Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), World leaders and the private sector gathered for the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) Conference in Doha, Qatar from 5-9 March 2023. Their deliberations centred on the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), with exchanges of ideas on how to implement it in favor of LDCs during the decade of 2022-2031.
Least developed countries (LDCs) also termed Fourth World, are low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development. They are highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of human assets.
The LDCs concept was established in 1971 and currently includes 47 countries which are at the lowest end of the poverty scale with the lowest level of development, and they are often referred to as Fourth World. They host a total of 1.10 billion people, accounting for 13.88 percent of the world’s population. The vast majority comes from Africa, followed by a few countries in Southeast Asia, as well as Oceania. Europe and America are unrepresented, with one exception_Haiti.
The list of LDCs which is reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development (CDP) include countries in debt distress such as Angola, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, etc and those that have applied for debt treatment under the Common Framework namely Chad, Ethiopia and Zambia.
With the above background, AFRODAD’s attendance and contribution was very key as many LDCs are indeed finding themselves struggling under multiple crises including a heavy burden of public debt, insufficient domestic resource mobilisation, harsh effects of climate change, chronic debt deficit, limping social protection and a painfully slow recovery from Covid 19. We indeed continue to ask for an overhaul of the global financial system, because the current one is not working for Africa’s economies and the wellbeing of the people.
CSOs play a two-fold role in the LCD5 conference:
- To hold Member States accountable for the full range of commitments made in the DPoA and to explore how other multilateral processes can promote or generate obstacles to the implementation of DPoA.
- Develop plans and strategies for effective post-Doha advocacy.
Ms. Jane Nalunga, the current Chair of the LDC CSO Forum, and Director of SEATINI (AFRODAD’s national partner) was quoted saying “The global financial architecture also needs an overhaul in order to put the needs of LDCs first e.g., promoting access to social services by the most marginalised therefore plugging a hemorrhage of resources from LDCs through tackling Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).
There is a need for new mechanisms to finance sustainable development given the decreasing Official Development Assistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the challenges surrounding the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). But on a general note, there is need to move from talk to action to implement the DPoA.
Her speech was aligned to the Harare Declaration, African Borrowing Charter and the African debt- Stop the Bleeding Campaign.
