Africa, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Global Governance, Globalisation, Headlines, Human Rights, Poverty & SDGs

DEVELOPMENT: An Ambitious Agenda for the Helsinki Process

Moyiga Nduru

PRETORIA, Oct 22 2004 (IPS) - Their typical day starts at five in the morning or earlier. Balancing a pot on their heads – and sometimes with a baby strapped to their backs – women in rural Africa may walk up to 12 kilometres a day to fetch water.

Upon returning from the river, these women face additional chores: huts and compounds have to be cleaned, and fields cultivated. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women account for up to 80 percent of food production in many African countries.

In Sudan, about 30 percent of women engage in agriculture – while in the Democratic Republic of Congo the figure is 80 percent, says the FAO. And, it is back-breaking work.

Returning from the fields in the evening, women begin another important task: cooking for their children and spouses.

By the time they finally they finally manage to go to bed, the women are completely exhausted. The following day, the chores start all over again – a poverty trap from which there seems little hope of escape.

However, the Helsinki Process refuses to succumb to the pessimism that this – and countless other scenarios in the developing world – inspire.

This joint initiative of the Finnish and Tanzanian governments, which began about two years ago, focuses on tackling global inequalities with a view to making the world a safer place.

“The premise for the Helsinki Process is the perception that the present approach to global problem solving does not work very well and the institutions with a mandate to make improvements are relatively ineffective, inequitable and undemocratic,” said Flora Musonda, a member of the Helsinki Process secretariat in Tanzania, at a gathering in the South African capital, Pretoria, earlier this month. The meeting was convened by process organisers.

“The process, therefore, advocates for change – and the belief is that change is possible if the right questions are asked, the correct institutions involved and novel solutions are sought,” Musonda added.

The search for these solutions is being spearheaded by the Helsinki Group, jointly chaired by the Finnish and Tanzanian ministers of foreign affairs – Erkki Tuomioja and Jakaya Kikwete.

Ilari Rantakari, ambassador for the Helsinki Process at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland, told the Pretoria meeting that the process aims to promote new partnerships between North and South – as well as between governments, civil society and the private sector.

He hopes that the process can make the international community “more democratically accountable in setting global policies and more compliant in implementing globally agreed policies, such as human rights and the UN Millennium (Development) Goals on poverty and human security.”

Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed on by international leaders at a summit held at the UN in New York, in 2000.

They include halving global poverty, achieving universal primary education and reducing child mortality by two-thirds – all by 2015. The MDGs also seek to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters, combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases – and ensure that development is environmentally sustainable.

Commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Oct. 17, World Bank President James Wolfensohn noted that at current rates of progress, only the MDG for halving poverty is likely to be met by 2015.

“Thanks in particular to poverty reduction efforts in China and India, the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day by 2015 is projected to decrease to just over 12 percent from more than 28 percent, bringing half a billion people out of poverty,” he noted.

“Unfortunately in parts of South Asia, the poverty reduction picture is less promising. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people living in absolute poverty is actually projected to increase. On many of the other Millennium Development Goals, progress is lagging in virtually all regions,” Wolfensohn added.

Fantu Cheru, professor of international development at the American University in Washington, told the Pretoria gathering (held Oct. 15) that time was running out for the world’s poor.

On Sep. 26, Britain announced an initiative to help pay off ten percent of the debt that the 32 poorest countries in the world owe to international creditors (overwhelming debt is commonly agreed to be one of the main factors undermining development in Third World nations).

However, this plan failed to receive the support of other members of the Group of Seven (G7), which comprises the world’s most industrialised countries. The G7 gave the plan a thumbs-down during a meeting held in Washington Oct. 2.

Cheru proposed that five billion dollars from a proposed sale of International Monetary Fund gold reserves be set aside to help developing countries cope with currency fluctuations, erratic commodity prices – and other ills that affect the global economy.

In addition to the deliberations of the Helsinki Group, the Helsinki Process is holding talks on new approaches for addressing problems at a global level – as well as on what it terms the “global economic agenda” and “human security”.

The outcome of these talks will be used by the Helsinki Group in developing recommendations as to how governments and institutions that shape international affairs can do so in a way that makes globalisation more equitable. A final report containing these recommendations is expected by May next year.

While Tanzania and Finland are at the head of the Helsinki Process, Rantakari says efforts are also underway to include South Africa, Algeria, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, India, Canada and other countries in the discussions.

The next round of talks being organised by the process will take place on Oct. 28 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where new strategies for addressing problems at an international level will come under discussion.