Interview with ... Jacques Attali.

Jacques Attali is founder and President of PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit organization that uses the Internet to promote socioeconomic development, provide micro-financing and educate people worldwide about the role of micro-lending in poverty alleviation. He was one of the panellists at the 57th Annual DPI/NGO Conference--"Millennium Development Goals: Civil Society Takes Action"--held from 8 to 10 September 2004 at UN Headquarters in New York.

Lisa Krutky and Horst Rutsch of the UN Chronicle spoke with Mr. Attali.

On the need for a 'survival index' to monitor the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Creating a "survival index" is a way to simplify for the public the complex problems of development and give an aggregate view of the situation, as the Dow Jones Index gives an aggregate view of the stock markets and as public opinion polls give an aggregate view of the popularity of a leader. The MDGs are too complex and too varied to be easily understood, while the survival index would be something cheaper and with a lot of objectives to it, but it would give us a way to discuss the global view of the situation.

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On the risk of Africa falling behind the MDGs deadline of 2015

It is quite possible to change the negative trend for Africa. First, we have to recognize that the MDGs, according to Africa's current trend, will not be reached not only by 2015 but never. Second, we need to examine the amount of money and the kinds of reform that are needed to change this, and to launch a crash programme for Africa. These three things should and could be done--it is a matter of political will. It can be done either at the UN General Assembly [the fifty-ninth session opened on 21 September] or later at the G-8 meeting in London.

On the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting democracy, development and governance

There are two kinds of NGOs: vocal NGOs that speak and explain the problems, and action-oriented NGOs, which act and produce good activities. Vocal NGOs can play a tremendous role in developing and monitoring the progress or non-progress of democracy, while productive NGOs can produce a way of fighting poverty through multilateral micro-credit via micro-finance, which cannot be done elsewhere or through Government. Therefore, on the dimension of democracy, environment or development, NGOs should and will play a significant role and are very important actors in future development.

On replacing the label 'non-governmental organization' with 'solidarity institution'

The idea is that NGOs are defined not by what they are but by what they are not. They are non-governmental organizations, and should be defined by what they are. They are institutions for solidarity, and I would prefer "institution for solidarity" (IFS), or civil society for solidarity, but IFS seems to be a very good choice because it is what they are about.

On the work of PlaNet Finance

We are not in charge of technology, but we are in charge of fighting poverty through micro-finance which, we think, is a tremendous instrument. One of the most important goals of the MDGs is fighting poverty, and we believe micro-finance is the best way to do so. Our organization is here to help the development of institutions using micro-finance. We are not specifically dealing with technology, which is just one of the instruments we use to develop micro-finance, but we want to be the platform to support micro-finance globally in order to reach the MDGs and beyond.

For more information on PlaNet Finance, see www.planetfinance.org.