“Strategic Partnerships for Poverty Alleviation and Development”

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are here to discuss one of the main challenges of our time - the deep chasm between the rich and the poor on our planet, between those who enjoy affluence, predictability and security in their daily lives and those who experience hunger, exclusion and fear.

Some simple facts illustrate this chasm all too clearly: more than a billion people are living on less than a dollar a day. The same number lack safe water, twice this number lack adequate sanitation. At the current rate it will take 130 years to eradicate hunger.

But despite the divide between rich and poor, the "developed" and the "developing" worlds are in fact profoundly dependent on each other. This means that if we are to create a better and safer future, we must bridge the divide, we must join together to build a fairer and more inclusive world.

This is our challenge. This requires political will. It requires action, and this action must be taken at both the national and at the international level.

The Global Philanthropists Circle and the Synergos Institute bring people together – from North and South, from every sector of society – to find common ground for action. Synergos is an arena for learning and sharing, an arena for co-operation.

You make a difference. By bringing people together you generate new ideas and action-oriented partnerships.

You are showing us that it is possible to create true partnerships across the lines of governments, private sectors and voluntary organisations. You are showing us that we have much to learn from each other. You are showing us that by working together, we can create synergies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

World poverty is now at the top of the agenda wherever and whenever decision-makers meet. This is a new development. It is a development we could not have predicted 10 years ago. At the turn of the millennium, Heads of State and Government made a firm commitment to fight poverty. They agreed on eight goals, the UN Millenium Development Goals, and they decided on a road map to reach them. The goals are at the core of the work of the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD. They are cited frequently by heads of state, not least the G-8 leaders. The ongoing negotiations in the WTO have even been labelled the Development Round. For the first time, the interests of the poor and underprivileged have risen to the top of the international agenda. This is a very promising development.

But those of us with a few grey hairs are probably a little sceptical. Haven’t we seen this before? Promises made, no action taken. Why should it be any different this time?

There are at least two reasons.

First, there is quite unprecedented political support for taking action. There is consensus. Not on everything, certainly not on every step, but on some important core issues. So now, instead of wasting time on fruitless conceptual debates, we can concentrate on providing peer pressure, on delivery and on action. On accountability.

And this is my second point. The goals have a timetable. And they are monitored. A global monitoring system is making it possible to hold governments accountable. We know where we are making progress and where we are falling behind. We know who is delivering and who is not. Governments can be held to their promises.

Norway is doing what it can to keep its promises. Our development assistance for next year will be 10 per cent higher than its present level of 0,94 per cent. We’re edging close to 1 per cent of GNI.

The fight against poverty can only be won when the world community unites, when all of us pull in the same direction. Poverty cannot be ended – the goals cannot be reached – unless we are able to count on every country, on the private sector everywhere, on all NGOs, to make a greater effort. What we need is a global reform agenda.

No country develops in isolation. Development calls for international co-operation, trade, access to markets. If we, in the developed world, do not allow increased market access and if we do not reduce the debt burden of the poorest countries, the fight against poverty will fail.

So our first area of reform is international framework conditions - debt cancellation, trade and investment regimes. For many of the developing countries, this is more important than aid.

But even if we do the right things in this area, this will not be enough. We need more and better aid. This is the second area of reform.

First, more aid. In order to reach the Millennium Goals, we need another 50 billion dollars in aid per year. According to UN statistics, the world’s total military spending amounted to USD 850 billion in 2002. Total development assistance amounted to USD 68 billion in 2003. These figures give cause for reflection.

But we don’t only need more aid, we need better aid. We need to change the way we work. Many poor countries are forced to spend scarce resources on preparing thousands of reports for innumerable donors and managing a dizzying number of accounts. In fact they are reduced to acting as accountants for the donors instead of as governments for their citizens. Donor-initiated and donor-managed projects are detrimental to national ownership and thus to development. They undermine our partners’ efforts. The partner country is not in control of its own development. In other words, we need to improve the way we deliver aid. We need donor reform.

The recipient country must be in the driver’s seat - setting priorities, making sure policies and programmes go hand in hand, ensuring consistency and co-ordination. All donors and organisations in the field have to work in line with this. For donors this means working together, through joint programmes, joint reporting, joint missions, pooling resources, or simply delegating responsibility. In this way we can be more effective, and the poor will get more value for every dollar spent.

We also have to focus more closely on results. What matters is the effect on poverty reduction. Are people better off? Have we helped as many as we could? Have our efforts yielded maximum output?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said:

“The good news to the hungry person is bread.”

Results, and only results, are what counts. And that is a joint responsibility.

Thus, in the end it comes down to the efforts of the government of each and every country.

Therefore, we need a third area of reform: governance. Developing countries have committed themselves to improving the quality of their governance as part of the global partnership. Poor countries need to put their own house in order. Anti-corruption efforts, democracy building, the rule of law and respect for human rights must be the foundation for development everywhere.

No amount of development dollars can compensate for bad governance. On the contrary, such aid can reinforce bad governance.

This brings me to the vital importance of the fight against corruption. Corruption is stealing from the poor. Corruption violates their fundamental human rights, it can affect their very survival. It is the poor who suffer when schools are not built because someone has stolen the money. It is the poor who suffer when medical help is only available to those who can pay for it, when government officials have to be bribed. It is that simple – and that difficult! When leaders are driven, not by the interests of their people, but by greed, this undermines democracy and prevents economic and social development.

But governments cannot, and should not, do all the work.

We need only to look at global financial resource flows. The lion’s share of these are private. We need a fourth reform: we must promote broader engagement from the private sector and civil society. Here we need to examine whether we are doing the right things, and what we can do to mobilise resources to get better results for larger numbers of people.

Let me give you an example.

GrameenPhone in Bangladesh, where the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor is a majority stakeholder, is based on the Grameen Bank project. In 2002 it contributed 106 million dollars to the country’s coffers – around six times as much as Norwegian aid to the country. GrameenPhone is now the second largest taxpayer in the country.

Civil society is crucial to our ability to reach the Millennium Goals. That is why you are so important. You are able to mobilise resources in a way few others can. You promote change from within by using your networks, reaching out to local communities, building relationships, forging ties. I honestly believe that development has more to do with people to people contacts and relationships than with the one-way street of development assistance. Widening the network of development relations is one of the most effective ways of promoting development.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have a lot of work to do. Unless each and every one of us cares, unless all of us contribute, we will not reach our goals. We must build a global coalition powerful enough to do what we have promised to do – make a better world, help the millions whose daily lives are a constant fight for survival. They have a right to a better future – we have a duty to help.

And I believe we can.

We can make a difference!

George Bernard Shaw once said:

“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.”

By your engagement you show that you are not indifferent. By making the fight against the inhumanity of poverty your cause, you are making a commitment, a commitment to humanity for all.

I wish you every success with your efforts.