Crises giving us opportunity to put things right

People must be heard in the global debate to end poverty and climate change. Ireland has a unique chance to influence a just and sustainable future, if they have their say, says Hans Zomer

AS RAHM Emanuel, Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, once said, we should never let a serious crisis go to waste.

Our economic and environmental crises are providing us with the chance to put things right and create a more socially just and sustainable world. This can only happen if people around the world make their collective voices heard and demand change.

We know what can be achieved when the political will is there.

In 2000, the world agreed to eight millennium development goals to end extreme poverty by 2015. This in itself was an incredible achievement because it was the first time the world got together and set out a shared plan to end extreme poverty.

Twelve years in, we are seeing results. More than 600m people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, 90% of children are in school, and 89% of all people have access to safe drinking water.

These goals helped inspire world leaders and to focus attention and resources on a small number of areas crucial for improving the wellbeing of the world’s poorest people.

Of course there were many important elements missing from these goals.

By reducing global poverty to eight simple and measurable issues, the millennium development “recipe” simplified and de-politicised matters in a big way. They were criticised by NGOs for failing to refer to human rights and for being blind to the importance of including poor people in decisions. As such, the goals reflect the way global politics is often played out.

The global nature of our economic and environmental crises today show us that we need solutions that benefit everyone, everywhere in both developing and developed countries.

With the 2015 deadline for the millennium development goals fast approaching, world leaders will meet this September to begin negotiations on a new “recipe” for their successor, and the UN is keen to avoid the mistakes of the past. This time around, world leaders are taking time to listen to poor people and to try and build on their experiences.

Already, “civil society” consultations have taken place in nearly every developing country across the world. These deliberations are telling world leaders that poor people want a government they can trust, a safe school for their children, and a reasonable chance to find a decent job.

Recurring themes in the consultations are people’s feelings of powerlessness, discrimination and marginalisation. Around the world, people say their leaders are not listening, their voices don’t seem to count, and current policies favour the strong and the rich over the poor and the weak.

And they don’t want charity: They are telling us that if the world is to end poverty, we must base policies on universal human rights, and on the principles of equality, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

There is engagement within Ireland, too. Our own economic crisis has prompted all of us to re-examine and re-think how we organise our economy and society and what values must underpin our recovery. This has yet to be translated into a new vision for the Ireland we want.

As our economic situation is connected to the global economy, so, too, is Ireland’s future connected to the creation of a just and sustainable world.

This being European Year of the Citizen, in the context of the Irish EU presidency we must use this opportunity to ensure our voices are reflected in the new “post-2015” framework for global development.

That is why a major deliberative event, Setting Goals for a Better Ireland in a Just World, is taking place in the RDS in Dublin this Saturday.

Organised by Claiming Our Future in association with Dóchas and The Wheel, this event is a chance for people in Ireland to explore a new agenda that should be advanced by the Government. It will empower people to define a new rights-based approach to development and to set new goals that would transform Ireland and the wider world into a fairer, socially just and sustainable place to live.

It is only through making our voices count that real, positive change has ever happened.

*Setting Goals for a Better Ireland in a Just World takes place in the RDS, Dublin, on Saturday from 10am. For more information, visit worldwewant.ie.