By MediaGlobal

United Nations to highlight shared challenges of urbanization at World Expo 2010

[19 June 2008] For over 150 years, World Expositions have showcased the great ideas, cultural riches and creative solutions of their times. Past Expos built the Eiffel Tower, introduced the invention of the telephone and are credited with the creation of the ice cream cone.

From May through October 2010, the world’s eyes will turn to Shanghai, where visionaries from around the world will come together on the banks of the Huangpu river in one of the world’s fastest-growing urban centers to build a “City of Humanity.” Their goal is to promote the collaboration and sustainable solutions necessary for mankind to live together in an increasingly crowded world.

The Expo’s theme of “Better City, Better Life” embodies the agenda of the United Nations, Dr. Awni Behnam, Commissioner General for the United Nations Pavilion at the Expo, said in an exclusive interview with South-South Voices.

Behnam’s passion for his organization’s role in promoting unity and peace will be reflected in the UN Pavilion, which he is designing together with a UN-HABITAT team headed by executive director Anna Tibaijuka.

“The UN is not some creation outside humanity. It is the sum of the experiences of everyone. It is the laboratory of our humanity,” he said, adding that “the UN can be the catalyst to create that unity of purpose to meet the desperation and destitution that comes with poverty, that comes from exploitation, that comes from malpractices and bad judgments in managing our lives and our cities.” The Expo,” he said, “is an opportunity to look for what is doable and what can be done.”

The world’s population is urbanizing more rapidly than ever before, as rural populations migrate to urban centers in search of better jobs and living conditions. This year marks the first time in human history that as many people will live in cities as in rural areas.

“We know that the issue of urbanization is beyond reversal,” Behnam said. “Unfortunately with the growth of cities we have seen the growth of the desperation, the poverty, the slums and the migration,” all of which compound environmental degradation.

These issues will be highlighted in the design of the United Nations Pavilion, organized around the message of “One Earth, One UN.” It will address environmental sustainability, social development, culture and learning, and the development potential of creative economies.

Each issue requires global commitment. “If you take one example-the creative economy,” Behnam said, describing how creative economies, which include the entertainment, media and craft industries, create “the passion and the happiness” needed for social and economic stability. “In order for that to come out to the forefront, you need that initial cooperation.”

This need is at the core of Behnam’s design, which will reflect a new age in global partnerships spurred by the need to combat climate change.

“For once we are all in the same boat, it’s not some rich and some poor who have to find solutions, but we all as humanity have one objective-to find a solution and to be creative in order to find a solution,” he said. “Here is an opportunity for solidarity, for unity, that [doesn’t] come from division between rich and poor but it comes from saving our own humanity.”

The Shanghai Expo is the first World Exposition to take place in a developing country, and its emphasis on global collaboration expresses a shift away from North-South polarization, said Behnam, who is working with the United Nations Development Programme’s Special Unit of South-South Cooperation (SU/SSC) to promote the vision of a unified world, where partnerships between countries of the South have global benefits.

“It’s a step, South-South cooperation is a real step towards a uniform world in which there are no differences, in which we will move [toward] the basis and the pillars of total international cooperation,” he said. The UN pavilion will be more than a showcase of products and projects, he added. It will draw on the UN’s work in nearly every country in the world to share “experiences that can be emulated elsewhere.”

Such cooperation is crucial to the future of the planet. “If we have sustainable urban development we would have the kind of environment where children will grow with security. They would have their food, they would have their education, they would have their future,” he said. “If we have sustainable urban development, then we write a check for our children.”

South-South cooperation must complement North-South partnerships, says G77 chairman

[16 June 2008] South-South cooperation is integral to effective partnerships with countries of the North, representatives of the Group of 77 and China (G77) said during a high-level meeting in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, held June 10 to 13. But South-South cooperation itself is also a powerful force for development, and participants pledged to work together to create systems by which developing countries can empower one another and themselves.

North-South cooperation, much of which takes place between donor and recipient nations, is “important to overall global development,” Ambassador John W. Ashe, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations and Chairman of the G77, said in an interview with South-South Voices.

“But I think all concerned are quite keen on having the South-South component of that be strengthened considerably,” he added, noting that progress was made toward a comprehensive development platform for countries of the South.

The priority of that platform will be to approach “South-South cooperation as a compliment to, rather than a replacement of North-South cooperation,” he said.

And while countries of the South continue to face serious economic challenges, their efforts at collaboration have proved successful enough that South-South cooperation should be recognized as an important development force in its own right, Ashe said, appealing to donor nations for support in enabling such partnerships.

Laurent Gbagbo, President of Côte d’Ivoire, insisted that developing countries must exert greater independence from what he called “an economic model that has notably created a situation whereby developing nations depend on the industrialized ones to meet their needs.”

He called on G77 nations to fight poverty and increasing food shortages through the creation of a food stabilization fund and a development bank for countries of the South, extending the role of the “Bank of the South,” created by seven Latin American countries last year.

TICAD IV marks new era of Asia-Africa cooperation

[11 June 2008] Africa’s economic star is rising, and many Asian investors are taking notice. As growing numbers of African governments work to liberalize their economies, the region’s economic growth rate is climbing. At the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), held May 28 to 30 in Yokohama, Japan, African and Asian heads of state and their representatives from more than 80 countries gathered to discuss Africa’s most pressing development issues while promoting African-Asian cooperation.

“There was a consensus that Africa is going ahead, is moving,” said Kae Yanagisawa, Senior Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, in an interview with South-South Voices. “In this context there was an understanding that to make Africa grow faster, there is a chance to learn [from] Asian experience.”

As Western countries grapple with economic slow-down, Africa’s average economic growth rate has reached six percent and shows little sign of falling. The majority of the continent’s foreign direct investment comes from Asia, primarily from economic giants China and India. But other Asian countries are finding Africa increasingly attractive, among them Vietnam and Malaysia.

“Those countries are very much interested in helping Africa, not only just from the perspective of assisting them, but they have their own interests,” Yanagisawa said. “For instance, Malaysia is now helping Zambia to help create a strategy for inviting investment.”

Hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the conference highlighted Japan’s role in African development. While Japan provides significant amounts of development assistance to Africa, including the world’s highest levels of aid for environmental and energy initiatives, Japanese private sector investment in the continent has fallen short of the hopes of many African leaders. Less than half of a percent of Japan’s total foreign direct investment goes to sub-Saharan Africa.

After years of economic recession, Japanese investors tend to be more risk-adverse than their counterparts in India and China, Yanagisawa noted, adding that African countries could do more to court Japanese business leaders.

“From Japan’s perspective, Africa is not the only market,” she said. “They can choose, so the African countries should position themselves and look at their competitors. They have to establish their own kind of competitive edge to attract investment.”

“There can be more investments and trade between us. I know we in Africa have to go the extra mile to convince Japanese investors to come to Africa,” said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in his keynote speech at the opening to the conference. “The perceived risks of doing business with or in Africa today are more a matter of the unforgotten past history than what is actually obtaining on the ground in Africa today,” he said, asking for the Japanese government’s help in promoting business partnerships between Japan and Africa.

International cooperation was a central theme of TICAD IV, with African-led economic development as its goal. “The summit is opening a new chapter in Asia-Africa cooperation, focusing on African ownership of its own development agenda,” Gilbert Houngbo, Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa, wrote in an opinion piece in the Asahi Shimbun, a leading Japanese daily.

Asian experience can benefit African development across a range of sectors, including agriculture and health, key elements of the Millennium Development Goals, Yanagisawa said. “Some of the Asian countries have already achieved some of the goals. For instance, [in] the health sector and the water sector,” she observed, explaining how Thailand’s system of HIV/AIDS prevention could be transferred to Africa. “Thailand is very much interested in sharing its own experience,” she said.

Commodity producers must work together to profit from high prices

[6 June 2008] As prices of raw materials soar around the world, the less developed countries of the global South are seeing a rare opportunity to use their natural resources as a foothold out of poverty. But this will require significant collaboration among themselves and with the economic powers of the developing world, said Ambassador Ali Mchumo, Managing Director of the Common Fund for Commodities, in an interview with South-South Voices.

“The role of South-South cooperation in assisting the development of commodity-dependent countries is crucial,” Mchumo said. “Those countries which are more developed, more industrialized, have to play their role in assisting the countries which are more commodity dependent.”

Developing countries have led the world’s economic growth for the past five years, and their participation in the world’s commodities market has risen dramatically. Rapidly industrializing nations such as China and India are fueling the demand for raw materials, and the resulting price increases both help and hurt the poorest countries of the South.

“Certainly we are all very delighted that the general trend of prices of commodities is rising,” said Mchumo, whose organization finances projects aimed at expanding commodity sectors in developing countries. “This is a very positive thing for commodity producers, in the sense that now the prices are better than they were, say, five or ten years ago. What is not certain is whether this price boom for commodities will be sustainable beyond, let’s say, ten years from now,” he said, adding that commodity-producing countries must capitalize on the commodities boom by building economic programs capable of sustaining future market drops.

But the rising prices come with their own problems. Countries whose economies are dependent for their income on just one or two commodities are finding themselves in a zero-sum situation. Themselves net importers of food and fuel, their export profits are swallowed up by global price increases in other goods.

With more economic activity taking place between developing countries, “South-South cooperation is a growing phenomenon,” Mchumo said. Programs encouraging wealthier countries of the South to aid their less developed neighbors are key, but so is encouraging vibrant South-South trade.

To this end, it is necessary for commodity producing countries to band together to advance their interests in world economic forums. “No single country in the South could ever be heard if it stood alone,” Mchumo noted. “It is always helpful for developing countries, commodity producers, to work together, because in working together they augment their bargaining power vis-� -vis the more developed countries.”

This lack of cooperation between commodity producers themselves is one of the greatest challenges facing the least developed countries, Mchumo said. “If they were able to marshal their unity and work together-for instance if all cotton producers would be able to say ‘this is what we want,’ then perhaps things would change in the favor of the producers.”

Commodities are central to the development agendas of many of the world’s poorest countries. “Of course commodity producers don’t want to remain just commodity producers. They also want to join the industrial club,” Mchumo said. “Even countries which are industrialized in trade, they started off with agriculture. So one hopes that many commodity-dependent countries will follow the same trajectory of using commodities as a launching pad to industrialization.”

But that journey out of commodity dependence cannot be done without significant domestic commitment and international support. A diverse commodities sector can be the first step toward wealth, “but that calls for investment. It calls for technology transfer,” Mchumo said. “It takes time. It takes time, it takes imagination, it takes goodwill, it takes patience-all these things combined.”

Top businesswomen recognize the importance of cross-border cooperation

[3 June 2008] Twelve of the world’s top female entrepreneurs gathered in New York to receive awards from the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) on 3 June, an event that was both practical and ceremonial. Women from around the world agreed that in striving to take small businesses global, creating cross-border connections with potential business partners and mentors is integral to their success in a traditionally male-dominated business world.

“It’s important to bring women together because women share some of the same problems, it’s probably a question of degree, but they have many of the same problems in terms of moving up the ladder,” Ambassador Ruth Davis, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Bureau and IWEC’s Africa liaison, told South-South Voices.

The honorees represented six countries and an array of industries. They included an Indian sari designer, a Nigerian furniture producer, the CEO of an American financial services firm that manages investments in developing countries and the founder of a South African company that provides fencing and security systems for construction sites. And while their backgrounds are diverse, they share a common trait – success. Each business has flourished and each woman has her sights set on the growing global market.

“Women bump up against a glass ceiling not just in Spain, not just in Nigeria, but throughout the world. There are common problems that women have on an international basis, so when they come together they can discuss these problems, talk about possible approaches to them, and also serve as mentors to each other,” Davis said.

“You get to hear different experiences, what people have gone through,” Winnie Gitau, an award recipient from Kenya, said in an interview with South-South Voices. “I am able to go back and pass that information to the others, because not all of them can come here. But I, when I go back to my country, whatever experiences I’ve heard with the different women, [I will] pass it to the others.”

Gitau, whose health food company hires workers from Kenya’s slums and provides childcare and nutrition classes to employees, underscored the importance of mentorship among women entrepreneurs. Africa’s aspiring young businesswomen need role models to set an example of empowerment, ultimately transforming women’s status as financially dependent.

Traditional education is not enough, she said. Simply sending girls to school may in fact reinforce traditional societal molds. “I went through it myself. I worked for many years, and whatever I got, I took it to my husband. And when I needed to start a business, I had absolutely nothing to take to the bank, nothing to start,” Gitau said, noting that many African women have no assets in their own name.

“The greatest challenge is finance,” she said. “When a woman wants to start a business, she has absolutely no security to start anything.”

International gatherings such as the IWEC awards aim to foster partnerships and encourage female-led businesses around the world. For African women, drawing attention to examples of successful female entrepreneurs is a first step toward a new generation of pioneers, Gitau explained. “Exposure is a very great challenge,” she said. “[African women] need mentors, they need people who can get them out, tell them they can do it better.”

Cultural mores make many women timid about going into business on their own, she said. “They need to learn that you can be [assertive], you are your own person, and at the same time it does not mean you are less of a woman.”

Arab countries work together on youth employment initiative

[2 June 2008] With youth unemployment higher in the Middle East and North Africa than anywhere else in the world, increased investment, policy changes and a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture are urgently needed. Silatech, an initiative founded on unprecedented levels of cooperation between Arab governments, corporations and private donors, is tackling joblessness in the region head-on, seeking to create 100 million jobs in the next two decades.

“Taking a courageous and creative approach towards the issue of youth employment constitutes a real and positive contribution in economic, social and psychological aspects of societies which, if neglected, can lead to negative consequences,” said Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of the Emir of Qatar and chairperson of Silatech’s board of directors, speaking at a June 1 and 2 summit on youth employment in the Arab world, jointly organized by Silatech and the Financial Times.

More jobs must be created in the next 15 years than were made in the last 50, a real challenge in a region where government regulations often stifle entrepreneurial development and many employers prefer to hire skilled workers from abroad, said Shamil Idriss, Acting Director of the Alliance for Civilizations, a United Nations program that fosters cross-cultural understanding, and helped launch the $100 million initiative in January.

The project brings national governments, charitable organizations, a network of major banks and corporations such as Nike and Cisco together to provide young people with job information, training and financing opportunities. Its aim is to link business hopefuls to banks, markets, suppliers and each other.

“What we’re excited about are the different elements of cooperation involved at very high levels of this initiative,” Idriss told reporters at UN Headquarters, outlining Silatech’s primary goals of advancing policy changes to favor job creation, building skills and increasing access to capital among young people, and encouraging an “entrepreneurial culture,” thereby empowering the region’s youth.

“The way that it’s come about is through a lot of internationalizing of the idea and internationalizing of who is establishing it and advancing it,” Idriss told South-South Voices, observing such cooperation between major regional players is relatively rare.

“Make no mistake about it, the [pilot] countries are heavily involved in financing it and coming up with the idea in the first place, but I think you have to admire the extent to which also they’ve been stepping back and letting others be in the forefront, of approaching some of the other regional players to come on board,” he said, noting that several Gulf-area foundations most active in development programs but rarely in contact with one another are engaging in groundbreaking dialogue. “I think it’s a great precedent,” he said.

Myanmar’s farmers get help from neighboring states

[20 May 2008] In the wake of Cyclone Nargis’ devastation of Myanmar’s principle rice-producing region, international aid organizations and donors are beginning to turn their attention to the long-term task of rebuilding a region crucial to the country’s food security.

While humanitarian workers cope with the aftermath of the storm and the government’s restrictions on aid, agricultural experts and farmers are worried. The next season’s rice crop must be planted in June, but with fields flooded, equipment and seed stocks destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people dead or displaced, Myanmar faces an impending food crisis.

“A major shortfall in rice production is expected unless wet season rice can be planted in time,” said Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, at a briefing of United Nations delegates. “The early rehabilitation of the agricultural sector has been identified as a key sector needing support. While this is not an immediate life-saving issue, it is nonetheless key for the crucial transition from relief to recovery.”

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, the region hardest hit by the cyclone, produces as much as 60 percent of the nation’s rice. With few other affordable foods available, the people of Myanmar rely far more on rice than their neighbors, eating an average of 20 kg of rice per month, as compared to 16 kg per month in Vietnam and 10 kg per month in Thailand.

Neighboring countries have been instrumental in emergency relief efforts. While Myanmar’s leaders have denied access to many foreign aid groups, Thai and Indian doctors were given permission to enter the country on May 17. Thailand has also provided emergency food aid and served as a base for international relief efforts.

With food shortages looming, Myanmar’s neighbors are increasingly focusing on rebuilding the country’s agricultural production systems. Thailand and China have donated tillers and other agricultural equipment urgently needed for planting, but farmers still face critical fuel shortages.

“Certainly the Myanmar government is much more inclined to work with neighboring countries for all sorts of reasons,” Bragg told South-South Voices, describing other South-east Asian countries as “natural partner[s] for the Myanmar government.”

The UN is working to encourage such partnerships, she said. “We can definitely play a coordinating role, and in this kind of enterprise coordination is very, very important.”

Other countries of the global South have come to Myanmar’s aid, including Kuwait, which pledged $5 million dollars in aid through the Kuwait Red Crescent.

“[Kuwait] has been always active to respond immediately through humanitarian assistance, to send immediate aid to help cope with the situation,” Ambassador Mohammad Abdulhasan, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the UN, told South-South Voices.

EVENTS IN DEVELOPMENT

For June/July

The Singapore International Water Week and the World Cities Summit_ Singapore (23-27 June 2008): The Singapore International Water Week will set the stage for policymakers, industry leaders, experts and practitioners to address challenges, showcase technologies, discover opportunities and celebrate achievements in the water world. The World Cities Summit will focus on issues related to good governance, urban development, environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness.
Website: http://www.siww.com.sg/

International Conference on Groundwater and Climate in Africa_ Kampala, Uganda (25-28 June 2008): The conference seeks to bring together water and climate scientists from research/academic institutions, government departments, and private sector as well as representatives from international agencies, donors and consortia in order to share knowledge and expertise, and thereby improve current understanding of the impact of climate and development on groundwater resources in Africa.
Website: http://www.gwclim.org/

China-OECD Multi-stakeholder Symposium on Government Approaches to Encouraging Responsible Business Conduct_ Paris, France (26-27 June 2008): All countries are facing the challenges of promoting sustainable development and conditions which facilitate responsible conduct on the part of business. As the world economy becomes more integrated, OECD countries, together with China and other emerging countries have a shared responsibility to meet these challenges. OECD countries have taken steps to do this, including the adoption of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to ensure that their companies work in harmony with the local societies everywhere they operate.
Website: http://www.oecd.org/document/53/0,3343,en_2649_34863_39384629_1_1_1_1,00.html

GIN2008 Conference: Facilitating Sustainable Innovation _Leeuwarden, The Netherlands (26-28 June 2008): The challenges that will be raised at the conference are: how to evoke successful innovations on a regional and commercial scale within a shifting paradigm towards sustainable development. Conference participants will work together to respond to the conference challenge: How do we create a context in which sustainable innovations can succeed? The conference outcome will include a manifesto on Creating Sustainable Pathways with concrete recommendations how to create sustainable innovations on a regional level. All sessions at the conference will contribute to the manifesto.
Website: http://www.greeningofindustry.org/gin2008.htm

Fifth The Center for Global Development and The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Washington DC (27 June 2008)
Website: http:// www.pcf5.london.ac.uk

Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Change _Kushiro, Japan (29 June-4 July 2008): Co-organized by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Kushiro International Wetland Centre, in partnership with Japan-UNDP Partnership Fund and the Secretariats of the Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity, this workshop aims to support the sharing of scientific facts and policies on biodiversity, wetlands and climate change, provide analytical knowledge to understand and practically use the scientific data and documentation, facilitate exchange of ideas and strengthen the Kushiro/UNITAR network of experts in wetlands, biodiversity and climate change.
Website: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/programmes/kushiro08

Development agencies, United Nations departments and non-governmental organizations are welcome to send details of upcoming conferences for inclusion in our EVENTS IN DEVELOPMENT column.

EDITOR: Nosh Nalavala

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Adelia Saunders

UN CORRESPONDENTS: Sheana Laughlin, Christina Madden, Shipra Prakash, Nadia Khan, Emily Geminder, Alina Haddad

MediaGlobal is a leading provider of information on global development issues. South-South Voices is a monthly publication of MediaGlobal. For a complimentary subscription to MediaGlobal’s THIS WEEK IN DEVELOPMENT, log onto: www.mediaglobal.org

CONTACT: Nosh Nalavala at media@mediaglobal.org o United Nations, Room S-301, New York, NY 10017 o Tel: (212) 963-9878. Website: www.mediaglobal.org