Ghanaian youth suggest drastic reduction in world improvement targets
In September this year, 193 governments will announce a set of targets to improve the world between now and 2030. Some young people from Ghana, at a youth forum in Accra to discuss the post-2015 development agenda, have decided what they think should be at the top of the global priority list.
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At the first of a worldwide series of post-2015 youth forums, 65 Ghanaian youth read and discussed research from 82 of the world’s top economists and 44 sector experts, organised by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre and with the help of the Youth Bridge Foundation, they prioritised which targets attained the most value for money.
Their assessments are really needed, because United Nations (UN) ambassadors still have an implausibly long list of 169 targets, but not all of these targets are great. Some targets generate high economic, social and environmental benefits for their costs, while some cost a fortune and do little good. It is appropriate that young people should help guide the final choice of priority targets because it is their future.
Violence
Many major challenges are particularly acute in Africa, and so it is not surprising that the Ghanaian youth focused on some of these regional realities. In total, the youths of Ghana chose not 169 targets but said a much smaller set of 10 targets were the most important ones for the world.
The problems of violence featured several times in their list of top priorities. The economists writing the lead study on this issue showed that interpersonal violence had the greatest impact. Globally, nine people die through interpersonal violence – much of it domestic – for every person killed on the battlefield.
There is evidence that spending a cedi on targeted programmes to reduce excessive alcohol consumption can pay back GH¢17 worth of benefits in terms of lower violence. At the same time, it will make people feel safer. That is part of the reason the young people of Ghana agree that “reducing assaults” is one target the international community should adopt.
However, assaults in the community are a relatively minor problem compared to violence in the home or involving a close relative.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 125 million children are seriously abused each month. Not surprisingly, the youth forum said “ending violence in child discipline” was also a top priority. About a quarter of primary carers in Africa use severe physical punishment and in addition to the injuries and psychological damage inflicted on children, this has real economic costs. Spending a cedi on this programme will give benefits worth GH¢10 .
Contraception as priority
The youth forum also picked universal access to contraception as one of the world’s important priorities. The economists give them a lot of reasons to do so; by allowing them to control the number and timing of their children, women will be better able to cope with the children they have and the children themselves will be better fed and educated. This has huge benefits, valued at GH¢120 for each cedi spent.
There were also other priorities on health. The youngsters picked malaria and tuberculosis (TB) as crucial targets for the world community. Dealing with malaria is both doable and very cost-effective. Use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent mosquito bites and malaria, plus treating any cases which do occur with an effective combination of drugs would pay back GH¢ 36 for each cedi of the programme cost. Diagnosing and treating TB is an even better investment; every cedi spent will give GH¢43 worth of benefits.
But perhaps most importantly, the youth emphasised that poverty is at the root of many of these problems. People struggling to live day to day can’t afford enough nutritious food or good health care and often suffer most from violence. That’s why the young Ghanaians put “eliminate extreme poverty” as one of the top targets to focus on. Not only will this transform people’s lives, but spending one cedi to do so will pay back five in social benefits.
Making such a prioritisation is brave on the part of these young men and women because it is hard and necessary to show what is most important. It is, after all, their future. I look forward to taking their list, along with those from other youth forums from Africa, Asia and Latin America to the United Nations in New York, to help the ambassadors make better choices.
The writer heads the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, which works with more than 100 of the world’s leading economists and seven Nobel Laureates to identify the smartest global solutions.