Mercy Global Concern - 2003
Human Development: UNDP
Ireland, Mozambique Exemplify
New Compact Between North and South
Dublin and Maputo, July 2003 - The United Nations
Development Fund (UNDP) launched its flagship Human Development
Report for
2003, this week in Ireland and Mozambique, countries that have
demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the North-South partnership
embodied in the Millennium Development Goals, the focus of this
year's report.
"Ireland and Mozambique have led by example in showing
how to make the Global partnership between rich and poor countries
a reality," said Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator
of UNDP
A decade after Mozambique emerged 20 years of civil
war, the country has made the eradication of extreme poverty - the
first of the eight Millennium Development Goals - the central
objective of its development strategy. The government recently
launched a performance-based " poverty observatory" initiative
to better monitor the impact of its efforts to raise the living
standards of the 40 percent of the population that survives on
less than a dollar a day.
Widely admired for its post-conflict transformation
into a vibrant democracy, Mozambique is also making great strides
towards
sustainable economic growth. Per capita Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) had climbed by more than 50 percent since 1990, from
US $743 to US$1,140. This achievement is particularly impressive
for a country that has been battling with HIV/AIDS pandemic - an
estimated 13 percent of the adult population is infected with
the disease - while providing new homes and livelihoods
for more than a million repatriated war refugees. "Reducing
absolute poverty and advancing social and economic development
will help my country integrate itself as a full and equal partner
into the world economy, our ultimate goal," President
Joaquim Chissano said.
Ireland, meanwhile has gone further that most donor countries
of the Northern hemisphere in honoring its pledge to increase
assistance to developing countries that enact pro-poor policies
and democratic reforms.
At the 2000 Millennium Summit, the Taoiseach, Bertie
Ahern, Ireland's Prime Minister, promised to double his country's
overseas development aid (ODA) to 0.7 percent
of the GDP by 2007.
Already Ireland has raised its ODA to 0.41 percent
of GDP, and
all major political parties are on record as supporting annual
increases in Irish ODA until the 0.7 percent is reached in 2007.
On of the major beneficiaries of Irish aid has been
Mozambique, which is slated to receive 28 million Euros this
year under a
bilateral assistance programme that began in 1996 and has greatly
expanded since. The Irish and Mozambican governments have targeted
this aid effort toward the national achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals, with projects focused on education, rural
farming and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Development Cooperation Ireland
works closely with local governments on the two of Mozambique's
poorest provinces, Niassa and Inhambane.
" We will play a constructive role, with our European
partners, fashioning a new world trade agreement," the
Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said. "We will seek to ensure
that the crippling burden of poor country debt remains at the
centre of the development agenda. And we will continue to press
the cause of development and human rights to every available
forum."
" Developing countries can draw inspiration from Mozambique's
growing success in improving the lives of its citizens through
strong, democratic governance policies clearly focused on the
needs of the poor," said Mark Malloch Brown. "Donor
countries, in turn, need to make good on their pledges of trade
and concessions and wider debt relief, while following Ireland's
lead in making the substantial increases in aid needed to help
Mozambique and other poor countries achieve the Millennium goals."
UNDP Press Bulletin - July 2003
UNDP is the United Nations global development network, advocating
for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience
and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP
are on
the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions
to global and national development challenges.
Deirdre Mullan
July 2003
UN -NY
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