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Policy Brief No. 22 – December 2013

FROM DEVELOPMENT TO SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT: THE QUEST FOR THE POST-2015

AGENDA

Jan Wouters

Kolja Raube

Laura Beke

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FROM DEVELOPMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE QUEST FOR

THE POST-2015 AGENDA

Jan Wouters

Kolja Raube

Laura Beke

AUTHOR(S)

Jan Wouters is Jean Monnet Chair and Professor of International Law and

International Organisations; Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance

Studies and the Institute for International Law, University of Leuven.

Kolja Raube is Senior Research Manager at the Leuven Centre for Global

Governance Studies, University of Leuven, and lecturer at the Centre for European

Studies, University of Leuven.

Laura Beke is Doctoral Researcher at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance

Studies, University of Leuven (KU Leuven).

ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE

jan.wouters@ggs.kuleuven.be

kolja.raube@ggs.kuleuven.be

laura.beke@ggs.kuleuven.be

© 2013 by Jan Wouters, Kolja Raube and Laura Beke. All rights reserved. No portion of this paper may

be reproduced without permission of the authors. Both authors agree to equally be first author.

Policy briefs are research materials circulated by their authors for purposes of information and critical

discussion. They have not necessarily undergone formal peer review.

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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. ERADICATING POVERTY - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 5

3. 'TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT' - 'LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND' 6

3.1. TRANSFORMATION TOWARDS ROOT-CAUSES OF POVERTY 7

3.2. TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL APPLICATION OF THE POST-2015 OBJECTIVES? 9

3.3. WHICH INDICATORS AFTER 2015? 11

4. A SPECIAL ROLE FOR THE EU? 12

5. CONCLUSIONS 13

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1. INTRODUCTION

The Millennium Development Goals come to an end in 2015. The G20 Seoul

Development Consensus, the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit of 2010,

the 2012 Rio+20 Conference and the UNPD’s Global MDGs Conference in Bogota in

2013 have already marked the international community first attempts to effectively

implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) until 2015, identify policy and

implementation gaps and define new objectives for the post-2015 international

development agenda.

The present policy brief focuses on the debate about the post-2015 development

goals based on two events, that were organized by the Leuven Centre for Global

Governance Studies in August and October 2013:

The first workshop, ‘The Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda:

Global, Asian and European Perspectives’, organized on the 30 August 2013 in

Brussels, brought together high level speakers focusing on the achievements and

the gaps of the current MDGs. The second conference, ‘What is Wrong with the

United Nations Development System and How to Fix It’, took place on the 25

October 2013 and brought together high-level academics, United Nations, European

and national officials who looked into solutions of how to improve the United Nations’

development system.1

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set forth by the Rio+20 Conference, put

sustainability at the heart of this process post-2015. Moreover, the report by the

High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons, ‘A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty

and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development’,2 which was submitted

to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in May 2013, has been regarded as an

important milestone in the process of setting the agenda for the new post-2015. It

puts sustainability ‘at the core’, focusing more comprehensively than the current

MDGs on economic, social, and environmental questions of sustainable

development. The Report has, for example, highlighted ‘the importance to

development of good governance and institutions that guarantee the rule of law, free

speech and open and accountable government’ and the need ‘for inclusive growth to

1 The programmes of both the workshop ‘The Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Global,

Asian and European Perspectives’, and the conference, ‘What is Wrong with the United Nations Development System and How to Fix It’, can be found at the end of this policy brief. 2 Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, ‘A New

Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development’, New York, 30 May 2013

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provide jobs’3. At the same time, the Secretary-General’s report ‘A life of dignity for

all’4 in July 2013 has underlined the ‘commitment to three interconnected objectives:

economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability’ based on

the sustainable development framework.5 Moreover, the report stated that ’key

elements of the emerging vision for the development agenda beyond 2015’ include

‘universality’, ‘sustainable development’, ‘inclusive economic transformations’, ‘peace

and governance’, ‘a new global partnership’ and ‘being fit for purpose’.

While no consensus has been reached yet, the 68th session of the United Nations

General Assembly concluded in October 2013 by urging that all decision-making

processes running up to the post-2015 agenda should be concluded by 2014.

Hence, with less than one year to go, it is timely to reflect upon what is on the table

and which development goals need to be part of the future UN-level-compromise. To

this end, this policy brief gives a short overview of the most-crucial elements of the

current debate and focuses on the question of how the specific goals that are

highlighted in the current discussions could contribute to a universal applicability and

how indicators could contribute to the evaluation, i.e. ‘human rights and equality’,

‘peace, good governance and the rule of law’, ‘sustainable environment’ and

‘economic transformations’. Finally, it argues that there is a crucial role to play for the

EU in advocating these elements, as it is already committed to conducting

development cooperation which aims to arrive at sustainable development by means

of a comprehensive and coherent policy towards developing countries.6

2. ERADICATING POVERTY – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

While the Millennium Development Goals are said to have contributed to smaller

numbers of extreme poverty, the accessibility of drinking water, the improvement of

health conditions and decreasing mortality rates, statistics by the World Bank show

that much remains to be done, i.e., in the least developed countries. While, for

example, growth rates have improved in Sub-Saharan-Africa, with some of the

fastest growing countries in the world being situated in that region, poverty rates do

3 Ibid.

4 United Nations Secretary General ‘A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium

Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, Report, A/68/202, 26 July 2013. 5 Ibid., p. 12.

6 European Commission, ‘A decent life for all – ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable

future’, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM 52013) 92 final, Brussels, 27 February 2013.

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not progressively decrease by the same speed.7 Thus, according to the World Bank,

‘despite […] successes, still more people are likely living on less than $1.25 a day in

Sub-Saharan Africa today than at the turn of the millennium—an estimated 413

million in 2010 compared with 376 million in 1999’.8 Hence, not only in Africa but also

in other less-developed countries, eradicating poverty remains the overarching goal,

especially for the post-2015 agenda.

At the same time, it needs to be mentioned that developments have led to growing

inequalities and economies which are non-inclusive, as their productivity does not

translate into the improvement of economic and social conditions in general. Hence,

growing inequality and non-inclusive economies must be seen as detrimental to

development.9 Moreover, other conditions, such as the absence of state-structures

and effective governance, the violation of human rights, inequality before the law,

human insecurity, and environmental degradation, have been identified as impacting

on impoverished living-conditions around the world.

It is against this backdrop that the focus in the 2015 development agenda has shifted

from addressing the overarching problem of poverty – and goals to overcome it – to

its roots and causes. In this context, sustainable development is linked to a

comprehensive understanding of development, addressing various facets and

causes of under-development and pointing to measures and actions which mutually

reinforce each other. These could lead, by means of universal applicability, to a

better outlook of development, not only on the macro-state level, but also on the

micro-level of the individual.

3.‘TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT’ – ‘LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND’

The High-level report ‘A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform

Economies through Sustainable Development’10 (HLP report), the UN Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon’s report, ’A life of dignity’ 11 and ‘the outcome document of the

special event to follow up efforts made towards achieving the Millennium

7 Africa’s Pulse, An analysis of issues shaping Africa’s economic future, World Bank, Volume 8, October

2013, p. 15 8 Ibid., p.14

9 Ibid.

10 Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, ‘A New

Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development’, New York, 30 May 2013 11

United Nations Secretary General ‘A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, Report, A/68/202, 26 July 2013.

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Development Goals’ at the 68th United Nations General Assembly12 are state-of-the-

art which, next to much input by non-governmental actors, think tanks, and

networks,13 will contribute to the shaping of the final compromise on the post-2015

development agenda.

What becomes evident as of now when assessing the documents is the following:

(1) All documents highlight a shift towards addressing causes rather than problems

related to eradicating poverty,

(2) They address clearly the universality of the global objectives, and

(3) They accentuate the accountability of countries which are supposed to implement

the post-2015 agenda.

All three aspects cumulate in a transformative understanding of development action

beyond 2015 which addresses the ‘transition towards sustainability development’14

and highlights the needs of individuals and otherwise excluded groups. The latter are

indeed becoming the main beneficiaries of the post-2015 agenda.15

3.1.TRANSFORMATION TOWARDS ROOT-CAUSES OF POVERTY

Being one of the most influential documents in the discourse on the post-2015

agenda, the HLP report presents a vision for the next fifteen years, starting January

2016 until 2030. The report outlines 5 transformations, consisting of 12 indicative

goals and 54 targets. The HLP builds upon the MDGs principles but outlines five

important transformations:

‘Leave no one behind’: after 2015, extreme poverty should be ended and no

person should be denied universal human rights and basic economic

opportunities. A focus on the ‘poorest and most marginalized’ needs to be

highlighted.16

12

United Nations General Assembly, Outcome document of the special event to follow up efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, 1 October 2013, A/68/L.4 13

See for example, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, An Action Agenda for Sustainable Development, Report for the UN Secretary-General, 23 October 2013. 14

United Nations Secretary General ‘A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, Report, A/68/202, 26 July 2013, p. 3. 15

Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, ‘A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development’, New York, 30 May 2013, p. 7 16

Ibid.

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‘Put sustainable development at the core’: integrating the development agenda

and the goal of sustainability is key, as so far – according to the HLP report – ‘no

country has yet been achieved patterns of consumption and production could

sustain global prosperity’.17

‘Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth’: more sustainable patterns

of growth, consumption and production are seen as indispensable, taking into

account the need to adapt to global challenges, such as climate change. This is

seen as the responsibility of, and a challenge for each country.18

‘Build peace and effective, open and accountable institutions for all’: freedom

from fear and violence is a basic human right and, the rule of law needs to be

strengthened, while human security and access to justice have to be as

guaranteed as much as transparent and accountable institutions. Peace and

good governance are seen as core elements of well-being.19

‘Forge a new global partnership’: a new spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and

mutual accountability, not only between states, but also the active involvement of

non-governmental and private actors, while there is a growing responsibility for

all to life up to the expectations of implementing the post-2015 agenda.20

Similar to the HLP report, in October 2013, UNSG Ban Ki-moon formulated ‘the

transition to sustainable development’21in his report, mentioning, however, that it was

not a move away from the prime objective of the development agenda: ‘ending

poverty’. It was quite the opposite. While sustainable development is seen as an

essential framework for the post-2015 and while the ultimate goal for ‘the

development agenda beyond 2015 is to create a just and prosperous world’22, it is

equally clear that sustainable development is linked to a comprehensive

understanding of development, in which conditions of ‘basic justice and human

rights’, security, non-violence, economic inclusivity, and equality are becoming the

cornerstones of development. As an illustration in case, the UNSG mentions: “We

know that upholding human rights and freeing people from fear and want are

inseparable; it is imperative that we do more to act on this basic truth.”23 The UNSG

concludes that ‘the key elements of emerging vision for the development agenda

beyond 2015 include’: ‘universality’, ‘sustainable development’, ‘inclusive economic

17

Ibid., p. 8 18

Ibid. 19

Ibid. 20

Ibid. 21

United Nations Secretary General ‘A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, Report, A/68/202, 26 July 2013, p. 3 22

Ibid, p. 12 23

Ibid.

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transformations’, ‘peace and governance’, ‘a new global partnership,’ and ‘being fit

for purpose’.24

Through the ‘outcome document of the special event to follow up efforts made

towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals’ which was submitted and

adopted at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2013, the Member

States committed themselves once more to the implementation of the MDG, and

emphasized that a new ‘approach’ towards sustainable development was needed.25

The UNSG’s report was seen as ‘useful input to the deliberations’26. Far from being a

preliminary consensus, the document however points to the interlinked relationship

of the various dimensions feeding into sustainable development. Quite tellingly, and

much in line with emphasizing roots causes linked to poverty and non-development,

the document calls for a ‘coherent approach’ which works towards ‘a single

framework and set of goals, universal in nature and applicable to all countries, while

taking into account of differing national circumstances and respecting national

policies and priorities. It should also promote peace and security, democratic

governance, the rule of law, gender equality and human rights for all.’27

3.2.TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL APPLICATION OF THE POST-2015 OBJECTIVES?

A comprehensive and coherent sustainable development agenda needs to define the

objectives and, at times, coordinate action that mutually reinforces actions made to

meet the objectives. Only in this way can a coherent policy implementation not only

escape inconsistencies and contradictions, but actually work towards synergies.

While the MDGs until 2015 could be seen as working relatively separately from each

other, by adopting policies which aim to solve problems, the new agenda could aim

to coherently tackle the causes of problems. In this context, objectives and targets

need to be defined, and indicators for evaluating the success of implementing the

post-2015 agenda need to be established.

The HLP report has indicated a long list of objectives with many targets attached to

each of the objectives. The objectives are: ‘end poverty’, ‘empower girls and women

to achieve gender equality’, ‘provide quality education and lifelong learning’, ‘ensure

healthy lives’, ‘ensure food security and good nutrition’, ‘achieve universal access to

water and sanitation’, ‘secure sustainable energy’, ‘create jobs’, ‘sustainable

livelihoods and equitable growth’, ‘manage natural resource assets sustainability’,

24

Ibid, p. 13. 25

United Nations General Assembly, Outcome document of the special event to follow up efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, 1 October 2013, A/68/L.4, pp. 2-4. 26

Ibid., p. 4. 27

Ibid., p. 4

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‘ensure good governance and effective institutions, ‘ensure stable and peaceful

societies, ‘create a global enabling environment’, and ‘catalyze long-term

finance’28.These 12 universal goals are further developed into 54 national targets

(see annex II of the report). Clearly, some of the issues on the list of indicative goals

are more controversial politically. National targets to reach these goals include

issues such as freedom of speech, public participation, equal rights for women and

an independent judiciary. The HLP thus tries to push for a broader and

transformative agenda. The risk exists that certain countries and also transnational

actors are not attracted to the realization of these national goals. Luckily perhaps

from a political viewpoint, the majority of these indicative objectives do not stipulate

clear goals. This, and the lack of enforcement procedures, could hence be the

biggest weakness and the biggest strength of the indicative goals list at the same

time. Excluding real targets for more politically salient issues, and calling the 12

goals an indicative list, is probably a thought-through exercise of the HLP.

By and large, the objectives in the HLP report are re-stated by the UNSG in his

suggestion of 14 ‘transformative and mutually reinforcing actions’29. At the same

time, it becomes evident that the UNSG sees the application and implementation of

the post-2015 sustainable development agenda as one of the greatest challenges. In

other words, it will be one of the crucial tasks of the post-2015 compromise to

develop a road-map and action plan of how to manage and evaluate the streamlining

and coherence of actions focusing on specific objectives and targets. It is in this

context that the UNSG asked not only for ‘a concise set of goals’, but – moreover –

‘a global partnership for the development to mobilize means of implementation’ and

‘a participatory monitoring framework for tracking progress and mutual accountability

mechanisms for all stakeholders’30. If the universality of the post-2015 agenda ‘to

leave no one behind’ is taken seriously, then the real work will be with a universal

application of the agenda and to find mechanisms by which states but also private

national and transnational actors can be held accountable. As mentioned above,

some of the objectives and actions will rather be identified as falling into the category

where states will point to their national differences. Despite ‘taking into account of

differing national circumstances and respecting national policies and priorities’, the

post-2015 agenda will have to be implemented, once they are agreed upon. Thus,

28

Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, ‘A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development’, New York, 30 May 2013. 29

United Nations Secretary General ‘A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, Report, A/68/202, 26 July 2013, p. 13 ff. 30

Ibid., 12.

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while national differences in implementation are unavoidable and also a natural

condition of the international order, the universal objectives and targets need to set

the overarching standards by which countries are held accountable via evaluation

mechanisms.

3.3.WHICH INDICATORS AFTER 2015?

The post-2015 framework and its related indicators are very evidence-based in terms

of approach. In a way it is an example of what a leading number of scholars are

referring to as ‘Governing by Indicators’ or ‘Governance by information’, i.e.

‘determination of a given policy field by creating pressure on, or shaping the

cognitive framework of, policy makers and policymaking through the collection,

processing, and dissemination of information’31.

Despite attracting various criticisms, the MDGs have been a strong political

instrument and a focusing device for benchmarking progress in policy-making. The

question is more how do we accurately assess the progress within the framework to

come? Here, a reliance on a few indicators, as suggested in the HLP report, might

not be the way forward.

Focusing on a few indicators might generate what one may call an indicator-bias :

the pre-occupation with only a few indicators which only capture parts of the wider

goals. The goals as they are formulated now are broad, important, and difficult to

capture in only a few indicators. While most indicators are relevant to development,

they do not form an exhaustive list of dimensions for the goals to which they are

linked.

That being said, indicators are important for designing and assessing policies aiming

at advancing the progress of society. Decisions may be distorted by how we

measure affects, what we do, and whether our measurements are flawed. Despite

the obvious need for indicators, one should not focus too much on only a handful.

The role of indicators has obviously increased significantly over the last three

decades and to respond to the growing demand for information, the supply of

statistics has also increased considerably, covering new domains and phenomena.

Many organizations collect enormous amounts of data. Many international

organizations have statistics departments. We have a wealth of data and

information.

31

Armin von Bogdandy and Matthias Goldmann 2012, Taming and Framing Indicators: A Legal Reconstruction of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In: Governance by Indicators, Kevin E. Davis, Angelina Fisher, Benedict Kingsbury, Sally Engle Merry (Hrsg.). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012, 52-85.

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In the past decade, more and more governmental and international organizations

have used more or less formally structured sets of indicators to assess performance

or make program decisions. Such indicators include items such as the World Bank's

Index of Electoral Competition; Transparency International's corruption indicators,

the Freedom House Map of Freedom in the World, the Worldbank governance

indicators, etc.

Evaluation of the implementation of the post-2015 agenda should use this wealth of

information when assessing progress towards the new goals. It may be ill-advised to

focus too much on specific indicators. Rather, one mechanism would be to try to

collect a body of evidence on each of the goals the international community is

striving for. This body of evidence should be collected and interpreted by a group of

experts in a goal-oriented way, taking into account the national differences in

applying the post - 2015 agenda. The goals now formulated in the global partnership

document might act as a point of reference. Overall, the body of evidence can be

presented in global reports. However, it becomes also evident that we might need

more than ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, and instead have many tailor-made

approaches and indicators, depending on the body of evidence provided by expert

panels.

4. A SPECIAL ROLE FOR THE EU?

The European Union has time and again aimed to approach development

cooperation from the angle of a coherent approach. Being the single largest

development actor in the world, the EU has established a framework over the past

10 years for linking causes of poverty and the lack of development with other issue

areas, such as human rights, the rule of law, security, environment, etc. In fact,

ahead of the upcoming Council meeting of Development Ministers on Thursday 12

December 2013, where not only the Post-2015 Agenda will be discussed but also

the recently adopted EU 2013 Report on Policy Coherence for Development

(PCD),32 there is a growing consensus on the need for PCD in the post-2015

Development Agenda. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without taking

issues beyond aid into consideration, such as the full integration of human rights in

all related policy fields. The same holds true for sustainable environmental

governance and other topics. Indeed, the Commission’s communication on the post-

2015 agenda, 33 which was adopted by the General Affairs Council in June 2013,

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http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development policies/documents/swd_2013_456_f1_staff_working_paper_en_v3_p1_746653_en.pdf 33

European Commission, ‘A decent life for all – ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable future’, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European

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addresses itself the link between the eradication of poverty and sustainable

development. Commission and Council have highlighted priorities in the framework

for development, such as ‘decent living standards’, ‘sustainable and inclusive

growth’, ‘sustainable management of natural resources’, ‘equality, equity and justice’

and ‘peace and security’. The nexus between development and other areas of

concern has been made before. The development agenda of the EU is as such

intrinsically interlinked with issues such as human rights and the rule of law

promotion, good governance on the one hand, crisis-prevention, stability,

environmental issues, and trade. This approach is mirrored in the EU’s Cotonou

Agreement (and its revised versions) with ACP countries as much as in the

implementation of the European Development Fund and the EU’s various financial

instruments (IfD, IfS, EIDHR, etc.). Moreover, the EU has started to develop a

‘comprehensive approach’ in its external action which aims to bring together all the

various external action instruments of the EU in order to coherently address

objectives vis-à-vis its partner countries, including those which are to be found in the

CFSP/CSDP framework.34 While much can be learned from the EU’s approach, it

should also be assessed where experience in actually living up to the objective of

coherence and comprehensiveness is mixed.

5. CONCLUSIONS

While the MDGs contributed to a great number of success stories in global

development, many unresolved issues remain on the agenda. Tackling poverty and

inequality in the least developed countries, but also others, such as middle-income

countries, remains a key task. The post-2015 development agenda is on its way to

being further developed and a compromise on its final outcome is supposed to be

tabled in 2014. By focusing on the current key-documents in the post-2015

discourse, three developments have been highlighted:

a shift towards addressing causes rather than problems related to eradicating

poverty,

a clear commitment to the universality of the objectives, and

an accentuation of accountability of countries and other stakeholders in living

up to the post-2015 objectives

Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM 52013) 92 final, Brussels, 27 February 2013. 34

See: European Union External Action Service, Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel, March. 2011

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This policy briefing paper has argued that the shift towards a more comprehensive

agenda on development is taking into account the need to target the root causes of

poverty and the lack of development, rather than dealing ‘only’ with problems. While

the MDGs are still running, the post-2015 development agenda is – as of now –

concerned with transforming into a coherent and comprehensive approach towards

tackling poverty and sustainable development in the future. The future success of

these positive developments, however, will depend on the universal applicability of

the key objectives and targets. At the same time, it was argued that rather than a

small number of targets (and related indicators), fact-finding might be a viable first

step to determine which issues need to be tackled and how to achieve the

overarching post-2015 objectives. It was argued that the indicators should be

developed based on evidence gathered and that tailor-made approaches and

indicators, should be established depending on the body of evidence provided by

expert panels. Finally, the EU’s experience of success and challenges in

implementing a comprehensive development agenda can provide meaningful

insights for the developing of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

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The Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda:

Global, Asian and European Perspectives

Friday 30 August 2013, 15.00-18.00

Polak Room, Residence Palace,

Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels

Programme

15.00-15.10:

Welcome by Prof. Dr. Jan Wouters, Jean Monnet Chair and Director of

the Leuven Centre of Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven

15.10-16.30:

Taking Stock: Global, European and Asian Perspectives on the Achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and the Way Ahead

Global Perspectives: Mr. Antonio Vigilante, Director of UNDP's

Representation Office in Brussels and Representative of the UN

Secretary-General towards the EU and Belgium

Asian Perspectives: H.E. Ambassador Kim Chang Beom,

Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the European Union

European Perspectives on the MDGs: Ms. Catherine Ray,

Member of Cabinet of Commissioner for Development Andris

Piebalgs, European Commission

European Perspectives on the Way Ahead: Mr. Hugo Schally,

Head of Unit, DG Environment, European Commission

16.30-

16.50:

Tea and Coffee Break

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16.50-17.50:

Towards a Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: a Multi-Sector Perspective

Trade and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Prof. Dr. Jan

Orbie, University of Ghent

Environment and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Dr. Hans

Bruyninckx, Executive Director, European Environment Agency

Human Rights and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, James

Mackie, European Centre for Development Policy Management

17.50-18.00:

Conclusions by Mrs. Caroline Petit, Deputy Director of the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe

In Cooperation With

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have the Honor to Invite You, at the Occasion of United Nations Day, to a Conference on:

What is Wrong with the United Nations

Development System and How to Fix It

Friday, 25 October 2013, 11:00-15:30

Venue : Fondation universitaire

Rue d’Egmont 11, Cattier Auditory, Brussels

The programme includes:

A keynote address on United Nations Development at a Crossroads by Dr. Bruce

Jenks, Adjunct Professor, SIPA, Columbia University, former Assistant Secretary

General, UNDP, who will present the recent report he wrote with Dr. Bruce Jones

(see http://cic.nyu.edu/content/united-nations-development-crossroads)

Interactive panels featuring notably H.E. Ambassador Carlos Appelgren,

Ambassador of Chile to Belgium and the EU; Mr. Christian Berger, European

External Action Service; H.E. Ambassador Patrick Gomes, Ambassador of Guyana

to Belgium and the ACP Secretariat; Mr. Kris Panneels, DG Development and

Humanitarian Aid, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Antonio Vigilante, Director

UNDP and UN Representative to the EU, Brussels; and Professor Nadia Molenaers,

University of Antwerp

in cooperation with :

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