Setting standards and radical targets for global poverty reduction has importance and value: the debate and interest around the successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is testament to that.

Aspirational goals have focused the minds and business plans of aid donors on their achievement. Some targets have already been reached, such as halving the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day.

Whether aid has contributed to the economic growth behind this reduction is unclear – but where infant mortality, education and disease prevention is concerned, the MDGs, through dramatically higher levels of aid targeted at the world’s poorest, have clearly had an impact.

Yet, significant improvements have not been felt in countries suffering conflict or fragility.

Attention must focus on the drivers of conflict

As the World Development Report highlighted in 2011, no conflict-affected or fragile state has achieved a single MDG, nor are they expected to do so by 2015. Of the 42 countries at the bottom of UNDP’s Human Development Index, 29 are fragile states. Countries where people are feeling the socially debilitating effects of fragility and conflict have simply been left behind.

Experience shows that the targets set within the current MDGs have not proved sufficiently relevant to those countries grappling with the peacebuilding and statebuilding issues so central to their recovery.

In these contexts, the MDGs speak to the symptoms, rather than the drivers of conflict, and do not address the unavoidably complex and political nature of conflict.

This recognition was implicit in the messages emerging from the first meeting of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 Development Agenda on 25 September this year. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the Panel’s Co-Chairs, emphasised the need to look at the causes of poverty, not only its symptoms. He also referred to a number of factors, which can move countries from poverty to wealth, prominent among which is the ‘absence of conflict’.

Working in partnership

Conciliation Resources is working with other civil society organisations, including the International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, Beyond 2015 consultations, BOND and the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) to push for a post-2015 development framework that integrates the specific needs and concerns of conflict-affected and fragile states.

Towards that goal, we recently contributed to and endorsed a statement by civil society organisations Bringing peace into the post-2015 development framework: A joint statement by civil society organisations, which sets out what we see as key elements in any successor framework.

The Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals – identified in 2010 at Dili during the first meeting of the International Dialogue on Statebuilding and Peacebuilding, and refined in 2011 at Busan – are supported by more than 40 governments and multilateral organisations.

The Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals offer a strong basis on which to build the peace-related elements of the post-2015 framework.

These five goals address the fundamental notion of ‘fairness’, the absence of which can drive conflict:

  •  Legitimate Politics - Foster inclusive political settlements and conflict resolution;
  •  Security - Establish and strengthen people’s security;
  •  Justice - Address injustices and increase people’s access to justice;
  •  Economic Foundations - Generate employment and improve livelihoods;
  •  Revenues and Services - Manage revenue and build capacity for accountable and fair service delivery.

Unlike the current MDGs, the post-2015 goals should not be seen to have been designed by and for aid donors alone. The post-2015 targets must be much more broadly owned and also relevant to countries affected by fragility and conflict, as they persevere in their efforts to attain lasting peace and a significant reduction in poverty levels.

An equitable system and a just peace depend on donors, partner governments and affected communities working together for common goals.  

Finally, the process by which the post-2015 framework is developed matters. Amidst the array of issues and needs being championed within the MDG debate, those living in conflict-affected and fragile states must have their say on the issues that affect them.

That is why Conciliation Resources is working with others – individuals, partner organisations and NGO coalitions – in support of a transparent and consultative process to develop and monitor the future development framework. 

Find out more about our work on related issues

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Teresa Dumasy is Head of Policy and Learning at Conciliation Resources