Post-2015 Development Framework Research Articles

Socio-Managerial Framework of Health Governance: Empirical Evidence from India’s National Sanitation Program (SBM-G)

Given that citizen participation is considered the main pillar of ‘Development’, the political economy behind its practice (behaviour and utilisation) remains a question. To disentangle the complex web of relationships that the governance shares with the citizens’ interface, it would be worthwhile to examine the whole phenomenon at the grass root level. A review of issues surrounding democracy has led different schools of thought to realise the need for adopting a holistic development approach for ensuring citizens’ participation in development processes. One such school believes that it is only through addressing governance bottlenecks and ensuring spaces for participation in policy design, programme formulation and implementation supplemented with proper monitoring, that ‘real’ development can be achieved. It is also universally accepted that governance is an enabler for socio-economic transformation and this can help in the improvement of lives through the eradication of structural inequality. Hence, strengthening the local governments is critical for ensuring citizen empowerment, civic participation and better service delivery. Furthermore, governance is measurable and can be monitored; thus can ensure a measurable implementation, accountability and monitoring framework (Global Thematic Consultation on Governance and the Post-2015 Development Framework, 2013). Against these backdrops, the current study endeavours to unearth plausible factors influencing the health behaviour of rural people examining a case of India’s National Sanitation Program—Swachh Bharat Mission in Odisha villages. Analysis of primary data collected from six districts across different regions of the Odisha state shows that various managerial, governance and social factors have a significant effect on the health behaviour of people and present more insightful results.

「持続可能な開発・発展目標」（SDGs）の動向と展望:～ポスト2015年開発枠組みと地球市民社会の将来～

「持続可能な開発・発展目標」（SDGs）の動向と展望:～ポスト2015年開発枠組みと地球市民社会の将来～

What role for culture in the age of sustainable development? UNESCO’s advocacy in the 2030 Agenda negotiations

ABSTRACTThe article presents the nuanced role of culture in the sustainable development agenda of the United Nations, highlighting the contribution of UNESCO. While UNESCO has been engaged in the intersections between culture and development since 1980s, when the World Decade for Cultural Development was proclaimed, it was only with the negotiation of post-2015 development framework that culture began to enter the mainstream development discourse. It is argued that this process, influenced by both external and internal factors, has led to the reconceptualisation of the culture-development nexus. While the role of culture in the human development paradigm was focused on poverty alleviation and other human needs, including identity, education, and health, the sustainability agenda significantly widens the possible roles for cultural factors. UNESCO’s three approaches are discussed: culture as a unique dimension of sustainable development, and culture as a driver and enabler of sustainability.

Household Water Supply Strategies in Urban Bandung, Indonesia: Findings and Implications for Future Water Access Reporting

Through structured interviews and statistical analyses, this study investigated access to water and strategies of 1227 vulnerable households in Bandung, Indonesia. The use of mixed water sources, household water treatment, and home storage suggest low trust in improved sources, and compromised safety and reliability of water. While official statistics suggest a high level of access to improved water sources, full-time access to such sources is overestimated. Integration of user behavior into the new monitoring approach for the water supply sector in the post-2015 development framework is proposed.

SDG’s Indicators Framework and Disability in India

The post-2015 development framework endorsed disability as an issue of social rights that is in accordance with the guidelines of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations Statistical Commission has worked through the Inter-agency and Expert Group and the High-level Group in the formation of the indicators framework to measure the progress made by the disabled persons in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main objective of this article is to assess the disability prevalence in India and subsequently examine its preparedness towards developing the disability indicators. We consider the Census 2011 data to provide an account of disability situations along with information on state-wise composition, types, age distribution, literacy and employment aspects. We then explain as to how the indicators framework would result in data and information demands on India’s part, which are essential for monitoring the progress of disability inclusion in the country.

From conceptual pluralism to practical agreement on policy: global responsibility for global health.

BackgroundAs the human cost of the global economic crisis becomes apparent the ongoing discussions surrounding the post-2015 global development framework continue at a frenzied pace. Given the scale and scope of increased globalization moving forward in a post-Millennium Development Goals era, to protect and realize health equity for all people, has never been more challenging or more important. The unprecedented nature of global interdependence underscores the importance of proposing policy solutions that advance realizing global responsibility for global health.DiscussionThis article argues for advancing global responsibility for global health through the creation of a Global Fund for Health. It suggests harnessing the power of the exceptional response to the combined epidemics of AIDS, TB and Malaria, embodied in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to realize an expanded, reconceptualized Global Fund for Health. However this proposal creates both an analytical quandary embedded in conceptual pluralism and a practical dilemma for the scope and raison d’etre of a new Global Fund for Health. To address these issues we offer a logical framework for moving from conceptual pluralism in the theories supporting global responsibility for health to practical agreement on policy to realize this end. We examine how the innovations flowing from this exceptional response can be coupled with recent ideas and concepts, for example a global social protection floor, a Global Health Constitution or a Framework Convention for Global Health, that share the global responsibility logic that underpins a Global Fund for Health.ConclusionsThe 2014 Lancet Commission on Global Governance for Health Report asks whether a single global health protection fund would be better for global health than the current patchwork of global and national social transfers. We concur with this suggestion and argue that there is much room for practical agreement on a Global Fund for Health that moves from the conceptual level into policies and practice that advance global health. The issues of shared responsibility and mutual accountability feature widely in the post-2015 discussions and need to be addressed in a coherent manner. Our article argues why and how a Global Fund for Health effectuates this, thus advancing global responsibility for global health.

Women rebuilding lives post-disaster: innovative community practices for building resilience and promoting sustainable development

Disasters result in devastating human, economic, and environmental effects. The paper highlights women's active participation in community-based disaster recovery efforts drawing from the results of the ‘Rebuilding Lives Post-disaster: Innovative Community Practices for Sustainable Development’ by an international research partnership. Two case studies are presented from Pakistan and the USA to demonstrate how women contribute to building resilience and promoting sustainable development in diverse post-disaster contexts. The policy and practice implications are relevant for discussions regarding the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and framework.

Smarter Indicators for Decent Work in a Post-2015 Development Agenda: A Discussion and A Proposal

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the design of a post-2015 development framework by proposing indicators to monitor employment outcomes. Our analysis of the current MDG employment indicators shows that measurement problems, the inappropriate use of aggregate statistics, ambiguous interpretability, and assumptions that often do not hold true in the context of developing countries are major shortcomings of the current indicators. Based on this critique, we develop a new set of indicators for productive employment and decent work. We propose four indicators: (i) the growth of labor value added per worker, (ii) the working poverty rate, (iii) (a) the share of workers receiving less than an absolute labor income and (b) the share of workers receiving less than 60 percent of the median labor income. We demonstrate the empirical application of these indicators using the country cases of Uganda and Peru.

Gender Data Gaps: Structural Equation Modeling Offers an Alternative to Collecting More Data

An enhanced commitment to achieving gender equality, women's rights and women's empowerment in the post-2015 development framework is important. Gender data gaps exist because gender biases have inhibited and altered data collection resulting in policy formation that has insufficiently addressed gender issues. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is an effective statistical tool used to estimate correlational relations using limited input data confined to a hypothetical, researcher-specified framework of relationship. This paper highlights the use of SEM to evaluate progress on gender equality and women's empowerment during the period of the first 1,000 days of life (from pregnancy through 2 years of age for infants).

Annotated bibliography on participatory consultations to help aid the inclusion of marginalized perspectives in setting policy agendas.

The purpose of this bibliography is to present studies from peer-reviewed and grey literature that used consultations and other participatory strategies to capture a community’s perspective of their health priorities, and of techniques used to elevate participation from the implementation phase to a more upstream phase of prioritization, policymaking and agenda setting. The focus here is of those studies that worked with marginalized populations or sub-populations. This bibliography contains four areas of research. It begins by first offering some philosophical and conceptual frameworks that link participatory interventions with inclusive policy making or agenda setting, and a rationale for prioritizing marginalized populations in such an undertaking. After situating ourselves in this manner, the second section looks at various participatory instruments for participatory consultations, for reaching out to marginalized populations, and for communicating the results to policymakers. Two sets of distinctions are made here: one between external (non-invitation) and internal (stifling of opinions) exclusion, and between mere participation and from active inclusion within consultations and within the policies. In the third section, examples of consultations that created or changed policy in various jurisdictions are shared, followed by a final section on a reflective and evaluative look at the recruitment, instruments and examples. An earlier iteration of this bibliography was created to assist a multi-country research project by the author to inform the UN Post-2015 development framework of the views of several diverse and highly marginalized populations around the world on their health-related priorities.

BRICS' role in global health and the promotion of universal health coverage: the debate continues.

The acronym BRIC was coined in 2001 by Jim O’Neill, a senior executive at Goldman Sachs, to denote four emerging national economies: Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China.1 The acronym was subsequently extended – to BRICS – to include South Africa. Together, the nations in the BRICS group, which are widely considered to represent the most important emerging economies, hold approximately 40% of the world’s population. Although BRICS and other multinational groupings may be useful to policy-makers involved in the development of some foreign policies, it remains unclear if such groupings have a role in the study and development of global health policy. We examine the debate around this issue and focus on the potential role of BRICS in the promotion of universal health coverage – an “umbrella” goal for health in the post-2015 development framework.2

Global policy and local actions for vulnerable populations affected by disaster and displacement

Global policy and local actions for vulnerable populations affected by disaster and displacement

Peace, Justice and Governance in the Post-2015 Development Framework

The United Nations is currently facilitating discussions on the post-2015 development agenda. They are frankly quite amazing. The levels of engagement are unprecedented, both within and outside the...

The world we want: an end to child marriage

With discussions underway about a post-2015 development framework, we have a unique opportunity to envisage the world we want by 2030. Recommendations made to date by the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP) and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and in the discussions of the open working group, have emphasised the need to ensure the empowerment, wellbeing, and social protection of the world's most vulnerable people.

Social and Environmental Science Research in Support of a Policy Definition of the ‘Future We Want’ in Africa

This article calls upon African and other social and environmental scientists to actively engage with the ongoing deliberations seeking to define post-2015 development goals and framework. The article argues that these deliberations offer a window of opportunity for African social and environmental scientists to avail their research findings and also to actively participate in these deliberations. The article suggests practical ways by which African and other social and environmental scientists can step out of the comfort of the ivory tower and engage meaningfully with this ongoing global goal-setting policy deliberation that will shape development discourse and practice for several years after 2015.

Growing Together Sustainably: A zero-poverty post-2015 development framework

The article argues that proper attention to five major emerging trends will be crucial for the success of any development framework beyond 2015: (a) poverty and inequality, (b) economic crisis and job loss, (c) trade, finance and aid (d) rights, violation and violence and (e) climate change. The article goes on to use these trends to review the latest proposals on the post-2015, and provides a set of indicators based on new five fundamental principles of rights, equality, justice, sustainability and partnership for development through historic responsibility.

A ZEN Approach to Post-2015: Addressing the Range of Perspectives across Asia and the Pacific

The paper discusses key challenges faced throughout the Asia and the Pacific region as a number of its developing economies graduate from low-income status to middle-income status at the same time as the region remains home to the majority of the world's poor people and a number of fragile states. The region is gaining increased influence in the world economy but is still grappling to overcome interrelated challenges of poverty and sustainable development, so its priorities will be of significant importance in informing the contents of any post-2015 global development framework. Drawing from the ongoing lessons of the Millennium Development Goal process, this paper suggests a conceptual framework for setting a new generation of goals and, informed by these concepts, proposes an intergovernmental approach to implementation. The “ZEN” framework stresses the distinct challenges of achieving zero extreme poverty (Z), setting country-specific “Epsilon” benchmarks for broader development challenges (E), and promoting environmental sustainability both within and across borders (N).

Ensuring the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights under a sustainable development goal on health in the post-2015 human rights framework for development

Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo placed reproductive health and rights firmly on the international agenda, civil society and other advocates have worked ceaselessly to ensure that they remain central to women’s empowerment and have taken all opportunities to expand the framework to include sexual health and rights. When the development process changed with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, sexual and reproductive health and rights were excluded, and only in 2007 was universal access to reproductive health added back in. In 2014 and 2015, the future of ICPD Beyond 2014, the MDGs and the post-2015 development framework will be decided, following consultations and meetings across the globe. This paper takes stock of the key influences on efforts to achieve the ICPD agenda and summarises the past, current and planned future events, reports and processes between 1994 and 2014, leading up to the determination of the post-2015 development framework and sustainable development goals. It concludes that the one thing we cannot afford to allow is what happened with the MDGs in 2000. We must not leave the room empty-handed, but must instead ensure the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights as a priority under a new health goal.

Universal health coverage: necessary but not sufficient

In this article, we highlight key considerations for better addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights issues within universal health coverage (UHC), particularly in the context of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. We look at UHC as a health, development and health care financing issue, and its history. We discuss its limitations as currently understood from a human rights perspective, and show why structural barriers to health and the legal and policy environment, which are essential to health (particularly to sexual and reproductive health and rights), require critical consideration in current discussions about health in the post-2015 development framework and must be taken into account above and beyond UHC in any future health goal. As a result, we suggest that UHC alone will not result in universal access to sexual and reproductive health, and certainly not to sexual and reproductive rights. Instead, it should be considered as a means to achieving broader health and development goals. A goal such as seeking to reach the highest attainable standard of health or maximizing healthy lives that is informed by a rights-based approach should be the aspiration for the post-2015 development agenda.

Bringing Peace into the Post-2015 Development Framework: A Joint Statement by Civil Society Organisations

Bringing Peace into the Post-2015 Development Framework: A Joint Statement by Civil Society Organisations