The deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is only five years away, and while some progress has been made at the international and national levels, it has until now been too slow and partial. Decision-makers have a tendency to think about problems in statistical terms, and this can mean that what is really happening to people on the ground gets lost.
To persuade the powers that be to get a move on, , my colleague in the European Parliamentary Labour party, Michael Cashman, hosted an event in the European Parliament earlier this week in which six remarkable women from the developing world came to let politicians, lobbyists and media bodies hear first-hand their experiences.
Professor Leonor Magtolis Briones, the convenor of Social Watch Philippines, was the first to speak. She opened by expressing her deep concern for the so-called ‘lost generation’ in the Philippines; that is those babies born during the period of structural development, who, now in their 20s, are in poor health and lack education. In one Philippine province of 835,000 people, there are only 14 medical doctors, 16 nurses and one nutritionist. She observed that specific issues on health and education are more pressing for women and girls, but that at present not enough of them have adequate access to these provisions. Professor Magtolis Briones is now playing a leading role in the access to health and medicines campaign in the Philippines. Using her extensive knowledge of public finance, she is helping to put together an alternative budget on the government – one in which more money is spent on essential services.
Nicaragua-born campaigner, Elba Rivera Urbina, was the second speaker. She remarked that Nicaragua currently has the worst education standards in South America, with the most poorly-paid teachers in the region. According to the World Bank, people typically need at least the equivalent of a baccalaureate to get out of poverty; yet, in a country like Nicaragua, only a small minority of children leave school with such a qualification. Since a literacy campaign brought Elba out of illiteracy at the age of 18, transforming her life, she has been working tirelessly on the Nicaragua campaign for better education. Her aim is to put pressure on the Nicaraguan government to recognise the importance of education, as she believes that this is the only way to get her mainly agricultural country out of poverty.
The final personal account was given by Kadiatou Baby Maiga, who is President of the Malian coalition for Education for all. She reiterated the claim of the previous two speakers that education is the basis for everything. She explained that in her year at high school, only two out of the 80 pupils in her school were girls. She saw that education for girls was not the norm, and has therefore been striving ever since to ensure that greater numbers of girls have the opportunity to go to school. If the status of women is to be lifted then it is vital that this goal is achieved.
The testimonies of these three women gave a fresh and welcome perspective to the widely-discussed issue of poverty in the developing world. While it is important that politicians keep pushing for changes in the law, it is also essential that those affected are involved at every stage in this process. Aid works, as these three women highlighted, and it is a vital component on the fight against global poverty. Between now and 2015, the European Union must focus on increasing its aid to the world’s poorest countries, on improving the quality of its aid, and on supporting free public services at both the technical and political level.
