The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide a vision that guides the international development community, local and national governments in defining their priorities. In many places, including the Philippines, the MDGs provide a standard for civil society groups and local administrations to set reasonable criteria for local government performance. Although the MDGs set the bar for improving international living standards, they don’t adequately address how to get there. Improving people’s lives through any means necessary must not be an option, as autocratic rule rarely leads to a just and stable order. Rather, the development of locally accepted, democratic mechanisms, and the institutions to implement them, is the key to changing the rules of the game for billions of people. It is through a redefinition of the rules, offering stakeholders access to the decision making process, that we will achieve the MDGs.
The UN should continue to focus its efforts and resources on achieving all of the MDGs. No rational person would dispute their value. However, the UN should also make clear that these goals cannot be met sustainably in closed societies. The UNDP should push for openings in local governance at a pace that is productive, yet progressive for each country. Indicators of good governance on national levels should be set and publicized widely, so that people begin to recognize the challenges of policy making, but also have guidelines by which to hold their officials accountable. This would encourage rule of law, access to free markets, and incentives for people to discover and utilize their entrepreneurial spirit.
A former minister in Kyrgyzstan once told me his country would never enjoy democracy until people learned to govern themselves locally. In the Philippines, numerous city administrations have subscribed to a scorecard rating system developed by local NGOs and business groups. These groups used the MDGs as key criteria to rate the performance of mayors and their administrations. Rating categories included performance on issues such as clean air, infant mortality, universal education, income generation, and access to markets. Although the criteria are rigorous, mayors and their administrations genuinely interested in serving their people see this as an opportunity to demonstrate their sincerity and gain political capital. Their constituents see this as a chance to monitor local policies and hold their leaders accountable. Although this is a relatively new initiative, I have hope that the MDGs will lead to more arrangements like these, where people learn to govern themselves at the local level, thereby changing the rules of political interaction in favor of the people.
The key to developing democracy is on the local and grassroots level. Once people learn to govern themselves locally, they begin to hold their national leaders accountable as well. This leads to greater participation and constructive interaction with the government. Once governments recognize that seeking the recommendations of the public results in better policies, we are likely to see democracy grow roots.
The MDGs are widely accepted by people around the world. Our challenge is not to convince leaders or local people of the need to meet the MDGs, but rather to empower the grassroots to find ways to make the MDGs a reality through civic initiative. The governed must be empowered to find ways to make sure their governments live up to their words and provide an enabling environment for their people. Our challenge is to tap into local knowledge, understand power structures and cultural norms, so that we can effectively identify genuine grassroots leaders who can find openings for democratic participation. By identifying and supporting people like this, the development community can facilitate openings for democracy that bridge divides between the governed and government, creating channels that are perceived as constructive and not threatening. In this way, we will see the achievement of the MDGs in a way that is sustainable, just, and leads to development well beyond the attainment of these goals.
Published Date: July 26, 2007