Erna Witoelar
United Nations Special Ambassador for the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific
New Delhi
31 October 2007
(MDGs) she has set for herself, according to Erna Witoelar, United Nations Special
Ambassador for the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific. "Some parts of India need ICU
(intensive care treatment) treatment, not regular hospital treatment," she said
metaphorically in an interview to this newspaper. She was recently in New Delhi for the
UN Day celebrations.
Ms Witoelar says that like most countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, there is
"some good news, some bad news" to report about India's performance of achieving the
MDGs. "India is a more difficult country in governance like China or Indonesia [but] in
some aspects, India is moving quite fast," she says, mentioning enrolment in education
and drinking water as cases in point. "But then," she recalls, "in some areas it is behind
or even declining or even standing still and there [India] needs to work harder, like
undernourishment of the children, not just because of poverty of their parents but maybe
also because of wrong eating habits."
She explains that inadequate sanitation undoes the progress notched up in the area of
drinking water supply. "If water is good, sanitation is not sufficient yet, but that is also
linked with the situation of environment [like the critical condition] of the rivers, for
instance." Maternal mortality is another area for concern. "India, like several other Asian
countries, still needs to work harder to get [midwives.] India, like Indonesia and China,
are also facing challenges of high [income] disparities." There are many high-net worth
individuals from India on the Fortune magazine's rich list but an overwhelming majority
of India's population still remains poor. "India is performing well but it needs to be
improved. India needs to ensure that the drop out rate especially of girls here is not
increasing, so efforts need to be directed there. Water and sanitation go hand in hand
those can still be improved," she adds.
Ms Witoelar says that the Government of India will need to ensure that the government's
resources reach the needy. "MDGs is not about what we have already achieved, it is
about what we have not achieved yet and [we must] focus our attention on that," she
reminds policymakers. "It's not about how much we have reached, it's about how much
we have not reached and how we pool our resources instead of being complacent or
happy about what we have achieved."
There are at least 39 countries states in Asia and the Pacific region and India, she says
matter-of-factly, will rank in the middle on a scale of performance. "On a scale of 1 to 10,
probably like 6 because it's still a long way to go but it has several good ingredients that
if managed better can make India achieve the MDGs and this is what I see sometimes
people in the country are not seeing their own strengths and positive assets to move
forward," she asserts. Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand,
Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are performing admirably. India, China, the Philippines
and Indonesia are in the middle while Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Nepal are at
the bottom of the heap. "We [Asia and the Pacific region] are in between Latin America
and Africa because [of the] size of problems, population, [etc]," she adds.
"Me, as an outsider, I see that India has such strong, wide, powerful civil society working
here on real issues like urban sanitation. None of the other countries have such
organisations [which are working on programmes] that [are] already beyond pilot
projects and [are] already upscaling their work." She appreciates the work of Indian non-
government organisations in the areas of drinking water, microcredit and empowerment
of women. "If all that is really optimalised, recognised and appreciated, then government
can use its own resources only to reach those that are not reached yet by civil society or
private sector," she reasons. "If [there is] good conducive environment for groups like
corporates, local governments or religious groups to continue to play their roles, then
it's not that hard any more for governments to reach regions or population that are not
reached yet."
Ms Witoelar reassures that it is possible to achieve MDGs with stronger "ownership",
with more seriousness in achieving in building upon certain efforts. She notes the
welcome trend of corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in
India and elsewhere in the region. "The corporates are also doing a lot through CSR,
local governments, religious groups. I've been interacting with many corporates [and
there is an increase in corporate philanthropy, an improved trend of CSR from a one-time
thing to a long-term development-oriented empowerment programmes. Many are also
moving away from CSR to Corporate Foundation that is more seriously doing
development work. Others are [developing] volunteerism," she says.
// BOX //
About the MDGs
The MDGs are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main
development challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in
the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations and signed by 147 heads of
state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The eight
MDGs are:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
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