Nancy Birdsall, head of the Center for Global Development, has invited readers to contribute to her 2015 policy wish list (click here for her piece). Here are my suggestions:
1) For the SDGs to sail through at least as bold as they currently are – and even bolder on nutrition.
2) For COP21 to adopt a real plan for limiting climate change.
3) For donors to focus resources on strengthening grassroots-level government – participatory local democracy – the level with the biggest responsibility for meeting basic needs yet too often with the least resources.
4) For the US to resolve the mismatch between how it and the world interpret human rights that prevents the US from supporting rights-based approaches to development (ie, right to food, right to development).
5) Given that progress in gender, nutrition and resilience all require holistic, multi-sectoral strategies, for donors to establish funding windows for truly multi-sectoral strategies.
6) Passage of the International Violence Against Women act.
7) For USAID to close the gender gap in implementing Feed the Future. It’s intended to focus on women, but still serves more men than women.
8) For the world to learn the lesson of Ebola, and invest in community-based primary health care everywhere that it’s missing – as a crash program.
9) For the “Local First” approach to be widely adopted in the humanitarian response community.
10) For a woman to be appointed next administrator of USAID. I’m happy to suggest names!
Happy Post-2015!