At Economic and Social Council Partnerships Forum, Speakers Stress Investment in Health-Care Systems Critical to Achieving Post-2015 Agenda Targets
Global Network on Promoting Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization Launched
Robust, sustained investment in health-care systems were critical to achieving post-2015 development targets, as well as making the “final push” against the West African Ebola outbreak and preventing other devastating epidemics, said high-level speakers, as the Economic and Social Council held its annual Partnerships Forum and launched the Global Network on Promoting Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization today.
“We live in a troubled world, but a lot of good things are happening in this troubled world,” said William J. Clinton, former President of the United States and Founder of the Clinton Foundation, as he addressed the Council. “Many hands do lighten the load” of health and other development challenges, he added, emphasizing the power of partnerships. In particular, many stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, international organizations and the private sector had stepped up to help in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic.
Before the outbreak, he continued, Liberia had had just one physician for every 71,000 people. Those severely limited resources were a “staggering burden” and countries in West Africa were requesting funds to build better, stronger health systems through multi-year plans. He urged donor nations to make pledges to meet those needs, strengthening health-care infrastructure and delivery across the region. In the long-run such efforts would save money and make nations more self-sufficient.
The health of the world depended upon people being able to take care of themselves, he stressed. The ability to stand on one’s own, as well as intelligence, was distributed equally across the world. However, opportunity was not. Long-term investments and broad-based partnerships were, therefore, critical. There would always be natural disasters, he pointed out, but because of a lack of investment in health systems, Ebola had been in many fundamental ways a “man-made disaster”.
Martin Sajdik, President of the Economic and Social Council, highlighted the need for partnerships to achieve development objectives, including the prevention of future epidemics, and urged participants to harness the broadest range of actors in support of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. With the growing emphasis on partnerships, there was also a clearer need for standards to achieve greater accountability and transparency, he added.
“Now is the time to build on what we have learned,” said Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. The global landscape was sombre and complex and it was clear that no single entity or organization could solve the world’s many problems alone. Turning specifically to the West African Ebola outbreak, he said that the final push to fully eradicating the virus would be the toughest and inclusive partnerships were needed at all levels — global, regional, national and local.
Speaking via videoconference, high-ranking Government health officials from West African countries briefed the Council on the current state of the outbreak. Several noted that partnerships between a wide variety of stakeholders — including Governments, philanthropic actors, non-governmental organizations and civil society — were needed to implement critical improvements in their health-care infrastructure and delivery.
In that connection, Bernice Dahn, Minister-Designate for Health and Social Welfare of Liberia, said that basic health-care services in her country had collapsed amid the massive social disruption caused by the Ebola outbreak. The current partnership momentum among stakeholders must be used to build resilient health-care systems, she said, calling in particular for capacity-building efforts and innovative new approaches. Liberia had developed an investment plan to create such a health-care system with adequate staff and community support.
“Ebola showed us we were stretched to the limit,” said Remy Lamah, Minister for Health and Public Hygiene of Guinea. His country’s national recovery programme from 2015 to 2017 aimed at bolstering the health-care system, reducing mortality through transmittable diseases and improving governance. Improvements were needed for health-care management and staff training, as well as socioeconomic recovery and more health-care workers.
Madina Rahman, Deputy-Minister for Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, said that “we’re not out of the woods,” of the Ebola epidemic. Since November 2014, new approaches were targeted at building a strong health-care system. However, immediate needs that needed to be addressed included lack of electricity and clean water in areas, deficits in medical equipment and weak health worker capacity. Ebola had no boundaries and if countries did not have “zero cases” no one was safe.
During the all-day Forum, the Council also held two panel discussions. During the first, which focused on building resilience to pandemics, panellists pointed out that outbreaks such as the one in West Africa, were cross-cutting, affecting all aspects of life from education to economic growth to social relationships. They urged stakeholders to be ambitious in their investments, and called for long-term vision in building up the health systems of resource-poor countries.
At the second panel, which focused on partnerships in the “post-2015 era”, speakers discussed the “unfinished business” of Millennium Development Goal 8 on global partnerships. They stressed that the achievement of the Goals — which culminated this year — hinged on partnerships. With respect to the new sustainable development goals, they emphasized the need to reach those “furthest behind” first.
The Forum’s events also included the launching of the Global Network on Promoting Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization. Introduced by Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, the Global Network would be a platform aimed at sharing experiences and good practices in the pursuit of sustainable urban development. Providing inputs for urbanization as an engine for sustainable development, it would also bring together multiple stakeholders to create synergies and avoid duplication of efforts.
Opening Remarks
“This is the moment to partner for the sake of sustainability,” MARTIN SAJDIK, President of the Economic and Social Council said, underscoring that the year 2015 marked the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the post-2015 development agenda. Partnerships would be central for the achievement of that new agenda and participants were needed to help harness the broadest range of actors in support of development objectives for a better life for all. With the growing emphasis on partnerships in the last two decades, there had also been a clearer need for standards to achieve greater accountability and transparency. Greater coherence and a stronger focus on reporting requirements were needed. The day’s panel discussions would, among other things, examine lessons learned from Millennium Development Goals partnerships and consider ways in which new partnerships could be catalysed to support the post-2015 development agenda. The meeting would also provide an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of health partnerships, specifically those in support of strengthened health systems, he said.
JAN ELIASSON, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, observing that 2015 marked the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations, said “we are possibly living through the most challenging period” in the Organization’s history. The global landscape was sombre and complex and it was clear that no single entity or organization could solve the world’s many problems alone. “We need to put the problems at the centre, and mobilize all actors to achieve change”, he stated. Turning to the Ebola epidemic that had struck West Africa during recent months, he said that the final push to fully eradicating the virus would be the toughest. Inclusive partnerships were needed at all levels — global, regional, national and local. In addition, the transformational post-2015 sustainable development agenda needed to be buttressed by science and technology.
In too many places around the world, he went on to say, school doors remained closed — especially for girls — and education was scarce in conflict zones. Innovative initiatives such as Global Education First, the Zero Hunger Challenge and others, which were based on strong partnerships between international organizations and the private sector, were urgently needed. Stronger public health systems were also needed, he added, noting that the Secretary-General had recently appointed a High-level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises. “Now is the time to build on what we have learned, and apply those lessons to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda,” he emphasized, adding that the United Nations would also be providing a platform for countries to discuss their Ebola responses. However, partnerships would only work if they were accountable and in line with the values of the United Nations.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, former President of the United States and founder of the Clinton Foundation, said that West Africa had survived a fate that most people could never imagine. Loved ones had been lost and the robust economic growth rates had declined. Schools and other basic services, including health systems, had been shut down, affecting development outcomes. Many stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, international organizations and the private sector had stepped up to help in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak. During a recent visit to the region, he said he heard the same call again and again: “Help us build our health systems.”
Before the outbreak, he continued, Liberia had had just one physician for every 71,000 people. Those severely limited resources were a “staggering burden”. Countries of the region were requesting funds to build better, stronger health systems through multi-year plans. If the donor community set aside 15 per cent of relief funds over a three-to-seven year span to build up health systems, “we wouldn’t have to worry about these problems”, he pointed out, urging donor nations to make pledges in July to help strengthen health resources and invest money in health systems in West Africa, which would save money in the long-run and make nations more self-sufficient.
“We live in a troubled world, but a lot of good things are happening in this troubled world,” he said. The great struggle of the twenty-first century world was the battle between inclusion and exclusion, between violence and peace. “Many hands do lighten the load,” he said, noting that partnerships were needed to achieve both peace and development objectives. One such initiative was a health programme that the Clinton Health Initiative was working on with the Rwandan Government and other partners, aimed at better resourcing and building up the country’s health systems, including the Butaro Cancer Center, the first of its kind in rural East Africa.
Over the long run, he said, the health of the world depended upon people being able to take care of themselves. Work, such as that taking place in Rwanda, should be done everywhere. The ability to stand on one’s own, as well as intelligence, was distributed equally across the world. However, opportunity was not. He called on those in the room to exalt partnerships, to bring together partners that would not traditionally have worked together, and to “tell people what we’re doing” in order to secure the necessary funding. Long-term investments and broad-based partnerships were critical. There would always be natural disasters, he pointed out, but because of a lack of investment in health systems, Ebola had been in many fundamental ways a “man-made disaster”.
Special Addresses
Mr. SAJDIK introduced Bernice Dahn, Minister-Designate for Health and Social Welfare of Liberia, Remy Lamah, Minister for Health and Public Hygiene of Guinea and Madina Rahman, Deputy-Minister for Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, who, via videoconference, addressed the meeting.
Ms. DAHN said until Ebola struck, Liberia had made significant progress in a number of health indicators, including the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4. Malaria cases had dropped by 50 per cent. After the outbreak, lives were lost to that and other preventable illnesses as the basic health-care services collapsed amid a massive social disruption. On how the current partnership momentum could be used to build resilient health-care systems, she said capacity-building of actors and new approaches were among efforts needed. A two-pronged approach must ensure a robust public health response and an active health-care delivery system.
During the Ebola outbreak, assistance had supported Liberia’s response efforts. “Today, we are at zero,” she said. Moving forward, Liberia had developed an investment plan to create a resilient health-care system with adequate staff and community support. Ebola knew no borders, she said, and partners were needed as the Government could not build such a system alone, given the current total $500 million national budget.
Mr. LAMAH said Guinea’s national recovery programme from 2015 to 2017 aimed at contributing to bolstering the health-care system, reducing mortality through transmittable diseases and improving governance. Efforts to eliminate Ebola included intervention, community support and communication. Monitoring initiatives had registered cases with a view to containing the epidemic. “Everything is going well,” he said, commending all partners. However, going forward, health-care services must cover all citizens and hospital care must be strengthened.
Amid current searches for new Ebola cases and other illnesses, he said improvements were needed for health-care management and staff training, adding that “Ebola showed us we were stretched to the limit” and highlighted the need to be both proactive and reactive. In addition, socioeconomic recovery was also needed as were more health-care workers. The recovery programme was already addressing those issues, but Guinea needed partners and support to ensure the success of those efforts.
Ms. RAHMAN said Sierra Leone now had one case of Ebola, which, as previously seen, was all it took to cause an epidemic. “We’re not out of the woods,” she stated. “We need all hands on deck. We cannot do it alone.” Since November 2014, new approaches had aimed at building a strong health care system. Immediate needs included lack of electricity and clean water in areas, deficits in medical equipment and weak health worker capacity. Infection prevention control also needed to be urgently addressed, as overcoming cultural barriers had been a challenge. Essential basic health and sanitation services and community support were critical, as more work would be necessary in “getting back to zero”, she said.
A range of other issues must be addressed, she continued. Ebola survivors must receive care and support and children must receive support they need to return to school after an eight-month pause caused by the outbreak. The current plan must be long-term to maintain the “zero” level in the future. Ebola had no boundaries and if countries did not have “zero cases” no one was safe. Calling on all partners to help affected countries, she asked for assistance to build resilient health-care systems.
Panel 1
The Council then held its first panel discussion on the theme “Partnerships in support of strengthening health systems: Building resilience to Pandemics”, which was moderated by Paul Farmer, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community-Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti, Co-founder, Partners in Health, and Chair, Harvard University Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.
The panel featured: Anthony Fauci, Director, United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, Regional Director for Africa, World Health Organization (via videoconference); Gary M. Cohen, Executive Vice-President of Global Health, Becton, Dickinson and Co.; Jeffrey Wright, actor, and founder, Ebola Survival Fund; and Rifat Atun, Professor of Global Health and Population, Harvard University.
Opening the discussion, Dr. FARMER said that in ophthalmology, there was the notion of a visual field defect, which meant that part of the visual field was obscured. In the case of an epidemic, he asked, “How do we see the entire field before us?” Ebola has cut across several countries, affecting other health problems in those countries, such as maternal mortality. The visual field defect was not just a metaphor, he said, as one of the main effects of the Ebola virus was blindness. As the international community steered resources to the Ebola epidemic, it should consider related challenges such as orphaning, blindness and stigma. Urging stakeholders to be ambitious in their investments, he called for a transition from aid to the “long-term accompaniment” of countries.
Turning to Dr. Fauci, he asked how he saw stakeholders moving forward in West Africa, and how to break the visual field defect.
Dr. FAUCI responded that there was an urgent need for a sustainable health infrastructure. With regards to Ebola, there were two issues: how to stop the spread of the virus, and how to take care of people with Ebola. Stopping the spread of Ebola required identifying, isolating and contact tracing. The lack of resources to do those basic things in West Africa had led to the spread of the epidemic. With regard to caring for people with Ebola, he said that two thirds of the problem could be solved with “fundamental good medical care”. In past years, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had developed a sustainable health infrastructure, not only for HIV, but also for other diseases in a number of countries. That infrastructure had helped Nigeria to effectively handle their few cases of Ebola.
Dr. FARMER asked Dr. Moeti to outline priorities for building health systems in both preventive and care delivery work.
Dr. MOETI observed that Rwanda was a good example of a country that had bought into a way of supporting its health system that addressed a range of health problems in a safe way. Investments should support decentralized, decent health care with doctors, nurses and other health workers who were trained and people-focused. “We need basic medication, and systems that ensure that they are delivered,” as well methods for tracking their delivery, she said. Financing that took into account the need for equity was also needed. Partners that came in to countries should be guided to address the priorities of those countries. “We should deliver in an integrated way”, on solutions to countries’ most pressing health problems, she emphasized.
Dr. FARMER said that it all came down to financing. He asked what could be done now to move attention to the mobilization of resources.
Dr. MOETI agreed with other speakers that sustaining international interest and commitments was crucial following the Ebola epidemic. In the case of HIV, some sustained financing instruments had been created; the same needed to be done for Ebola and other epidemics. “We need to take a leap of faith,” in terms of financing, she said, noting that it sometimes felt like “throwing money into a black hole”. However, it was that funding that helped to reach remote areas and helped countries build up their health systems across the board. Countries needed resilient health-care systems, and partners should understand that extremely weak systems could not be turned around overnight. Sustained support was needed.
Because investing in the building blocks of health systems had not been front and centre in the private sector in recent years, Dr. FARMER asked Dr. Cohen how that could be changed.
Dr. COHEN pointed out that the Ebola outbreak had demonstrated how vulnerable the world was when there was a lack of investment in health systems in resource-poor settings. It cost more to respond to the outbreak in the three affected countries than it would have to prevent it. Both public health and delivery systems needed investment, he added, voicing support for the idea of an African Union Centre for Disease Control. Describing three ways that the private sector could respond to global health problems and invest in health systems — philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and shared value creation — he said that all work needed to be done collaboratively. “These problems are too big to solve through any one sector,” he stated. To achieve health outcomes, companies could use a combination of blended finance, impact investing and social impact bonds, through which bonds would be issued by the World Bank and private investors could come in and buy down the principal.
Turning next to Mr. Wright, Dr. FARMER asked for a civil society perspective on the issues at hand.
Mr. WRIGHT said that he had been travelling to, and working in, rural Sierra Leone over the past 14 years. He had been struck by the discrepancies in the health delivery systems of Sierra Leone and his native United States. In 2012, he had also travelled to Rwanda and was stunned by the “modern health-care infrastructure” that existed in a country which had only recently had a health system similar to that of Sierra Leone. He went on to describe some of his philanthropic/commercial work, noting that, since the end of violence and hostilities in West Africa, there had existed vulnerabilities that had led to the spread of the Ebola epidemic. Although money had been made available for post-conflict recovery, support for health-care systems with long-term goals should be included in such funding. He stressed the need for Governments to use tax revenue and partnerships with the private sector to strengthen health infrastructure.
Dr. FARMER said that the deaths of West African health-care providers due to Ebola had been “grievous and unprecedented”. He asked Dr. Atun for his suggestions on how to transform the broad consensus into action.
Dr. ATUN said that, in the case of Ebola, “we are debating what went wrong”. The reason that epidemics had persisted was in fact a visual field defect. Learning from the past and moving forward meant investing in health. The HIV response had begun late, but had been corrected thanks to global leadership, civil society and partnerships, but it had been countries that invested in health systems that succeeded most. They had not only successfully addressed HIV, but also maternal health, malaria and other health problems. Short-term, reactive responses did not work, and the time had come to take the long-term view. It was important to create durable, resilient health systems through inclusive, community-led responses. Specifically, investment was needed in human resources and supply chains. There was a change to re-write history, shifting investment to a long-term, infrastructure-oriented model.
When the floor was opened for comments and questions, a number of speakers stressed that the Ebola outbreak had shined a light on the weaknesses of health-care systems of many countries. Others emphasized that public-private collaboration was critical to stepping up investment in health infrastructure in resource-poor countries.
A representative of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance stressed her organization’s commitment to ensuring the future availability of an Ebola vaccine.
Meanwhile, the representative of Sweden said that national leadership was critical both to combating epidemics and to strengthening health systems.
A discussion also emerged about the need to link the “right aspirations” to practical, concrete actions on the ground. In that connection, Dr. COHEN said that, in all of today’s discussions, “we are talking about precious human lives”. Companies operating in areas with resource-poor health-care systems should be encouraged to think beyond profits. Social impact credits, similar to the successful employment of carbon credit, could be useful in that respect, he said, adding that such credits could be monetized and provide incentive for private capital investment.
Mr. WRIGHT responded there were ways to help maximize the impact of natural resource investments, creating greater economic activities and generating greater tax revenue that could be used for health.
Dr. FAUCI agreed with the need for country ownership in all areas of health system development and stressed the need to pay attention to an “implementation gap” that existed when vaccines existed, but were not made available to the people who could use them.
Also taking part in that discussion were representatives of the World Economic Forum and the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response.
Panel II
A dialogue on “Partnerships for the Post-2015 Era: Reality Check”, moderated by Brenda Killen, Deputy-Director, Development Cooperation Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), featured the following panellists: Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children; Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); G.S. Krishan, Regional President of Novozymes India; and Mercy Ahun, Special Representative for GAVI Eligible Countries, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota, Permanent Representative of Brazil joined the panel during the ensuing discussion.
Opening up the dialogue, Ms. KILLEN said the “unfinished business” of Millennium Development Goal 8, on global partnerships, demonstrated the work ahead that needed to be done. “We need to up our game and start to work now,” she said.
Ms. MILES said the Millennium Development Goals’ success hinged on partnerships. For her non-governmental organization, Save the Children, ending child deaths and the learning crisis were priorities. With the sustainable development goals, those furthest behind must be reached first and working on partnerships must begin now to be effective in the years to come. The forthcoming Financing for Development Conference in July would be key for creating and building on partnerships with all actors. Heads of State and finance ministers must create the necessary political will and work with partners in sectors including health and education. Calling for a new global financing facility and a new partnership for data collection, she hoped those unique approaches would have a deep impact on the ground. With regard to implementing the new development goals, partnerships added value, including cost-efficiency, driving programme excellence and ensuring accountability.
Mr. HEUER said without global collaboration “you can forget the SDGs [sustainable development goals]”. Solutions to challenges needed a foundation from which goals could be reached, through partnerships, research, science and education. A well-educated society was essential to solving problems and research yielded innovations that could provide solutions. CERN was one of the best examples of global collaboration, with visionary people in 1954 creating a centre of excellence that was a breakthrough in terms of multilateral partnerships. Currently, more than 3,000 scientists from 70 countries conducted research at CERN, promoting, among other things, a mutual understanding among cultures. The sustainable development goals should indicate a minimum target for science, education and research, including public and private sectors. In addition, politics must support those efforts to ensure success and the achievement of the goals.
Mr. KRISHAN said Novozymes, a bio-innovation company present in 130 countries, addressed hunger, waste, water and sanitation and sustainable energy through its enzyme products and industrial biotechnology used in many sectors, ranging from laundry detergent to biofuel production. For its part, Novozymes had spent 40 per cent of its revenues on research and development. On the post-2015 development agenda, Novozymes was focused on sustainable solutions and operated on the notion that partnering for impact was a strategy for a better future. In India, the company worked with a number of sectors, including with energy, in order to find renewable solutions. Partnerships must be built on shared goals, he said, noting that efforts to integrate sustainable indicators into its operations simply “made good business sense”.
Ms. AHUN said when GAVI was established in 2000, it represented a departure from traditional ways of development. A public-private partnership, GAVI joined United Nations agencies and the public and private sector to improve vaccine coverage in developing countries. In helping to make vaccines more affordable and available and their provision more sustainable, GAVI had reached 500 million children, which resulted in preventing 7 million deaths. Looking ahead, GAVI aimed at reaching an additional 300 million children by 2020, preventing even more deaths. A critical success factor was ensuring the development country’s government was “in the driver’s seat”. Embracing innovation to ensure sustainable results was another driving force. Innovative finance was providing long-term predictable funding and using official development assistance (ODA) in “smart ways”. Taking a market-based approach to development, GAVI had ensured low prices. Innovative ways of thinking and working together would be critical in the post-2015 era and lessons from successful financing initiatives would be valuable.
During the ensuing dialogue, panellists discussed lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals and innovative approaches leading up to the new goals.
Ms. MILES said lessons learned from a child mortality standpoint had shown that 90 per cent of deaths were now occurring in 10 countries. Reaching those most in need was imperative.
Mr. KRISHAN described one partnership with a company that was addressing sanitation solutions in order to lower child deaths due to diarrhoea that stemmed from the use of “pig toilets”.
More broadly, Mr. HEUER said partnerships should be built on trust and should have a long-term view, which could bolster efforts in working towards achieving the new goals.
Responding to a question on using resources wisely, Ms. AHUN said countries had managed to co-finance vaccines using domestic resources. From a donor perspective, advance market commitment and other innovative tools could be used moving forward on the new goals.
When the floor opened, a number of participants shared experiences, with some providing recommendations. A doctor from Germany said data was not always readily available and cutting-edge medicine, in some cases, was not often brought to remote regions where it was needed. Using telemedicine was an innovative approach that could improve health care in countries affected by major crises. A representative from the Global Partnerships Forum suggested that the United Nations create a global innovation fund for new approaches.
Joining the panel, Mr. DE AGUIAR PATRIOTA said that much needed to be done, including establishing universal health care and building sustainable cities, and the role of the private sector should support the agenda. Perhaps the Economic and Social Council was not the best forum for advancing the new goals. To facilitate that, a “window” for interfacing with the private sector should be built, with greater partnership accountability. In the field of technology, private sector involvement would be beneficial and a United Nations-wide mechanism should be developed to enhance the exchange of information.
Mr. SAJDIK said that while the Economic and Social Council was a bureaucratic body, it was a “sleeping beauty” that could be brought into helping to implement the new agenda, using the wisdom of Member States.
Participants in the discussion included representatives of Indonesia and Germany, as well as from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Also speaking were individuals and groups from the private sector and civil society.
Global Network Launch
Launching the Global Network on Promoting Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization, JOAN CLOS, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) noted that it had been a year since the Economic and Social Council had met to discuss sustainable urban development. In that regard, it was a pleasure to come back with a concrete action proposal. “The world is urban, and the future of the world is going to be even more urban,” he said, urging the harnessing of urban areas to promote sustainable development. Urbanization had transformative potential, he said, adding that the discussion last year had helped to shape the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
Because “sprawl” was a strategy that would not work for sustainability, a new urban paradigm was needed, he said, stressing that it promoted the consumption of resources. A far more integrated approach to urbanization was needed. In that regard, information technologies were crucial, as they would reduce costs for cities, generate new opportunities for employment and include citizens in decision-making processes. The Global Network would provide inputs for urbanization as an engine for sustainable development. Stronger public participation would be central to sustainable urbanization. The platform was a practical exercise in those partnerships, he stated.
TALAL ABU-GHAZALEH, Chairman and Founder of the Talal Abu-Gazaleh Organization, said that sustainable urbanization aimed to combat climate change, bring about clean air and provide safer and healthier urban space for the world’s citizens. The Economic and Social Council had hit the right note in focusing on the integration of the social, economic and environmental elements of sustainable development, and on partnerships as a way of achieving their integration.
“As a global business leader, I see the world as it is, but also need to imagine it as it can be,” he said. The world could be more conducive to solving problems of poverty, disease and ignorance, but more sustainable urbanization was needed. Indeed, cities could become vibrant urban hubs of creativity and wealth. Bringing the private sector on board could help to overcome resource constraints, he said, adding that, through the new platform, many stakeholders could be brought together to create synergies and avoid duplication of efforts. Finally, he proposed to hold a forum on those issues in the city of Dubai.
The Director of Operations at TEKsystems then took the floor to say that it was crucial to look at existing frameworks that were already in place in cities in order to leverage and partner with them.
Closing Remarks
Closing the meeting, Mr. SAJDIK said that the post-2015 sustainable development agenda would provide a framework that would scale up or establish new partnerships to help those living in poverty around the world. Describing the day’s discussions, he said that new models of sustainable financing were needed for countries to have adequate response mechanisms for health emergencies such as the Ebola outbreak. Partnerships had to be based on trust, he said, adding that “the [Council] is the partner of the partners”. There had been various interesting proposals, including the creation of a sustainable development goal innovation fund. Recalling the restructuring of the Economic and Social Council a year ago, he underscored that the launch of the Global Network showed that the reformed body could produce concrete results.