2007/08/07

Social Watch Philippines kicks off civil society review on FfD

Marivic Raquiza and Nadia Ginete
UN-NGLS

Five years after the United Nations Financing for Development (FfD) Conference held in Monterrey Mexico in 2002, Social Watch Philippines (SWP) once again kicks off the civil society review of the FfD outcomes in the Philippines.

Five years ago, SWP led civil society participation in a multi-stakeholder approach convened by the Philippine government, in the crafting of official policy positions on FfD, which also included the business sector. The partnership forged around the FfD conference between and among government, civil society and the business sector was observed by many as a “best practice” in constructive engagement. Today, the civil society review process is anchored on the overriding objectives of mobilizing new and additional resources for the MDGs at the country level, and identifying stumbling blocks as well strategies to overcoming constraints and challenges. Some years ago, a government study pointed out that the cumulative resource gap for all MDG financing from 2007 to 2010 stood at PhP 394.7 B (or 1.2 % of GNP) under high cost assumptions. The study also outlined ways of reducing the shortfall through lower cost interventions and proposed policy measures to increasing budgetary support. The SWP review will take off and build on the results of the study. It will identify ways of increasing revenues while pointing out the need to address existing policies that promote inequities. Innovative government-CSO proposals will also be presented such as changing the debt sustainability concept of the IMF and Paris Club, and mainstreaming a debt-to-MDG conversion for countries outside the HIPC initiative. The FfD CSO review will also look into the critical role of labor migration, particularly the contribution of overseas workers remittances in keeping the Philippine economy afloat. Finally, the study will point to the centrality of the quality of governance in addressing the FfD challenges faced by the country.

The FfD thematic policy papers generated by SWP will be discussed and debated in a national consultation of CSOs. The CSO consultation is scheduled around World Poverty and Hunger Eradication Day (17 October 2007) to commemorate and highlight the FfD aspects of poverty and hunger. The CSO policy positions firmed up during the consultation shall be shared with official policy makers in relation to the FfD process.

(From "The Road to Doha", a newsletter by UN-NGLS, Geneva)

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