Meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 - Syria - Essay Example

MEETING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS BY PROGRESS AND ONGOING NEEDS AND POST SYRIA POLICY PAPER Background Syria is located in Western Asia and shares its borders with Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and has Mediterranean Sea to its west. Damascus is the capital of Syria; one of the most ancient cities in the world. The country has fertile plains, deserts and high mountains. It hosts diverse ethnicities and religions; there are Turks, Kurds, Sunnis, Christian Arabs, Assyrians and Alawites. Sunni Arabs make up the dominant population in this region. Modern day Syria came into being after World War I as a French colony. It was the largest Arab state that was born after the Ottoman Empire fell apart. The year 1946 marks the time when this country gained independence and established itself as parliamentary republic. Since its independence the country has seen many skirmishes and wars. Many coups and attempts to take over the throne have shattered Syria’s infrastructure. The al-Assad family has been ruling the country since 1970. Hafiz al-Assad ruled the office from 1970-2000 only to be usurped by his son Bashar al-Assad. Today the country is part of United Nations. But due to conflict in the region its membership has been deferred from the Arab League as well as from Organization of Islamic Cooperation. March 2012 marks the formation of Syrian National Coalition, a group that stands in opposition to the government. The Arab League invited the representative of this group to take Syria’s seat. Currently Syria is governed by President Bashar al-Asad. It has been almost 3 years since conflict began. Humanitarian development achievements in the country have now been rolled back due to consistent fighting in the area. Flying bullets from everywhere make it difficult for humanitarian workers to continue their work. The conflict in Syria has already killed over 120,000 people and displaced 6.5 million (UNDP, n.d.). The crisis has stolen employment from the 50% population pushing Syrian citizens into poverty (UNDP, n.d.). Millions of Syrians are searching for refuge in neighboring areas and their host countries face a great challenge accommodating millions of them. Influx of new refugees is a serious setback for neighboring states. Basic needs like education, health, sanitation, infrastructure and non-existent economic opportunity has created cutthroat competition for jobs in Syria (UNDP, n.d.). People are practically living in ruins. Tensions are always on the rise threatening to rip apart the social cohesion. The UNDP workers were already deployed in Syria even before the crisis began. Their work was affected due to civil war. The UNDP workers were in the country to help people rebuild, protect development gains, and recover, by providing them temporary jobs, clearing areas and supporting local businesses so that they can recover useful assets (UNDP, 2014). The situation is grave and requires a lot more to be done to bring peace to this area. International players including the United States and Russia can also play their part in finding a solution to this problem. The diplomatic alliance between Moscow and Washington in 1995, Dayton was one such agreement but it did not see its resolution (Allison, 2013). Analysis In the wake of the events that have haunted Syria for such a long time it is no mystery that meeting the 2015 Millennium Goal is going to be an extremely tough challenge. However, as the leader of my country I have no apprehensions that we will make it there, slowly but surely. Syria has been the battleground for many groups since its independence in 1946. People have seen too much war and bloodshed. People need peace, change and stability in the country. People are resilient but courage has its limit. It is an asset that depletes by using. I fully understand what the people need at this point in time. We have less than a year to make drastic changes to meet the UNDP goals. Establishing peace and stability is the primary objective of my Parliament. Without establishing law and order there can be no development, education, health or business. According to the chief development report, Syria has shown significant improvement regarding school enrollment and reducing the number of child deaths. It published its third national Millennium Development goals for 2015, which states that the country faces a major challenge in eradicating severe poverty and looks forward to sustainable environmental management. There are many factors causing this poverty in the country, however, there are certain highlighted factors that the country needs to target on primary basis. For instance climatic changes that result from ecosystem degradation coupled with desertification. This is a magnanimous threat ready to devour the poverty-stricken population of Syria. Without diagnosing the treatable problems there will be no benefit of pursuing the millennium development goals. UNDP has highlighted MDGs; eight internationally agreed targets. They focus on reducing poverty, maternal and child deaths, hunger, disease, in adequate shelter, gender inequality and environmental degradation by 2015 (UNDP Newsroom, 2010). The report tries to understand countrys progress towards these goals which includes recognizing new events that are directly influencing the progress, major challenges and different policy interventions that are desperately needed before 2015. The job is getting tougher everyday due to increasing tension. According to a report by The Washington Times dozens of highly trained and dangerous fighters are reaching Syria from Pakistan (Schmitt, 2014). It is assumed that they are strengthening their terror network in the region. As long as such threats remain in the country, there is little that UNDP groups and other NGOs can do to reach the 2015 MDGs. Recommendations The recent reports from United Nations development program on Syria show that the crisis is entering its fourth year and the cost that the humans are suffering is unspeakable and shows no signs of weakening. The tragic loss of life has sent Syria’s developmental progress almost 35 years back. Aggressive rehabilitation work will be needed just to undo the damage done to the country in the past four years. The UN and its affiliates mostly appear as a Western face. Their programs such as eradication of polio is sometimes considered a spying tactic to infiltrate houses by the terrorists. Such attitude is highly dangerous and detrimental for UNDP programs under progress in Syria. The presence of Al-Qaida in Syria will eventually translate into attacking Western interests (Schmitt, 2014). It also means that the UN development programs in Syria will be under direct threat from terrorists. The bloodshed has pushed people out of their homes seeking refuge in neighboring countries. The Exodus is the largest movement of refugees after the Second World War. Considering this volatile situation the only thing certain about Syria’s future is more unrest. Which is why to achieve the millennium goals a resilience based development program needs to be established. The problem is anchored in the fact that Syria’s crisis are not narrow. They are widespread and diverse. Any organization that needs to rectify the situation will have to fight on many fronts using a multi-dimensional solution. Such tactic is needed both for loss recovery and for development and progress. As the leader of my country I am realistic in saying that it will be very difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals yet achieving them is certainly possible. It is a little saddening to devise a program based on resilience instead of eradicating war and bloodshed. However, considering the context the only possible solution at this moment is to train the communities in resilience so that they can better prepare for the shocks and catastrophes that await them. The situation is grave not only for Syria but for the countries where the refugees are being sheltered. Due to this mass exodus the infrastructure of the country is collapsing. No matter how much aid is dumped into the country it would never be able to lift the nation up on its feet if the people keep running away. The resilience based development approach is a practical realistic solution where the UNDP can take a longer-term perspective (United Nations Development Program, 2013). This way they can focus on making communities and people do better with themselves from crisis. Emergency interventions is a wonderful solution for a coping mechanism. This way they can provide people with livelihoods, infrastructure, housing, and many basic services (United Nations Development Program, 2013). It will also help them grow out of the social and economic shock that the crisis has imposed on them. The people of Syria need to regain productive assets. And lastly they need to sustain this recovery process. Without sustainability all efforts will go to waste and MDGs will never be met. It is also an under consideration that the policy proposed in this paper is not only for pre-2015 era, it is for post 2015 too. People can actually have concrete footing that will continue to serve them in the future. Under this program the UNDP is already assisting in the area such as vocational skills training, business support, livelihood creation, employment generation, crisis management at local level (United Nations Development Program, 2013).. The UNDP is also working towards peace building through media and community organizations as well as gauging schoolteachers. Additional suggestions regarding the role of media that are specifically covering the Middle East, they should focus more towards the rebuilding and rehabilitation process than on highlighting and breaking news of gunfire and bloodshed. National newspapers are the most crucial source of setting, articulating and disseminating the national agenda (Shojae et al. 2013). A study was performed on many cases including the current situation in Syria that revealed that ideologically conflicting ideas are deliberately interpreted in western print and media (Shojae et al. 2013); tools such as lexicalization and colloquial patterns are extensively used in setting the narrative (Shojae et al. 2013). It is not to say to suppress the truth but to show both sides of the pictures equally. This will help build a narrative that will help people to think in terms of staying in the country instead of fleeing to neighboring states where they may or may not be accommodated. The same flowchart of recommendations also highlights supporting local government that cooperate with the UNDP programs. Without engaging the local power brokers there can be no sustainability. According to an estimate more than 9.3 million people in Syria need humanitarian aid (Associated Press, 2014). It is also recommended that all resilience based programs should be devised in the context of area, demographics and country’s current situation. This can be done in a better way by engaging the skills and activities of the victims of civil war in the country. The emphasis here is on long-term sustainability and not temporary solutions. It also means that all development and sustainability efforts are planned and executed keeping the conflict sensitivity in mind. This is why the three-step process of coping, recovering and sustaining is the best way that MDGs can be achieved prior to 2015. This model is executable considering the worsening conditions. This not only helps people in Syria but also those refugees who are forced to live in inhumane conditions in refugee camps. As long as Syria faces a conflict the refugees outside will be dependent on aid in refuge setting (El-Khitab et al. 2013). Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and North Africa are the countries taking care of the majority of Syrian refugees (El-Khitab et al. 2013). The coping mechanism targets local governing bodies. When the local bodies are empowered they will give life to infrastructure, housing, jobs and the ability to meet increased demands. The recovery process will also focus on the households. For instance people who are internally displaced, wounded and sick. The recovery is to make sure that they are empowered so they can contributes to the social and economic development. And finally the sustainability program targets all areas and niches. It is to make sure that the country sees economic, political and social stability. Sustainability part also encompasses the neighboring countries so that the institutions that govern their respective economic social and political factors can better contribute in their own areas. Considering the complexity of the country it is never recommended to deploy a one-size-fits-all solution in all areas. There should be different priorities according to a wide range of situations. For this reason assessment of the situation becomes crucial because the plan and its execution would depend upon effective assessment. The resilience based program will assess household, community and their vulnerability. It is for this reason to recognize places. The refugees are hiding in the neighboring countries. It needs to be understood that there is a sudden increase in the population as influx of refugees which means scarce resources and increased demand. This alone can create additional problems. References Allison, Roy. "Russia and Syria: Explaining Alignment with a Regime in Crisis." International Affairs 89.4 (2013): 795-823. Print. El-Khatib, Ziad, David Scales, Jo Vearey, and Birger C. Forsberg. "Syrian Refugees, between Rocky Crisis in Syria and Hard Inaccessibility to Healthcare Services in Lebanon and Jordan." Conflict and Health 7.1 (2013): 7-18. Print. Associated Press. "UN Chief Says Both Sides Block Aid to Syrians." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. . Shojaei, Amir, Kazem Youssefi, and Hossein Shams Hosseini. "A CDA Approach to the Biased Interpretation and Representation of Ideologically Conflicting Ideas in Western Printed Media." Journal of Language Teaching and Research 4.4 (2013): 858-68. Print. Schmitt, Eric. "Qaeda Militants Seek Syria Base, U.S. Officials Say." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. . UNDP. "Responding to the Crisis in Syria." Responding to Crisis in Syria. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. . United Nations Development Program. Resilience-based Development Response to the Syria Crisis. N.p.: United Nations Development Program, 2013. UNDP. United Nations, Dec. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. . Read More