Blessed are the poor...

The government has committed itself to help developing countries reduce poverty and, now, it is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure these countries are not let down. The coordinator of the national platform of Maltese Non-Governmental Development Organisation (NGDOs), Michael Gatt, tells Claudia Calleja there is the need for us, as a nation, to become more development-conscious.

The starving child's big, brown eyes speak a thousand tragic words as he drags his skeletal body across the dusty ground of his "developing" homeland.

The unbearably real image is a sad one, heart wrenching even... until you switch off your television set and go on to have supper in your "developed" home.

Mr Gatt has spent the past 22 years working to eradicate poverty in developing countries.

Experience has taught him that, although when it comes to giving donations "to the poor" the Maltese are generally helpful, as is happening in other countries, we are developing an emotional immunity to the distressing situation.

"Maltese society is not very sensitive to such issues mainly because of the irregular migration problem which is diverting people's attention," he said.

And this applies also to the government.

"In my opinion development cooperation is not a priority for the government. Had it been a priority the National Development Policy would already have been issued. What is being pushed as a priority is immigration at this stage."

While recognising that immigration is a problem that needs solving, he insists that issuing a National Development Policy is also important in the long term.

Ever since the NGDO platform was set up five years ago it has been lobbying for a development policy.

Since then, two drafts have been made and the government publicly declared the policy would be out by the end of 2005.

We are still waiting.

"When the platform was set up I requested a meeting with Joe Borg, who was then Foreign Minister. He gave us a meeting within a few days and we started talking about these issues.

"Eventually, a government official was appointed to start drafting the policy and periodical consultation meetings were held between that official and the coordinating team of the platform.

"In early 2004, the draft was practically ready and was to be presented at Cabinet level to be discussed and approved. Then, later that year, following the general election, Dr Borg was replaced by John Dalli as Foreign Minister and Michael Frendo was appointed Parliamentary Secretary within the ministry, with development falling under his portfolio.

"Since the changeover we never had a meeting with Dr Frendo, despite our repeated requests to have one.

"In fact, since April 2004 up until July 2005, we had no contact at all with the Foreign Ministry. Very often we would have a meeting planned and either the day before or on the day itself ministry officials would phone to postpone it. Four meetings were postponed and eventually cancelled," he said.

Mr Gatt added that he came to know that other public officers had been appointed to take over the drafting of the policy. He eventually contacted the permanent secretary and was finally given a meeting with the officers working in the development unit which is manned by three or four people.

"We then started to have regular meetings with the head of the unit and his team. They informed us that the minister wanted a redrafting of the development policy as he wished to own the document. This meant it had to be written anew, and thus two years of consultations and work were lost."

Early last year, Mr Gatt said, Dr Frendo publicly declared the policy would be issued by the end of that year. Now we are already in April 2006 and there are no signs of it.

He added that people working in the development unit had reported that their work on the draft policy was ready and was now at ministerial level.

But why is the policy so important?

The lack of the development policy means that Malta does not have any guidelines on how to spread and plan its aid. "Let me give you an example. After the tsunami there was the collection of money through L-Istrina. Then that money was passed on to the government and an ad hoc committee was set up to administer it.

"Since there was no policy already in place, the method of selection was left up to those three people on the committee. A policy would have outlined selection criteria."

Mr Gatt said that the platform insisted that the development policy should focus on poverty eradication and not just on bilateral or multilateral relations - it is not merely a foreign policy.

It would also include a clear definition of priority countries which Malta would be helping and country strategy papers which outline how Malta would help specific countries.

This non-existent development policy is one of the major criticisms Malta gets from European counterparts. Apart from Cyprus, Malta is the only EU member state that does not have any form of guidelines for development, he said. This suggests it is not taking the subject as seriously as it should be.

Let us not forget that before becoming a member of the EU, Malta committed itself to a National Development Policy when it formulated the National Plan for the Adoption of the Acquis Communitaire.

Besides, Malta is also a signatory to the UN Millennium Declaration pledging to combat poverty through the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Gatt went on to explain that the EU is the biggest aid donor in the world and Malta should contribute. In the 1970s, much before it joined the EU, Malta signed the UN agreement setting a target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) in official development aid (ODA).

Last year, new member states agreed to reach 0.17 per cent by 2010 and 0.33 per cent by 2015 as they could not reach the 0.7 level immediately.

Malta's ODA figures for 2004, released late last year, totalled 0.18 per cent, thus marginally exceeding the 0.17 per cent target aimed for 2010. But one has to analyse the type and quality of aid given, Mr Gatt cautioned.

Ahead of last week's General Affairs and External Relations Council Meeting of EU foreign and development ministers, NGOs criticised key EU member states, including the UK, France and Germany for inflating their aid figures.

Is Malta one of them?

A joint European NGO briefing report (visitwww.concordeurope.org) reads: "Malta's aid is deceptively doubled by the inclusion of its spending on refugees in Malta".

"Unfortunately, when we requested statistics for development aid funds, we got very little information from the government that merely provided the total figures but no breakdown of the actual areas," Mr Gatt explained.

"We were unofficially informed that half of it are costs on migrants in Malta. Moreover, the debt cancellation towards Iraq in 2004 was also included," he confirmed.

While explaining that, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) rules, money spent on migrants in their first year of stay can be classified as ODA, he said such figures painted a false picture. They should, at least, be broken down.

Coming back to the role of the individual in development, Mr Gatt said that, by being aware of what is going on and showing they care, people can ensure that the authorities live up to their commitment.

It's a matter of solidarity and human rights.

The NGDO platform

The national platform of NGDOs was founded in June 2001, on the initiative of Kopin (Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali - Malta).

NGDOs are voluntary non-profit and non-governmental organisations working within the framework of international development cooperation.

The platform is run on a voluntary basis and aims to improve Malta's contribution to international development by promoting the exchange of experience, ideas and information among its members, between networks of NGOs in Malta and internationally, with the Maltese government and between its members and other Maltese bodies with an interest in international development and humanitarian aid.

Currently coordinated by Kopin, it also aims to monitor the performance of the government and the EU in relation to official development aid policies; identify key issues relating to the quality of official development aid; lobby the government to increase development aid up to the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI and to improve the quality of overseas development assistance; encourage, support, and motivate civil society to participate in actions that promote global responsibility and cooperate with organisations in the south, whose activities are aimed at producing social changes which include environmental awareness, respect for human rights, and equality for women.

The platform is officially recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is a founding member of Concord, the European confederation of development and relief NGOs.

The platform currently has 10 members : the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, the Jesuit Refugee Service, Kare4Kenya, Koperattiva Kummerç Gust, Kopin, Moviment Graffitti, Share Foundation, SOS Malta, Third World Group and Voluntiera Lajçi Missjunarji.

For more information visit www.ngdomalta.org, www.concordeurope.org and www.millenniumcampaign.org