10 February 2014: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently published four papers in its series, ‘OECD and Post-2015 Reflections,’ which includes an overview and 11 papers on elements of relevance to the post-2015 development agenda, eight of which have been published.
The newest papers focus on: the multiple dimensions of poverty; investment in sustainable energy infrastructure; effective development cooperation; and measuring and monitoring external development finance.
‘Keeping the multiple dimensions of poverty at the heart of development’ discusses progress and challenges in reducing extreme poverty and proposes a way forward, including on addressing uneven progress and ending poverty in all its dimensions. It recommends post-2015 discussions focus on: linking poverty, inequalities and social cohesion; strengthening multidimensional measures of poverty; integrating poverty and environment objectives; setting global goals and recognizing national realities; strengthening statistical capacities; and improving cooperation and finance for poverty reduction. It further recommends the post-2015 framework, inter alia: promote inclusive, sustainable economies that improve well-being and enable everyone to participate in and benefit from economic growth; and include a goal on reducing income inequality and indicators of inequality across goals.
‘Enabling investment in sustainable energy infrastructure’ discusses access to energy as central in human well-being and poverty reduction, and recommends transformational changes to transition towards clean energy, low-carbon development. It discusses overcoming barriers to large-scale private sector involvement and establishing appropriate incentives, including by: getting national investment policy frameworks right; reforming fossil-fuel subsidies; putting a price on carbon; avoiding trade and investment distortions for renewable energy; and ensuring policy coherence and managing trade-offs between energy goals and other areas, such as food security and water.
‘Effective development co-operation: an important enabler in a post-2015 global development framework’ suggests that the four principles outlined in the Busan Partnership agreement (ownership by developing countries, a focus on results, inclusive partnerships, and transparency and accountability) could underpin the post-2015 framework. It advocates for effective partnerships and an approach that focuses on the quality of development policies and results rather than quantity and volumes. Finally, it proposes ways in which OECD can offer its expertise, including on providing tools to collect data, track progress and monitor commitments; promoting peer pressure among OECD members; exploring incentives that underpin high quality development cooperation; and supporting platforms for international cooperation.
‘Measuring and monitoring external development finance’ describes the efforts of OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to modernize its statistical system to reflect global development priorities and changing financial landscapes. For instance, OECD is developing new measures on total official support for development and recipient benefit and a modern definition of official development assistance (ODA). The brief stresses OCED’s commitment to making the post-2015 goals “a success by making their financing measurable and holding the international community accountable to their commitments.”
OECD’s post-2015 website also includes summaries from the paper authors. [OECD Post-2015 Website] [Publication: Keeping the Multiple Dimensions of Poverty at the Heart of Development] [Publication: Enabling Investment in Sustainable Energy Infrastructure] [Publication: Effective Development Co-operation: an Important Enabler in a Post-2015 Global Development Framework] [Publication: Measuring and Monitoring External Development Finance] [IISD RS Story on OECD Papers on Education, Gender Statistics and Policy Coherence] [IISD RS Story on Overview Paper]