Brief Description:

With five years remaining until the Millennium Development Goals target date of 2015, and Lesotho’s latest MDG status report of 2008 suggesting that only three of the eight goals enjoy a strong supportive environment for their achievement, it has become increasingly obvious that the country needs to employ innovative new ways towards improving its prospects at achieving the MDGs.

                For Lesotho, the Millennium Development Goals, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its 56^th session in 2001, define the country’s priority development targets which, if attained, would ensure vastly improved livelihoods for all hers people. The Goals’ distinct quality is their universal appeal and relevance which transcend any parochial considerations and ought to be a rallying point for entire institutions, communities and individuals throughout the land. In this regard, it is noteworthy that while the government has come out openly to formulate policies and set up institutions that support attainment of some of the goals, and while certain sections of the private sector including business, NGOs, faith –based organizations and civil society entities have, likewise, added their discrete contribution to the national effort, there is scope for more innovative involvement of additional sections of the population. Attainment of the Goals would touch and positively affect the lives of virtually all of the people of Lesotho. It is in this context that all sections of the Basotho nation must join in to pull their weight towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by the globally designated target date of 2015.

Political parties, with their immense potential for social mobilization, can make a far more robust and effective contribution towards attainment of the MDGs than they have so far. Among other things, they can draft their individual and collective commitment to the Goals into their election manifestoes to make them a central part of their campaign platforms. In the exercise of their parliamentary oversight of the executive, opposition parties, for their part, can proactively hold the government to account for progress towards attainment of the MDGs. Furthermore, all party leaders can educate the electorate on the centrality of the MDGs to Lesotho’s national development priorities and help them define what specific roles they, themselves, can play to accelerate progress towards achievement of the Goals. With organizational tentacles that extend to all corners of the country, political parties also wield strong influence over the nation’s youth and can help harness the energies of young people on advocacy roles and other forms of direct action to strengthen the national effort towards better MDG performance.

For its part, the media has not sufficiently distilled the defining differences among the leading parties; it has not offered consistent analysis of public policy or assumed its acknowledged leadership role to educate citizens on their civic responsibilities: and nor have the majority of political parties consistently and methodically sought, between elections, to clarify their policies on the pre-eminent development challenges of the day. For democracy to thrive, the people must play an active and effective part in the governance of the country that goes beyond voicing their demands for access to quality public services and includes citizens’ proactive contribution to the national development effort.

While the Youth in Lesotho bear the brunt of the HIV& AIDS epidemic and a heavy burden of unemployment, their participation in politics, as borne out by their low voter registration and actual turn out on polling day for those who do register, limits their ability to voice their concerns and aspirations and to ultimately influence the direction of public policy towards these concerns. Interestingly enough, the youth have been very active in the destructive aftermaths of several elections in Lesotho where they have played a key role in the violence that erupted.

 With the help of the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) as an implementing partner the project aims to promote accelerated progress towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The project outputs are: 1) Strengthened and pro-active engagement of political parties to ensure progress for implementation of the MDGs. 2) Capacity building of and advocacy with the media and youth groups for more effective reporting on and direct promotion of the MDGs.

Strategy

It is important to note as a starting point that this project is part of an overall UN programmatic approach to help Lesotho achieve the MDGs and, as such, should be seen as complementary to these efforts. The strategy of the project is, therefore, not intended to address a particular MDG or National Development Policy in specific terms. Rather, it advocates for increased political attention to the MDGs thereby hopefully increasing the country’s ability to achieve progress in each of the eight MDGs.

The Transformation Resource Centre, as implementing partner for the project while at the same time expanding outreach to other NGOs to become more active parties of a broader coalition for enhanced non- governmental involvement in the national effort at improved MDG performance. Most importantly, the project will engage with the country’s political parties in a strong mobilization campaign urging them to mainstream achievement of the MDGs into their election manifestoes in preparation for the next general election expected to be held during the first half of 2012. While, necessarily, different parties should have policies and programmes that set them apart from one another, the MDGs, given their universality, should become an integral part of the policies of all parties as the goals do, indeed, define the priority development targets of all developing countries

Contact:

Mr. Thabo Mosoeunyane

thabo.mosoeunyane@undp.org