Title Page		  
Chapter 1:
Guide to this Manual		  
Chapter 2:
Millennium Development Goal Campaign
  1. The Millennium Declaration
  2. The Millennium Development Goals
  3. What is special about the Millennium Development Goals?
  4. The “No Excuse” Campaign
  5. The United Nations’ role and responsibilities for the campaign
  6. The Millennium Development Goals Campaign Unit
  7. Government’s role and responsibilities for the campaign
  8. Civil society’s role and responsibilities for the campaign
  9. The private sector’s role in the campaign
  10. The role of other actors in the campaign
  11. Case Study: The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
  
Chapter 3:
Campaigning toolkit 		 
Chapter 4:
Campaign Tools		  
Chapter 5:
Campaign Skills		  
Chapter 6:
Campaign Tips		  
Chapter 7:
Links to Campaign Resources		  
   
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Chapter 2: Section 2.8
Millennium Development Goal Campaign

Civil society’s role and responsibilities for the campaign

Governments are responsible for achieving the MDGs. What is lacking is the political will to make this happen. Political will is not fixed, however. It can be changed if citizens hold their governments, donors and the private sector to account. In taking up the MDG Campaign, we refuse to be the generation that missed the opportunity to make the difference. After more than four decades of failed international targets it is time to do things differently.

Reflecting on the past, it is clear that acting together and focusing on the same issues are essential if we are to have a chance of changing the power balance and securing our vision. Each organisation and network will already be working on their own issues. By linking our work to the individual MDGs and the Millennium Declaration we can build up significant pressure on politicians.

Civil society can play a role by:

  • Raising awareness about the MDGs.
  • Engaging in actions to put pressure on decision-makers and monitoring what government is doing and/or supporting your government by providing examples of how it can be done.
  • Strengthening existing local and national campaigns by linking them to an integrated international campaign. The eight goals are ones that thousands of civil society organisations (CSOs) have advocated for decades. The MDGs therefore provide a focus for building networks and partnerships. Through these partnerships, CSOs can provide examples of how we can make the MDGs real and relevant to local struggles, and can also strengthen campaigns by providing expertise, credibility and sometimes funding.
   

Jubilee debt relief campaign links up with MDGs

The vision of the Jubilee Debt Relief Campaign is a world in which the people of the poorest countries are liberated from the crushing burden of debt, and in which the future financial arrangements between rich and poor nations are founded on fairness, accountability and transparency. NGOs around the world have united to campaign for debt relief for poor countries.

Agencies linked to the Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign have long argued that debt reduction needs to be linked to poverty reduction.

MDG literature acknowledges that aid shortages persist, even after the Monterrey Financing promises. Without a near doubling of aid, most low-income countries (LICs) and hence most of Africa are unlikely to achieve the MDGs.

The Jubilee campaign argues that if the achievement of the MDGs is accorded the priority it deserves, further debt reduction will be essential. This is because the LICs do not have the necessary internal fiscal revenue, and they cannot necessarily count on sufficient foreign aid to fill the revenue gap.
(CAFOD, H Northover, October 2003)

 

   

The People’s Budget and Basic Income Grant (BIG) Campaign in South Africa

For the past three years, South African trade unions, churches and NGOs have collaborated to develop an alternative budget framework called The People’s Budget. The initiative analyses the poverty trap in which half of South Africa’s population lives and proposes an alternative macroeconomic framework based on developmental intervention by the government. The People’s Budget recommends a review of fiscal policy towards developmental objectives, including the provision of national health insurance and a basic income grant to address the crisis of unemployment facing South Africa.

The People’s Budget was preceded by national poverty hearings conducted by the national NGO coalition, in which communities throughout the country were called upon to provide input on the conditions of poverty and underdevelopment in their communities. It also included follow-up People’s Budget hearings where CSOs, especially community-based organisations, were asked to give input on what they believed the national budget should prioritise. A similar model of popular budget hearings was later adopted by the Gauteng provincial government.

The Basic Income Grant (BIG) campaign grew out of the People’s Budget process. The BIG campaign proposes that a 100 Rand universal grant be provided to all those living in South Africa as a development grant to break the cycle of poverty in which the poor are caught. BIG researchers estimate that the provision of a basic income grant would reduce South Africa’s poverty gap by 74%, lifting 6.3 million people above the poverty line. They also demonstrate that the provision of BIG is affordable.

The BIG campaign falls entirely in the MDG framework. However, there has been no reference to the MDGs in any BIG research or campaigning activities. This is largely due to the low levels of awareness about the MDGs among CSOs in Southern Africa. Another contributing factor is the gap that exists between CSOs operating at the national level and multilateral institutions such as UNDP, at least in South Africa.

Increased communication about the MDGs with the CSOs active in the BIG campaign can result in the integration of the MDG framework and the BIG campaign. This can provide a boost to the MDG Campaign, especially to its advocacy efforts with government and the public awareness drive on the MDGs.

(N Gabriel, the MDGs: Towards a civil society perspective on reframing poverty reduction strategies in Southern Africa, Southern African MDG forum, July 2003)

 

 

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