the milennium development goals overview: progress, prospects and practice

THE MILENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS OVERVIEW:

PROGRESS, PROSPECTS AND PRACTICE

The Crisis

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US$37,610 POVERTY: More than one billion people

in the world live on less than a dollar a day. Another 1.8 billion struggle to survive on less than $2 per day.

ILLITERACY: Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.

PREMATURE DEATH: Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is less than 55 years – and dropping.

WATER AND SANITATION: Four out of every ten people in the world don't have access even to a simple latrine; and two in ten have no source of safe drinking water.

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The Action

At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to reduce poverty; improve health; and promote peace, human rights, and environmental sustainability.

The Millennium Development Goals set out a mutual commitment between developed and developing countries to make sustained progress towards achieving this vision.

Specifically, the Millennium Development Goals aim to reduce poverty, reduce mortality, fight disease and hunger, get girls and boys in school, empower women and give more people access to safe water. African countries need to make the most progress if they are to meet these Goals.

The Opportunity

The Millennium Development Goals can be achieved by 2015, even in the poorest countries, if strategic action

is taken.

The world already has affordable tools to win this fight, such as:

Bed-nets to fight malaria– Vaccinations against disease– Antiretroviral therapies to treat AIDS– Fertilizers and agro-forestry to raise crop yields– Bore wells to provide drinking water

– Diesel generators for village electricity.

If the Goals are achievedMore than 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty and 250 million will no longer suffer from hunger.

30 million children will be saved who would otherwise die before reaching age 5 and 2 million maternal deaths will have been averted.

350 million people will have access to safe drinking water and 650 million people will have access to basic sanitation

The Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Goal 6: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

The MDGs are the world’s first shared set of integrated, quantitative and time-bound goals for poverty reduction

Another Perspective on the Goals

Developing Country Responsibility To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger To achieve universal primary education To promote gender equality and empower women To reduce child mortality To improve maternal health To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases To ensure environmental sustainability

Developed Country and Development Assistance Agency Responsibility

To establish a global partnership for development

Prerequisites for Countries to Achieve the Goals

Vision Country ownership Country-led partnership Focus on development results

What is meant by “vision”?

Coherent long-term-vision Medium-term strategy derived from vision Country-specific development targets Holistic, balanced and well sequenced strategy Capacity for implementation (e.g., expenditure

management)

What is meant by “country ownership”?

Vision and strategy homegrown Government involved stakeholders Civil society involvement Private sector involvement Parliamentary involvement Capacity to formulate strategy

What is meant by “country-led partnership”?

Government leadership and coordination Partners’ assistance in strategy alignment Financial and non-financial support alignment Coherent capacity support Harmonization of policies and procedures Appropriate partnership behaviors

What is meant by “focus on development results”?

Development information systems Stakeholders’ access to development

information Managing for development results

PROGRESS TO DATE: GROUP 1

A relatively small leading group of 12 countries has made good progress in implementing CDF principles and faces a reasonably good chance of achieving the MDGs defined in their poverty reduction strategies, provided that they stay the course. These countries have put in place the processes needed to achieve success, and have defined relatively clearly the goals they are pursuing. Most have taken action to align government and partners' actions with those goals, and to track development outcomes.

Bolivia Burkina FasoEthiopiaGhanaGuineaKyrgyz RepublicMauritaniaRwandaSenegalTanzania Uganda


An intermediate group of 11 countries is making selective progress in implementing the CDF principles. With concerted internal actions and focused external partner support, they may more firmly embark on the road to achieving the MDGs

AlbaniaCape VerdeGambiaGuyanaHondurasMalawiMozambiqueNigerPakistan YemenZambia


At the other end of the spectrum, a group of 25 countries-more than half of which have features of low-income countries under stress (LICUS)6 or are affected by conflict or both-has made little progress in implementing the CDF principles. They are unlikely to reach the 2015 poverty reduction goals or related country goals under present circumstances. Closer adherence to the CDF principles can help these countries get on the right track

Armenia AzerbaijanBenin CambodiaCameroon CARChad Congo DRCote d’Ivoire DjiboutiEritrea GeorgiaGuinea Bissau KenyaLaos LesothoMadagascar MaliMoldova MongoliaNicaragua Sao Tome e PrincipeSerbia/Montenegro Sierra LeoneTajikistan

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

Ten Key Recommendations

#1: Developing country governments should adopt MDG-based poverty reduction strategies bold enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for 2015. To meet the 2015 deadline, we recommend that all countries have these strategies in place by 2008. Where Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) already exist, those should be aligned with the MDGs


#2: The MDG-based poverty reduction strategies should anchor the scaling up of public investments, capacity building, domestic resource mobilization, and official development assistance. They should also provide a framework for strengthening governance, promoting human rights, engaging civil society, and promoting the private sector.


#3: Developing country governments should craft and implement the MDG-based poverty reduction strategies in transparent and inclusive processes, working closely with civil society organizations, the domestic private sector, and international partners.


#4: International donors should identify at least a dozen MDG “fast-track” countries for a rapid scale-up of official development assistance (ODA), recognizing that many countries are already in a position for a massive scale-up on the basis of their good governance and absorptive capacity.


#5: Developed and developing countries should jointly launch a group of Quick Win actions to save and improve millions of lives and to promote economic growth.


#6: Developing country governments should align national strategies with such regional initiatives as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the Caribbean Community (and Common Market), and regional groups should receive increased direct donor support for regional projects.


#7: High-income countries should increase official development assistance (ODA) from 0.25 percent of donor GNP in 2003 to around 0.44 percent in 2006 and 0.54 in 2015 to support the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in low-income countries, with improved aid quality (including aid that is harmonized, predictable and largely in the form of grants-based budget support). Each donor should reach 0.7 percent no later than 2015 to support the Goals and other development assistance priorities


#8: High-income countries should open their markets to developing country exports through the Doha trade round and help Least Developed Countries raise export competitiveness through investments in critical trade-related infrastructure, including electricity, roads, and ports.


#9: International donors should mobilize support for global scientific research and development to address special needs of the poor in areas of health, agriculture, natural resource and environmental management, energy and climate. We estimate the total needs to rise to approximately $7 billion by 2015.


#10: The UN Secretary-General and the UN Development Group should strengthen the coordination of UN agencies, funds, and programs to support the MDGs at headquarters and country level.The UN Country Teams should be strengthened and should work closely with the international financial institutions to support the Goals.

Priority Interventions: Quick Wins

Quick Wins can start countries on the path to the Goals

Eliminating school and uniform fees to ensure that all children, especially girls, are not out of school because of their families’ poverty

Providing impoverished farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with affordable replenishments of soil nitrogen and other soil nutrients

Providing free school meals for all children using locally produced foods with take-home rations


Training large numbers of village workers in health, farming, and infrastructure (in one-year programs) to ensure basic expertise and services in rural communities

Distributing free, long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed-nets to all children in malaria-endemic zones to cut decisively the burden of malaria

Eliminating user fees for basic health services in all developing countries, financed by increased domestic and donor resources for health


Expanding access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, including family planning and contraceptive information and services, and closing existing funding gaps for supplies and logistics

Expanding the use of proven effective drug combinations for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. For AIDS, this includes successfully completing the 3 by 5 initiative to bring antiretrovirals to 3 million people

Setting up funding to finance community-based slum upgrading and earmark idle public land for low-cost housing


Providing access to electricity, water, sanitation, and the Internet for all hospitals, schools, and other social service institutions using off-grid diesel generators, solar panels, or other appropriate technologies

Launching national campaigns to reduce violence against women

Establishing an office of science advisor to the president or prime minister to consolidate the role of science in national policymaking

Time Pressure

There is still enough time to meet the MDGs—though barely. With a systematic approach over the next decade, many countries now dismissed as too poor or too far off track could still achieve the Goals, but only if the world moves urgently with specific, scaled-up actions.

Next Steps

LAUNCHING A DECADE OF BOLD AMBITION

To launch the decade of bold ambition towards 2015, several worldwide initiatives are needed to translate the Goals from ambition to action:

Identify fast-track countries Prepare MDG-based poverty reduction strategies Launch a global human resource training effort Launch the Quick Win initiatives Engage middle-income countries in the challenge

the milennium development goals overview: progress, prospects and practice

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