Low and High Hanging Fruits

There is so much to be done.

And everybody has jumped on the bandwagon of the MDGs. There are going to be more donors, more money, more committed governments, and better technologies. Coverage of virtually everything is going to increase, with or without us.

All but one of the 18 the MDGs targets can be achieved without reaching the marginalized, vulnerable or excluded children and families. And to reach the last 10 percent of children with basic services is much more difficult than increasing the coverage of anything from 70 to 80 percent.

I often hear that we should be going first for the low hanging fruits and the easy results. So we have something to show that will increase our partners’ confidence in our work.

If we – as everyone - will pick the low hanging fruits first, we may never reach for the high hanging ones. And the poorest, most marginalized, vulnerable and excluded children will continue to be poor, marginalized, vulnerable and excluded. If we always settle for the low hanging fruits, we have to be careful not to end up feeding from the bottom.

The challenge, and the niche for UNICEF, is to reach the most marginalized children first. Let’s go right away for the last 10 percent, with passion and imagination, while others will ratchet up coverage by doing more of the same. We will still make our contribution to the MDGs. We will greatly and genuinely distinguish ourselves from many others. We will be true to the Human Rights Approach. We would show empathy and solidarity, and a human face in an environment that, as always, is going to be dominated by investments with the most profitable expected return.

(28 January 2005)

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