In December 2011, the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a ministerial meeting in Paris, France. This article chronicles the achievements of the Initiative in global health security, namely the development of globally common methods for the assessment of global health threats and risks, such as the H1N1 flu virus, and the mainstreaming of a multidisciplinary approach on health security. The Initiative has been involved in: setting up information-sharing networks, such as a contact emergency network for communication among health officials; the establishment of general guidelines for risk communications; the design of a ‘risk incident scale’ for global health emergencies; and the development of evidence-based research for policy making related to human decontamination. Although the Initiative is limited to only the eight countries, the network is working with the World Health Organisation to share the best practices with the broader global health community.
Governance and participation in health
The aim of this paper is to support all stakeholders who are developing or researching universal health care (UHC) reforms and who wish to conduct stakeholder analysis to support evidence-informed pro-poor health policy development. It presents practical lessons and ideas drawn from experience conducting stakeholder analysis around UHC reforms in South Africa and Tanzania, revealing that differences in context and in reform proposals generate differences in the particular interests of stakeholders and their likely positioning on reform proposals, as well as in their relative balance of power. It is, therefore, difficult to draw cross-national policy comparisons around these specific issues, the authors caution. Nonetheless, they argue that cross-national policy learning is possible with regard to choosing approaches to policy analysis and management of policy processes, but stakeholders should avoid generalisations when comparing UHC reform packages and should rather focus on how to manage the reform process within a particular context. The authors emphasise that stakeholder analyses can be used both to think through the political viability of new policy proposals and to develop broader political management strategies to support policy change.
In response to the announcement that World Bank President Robert Zoellick will step down at the end of his term on 30 June 2012, a global coalition of campaigners has called for an open and merit-based process to elect the next World Bank leader, and for developing countries to determine the selection. The campaigners, including many major development organisations, have also asked the United States to announce that it will no longer seek to monopolise the Presidential position. A “gentlemen’s agreement” between Europe and the US dating back to World War II has so far ensured that the President of the World Bank is always an American, and the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director is European. In this open letter, the campaigners demand that the new President is selected by a majority of World Bank member countries, not just a majority of voting shares, as most members are low- and middle-income countries. They also demand that the selection process be opened to anyone to apply, with interviews held in public and with open voting procedures. A clear job description and necessary qualifications should be set out, requiring candidates to have a strong understanding and experience of the particular problems facing developing countries.
China’s growing involvement in countries where peace is fragile brings new responsibilities and policy choices for Beijing, as well as a new reality for Western funders and policy makers, according to this brief. This increased involvement brings risks and opportunities for peace and stability in conflict-affected states, SAFERWORLD argues. The brief summarises the impacts of China’s growing economic, diplomatic and military engagement in conflict-affected states and analyses the implications for peacebuilding. The briefing also offers recommendations for policy makers in China and the West focused on fostering a culture of dialogue, bridging the current policy gap regarding conflict-affected states, and creating an enabling international architecture. A key conclusion is that as Beijing’s approach towards conflict-affected countries evolves, there is an unprecedented opportunity for China and the West to develop more complementary approaches in support of peace and equitable development.
In this article, the author analyses China’s trade and diplomatic relations with Africa in terms of Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power. He argues that examining China's Africa Policy, there is a motivation to change cultural perceptions about China and to influence agenda's through co-option rather than economic or military coercion. Although Chinese leaders often refer to the importance of its soft power in the world, China's policy for engagement with African countries does not mention soft power directly. Instead, it speaks in very general terms of mutual cooperation and win-win strategies. The author argues that China’s well-disguised soft power approach is not very different from the soft power component of US foreign policy.
The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in Busan, South Korea in November 2011 again promised an opportunity for a new consensus on development cooperation to emerge. This paper reviews the recent evolution of the concept of coordination for development assistance in health as the basis from which to understand current discourses. Four distinct transitions in the understanding, orientation and application of coordination were identified: coordination within the sector, involving geographical zoning, sub-sector specialisation, external funder (donor) consortia, project co-financing, sector aid, harmonisation of procedures, ear-marked budgetary support, external funding agency reform and inter-agency intelligence gathering; sector-wide coordination, expressed particularly through the Sector-Wide Approach; coordination across sectors at national level, expressed in the evolution of Poverty Strategy Reduction Papers and the national monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals; and, most recently, global-level coordination, embodied in the Paris Principles, and the emergence of agencies such as the International Health Partnerships Plus. The transitions are largely but not strictly chronological, and each draws on earlier elements, in ways that are redefined in the new context. With the increasing complexity of both the territory of global health and its governance, and increasing stakeholders and networks, current imaginings of coordination are again being challenged. The High Level Forum in Busan may have been successful in recognising a much more complex landscape for development than previously conceived, but the challenges to coordination remain.
On 9 February 2012, 16 prominent human rights activists were arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the grounds of unlawful assembly. The human rights defenders, who included the executive directors of the Legal and Human Rights Centre and the Tanzania Media Women's Association, were arrested at the Muhimbili National Hospital following a doctor’s strike that had paralysed the provision of health services. The police authorities allege the small group had gathered illegally and were intending to hold an illegal demonstration, although the group maintains that they were not there to protest but to observe the dialogue between the government and health officials. The activists were detained and then later released on bail, pending confirmation of charges. The question is, did the 16 activists cause a breach of the peace, or prejudice public safety and the maintenance of public order? Crucially, were the police, by prohibiting the alleged assembly and subsequently arresting the activists, using their discretion appropriately? The authors’ answer is “No”. A public assembly held to observe (or allegedly protest) negotiations about health sector issues is unlikely to breach public order or public safety. The authors call on the Tanzanian government and police to use their discretion to limit public assemblies wisely and ensure that public assemblies called for a political purpose, which are a common and indeed vital aspect of a healthy democracy, are not arbitrarily restricted or prohibited.
As World Bank projects fail to reduce corruption in the mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), International Finance Corporation (IFC) investments in extractive industries are provoking complaints and protests around the world, according to this article. In 2012 the Bank will launch its new extractives for development (E4D) initiative, a “knowledge sharing platform” aimed at transforming extractives into a force for development, but critics argue that the Bank needs to first take action against corruption and unethical behaviour in the mining projects it funds. In late 2010, the Bank suspended all new programmes in the DRC after allegations of corruption but resumed lending in June 2011 when it judged the government to be in compliance with the economic governance matrix (EGM), a new transparency framework agreed by the government and the Bank. However, only a month later it came to light that state-owned mining companies had again been secretly selling stakes in mining operations, in one case at a sixteenth of their market price. The author notes that the ombudsman set up by the IFC has been inundated with complaints of irregularities, lack of local consultation, mistreatment of miners, environmental degradation and illusory promises of job creation. Critics argue that the Bank and the IFC should take greater ownership of projects they fund and demand more accountability.
In this interview the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Coordinator for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development discusses issues related to the upcoming conference to be held in Rio de Jainero, Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 (Rio+). She identifies major sustainability challenges facing the world including economic sustainability, indicating that the global financial and economic system should not be characterised by boom and bust cycles, global, regional and local inequities, poor accountability and decreased civil society engagement, and the continuation of poverty, particularly among women and girls. She reported feeling positive about the potential for Rio+ to provide a platform for countries to evaluate environmental problems and craft solutions tailor-made for different countries. She argued that civil society’s role is invaluable in working at every level of society and educating companies and communities on the importance of sustainable development. Civil society needs to play a role in helping to develop new initiatives which will deliver on sustainability and most of all, civil society needs to be vigilant in ensuring that countries commit to sustainability and continue along the pathway they have defined to achieve it.
Commonwealth Good Governance 2011/12 is a comprehensive guide to public sector reform in the Commonwealth. Articles in this edition examine: the link between democracy and development; political-administrative relations; leadership in the public sector; strengthening local government; aid and governance; and building capacity in national assemblies. The report also contains governance profiles of the 54 Commonwealth member countries.