WORKSHOP C- THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Johannesburg, South Africa
59th Workshop C - 4 September 2013
CHALLENGES OF ATTAINING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS BY 2015
Moderator: Hon. Idris Bin Haron, MLA (Malaysia)
Discussion Leaders: Hon. Mlungisi Johnson, MP (South Africa) Hon. Anglu Farrugia, MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives, (Malta) Mr Agafili Patisela Eteuati Tolovaa, MP (Samoa) Mr Charles Chauvel, Parliamentary Development Adviser, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Summary
There was general agreement from the delegates that progress had been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, they also acknowledged that there was more work to be done. It was observed that progress had been slow on the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment. It was emphasized that the introduction of the quota system had increased women representation in some countries. A challenge that still remained was with regard to the existing inadequate funding to ensure that there was true gender equality beyond just numbers.
Increasing the role of Legislatures
Hon. Mlungisi Johnson, MP, begun 262 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Four
by encouraging all countries to present its development plans which were guiding their development goals. The MDGs were a framework which was established to help focus and strengthen development efforts by development partners and also created a platform to provide a mechanism for measuring performance.
Mr Johnson indicated that there were a number of challenges that had impacted on the achievements of the MDGs. In reference to South Africa, these were access to land, high levels of unemployment, water scarcity, conflict, climate change and research and development. These challenges stemmed from a lack of commitment and the will to implement multilateral agreements, such as the Maputo Declaration, to increasing budgets to 10 per cent for agricultural purposes.
Additional declarations such as the Monterrey Consensus which would have seen 0.7 per cent of GNP being utilized to support developing countries by the developed countries also contributed to the mounting challenges.
He recognized that progress had also been made in many of these MDGs and it should be noted. Mr Johnson felt that the goals could still be attained if all the relevant stakeholders worked together to develop relevant national development plans with the corresponding budgets, in order to address the inequalities that existed. He focused on the following key points as a solution to unlocking the existing challenges. Parliamentarians not only play a crucial role in achieving the MDGs, but Parliament has a responsibility to hold government
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