SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA AT LAUNCHING OF UN SPECIAL INITIATIVE

15 March 1996

Press Release
DEV/2097

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA AT LAUNCHING OF UN SPECIAL INITIATIVE

19960315 World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, IMF Participate in Ceremony; ECA, OAU Respond Via Satellite

As he launched a 10-year, $25 billion United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa this morning, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called on the world to forge a new partnership with Africa.

That was not an appeal to the generosity of the international community, but to its conscience and awareness that Africa would become a source of prosperity if it finally received its due, the Secretary-General said, speaking from Geneva via satellite. The Initiative was launched simultaneously in various capitals, including Paris, Geneva, Rome, Nairobi, Vienna and Addis Ababa.

For several years Africa had fought courageously for peace, development, democracy and respect for human rights, he said, adding that the efforts of Africans must enjoy broad support. He would make every effort to make sure the Initiative would not fail and that goals would become a reality that would change the lives of peoples in Africa. He called on the international community to stand together with Africa, its leaders and its people and forge a new partnership. As Secretary-General, "this is my goal and my commitment".

The Special Initiative was a new milestone in the ongoing effort to strengthen collaboration between the United Nations, the Bretton Wood institutions and other organizations of the system, he added.

Speaking from Addis Ababa, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Meles Zenawi, said the Special Initiative was based on priorities identified by Africans. He stressed that Africa must be responsible for its own development although the international community had a responsibility to assist it to overcome its immense problems. He expressed the hope that the Special Initiative would enable the international community to support development in Africa. The Initiative should ensure more effective resource mobilization, he said.

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The President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, said the Initiative would bring the Bank together with other partners in the United Nations system in a focused agenda. At a time when aid funding was diminishing and Africa had too many wars, the simple framework was workable. The Bank was prepared to follow and coordinate. He stressed that the Initiative was not charity. He had been impressed immensely with the efforts of Africans to move forward within the African context. The Bank was committed to working in that partnership.

The Co-Chairman of the Initiative's Steering Committee and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, said his organization's prime sectoral focus would be on programmes to promote good governance. That was not the costliest nor the most tangible component of the Initiative, but from the standpoint of sustainability, it was a core priority. Good governance was the key to building a robust indigenous civil society and to spurring the private sector and attracting foreign investment.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, said her organization was prepared to provide the resources necessary to implement priority areas such as health care, quality education, access to safe water, the protection of children caught in wars in the continent, and the rights of children and women. The Initiative was "an elementary act of justice in response to Africa's needs". Leadership must come from African governments and civil society but the other partners in the Initiative had important roles to play. "Africa's children would hold us all responsible for the outcome", she said.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik said population factors were critical to the Initiative's efforts. Although development depended on the participation of all people, the empowerment of women and gender equality were imperative. In that connection, improving reproductive health would be a major step in laying a solid basis for development in Africa. The Fund's priority efforts would be aimed at building capacities in individual countries in implementing the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development.

The Initiative was a great reaffirmation of the Secretary-General's goal of working with other leaders in Africa, said K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa and Co-Chairman of the Initiative's Steering Committee. Speaking from Addis Ababa, he said the chances of Africa emerging from a development crisis were better now than had been the case for many years. The initiative was achievable. Its focus was on African-centred development. It would help ECA in its efforts towards serving Africa better.

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Also speaking from Addis Ababa, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Vijay Makhan, said the Initiative was welcomed at a time when there seemed to be an "Africa fatigue". The Initiative had come as "a breath of fresh air" in Africa's stifling struggle to implement reforms. The recent OAU Summit in Cairo had re-launched African development. Its message was that Africa must take charge of its own development.

The Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Prabhakar R. Narvekar, said the performance of some countries had convinced the Fund that Africa could succeed. With the lessons learnt from the successful reformers, the IMF could help establish the macroeconomic framework required to underpin the implementation of the social and sectoral programmes launched by other members of the United Nations system over the life of the Initiative.

The Co-Moderators of the event this morning were the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, and the UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Opening the ceremony, Mr. Sanbar, characterizing the Special Initiative as "historic", said it was an initiative of the Secretary-General to further the cause of Africa's development.

Special Initiative on Africa

The United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa will be launched by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, this morning.

The 10-year, multi-billion dollar programme aims at providing renewed impetus to Africa's development. The Special Initiative is the United Nations system's most significant mobilization of support ever for the development of a continent's people, as well as its largest coordinated action. Its implementation will require up to $25 billion, mostly from the reallocation of existing resources at the national and international level. The World Bank has agreed to lead in mobilizing the bulk of that funding, which will go primarily towards improving basic education and health in Africa. Peace- building, good governance, and water and food security are among the Initiative's other areas of emphasis.

Statement by Secretary-General

Secretary-General BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI, speaking via satellite from Geneva, said the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa was being launched, at the same time at Headquarters, by organizations and agencies in Paris, Geneva, Rome, Nairobi, Vienna, as well as by United Nations resident coordinators in national capitals. "This initiative is, first and foremost, an appeal to the global community to join in an effort intended to benefit many millions of people in Africa."

He expressed satisfaction over the positive response of heads of United Nations agencies and programmes to his call to bring a more coherent and comprehensive approach by the United Nations system to Africa's needs and priorities. Each United Nations organization would have a key contribution to make in its particular area of competence and expertise. The Initiative was a new milestone in the ongoing effort to strengthen collaboration between the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, and other organizations of the system.

He thanked the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michel Camdessus, for their commitment to that cooperation, and for the crucial role that their organizations would play in the future development and implementation of the Initiative. He also thanked the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), K.Y. Amoako, for steering the inter-agency process that was instrumental in putting the Initiative together.

In launching the Initiative and in mobilizing the United Nations system to that end, the international community was called upon to demonstrate its

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commitment to the development of a continent which remained a source of constant concern, he said. The Initiative was also a call to men and women in Africa. The international community was telling Africa that it was not alone and remained under the watchful eyes of the world. He would make every effort to make sure the Initiative would not fail, that goals would become a reality, would translate into concrete initiatives that would change the lives of peoples in Africa.

He would periodically provide the international community with assessments of the Initiative, he continued. For several years, Africa had fought courageously for peace, development, democracy and respect for human rights. The efforts of Africans must enjoy broad support. He was not appealing to the international community's generosity, but to its conscience and awareness of the world's interdependence, awareness that Africa would become a source of prosperity if it finally received its due.

Now, it was the time for the United Nations and the international community to stand together with Africa, its leaders and its people. "Now is the time for us to forge a new partnership", he said, adding that as Secretary-General "this is my goal and my commitment".

Other Statements

MELES ZENAWI, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), speaking via satellite from Addis Ababa, said he was pleased to preside over the Addis Ababa launch of the Special Initiative. The Initiative was based on issues which Africans had identified. The Initiative's focus on children, education, health care and role of women was laudable. It was fully in line with Africa's priorities and interests, and it was being launched at a time when there was need for steps to be taken to ensure development. He was convinced that the Initiative would be greeted by Africa as the United Nations commitment to development. Africa provided the benchmark by which the United Nations would measure the achievement of development goals.

He said there must be a lot of scepticism about the Initiative. One could ask what made it so different from other programmes designed for Africa, given the frustrations in Africa with unfulfilled promises. However, it seemed that this time optimism might be warranted because of the innovative initiatives, which were expected to be more effective. The Initiative should make resource mobilization more effective. Africa did not call on the world to do for it what it could do on its own. It must be responsible for its own development. It was obvious that the international community has a responsibility to assist Africa to overcome the immense problems it faced. He expressed the hope that the Special Initiative would enable it to support development in Africa.

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JAMES WOLFENSOHN, President of the World Bank, said the Initiative meant a great deal to the Bank, whose major functions were to seek to alleviate poverty and bring sustainable development to the world. Nowhere was that more required than in Africa. The Initiative was and focused and comprehensive. It had a time duration, it was bringing the Bank together with other partners in the United Nations system in a focused agenda.

The future of Africa was in the hands of African leadership, he said. The Bank had great confidence in African leaders' understanding of African problems. Notwithstanding the Bank's great experience, Africans had the real answers. Therefore, he was pleased that Africa would be the core of the Initiative. At a time when aid funding was diminishing and Africa had too many wars, the simple framework was workable. The Bank was prepared to follow and coordinate. It had been given the lead in mobilizing resources, in several areas. It was looking forward to the issue of building capacity in governments.

He stressed that the Initiative was not charity. Visiting Africa, he had been impressed immensely with the efforts of Africans to move forward within the African context. The Bank was committed to working in that partnership.

JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that recent history was littered with tragically missed opportunities. Together, the international community was committed to act now, to seize opportunities through concerted action, to reverse past mistakes, and to prevent future tragedies.

It was fitting that the renewed focus on Africa should begin in 1996, the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, he said. Africa accounted for 33 of the world's 50 poorest countries. Poverty led to war and civil strife. And yet there was nothing inevitable about it.

"The future is constrained only by our own choices -- the choices of nations, of international organizations, of people in civil society and the private sector", he said. There was no guarantee of success. But by working together, the international community could improve the chances of success, even in this time of declining foreign aid resources. "Pooling our respective organizational tools and our special expertise, the entities we represent can achieve far more working together than they could hope to achieve, cumulatively, working alone."

He said the concerted, collaborative action embodied in the Special Initiative must be the new paradigm for international development cooperation. The new paradigm included important reforms in the way the donor community approached its objectives and did its business. Partnerships and

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participation would be the hallmarks of success. Development cooperation must be both regionally oriented and also country-driven and country-owned.

The new paradigm would establish and use regional forums to decide broad approaches to common problems, he said. It would use country-specific sectoral plans and would bring to bear the insights and perspectives of civil society and the private sector.

"I wear two hats today -- one as Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee with K.Y. Amoako, and another as UNDP Administrator", he said. As Co-Chairman, he thanked all those participating in today's event. "It is a global team that can make a critical difference for Africa's fight against poverty."

Speaking as UNDP Administrator, he said the organization's prime sectoral focus would be on programmes to promote good governance. "The Initiative calls for a five-year, $500 million strategy to work with African countries that request assistance as they build modern systems of participatory, transparent and accountable governance and forge enabling environments for sustainable human development."

That was not the costliest nor the most tangible component of the Initiative, but from the standpoint of sustainability, it was no less a core priority than other basic needs, he said. Good governance was the key to building a robust indigenous civil society. It was also the key to spurring the private sector and attracting much-needed foreign investment.

He underscored that good governance was not something cooked up somewhere outside of Africa. Africans themselves were calling for those fundamental changes and for international development cooperation to help bring them about. That call from African ministers had been heard at a recent meeting in Burkina Faso with ministers from sub-Saharan Africa.

The Special Initiative would require significant resources, as much as $25 billion, from all the outside players, he said. Some of it would derive from ongoing programmes, but more was needed. That was why agency heads had joined together today to kick off a one-year, global resource mobilization campaign. The Initiative was not a magic solution for Africa's problems. It was a realistic prescription for joint action between Africa and its partners in critically important areas.

CAROL BELLAMY, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the Special Initiative responded to the needs of the people of Africa who were working to improve their lives. Africa had always been a priority for UNICEF. Within the context of the Special Initiative, the Fund would contribute to important areas of need such as universal access to health care, quality education for all children, and access to safe water, supplied

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through low-cost community-run systems. Another priority would be the protection of children caught in wars in the continent. The UNICEF would also emphasize the rights of the child and the rights of women.

Most importantly, she continued, the Initiative's success would be assured by the provision of resources. The UNICEF was prepared to provide the resources necessary to implement the priority areas that she had identified. The Initiative was "an elementary act of justice in response to Africa's needs". Leadership must come from African governments and civil society. In addition, the partners in the Initiative had important roles to play. "Africa's children would hold us all responsible for the outcome", she said.

Dr. NAFIS SADIK, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the Special Initiative must seriously address the issue of population. With an estimated population of more than 728 million in 1996, and more than 1 billion by 2010, population size, growth and distribution must be taken into account at every step. Population in Africa was growing by 2.7 per cent a year, outpacing economic growth in all but a few countries. The urban population was growing by 4.3 per cent annually -- faster than any other region in the world. Population issues were also closely related to the lack of sustained economic growth, slow social development in the region and environmental degradation. Population factors were critical to the Initiative's efforts to promote basic education, health reforms, an enabling environment, drought management and measures to ensure water and food security. Citing statistics on life expectancy and the high rate of deaths of children, she said a "central goal of the Initiative will be to help countries to reform their health sectors, boosting their capacity to combat the most common causes of ill-health and death".

She went on to say that development depended on the participation of all people -- both men and women. The empowerment of women and gender equality was, therefore, imperative. Improving reproductive health would be a major step in laying a solid basis for development in Africa. The UNFPA was pleased to join its partners in the United Nations system, African governments and civil society, and with other development partners in the long-overdue endeavour to support sustainable, human-centred development in Africa. The Fund's priority efforts would be aimed at building capacities in individual countries in implementing the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development. Its programmes in Africa would support the Special Initiative by assisting countries in implementing the Conference goals and approach to reproductive health, including family planning, and in integrating population considerations into development planning. As Chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Basic Social Services, the UNFPA would strive to promote effective coordination and timely implementation of the efforts of the United Nations system to help governments reform their health sectors and provide basic education to all children, especially girls.

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K.Y. AMOAKO, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and Co-Chairman of the Initiative's Steering Committee, speaking from Addis Ababa, said the Initiative was a great reaffirmation of the Secretary- General's goal of working with other leaders in Africa. The chances of Africa emerging from a development crisis were better now than in many years. In several countries, the economy was already growing faster than the population. The continent was poised for sustained growth. The ECA, as the United Nations regional arm, was in a position to play its part.

The Initiative was achievable, he said, adding that its focus was on African-centred development. The ECA would be the lead agency in carrying out programmes in areas such as South-South cooperation. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) would be involved in initiatives concerning the informal sector. The Initiative would help ECA in its efforts towards serving Africa better.

VIJAY MAKHAN, Assistant Secretary-General of the OAU, speaking via satellite from Addis Ababa, said that the Initiative was welcomed at a time when there seemed to be "Africa fatigue". The Initiative focused on priority areas identified by Africans themselves. Past prescriptions proposed for Africans had not been based on the realities on the ground. In addition, resources had been scarce for the series of programmes that had been proposed in the past to implement Africa's development programmes. Africa needed to challenge itself. The recent OAU Summit in Cairo had re-launched African development. Its message was that Africa must take charge of its own development. The international community which had failed to live up to its commitment to the continent was now being asked to appreciate Africa's priorities.

He went on to say that the Initiative had come as "a breath of fresh air" in Africa's stifling struggle to implement reforms. Democratization had been evolving, even though much more needed to be done. There was need to strengthen diverse institutions in that regard. The road to development in Africa was strewn with conflicts, both inter- and intra-State conflicts. Hence, the rule of law and peace was imperative for development. In that connection, Africa needed the support of the international community. There was need to strengthen the OAU peace-building processes.

However, he said, the majority of countries in Africa enjoyed stability. Present prospects for development were much better than they had been for years. The Initiative's priorities were not new. The participation of the World Bank, for example, would contribute to its success. The synergy of the United Nations system was also crucial. The international community must commit itself to the Initiative, and the issue of technical assistance must be addressed. The Initiative must be based on national programmes. Africa was ready to play its role in the emerging international system.

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PRABHAKAR R. NARVEKAR, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said his organization shared the determination to assist African countries in becoming full participants in the global economy. The progress of Africa's macroeconomic performance was still too slow to make credible headway towards sustainable growth and achieve a significant reduction in poverty. However, the performance of some countries had convinced the IMF that Africa could succeed. The goal was to help the successful countries build on their achievements and to help other countries duplicate the positive results already realized in the region. With the lessons learnt from the successful reformers, the IMF could help establish the macroeconomic framework required to underpin the implementation of the social and sectoral programmes launched by other members of the United Nations system over the life of the Initiative.

Of the lessons learnt, he said the first was the importance of getting the economic fundamentals right, especially the restoration and maintenance of financial stability. At the same time, a liberal exchange and trade system must be ensured. The second lesson was the importance of establishing an institutional framework in which entrepreneurs had confidence to invest. In that connection, issues of good governance were fundamental to the achievement of sustainable economic growth and the reduction of poverty in Africa.

The Fund was also prepared to support low-income countries that embark on comprehensive adjustment and reform programmes through the enhanced structural adjustment facility, he said. Currently, the IMF was supporting the economic stabilization and reform programmes of sub-Saharan African countries in the amount of 2.3 billion special drawing rights (SDRs). That effort would be sustained and possibly strengthened during the life of the Initiative and would catalyse substantially larger amounts of resources from other sources.

On the issue of external debt, he said the Fund's analyses of multilateral debt of heavily indebted poor countries suggested that even with strong policy adjustment, some countries would have difficulty in bringing their debt burdens down to a sustainable level. In a few cases, more relief might be needed than was currently available under existing mechanisms. However, irrespective of the amount of debt relief provided, those countries would continue to have serious external financing problems. Any action taken to ease debt-service problems must not be allowed to divert attention from the need to continue mobilizing new concessional lending to poor countries that show a determined effort to pursue adjustment policies.

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