The Foreign Affairs Council of the EU has agreed the EU position on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting scheduled to take place in New York, September 2010.

In the agreement, the EU underlines the interdependence of the MDGs with human rights, gender equality, democracy, good governance, development, peace and security, as well as climate and energy. It also supports a strengthened focus on trade and finance, climate change, food security, migration and security as the most relevant policy areas for meeting the MDGs, and calls for principles of aid effectiveness to apply to all donor spending.

Whilst the EU agreement indicates that the MDGs require taking account of local contexts and calls for greater policy coherence, it does not explicitly identify local government as a strategic partner in MDG delivery. 

In February this year the UN Development Programme (UNDP) produced a global update of progress which indicated that good democratic governance remains a critical ingredient for achieving sustained results; “The evidence is clear. Without effective and accountable institutions, systems, processes and political will, economic gains are not automatically translated into development outcomes or registered as MDG achievements’.

This principal applies as much, if not more so, to the local level as it does to national and regional spheres. The UNDP study demonstrates that good practice requires effective local as well as national institutions; “democratic governance is seen as essential for creating an enabling environment for MDG progress and for imbuing national and local institutions with systems, processes and values that respect people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms; an environment where the poor can hold their leaders to account and are protected from arbitrary action in their lives by government, private institutions and other forces; and where governing institutions are responsive and accountable.”

Recently, Hull City Council in the UK initiated a joint project with Freetown in Sierra Leone on improving contract and Public Private Procurement procedures. The project aims to ensure value for money and transparency in commissioning of services, with a particular focus on waste management. Hull is working with Freetown City Council to support them in their role as a coordinator and commissioner, to try and bring together many of the aid actors that are trying to deliver various programmes around water, waste and sanitation in their community. By focussing on the elements that underpin good practice, the two partner councils expect that the project will have a longer term impact and will be transferable to other areas of council activity. The European Union and other donors should look at this and many other local government examples as an indicator of how they should focus their attention in future – strengthening local governments’ institutional capacity to ensure sustained programmes that will actually benefit those who most need it.

Sources:

EU Foreign Affairs Council conclusions

UNDP Beyond the Midpoint report, February 2010

News source: IISD, 14 June 2010

UK Local Government Alliance for International Development Interaction Toolkit