be National Wealth by taking out the natural wealth. So were going to need to look in new ways for new sources of finance and be strategic about how to use one source of finance like aid to unlock other money like, for example, tax resources or private sector revenue. Paul. Thanks, ray visit the countries where poverty is heavily concentrated and the challenges of daily life are so many its hard to know what to fix first. As the world embarks on the sustainable Development Goals, what do you do first . Get rich, not dirty. Its tin side story. Thats what i want to hear. Give me all youve got. Now. Bootcamp. Stop your whinin. For bad kids. If they get a little dirty, so what. We have shackles, we have a spit bag. Theyre still having nightmares. If you cant straighten out your kids. Theyre mine. This is the true definition of tough love. Youre watching inside story. Im ray suarez. The sustainable Development Goals. Get rich, not dirty. This time on the program, different ngos agree on the destination. They dont always agree on the best road to get there. If you set out to help make life better for the poorest third of humanity, two and a half billion people, what would you put at the top of the list . Education, healthcare, clean energy, clean water . And is there a Development Approach that actually unlocks the path to other improvements. Joining me now, marie clark, executive director of action aid u. S. A. Casey doning for the center of Global Development. And jessica bowers. Is there a hierarchy of values . Do you have to choose to do something first and phase in these goals . I think thats the Million Dollar question. With these goals we had a whole package of goals and it was less of a pick and choose. However, with 17 goals, its a pretty large agenda now. So the question is will countries take the whole package . Or will it become a menu of options . So if youre more focused on infrastructure, then youll highlight that goal. If you have a higher rate of Maternal Mortality, youll hit that. So i think thats the question in terms of the efficacy of these goals. Jessica, resources are limited. You cant do everything everywhere. So if youre in a Development Ministry more in the global south, how do you have this conversation . How do you figure out, well, we have to put the money here instead of here . Well, i think the beauty is that you dont really have to. I mean, if you elevate one goal, you elevate another. For example, the gender equity goal is critical to maternalal health. When women are more able to access care, they have more equal access to opportunities, theyll have better health. When they have better health, so will their children and families. So its all linked. But some of them just seem so much harder than others. You named Maternal Mortality. I was in guatemala where the average woman is pregnant nine or ten times in her life and it really reduces their life expectancy. Untying that knot, saying to women you can control your fertility, that involves a lot of other things besides just Maternal Mortality. Thats education. Bringing men alone. Organizing daily life differently. Its tough. Its true and its certainly no easy task to eliminate global poverty and improve the lives of those around the world. But i think its important to know that they are all so closely linked. You know, you make more money, you can get a better education. Youre healthier. You can contribute more to the economy. Its all so interwoven. Are there, marie clark, Development Approaches envogue now so when you talk to people they already have an idea. I think weve certainly heard some clear refrains. Economic growth is critical. But if its unequal growth, we wont find we have a Sustainable Growth or the opportunity to be able to address these issues. But i think in order for us to be successful, we need to take a hard look at where wealth and power lie and the rules of the game and the systems that exist and ask whether or not the trajectory weve been on in terms of development is one thats actually going to realize these important goals like an end to poverty and zero hunger. We would argue that actually we do need to take a critical look and that if we continue to play the Development Game in the same way with a big focus on priva privatizing development, big focus foc focus if we dont address some of those coming together, were not going to be able to realize these goal does it have to be coordinated or can basically ngos that do edge occasion say, all right, were going to take the Education One and do that. Thats what we do and were good at it. And the food ngos will say well do food and move on in that way . I would sincerely hope so because the key part of this new agenda is the sustainable part. And so if were doing this right, its not actually going to be ngos in 15 years doing it but the government or perhaps local ngos. So i would Hope International ngos who have been doing education for 50 someodd years are working with the ministry of education and the ministry is using its own domestic resources to help these programs and build capacities and have this kind of transition from tide just regular working order. Jessica bowers, women are the lynch pin of many of these separate items even though we might not directly think of them in that way. But if theyre spending half their day getting water or teenagers are, theyre not going to school. If theyre spending half their day getting wood or producing twothirds of the food and fiber for the community but dont own any land and cant get loans for seed or fertilizer, it all involves women but we dont think of them as womens problems necessarily, energy and agriculture, things like that. Can you continually put him at the center of these things to remind women that theyre there . I think whats been really great over the last 15 years, we have not made as much progress as we should have of course especially on Maternal Mortality. That goal lagged more than any other. But i think that increasingly you see globally people act knowledging the Important Role of women and how crucial they are if we want to eliminate poverty. There was a study a few weeks ago that just came out not to devalue the human rights issue because it is all human rights but they estimated that i think 28 trillion if we achieve gender pairty sglsh thats like adding two united stateses. And a china. Were going to continue this conversation. Were putting environmentally directed goals at the heart of the Development Plan to give people what they need. Is there a widelyshared idea of development that includes clean and affordable energy, protecting water and land . The old idea was make money first and then worry about those other things. Are the sustainable Development Goals an improvement . Get rich, not dirty. Its inside story. Inside story takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the soundbites. Were giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. Welcome back to inside story. Im ray suarez. The recently adopted sustainable Development Goals include a lot of the features of the Millennium Development goals, poverty reduction, better food and education. The stgs raised the profile of green sustainable progress, and a more fleshed out picture of a more just society. Is that a better approach, is a more wholistic approach to development a lot more than just per capita g. D. P. What is called for, with so much unmet need around the world. Jessica bawers, casey and mary are with me. When you saw the new goals, and saw how many were to do with the land, water, nature of the development. What is that, to you, a good and important addition. Absolutely. One of the nice things about sustainable Development Goals is that Civil Society and problems is building out the goals and commitments, accessing something in control to land and resources and good stewardship of hem. It has been for developing governments to feel that they need to make deals with big agribusiness to consolidate a lot of land. That model is the way to find development and food security. Corporations are not feeding the world. Those in Subsaharan Africa are feeding 80 of their countries, if we think about how to implement the goals, that give women right to access and control the land, and Natural Resources that invest in womens smallholder farmers, that can build out sustainable systems, so we are greening our planet. Discussing emissions, that can be mutually ebbing anies it opportunity. That was a luxury for a long time. You had to drive up g. D. P. Get more money. Is putting the environment something that will slow down people from making more money. No, i dont think so. I look at all the innovations that are coming out, Solar Technology which has been amazing. We invest in solar suitcases which are in clinics to provide electricity, and provide allow Health Workers to charge medical equipment. I think that we see that sustainability does not have to come at the cost of economic wealth. Especially as the innovations continue to improve. Is that message heard in ministries, in the capital city, in the places where they used to dams. Sure. I think so. I think also theres a bit of a cleareyed look at it. I think if you take the energy goal, for example, there are arguments for renewable energy, and more modern sources. If you look at the first target on that goal, the definition of modern energy is what we would use in about three days here, and a year, and thats a definition of modern energy for the poor. I think we do have to obviously build in sustainability, but its a little bit disingenuous to point to the developing countries, and say no coal, no fossil fuels, but there has to be a mix in terms of development, and i think the way to do it was to think about how we integrate the systems, modern energy and infrastructure, but it has to be a cleareyed view if we are talking about Economic Growth and growing countries. The old buzz word used to be appropriate technology. The developing world answered back appropriate for who. You dont need all the things you have right away, and wed like to have them. How do you keep sustainable from getting that same nasty radioactive charge on it. Well i think its exciting because of the leap frogging. If you take mobile phones, which is the you bike wittes example here, you are not going to see power polls and powerlines across Subsaharan Africa, because everyone has a phone. Basically they leapfrogged landlines and went to mobile technology and now they are used for banking and personal identity. You dont need a brick and mortar bank, you just need to have your phone. I think having these new technologies that we have not thought of are the way to have it be sustainable. Marie clark, casey doesnting, senior policy analyst for the center for Global Development and jessica baw, a portfolio director. Ill be back with a final talk on health, wealth and poverty. Stay with us, its inside story. The money fell victim to the politics. Theyre more focused on getting jobs than our education. Sometimes the vast gulf separating rich and poor is so huge and apparent that it can be a little overwhelming. Spending lots of time as a reporter with some of the poorest people on the planet has been jaw dropping and sometimes just depressing. People who worked hard and worked hard every day had little or no opportunity to change their life circumstances. The best they hoped for was to make their lives a little less harsh and maybe provide a foundation for their children to do better. Small things we take for granted in the u. S. Make a huge difference. Not bleeding to death in child birth. A steady supply of cheap drugs allows an handcuff to keep working. Doctors and nurses dont leave their developing countries to sell their services in the developed world. And suddenly leaving you with more money in your pocket because you dont have to spend it to buy that fuel. Here in america we have a very long and sometimes tragic tradition of equating poverty with deficiencies in character. The poor we think just didnt work hard enough or smart enough. Its a stunning insult to the billions who woke up this morning and started their very hard daily work in asia, africa, and latin america. As you sit and watch me in color on a cable tv, remember, youre not better, just a lot luckier. Im ray suarez and thats the inside story. [ ] onamerica tonight, learning lessons. A readyicly new approach to higher ed, but does it work. You see all the times that anyone spoke, typed anything. This is not even possible in a standard classroom. Exactly. America tonight on whether this experiment in education may make the identifyie league reconsider its approach. Also ahead, 100 million in likes. Schools. I taught it would come and fix everything. They robbed the children. The new york new jersey