Development Policy Committee: young people to be placed at the core of Finland’s development policy

Development Policy Committee
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Press release 95/2011
15 March 2011

In years to come, in its development policy, Finland must pay special attention to enhancing the living conditions and position of young people in developing countries. The priority must be in education and employment of young people, decent work, and support of the most vulnerable population groups, the Development Policy Committee highlights in its annual review, issued on 15 March.

The State of Finland’s Development Policy 2011 report warns that the seeds of frustration and radicalisation are germinating in the youth. The issue of education and employment opportunities of young people should be addressed particularly firmly in the conflict-prone Northern Africa and Middle East. According to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, more than 20 per cent of young adults in the region are without a job. The current popular protests in these countries show that the young people have been ignored for too long.

“Northern Africa and the Middle East are not priority areas of Finnish development cooperation. However, we can affect the enhancement of living conditions of the young people in the region through Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and development cooperation programmes,” the Development Policy Committee points out.

The Development Policy Committee states that, in addition to good basic education, sufficient resources are needed for higher level education, especially with a view to professional skills and employment of young people. Education is a good investment in the development of all sectors of life, including enhancement of the readiness to operate in the society, and mother and child health, the Committee reminds.

In addition to addressing the position of young people, the annual review of the Development Policy Committee submitted to the Government concentrates on two important future themes: the inevitable changes in geopolitics and development policy, and the challenges of Finnish development policy during the next term of government.

Great changes have happened in the global operating environment that are related primarily to shifts in the priorities of world economy and global policy.

China and Brazil are good examples of rapidly growing economies that have also increased development funding to other developing countries. More and more development funding is also distributed by private donors.

“There are major changes going on in the global operating environment that also have to be taken into account in the outlining of Finland’s development policy and practical implementation of development cooperation. Finland must promote creation of dialogical connection with new actors and contribute to establishment of mutual understanding on common rules and coordination of work,” the Development Policy Committee points out.

As one of the great challenges for the next government term the Development Policy Committee considers the need to improve the quality of development cooperation. Familiarity with the operating environment and recipient countries is one of the basic prerequisites of effective operations. For this reason, Finland should continue to concentrate its assistance to the most important partner countries and avoid scattering it geographically. The priority of aid measures must be in reduction of poverty and the poorest developing countries.

“In order to prevent fragmentation of support, Finland must not operate in too many sectors in a recipient country. Choices must be made in accordance with the needs of the developing country in question,” the Development Policy Committee urges.

The Development Policy Committee is of the opinion that Finland should increase its development cooperation appropriations to 0.7 per cent of gross national income by 2015 in accordance with its commitments. In addition, resources are needed for climate change funding in developing countries. In its annual review, the Committee also notes that the goal to reduce poverty cannot be achieved by means of development cooperation alone. The committee hopes that the government would set concrete targets by which efforts to reduce poverty can also be made by other means than development cooperation.

The Development Policy Committee is an advisory body for development policy appointed by the Government. It monitors and evaluates actions taken in the various sectors of policy that influence the situation in developing countries. The committee consists of 21 members representing various political parties, interest groups and the research community.

The State of Finland’s Development Policy 2011 is the fourth and, at the same time, the last statement the current Development Policy Committee submits to the Government.

Additional information: Nina Suomalainen, Chair of the Development Policy Committee, tel. +358 40 533 5869, and Juha Vuorenkoski, Secretary General of the Development Policy Committee, tel. +358 40 357 6269