Zero Draft: access to WASH will rely on public finance

Mon, 04/13/2015 - 12:40

The Third Financing for Development Conference will take place in Addis, 13th - 16th July 2015. At the conference, UN member-states will agree on how to finance development through public and private finance, domestic and international. One of the tasks of the meeting will be to decide on the means of implementation of the new sustainable development goals.

The binding agreement will take the shape of an Outcome Document. The Zero Draft of that Outcome Document has been published and is being used for informal hearings with civil society, business sector and regional consultations till end of April.

The Zero Draft recognises that ensuring access to water and sanitation will rely primarily on domestic public resources, supported by international cooperation. It proposes to increase public spending to secure adequate investments to ensure universal access to basic social infrastructure. The Zero Draft states that countries where tax revenue is less than 20% of GDP will need to spend a minimum of USD 300 (purchasing power parity) per person or 10% of GDP to provide essential public services. It also proposes that sustainable and resilient infrastructure will entail both international private and public investments.

What’s next? From 15th till 19th June the Third Draft session on the Outcome Document will take place in New York.

 

The Zero Draft if available here: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1ds-zero-draft-outcome.pdf