ee THE ROLE OF NGOs IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE - MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS. : BY OKONKWO HILDA IFY AND OHA UCHENNA ERNEST Federal College of Education (Tech), Gombe a os) €Mestoha89@yahoo.com Abstract . Millennium Development Goals és a world project, which is presently championed by the United Nations Organization (UNO). The MDGs has eight point goals, which are; fo eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, o achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduec child mortality; fo improve maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases: to ensure achieving the MDGs. This paper therefore x-rays the relationship between NGOs and UN; the expected roles of NGOs towards achieving the MDGs and some ofthe envisaged problems that will make the NGOs to excel inthe, roles ofmaking the United Nations to‘achieve thé Millennitin Development Goals by the year 2013. eanium Development Goal is an initiative of the United Nations Organization, which was sold to, and iby about 190 member nations of the world, ae This initiative, according to Ann Perkins (2008), came ip at the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in history, in which the UN Millenium Declaration was adopted, committing their nations fo a new Global Partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out.a series oftime “bound ‘arget, witha deadline of 2015, thathave becomeknownasthe ». Millennium DevelopmentGoals, : 4 Farkins, went onto express thatthe Millennium Development Goal isthe world timme-bound and qualified targets {or addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions:-income poverty, hunger diseases, lack of adeqeate Shelter and exclusion- while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. She sessed that there arealso basic human rights Therighis of . each person on the planet to health, education, chelter and security. pm the Millennium Development Goals report of2005, by Kofi Atta Annan, it was portrayed tha progress has been made towards achieving the eight point « agenda of the UN. However, the bone of contention now wif the Progress made "so far, is progressive enough to make the world achieve its aims and objectives of the MDGs seven yearshence, : ti f ; {mn 1945, the constitution ofthe United Nations Organization, the charter tha is today frequently subjected to paPansive interpretation, was framedand adopted. ‘The Organization was born out of fear and hope, as well as Timanistictheory.thatcollectiveactions bythe peoples ofthe worldhave an atoning retributive, stabilizing and Stimulating effect on man's propensity fraction inthe interestof common humanity (Tunde Adennan, 1986)! By 1545, the UN anteceded by certain developments, which coincided with . Nigeria's grappling with het own constitutional evolution within the limiting confines of colonial administration, From the Londos declaretion ot 1941 tothe San Francisco conference of 1945, the intricacies of the United Nations Organization wert woréed utand, its pattem of operation were given firm grounding inthe late forties and fifties. The status which the UN Assumed as the world’s theatre of diplomacy is traceable to its conception and the provision of the eherter which ~ has been reinforced by its very name and mode of operation, ‘The Uited Nations treaty was signed, and by it each contracting party assumed - the obligatiohs to use is resources, militancy. or economic, against those members of the Tripartite pact and its adherents with which such Government was at war. The treaty also required each signer to cooperate with other Government, Signatory thereto, andnot to make a separate armistice or peace withthe enemies CTunde Adennan, 1986) The Voice of Teachers, Vol 1 No. 1, 2009 Iss——$——— ‘OKONKWO HILDA. IFY AND OHA UCHENNA ERNEST ‘When on 26" June, 1945, the United Nations treaty was signed in San Francisco the legal instrument the constitution of the UN, was called “Charter” and it took. on the dual characteristic of being precise and also being subject to flexible interpretation. Its contents haye thus turned out to be all inclusive, yet restrictive under selective interpretation. According to Sharvanti Reddy (2002), 0 ver the years the UN has gained a reputation as a large and unwieldy bureaucracy thats inefficient and wastefill thereby hindering its effectiveness, He noted that in fact, this was one of the main reasons that the USA- the largest contributor to the UN- withheld their dues to the UN during the 1990s, UNisan International: organization whichservces thécontibutons ofthe miemberstaies, especially the rich and influential nations such as USA and Britain which influence the activities and polices of UN. As a proof, Shravanti Reddy (2008), pointed out that United States Senator Rod Grams, Us congressional delegate to the UN General Assembly, has called the UN an “excessively bureaucratic and | dysfunctional organization, in desperate need of an . overhaul” The fect that the USA conditional epayment of their dues on reform provided thes impetus to initiate ‘major reforms within the UN. week : ‘The stand of the US resulted in the former UN’ Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to institute a number of reforms within the UN systéin. Partof the larger reform "has been the creation of the Office of Internal Oversight Service (OIOS) in'1994. OTOS was mandated by the General Assembly to improve the relevance and effectiveness of the ‘organization and to act as an agent of change that promotes responsible administration of resources, a culture of accountability and transparency and improved programme performance. Although the UN exhibits some of the main characteristics of a large bureaucracy, there are also several unique characteristics that can make reforms more _ challenging. Like most bureaucracies, the UN has rules and regulations, a hierarchy of supervision, Méritocracy, and specialization,, Shravanti Reddy noted that while these characteristics are positive and essential for the smooth running ofan organization, they also have negative aspects. Asan example he stated that although rules and regulations provide predictability, they also create what is known as the “red tape” phenomena, Similarly while hierarchy of supervision adds to effective management, it ccanalso ead to-an abuse of authority. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Ata Glance ‘One of the difficulties one faces, is that “Civil Society” itselfis discussed through a variety of terms whose partial equivalence has not been: effectively explored. These includé ‘Non-governmental Organization (NGOs), voluntary associations, nonprofit sector, for profit sector, charitable organizations, benevolent societies ‘and third sectors. Depending on who uses these terms, they may or may not include bodies such a labour unions, trade associations professional societies, or legally unrecognized (and even illegal) bodies such as cartels and crime ings.NGOs has been in progress since the beginning of the century. Many of the points concemiig the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental organizations have been made many times over and some of them over aperiad of decades (Anthony Judge, 1994). ‘NGO is defined as what citizens do together in their own rightat the bidding of no higher authority for the common ‘good, and apart, generally speaking, form direct party political affiliation or alignment, NGOs are not concerned: primarily with power, although it may be ranged against the excessive concentration or abuse of power in any ‘quarter; (Robin Guthrie 1994). NGOs come about beyond the purely legal criteria, Daniel and Yancey (1992) ‘commented on the potential for creating a deeply rooted network of organizations and institutions that mediate between the citizen and the state. NGOs are seen as serving several essential functions; such as; providing a means for expressing and actively addressing the varied and complex ineeds of society; motivating to act as citizens in all aspects of society rather than bowing to or depending on state power and beneficence promoting pluralism and diversity in society, such as protecting and strengthening cultural, ethnic, religious, linguistic and other identities; creating an alternative to centralized state agencies for providing service with greater independence and flexibility; establishing the mechanisms by which governments and the market can be held accountable by the public. ‘he relationship between NGOs and UN: Non-governmental Organizations help to found the UN: Article-71 of the United Nations Charter provides for consultations with NGOs. the UN system maintains formal associations with a number and variety of major NGOs, The UN Organizes and hosts briefings, meetings and conferences for NGO representatives, who are accredited to UN Offices, Programmes and Agencies. [56“THE ROLE OF NGOs IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, ——————— ‘The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) emphasize ever increasing partnerships of the United Nations with Civil Society Organization (CSOs) including with the private Sector and with other International Organizations. The UNalsopartners with celebrities such as Matt Damon and Wyclef Jean at nightto help focus the world on the work of the Organization. Given the diverse nature of the larger number of NGOs relations between NGOs and the UN have at times. been stormy. NGOs face a constant battle to be heard at the UN and often must compete with business and other private section organizations towards which the UNis increasingly friendly. While some NGO8 enjoy excellent access to meetings and good relations with UN Officials and delegates, Governments sometimes react negatively to NGOs advocacy and seek to restrict NGO opportunities. NGOs wantto participate in global decision-making, so they want to interact with global institutions like the UN, NGOs need access in order to participate, be it physical access to meeting rooms or access to information such as, documents and informal meetings. The issues of access have long been at the forefront of NGOs struggle at the UN, especially in attempts to gain consultative status in UN bodies or the right to: view UN document through the. official document system. The criteria of NGO participation in world conference also continues to be inconsistentand confusing (Articles and Documents on NGO Accessat the UN 2004, 2005, 2006:) . From different reports concerning the relationship between NGOs and UN, itis clear that the relationship is not as cordial as it should be. By Sept. 2006, the response to advisor's report to the president of the 60° General ‘Assembly on the relationship between NGOs and UN it is clear that NGOs request a formal and open process, instead of ust hearing to Torstar sustained dialogues between member states and NGOs the report tothe President of the 60" General Assembly on the relationship between member states and NGOs July’5, 2006 recommended some possible aventies, but comes short of specific plans and skips important issues such as means for regular consultations between NGOsand memberstates. Also in a letter from president of General Assembly to member states on UN- NGO relations (May 18, 2006) which was distributed to member states, President of the 60" General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, announces his intention to explore ways to enhance NGO participation at the UN , and the General Assembly in particular. Eliasson has appointed Ambassadors Johan Lavald of Norway and — Rezlan Jenie of Indonesia as personal advisers. Equally in a paper on NGO participation at the United Nations (March 28, 2006) group of NGOs including Global Forum, has submitted a letter to be General Assembly President calling for improved NGO access and participationatthe UN. Among their list of ten recommendations includes the request for the appointment of a high level person on NGOAflairs in the Executive Office of the Secretary General. ‘On the Future of NGO participation at the United Nations after the world summit (Jan, 2006) Jens Martens, Executive Director of Global policy forum Europe, regrets that the UN reform process negleets improvements in patticipation of + NGOs. He noted that in 2005, government largely excluded NGOs both from preparatory negotiations and from the summits. He therefore recommends the extending of NGO accreditation beyond ECOSOC to the General Assembly. ‘The list is inexhaustive of the efforts NGOs are making to have more say in the activities of UN. NGOs want to be part of the decision-making, see the documents of UN and gain unhindered access toall the activities of the UN. In March 23, 2006, an article on Geneva NGOs Brace for new UN Rights Body Swiss Info writes the NGOs face increased challenges in playing an active role in the new Human Right Council. NGOs with smaller Bridget’, particularly those from developing countries will encounter problems with ensuring a presence in Geneva atthe more frequent Council Sittings. The article argues that NGOs also face “certain regimes hostile to human right” that aim to suppress’ NGOs activities in the council, Inanarticle titled “Charting new way of participation: is it time fora parliamentary Assembly at the UN?, dated February 22, 2006 CIVICUS recommends the creation of a UN parliamentary Assemably to make the UN more ic and increase the participation of civil society. (In the initial stages the body could hold consultative statis with the UN in co-operative agreement with the commissionon Human Rights under the pretextof'security concerns. NGOs, which were blocked from accessing the plenary floor, change that the restriction risks destroying the credibility of the Commission and prevents NGO advocacy possibilities). Again an article of March 24, 2006, with the heading Civil Society Wonders what role it will play in new UN Couneil, States that NGOs remain unclear about the role they will play in the new Human Rights Council. Only one NGO representative has been permitted to speak at the Human Rights Commission's closing ceremonies. The article noted that the speaker will affirm NGOs [57eo uo ‘OKONKWO HILDA. IFY AND OHA UCHENNA ERNEST commitment to the council and will speak out against exclusion of Civil Society from the new couneil (Inter Press Service.) Itcould be that because of the careful nature ofthe administration of UN, they are careful nota allow every body ‘by thename NGOs into their system. Itisnoted — that there are NGOs who ‘only make efforts to be noticed by UN sothat they can indirectly startto make profits even when they are said to be non-profits making. It i8 also clear that NGOs fight among themselves, thereby making UN suspicious of their acclaimed humanitarian aétivities. Anthony Jude (1994) in his work stated that the manner in which different types of organization continue to disparage each other is a tragedy. He noted further, that each kind of organization tends ‘o think of itselfas the only really useful organizational form. Others are considered a8 unfortunate obstacles of completely irrelevant. toles of in The Achievement of MI . From the discussions above, itis certain thatthe largely known body that __ promotes intergovernmental affairs is the United Nations Organization. The activities of UN ranges from maintaining peace and security within the member states to making sure that the world is free from hunger and poverty including other issues, which are summed up as Millennium Development Goals. Inorder achieve this global objectives UN has the following PartuerAgencies. onMDGs 1), UNDP-United Nations Development Programme 2) UNDESA-UN Deptof Economic and Social Affairs 3) WorldBank 4) UNICEF-UN Children Fund 5) UNEP-UN Environmental Programme 8) UNFPA UN Population Fund 7) WHO-World Health Organization 8) IMF-International Monitory Fund 9) UN-HABITAT-UN Human Settlement Programme 10) FAO-Food and Agricultural Organization 11) IFAD-International Fund forA gricultural Development 12) ILO Intemational Labour Organization 13) ITU Intemational Telecomm Union 14) UNAIDS-Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS . 15) UNCTAD-UN Conference on Trade 16) UNDG-UN Development Group 17) UNESCO-UN Educational Scientificand Cultural Organization 18) UNHCR-UN Refugee Agency 19) UNIFEM-UN Development Fund for Women, 20) UNOHCHE-Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 21) WEP-World Food Programme 22) Regional Commissions With the above (22) twenty-two Partner Agencies to UN, itis expected that the programme on’ MDGs will be able to sail through all around the globe especially _ in the developing regions. However, Partner Agencies have as their tools the NGOs who are used to achieve the goals inthe different regions and countries, down to the local community area. According to the paper on NGO patticipation at the UN by Federalist Movement Institute for Global Policy (2006) itis stated, that NGOs contribute valuable information and ideas, advocate effectively for positive change, provide essential operational capacity in emergencies and developmentefforts and generally increase the accountability and legitimacy of the global government process. On the note, the paper recommended that the UN must strengthen and deepen its relations with NGOs in order to createa stronger, more effective andmore_ legitimate organization. In the Millennium Development Goals report of 2005, UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Atta Annan, reported that some progress has been made within the past years then, as in poverty eradication, sending children to primary school, promoting gender equality etc, with a closer look, these few achievements were made, because of the pleasures from NGOs both intemational and national on _ theirnational governments. Asa case study in Nigeria as a whole and Gombe in particular the fight against HIV/AIDS end using of mosquito net for children and pregnant women against mosquito bite and mostly chain proved by NGOs like Care-For-Life, CHAD, International Community of Youths, etc are very significant in this fight and which are geared towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. |58 —_eee—_————————‘THE ROLE OPNGOsIN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT COALS, —————— NGOs Partner with Donor Agencies and other International Organization in making sure that the national Government distributes the monies to the right channels NGO are like watch dogs to access the progress made in the vatious areas and write reports to the authorities concerned. meofthe Es hievethe MDGs __by2015 As stated earlier, the former UN Secretary’ General Kofi Atta Annan reported in 2005 on the different achievements madesso far on the eight point MDGs. He _gave the breakdown as follows:- On eradication of extreme poverty and huinger, he stated the Global Poverty rates’ are falling led by Asia. However, millions of people have sunk'deep into poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the poor are getting poorer: He noted that progress has been made against hunger, but slow growth of agricultural out-put and expanding population have led toset back in some regions. On achieving universal primary education Annan said that five’ developing regions are approaching universal enrolment, but in Sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than tow thirds of children are enrolled in primary schools. Other regions including southern Asia and Oceania also have long way to go. : Furthermore, on promoting gender equality andl empowering women, he noted that the gap is closing- albeit slowly. fn primary schoo! enrolment inthe developing world he said is first step towards easing long standing ‘inequalities between womenandmen, On reducing child mortality, the repute stated that death rate in children under age 5 is dropping, Though not fast enough. Eleven million children a yeat 30,000 a day die from preventable or treatable diseases, Most of these lives could be saved by expanding existing programmes. Also, on improved maternal health, itis quoted — that more than halfa million women die each year during pregnancy or childbirth. Twenty times that number suffer serious injury or disability. He noted that some progress has been made in reducing maternal death in developing regions, ‘but not inthe in the countries where giving birth is mostly risk. Again on combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases, Annan noted that AIDS has become the leading cause of premature death in Sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth largestkiller world wide. ‘Though new drugs treatments prolong life, there isno cure forAIDS and_prevention efforts mustbe intensified in every region of the world, ifthe target is, to be reached. Malaria and Tuberculosis together kill nearly as many peopleas AIDS each year, and presents a service drain on national economies. Ninety. percent of Malaria deaths ‘oceurin Sub-Saharan Africa, where prevalence and treatment efforts are being scaledup. On ensuring environmental sustainability, it is recorded’in the report that most countries are committed to the principles of sustainability development but that. this has not resulted in sufficient progress to reverse the loss of the world environmental resources. On developing a Global Partnership for Development, the United Nations Millennium Declaration represents a Global Social Compact. Developing countries will'do midre to ensure their own development and developed countries will support them through aid, debt relief and better opportunities for trade. Mr. KofiAnn noted that progress in each of these areas has already begun toyield results, However developed countries have fallen short of targets they have set for themselves. He noted that to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, increased and debtrelief must be accompanied by further opening of trade, accelerated transfer of technology and improved employment. ‘These achievements so far recorded, donot negate the fact the 2015 has become areality. The envisaged problem why MDGs may not be a reality in 2015, may largely come form the way NGOs are contributing their goal without the UN involving the NGOs adequately may cause a big setback. Presently the NGOs are still carrying ‘outthat their representation and participation in UN matter, meeting and decision-making is notencouraging. Even through NGOs participation can make the MDGs success by 2015, but. the problem is more because they arenot having enough funding from UN and _ other international donors. With this there is little that they can do. - __Itisevenmore worrisome, that some of the NGOs are more interested in making their own profit even though they go by the name Non-Profit Making Organizations. A look at the Nigeria setting will show, that most of the NGOs hardly spend up to 10% of the funds they receive from UN agencies/other donors for the purpose the funds are meant for. [59 ——_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_<—<= ‘OKONKWO HILDA, IFY AND OHA UCHENNA ERNEST Sadly enough, some UN member nations are net interested so much on the MDGs and as such do not encourage the NGOs desire to work hard and equally do not pay their counterpart funding. Al these are envisaged problems whyNGOsmay not achieve their goal ‘The Millennium Development Goals is indeed a great dream. The idea to achieve the eight point agenda of the ‘goalsin 2015 can beachieved. . However there must be the political will from all the UN Member nations, especially the rich and influential countries like USA. For without their financial contributions and foreign aid, UN will never have the much required resources to finance the project. Luckily with a newly African-American President Elect, USA may have the political will to be more committed to the aspirations MDGs ‘More importantly Member nations are more disposed to fight the way of their citizens out of extreme poverty and hunger. Majority of the nations especially in Sub-Saharan A frica has the natural and human resources to move out ofpoverty and hunger, which is a big threat to human existence. All they need is commitment from their leaders and ensure that programmes are sincerely carried outand corruption expunged from the system. Also individual can work themselves out of poverty and hunger. They can do _this by accepting to send their kids to school and children accepting to go to school, Parents to believe in and to practice Birth Control Programmesetc. If we have the collective partnership requirements from both the _intergovernmental, nongovernmental and third sectors, we can say to MDGs 2015 YES WE CAN NOW, and YES WE DID AT LAST! (Barack Obama, US 2008 President Elect.) References ‘Ann Perkins (2008) “Time to Review the Milfennium Development Goals. Guardian Co. UK. Articlehistory. Judge Anthony, (1994) “NGOs and Civil Society: some Realities and Distortions the challenge of “Necessary to-Governance” (NGOs) Union of Intern: December, 1994, USA Kofi Atta Annan (2005) The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005-by UN's United Nations Department of Public Information. NGOAccess at the UN (2006, 2005, 2004) Achieved Articles official “Document System” Relations between NGOs and the UN. Robin, Guthrice (1994) in Anthony Judge. (Union of International Associations) ‘Shravanti, Reddy (2002) “watchdog Organization Struggles to decrease UN Bureaucracy” from Digital Freedom Network USA, ‘Tunde, Adennan (1986) Nigeria and the United Nations in Nigeria External Relations: the first twenty-five years university press limited Ibaden, Nigeria. ‘January, (2006) UN Global Forum on the future of NGO Participation at the UN March 28, (2006) paper on NGO Participation at the United Nations. May 18, (2006) Letter from President of General Assembly to member States on. UN-NGO Relations. July 5, (2006) Report to the President of the 60° General Assembly Relationship Between Member States and NGOs