According to DSF Vice President, John R. Gagain, innovative mechanisms for financing development are a real challenge for the United Nations.

n 1970, the United Nations member countries agreed to give 0.7% of their GNP to official development assistance (ODA). This agreement was supposed to be implemented within a period of five years. Thirtyeight years later and there is still a long way to go. This assistance peaked at just 0.46% of the GNP of industrialised countries in 2005, but began falling in 2006 and 2007 in all the countries of the OECD and of the European Union.

This was the context in which the heads of state and government found themselves at the opening of the last UN General Assembly, with the task of establishing the outline of an agreement that could be ratified at the end of November during the follow-up conference on financing for development in Doha. The commitments made by the member states in 2000 will be assessed against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In order to get closer to the MDGs, the member states must agree on paragraph 38 of the Doha Declaration, which addresses the possibility of using innovative financing mechanisms for development. Some of these mechanisms, such as the “airline ticket solidarity levy” or the “1% digital solidarity contribution” have already begun to be implemented. Others are currently being negotiated by the Leading Group on Solidarity Levies to Fund Development.

The fifth plenary meeting of this Leading Group was held in Conakry in early November. It is essential for this group of some sixty states to reach consensus on paragraph 38, including a complete list of the six main innovative sources of finance that must be promoted to help achieve the MDGs. This proposal has been defended by several members of the Group of 77 (group of developing countries) and China. At a time when industrialised countries are being forced to reduce their commitments due to a critical financial situation, the resources generated by new financing mechanisms constitute a unique opportunity to tackle the problem of under-development.

The initiative of the French president to organise a World Conference on Digital Solidarity in Lyon, on 24 November 2008, complements and builds on the conclusions of the Blair report: “we must take the decisions that will show that we are serious about turning the vision for a strong and prosperous Africa into a reality”. The Doha Conference will be an opportunity for the widespread adoption of innovative financing mechanisms of proven feasibility.

It is this position that the various political groups must submit to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in order to ensure that the Final Declaration of Doha includes a paragraph 38 that calls for the implementation of innovative solidarity contributions in support of development. That would fulfil more than 38 years’ worth of promises! The “38 strategy”, as proposed by civil society and several states, is the only solution to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.