Issue: Exclusive Issue/June 2010
An estimated 64 million have joined them because of the 2008 economic crisis and the proportion of hungry people increased by 14.6 per cent. Five years remain for the world to achieve the globally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). What will it take to get there?
A decade after the Millennium Declaration, there is undeniable progress on some MDGs in many countries. There have been noticeable reductions in poverty globally. Significant improvements have been made in enrolment and gender parity in schools. Progress is evident in reducing child and maternal mortality, increasing HIV treatments and ensuring environmental sustainability. Developing countries are increasingly incorporating the MDGs into their national development strategies, reforming policies and building institutions in order to implement those plans effectively. There have been welcome developments in the global partnership where, although still not complete, some countries have met their commitments.
The gender gap in schools has narrowed significantly. By 2007, 95 girls per 100 boys were enrolled in schools. In 1999, it was 91 girls to 100 boys. The abolition of school fees at the primary level has been important contributing to surges of enrolment in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Nepal. Accomplishments have also been evident in child and maternal health across the globe. Under-five mortality decreased from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births to 67 and the Maternal Mortality Ratio fell from 320 to 251 per 100,000 live births between 1990 and 2008.
Challenges, however, are also abundant. While the share of poor people is declining, the absolute number of the poor in South Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing. Countries that achieved rapid reductions in income poverty are not necessarily making the same progress in gender equality and environmental sustainability. Lack of progress in reducing HIV is curtailing improvements in both maternal and child mortality. Moreover, adequate attention has not been paid to the quality of education and health services in the rush to expand coverage. In sub-Saharan Africa, no country is currently on course to achieve all the MDGs by 2015. MDG progress is also threatened by the combination of high food prices and the impact of the international financial and economic crisis. Sustained poverty and hunger reduction is at risk because of vulnerability to climate change, particularly in the area of agricultural production. Weak institutional capacity in conflict and post-conflict countries slows MDG progress. And rapid urbanization is putting pressure on social services.
Today, the world has the knowledge and resources to accelerate progress. What is required is increased commitment to see through the strategies, policies and interventions. In its International Assessment of what it will take to achieve the MDGs, UNDP has issued a new report bringing together evidence from countries over the last 10 years about what has worked in making progress towards the MDGs. Proposing an 8 point action plan, the What Will It Take To Achieve The Millennium Development Goals? An International Assessment report assures that the MDGs can be achieved even in the poorest and most disadvantaged countries.
“For the many people living in poverty, the Millennium Development Goals are not abstract and aspirational targets; they offer a means to a better life, and overall a more just and peaceful world,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark at the launch of UNDP’s report, titled What Will It Take To Achieve The Millennium Development Goals? An International Assessment on 17 June 2010 in New York.
Drawing on evidence of what has worked in 50 countries, UNDP’s report provides an eight-point MDG action agenda to accelerate and sustain development progress over the next five years. The eight points focus on supporting nationally-owned and participatory development; pro-poor, job-rich inclusive growth including the private sector; government investments in social services like health and education; expanding opportunities for women and girls; access to low carbon energy; domestic resource mobilization; and delivery on Official Development Assistance commitments.
From the abolition of primary school fees leading to a surge in enrolment in Ethiopia to innovative health servicing options in Afghanistan reducing under five childhood mortality, the report brings forward concrete examples that have worked and can be replicated, even in the poorest countries, to make real progress across the Goals.
Rapid improvements in both education and health, the report illustrates, have occurred in countries where there were adequate public expenditures and strong new partnerships.
Evidence found in the Assessment also suggests that reductions in poverty and hunger occur when economic growth is job-rich and boosts agricultural production. Ghana’s nationwide fertilizer subsidy programme, for instance, increased food production by 40 percent and reduced hunger by nine percent between 2003 and 2005.
Other examples include a national rural employment initiative in India which has benefited some 46 million households. The programme guarantees a minimum of 100 days of work for landless labourers and marginal farmers, with almost half being women. Such robust social protection and employment programmes, the report affirms, reduce poverty and reverse inequality.
Albania was praised for adopting a ninth MDG, reforming public administration, legislation and policies to promote accountability and enhance development results. Country-led development and effective government, argues the report, are at the root of achieving the MDGs.
The Assessment also denotes the linkages between many of the Goals. For example, improving opportunities for women and girls and expanding access to energy, both, have a multiplier effect on MDG progress. The provision of generators in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal, has helped to free up an average of two to four hours per day for women, which they have been able to spend on education, improving their health and generating additional sources of revenue.
This Assessment finds that well-targeted and predictable aid is a critical catalyst for meeting the MDGs and has produced significant results in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Vietnam by making more resources available for service delivery. Evidence, however, also suggests that countries need to expand their own domestic resource mobilization and to adjust their budgets to ensure maximum return on their investment.
The report, which will be shared with Member States as they prepare the outcome document for the September MDG Summit, also singles out the failure to conclude the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Round of trade negotiations as the most significant gap in formulating a global partnership for development. In addition, market access for developing countries is little improved and domestic agricultural subsidies by rich countries continue to overshadow policy coherence needed to accelerate MDG progress.
To work in tandem with this report, UNDP is also piloting an MDG acceleration toolkit. It is a framework designed to help governments, the UN at the country level and other development partners identify where the real bottlenecks to progress lie and, in tackling them, which policies can have the most impact on achieving the MDGs.
For a copy of the International Assessment, visit www.undp.org or click here for a short presentation.
For more on the Millennium Development Goals, visit www.undp.org/mdg or www.kickoutpoverty.org.
Identifying what has worked and highlighting common constraints to progress, at both the national and international level, the International Assessment proposes an eight-point action agenda to can accelerate and sustain development progress over the next five years.
“First, we need to support country-led development” Clark explained. This can be done more effectively with the input of development partners who can support inclusive development planning which reflects the perspectives of the poor and marginalized; and also by strengthening the local and national capacities needed to mobilise resources, deliver services and make evidence-based policy decisions.
Fostering inclusive economic growth is the second proposal in the 8 point action agenda. Pointing to evidence which suggests rapid reductions in poverty and hunger result from job-rich and agriculture focused economic growth, Helen Clark explained: “2.5 billion people in the developing world depend on agriculture for their living. Boosting agricultural production can simultaneously reduce poverty and improve food security”.
“Third”, she said “we must improve opportunities for women and girls”, making the empowerment of women and girls “a top priority”. This can be achieved through measures which reduce the burden of domestic activities and free women to generate income, care for their children, and send their girls to school; as well as offering broader political empowerment.
Targeting investments in health and education, in clean water and sanitation, and in the professionals who run these services have also proven effective and form the fourth action that is proposed in the International Agenda. “We know that these interventions work. Now we need a concerted effort to bring them to scale and ensure that the gains can be sustained, even in times of economic downturn” Clark said.
Fifth on the action agenda is scaling up social protection and employment programmes. Of the misconception that social protection can be seen as a drain on a nation’s budget, Helen Clark said that “social protection needs to be seen as a critical investment in building the resilience to cope with present and future shocks”.
Expanding access to energy and promote low-carbon development, improving domestic resource mobilisation and delivering on development assistance commitments are outlined as the sixth, seventh and eighth points in the new report.
Aside from the proposed 8 point action agenda, UNDP is also piloting an MDG acceleration tool, to work in tandem with this assessment report. This plan is designed to help governments, the UN at the country level and other development partners to identify where the real bottlenecks to progress lie and, in tackling them, which policies can have the most impact on achieving the MDGs.
Clark underscored the importance of the MDGs for the poorest and most vulnerable who do not have the luxury of the goals being simply abstract and aspirational targets. For those living in poverty, she said “they (the MDGs) offer a means to a better life – a life with access to adequate food and income; to basic education and health services; to clean water and sanitation; and to empowerment for women”. “Put simply” she added, “advancing the MDGs will be an important milestone in our quest for a more just and peaceful world”.
Drawing attention what’s at stake with regards to the MDG Summit in New York scheduled for September, Clark said “We cannot have a conference of recriminations in September. That will serve no one’s interests. Instead, world leaders will need to agree on a concrete action agenda that can take us successfully to 2015”.
Hopeful that the world can reach the targets set for 2015, the International Assessment and the 8 points proposed in its agenda will accelerate the pace of success to feed into the MDG Summit in New York in September, Clark urged governments, business, the philanthropic community, civil society and the UN system to work in partnership to make the most of the opportunity to offer a better life to billions of people.
Prime Minister of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who inaugurated the conference stressed that Turkey is committed to building on its successes and that the country will continue to strive to achieve all the MDGs by 2015.
With robust policies implemented in the area of social development, Turkey has advanced in all MDG indicators, though not necessarily at the same level. UN Resident Coordinator Shahid Najam said that compared to the baseline study carried out in 2005, Turkey’s MDG Report for 2010 “enunciates clearly that Turkey has made significant improvements with regard to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”.
Setting an example
Turkey has eradicated extreme poverty and hunger (MDG1), nearly achieved gender parity in primary education(MDG2), and has made important progress with regards to reducing child and maternal mortality rates (MDG4 and MDG5).
According to Turkey’s 2010 National MDG Progress Report, achieving universal primary education is well within reach before 2015 with a net enrolment ratio of 98.2 percent, while the literacy rate among the 15-24 age group is at 97.4 percent.
The under-five child mortality rate, which was decreased by 35%, has particularly improved in the last five years, the report states. It is envisaged that the goal of reducing infant and child mortality will be reached by providing skilled health personnel assistance in childbirth, improving infant and mother care services , immunizing children against preventable diseases and increasing the education level of women.
Reducing maternal mortality has been adopted as a policy priority by the Health Transformation Programme executed since 2003 and considerable developments have been achieved since then. Turkey currently has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates among the upper-middle income group of countries, at 19.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The country has also made important progress with regards to MDG8 in developing global partnership for development, Turkey has been expanding the scope of its development assistance since 2000 to address the needs of the least developed countries. Reaching $780 million in 2008, Turkey’s official development assistance has surpassed the amounts by some EU member states and OECD DAC countries.
Challenges in gender and environment
Despite its achievements, the country faces challenges in promoting gender equality and empowerment of women (MDG3). With women holding only 9.1% of the seats in the parliament the report argues that gender representation in Turkey is a problematic issue and that it is difficult to claim that “gender equality” exists in this area. Women’s representation in politics remains below the average of European, American, Pacific and African countries where Turkey ranks 101st out of 109 countries according to UNDP’s 2009 Gender Empowerment Measurement.
The report also states that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation need to be accelerated (MDG7). Turkey’s greenhouse gas emissions, total per capita, have since 1990, currently at 372 million tons, due economic growth, an increased demand for energy and industrialization. On other hand, the land area covered by forests is increasing – from 26.6 1999 to 27.2 percent in 2005.
Authored by the State Planning Organization of the Prime Ministry (SPO) and with relevant UN Agencies, the Report serves to provide momentum for Turkey to accelerate its efforts to meet the MDGs by 2015. Turkey’s previous progress report was published in 2005.
This included 2010 reports from 34 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Arab States and Eastern Europe, in addition to other National MDG Reports produced in 2009. The assessment focuses on the broader international and national policy commitments that need to be met, the necessary policy environments and systems, and how various elements - including, but not limited to ODA - can support the achievement of the MDGs.
Key components of the International Assessment of the MDGs include: An assessment of the global and national efforts to deliver on partnerships and coalitions to generate financing and political will; an analysis of current and emerging challenges – such as the economic crisis and climate change – and how to turn them into opportunities to make progress on the MDGs; and key components for a 2010-15 Global MDG Action Agenda. In addition to the national MDG Reports, the assessment draws on the analytical work already being produced by UNDP and other key actors. It is hoped that this report will inform the deliberations over the course of the year, including those in the General Assembly, and in the G8 and G20.
The International Assessment was founded in large part on the National MDG Reports that UNDP has been facilitating. 34 countries were identified with the help of UNDP Regional Bureaus for the completion of these 2010 MDGRs based on the Addendum to the MDG National Report Guidelines. UN Country Teams (UNCTs), supported by UNDP Regional Services Centres (RSCs) and the Bureau for Development Policy (BDP), have been assisting these 34 national governments in preparing the MDG Reports. Funding was also made available to UNDP Country Offices (COs) to support this work. These 34 country reports are being summarized in a ‘Synthesis Report’.
About the report:
What is new about this report? What does it say that has not been said before? Is it not better to spend money on development rather than reports?
The report brings together evidence from countries over the last 10 years about what has worked in making progress towards the MDGs. It is important to capture this evidence so all countries can learn how to do better, especially in this tough environment where we are being challenged to do more with less.
The report does not pretend there is one silver bullet for all countries to achieve the MDGs. Rather it sets out eight, interlinked areas for progress - eight areas to concentrate on. These eight areas are not aligned with each of the eight MDGs. For example, job-rich growth, expanding opportunities for women and girls, and strong national leadership underpin progress against all the Goals.
Why is UNDP using data from 2009 for the International Assessment? Should you not be using 2010 data?
Development data change only slightly from year to next and using 2009 statistics does not in any way alter the findings of this report — that the MDGs are achievable, that many countries are showing us how, and that if we try even harder we can accelerate progress to get all children into school, improve maternal mortality rates, and move to a more environmentally sustainable development path. The 2010 MDG numbers will be released by the Secretary-General next week.
Five years is not a very long time; are the MDGS really achievable?
There is country-level evidence, as shown in the report, which suggests the MDGs are achievable. If developing countries commit to the goals and targets and put in place the right strategies, policies and interventions, and if the international community can create an enabling environment through a global partnership to implement those efforts, the MDGs can be achieved.
What is UNDP actually doing to achieve the MDGs?
The report shows that national capacity to determine priorities, implement policies and mobilise resources are essential to achieve progress on the MDGs. UNDP has been working with governments and partners to strengthen national capacities and support MDG-based national development strategies and policies. UNDP also advocates for the MDGs to build awareness and to track MDG progress at the country level.
If the world does not achieve the MDGs by 2015, is this not a failure for the UN? Is this not a failure of aid?
There is evidence that when governments take the lead with effective policies and scale up public investments, and when the international community complements these national efforts with adequate financial and technical support, significant progress can be made. Just as we have to work together to make progress, falling short of achieving the goals would not reflect failure on any one party. Reaching the MDGs is a collective effort. Everyone contributes and everyone is responsible.
“There can be no spectators in the fight against poverty,” said Chelsea striker Drogba, and Cote d’Ivoire national team captain. “We all need to be on the pitch to improve the lives of millions of poor people in this world.”
The multilingual public service announcement will be broadcast during the tournament in South Africa and aims to bolster efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), eight internationally-agreed targets which aim to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child deaths, disease, inadequate shelter and gender inequality by 2015.
“The World Cup brings people around the globe together to support their national teams, and we need the same kind of passion to end poverty and hunger,” said Zidane, former French national team captain. “The 2015 target for the Millennium Development Goals is a few years away, so the time to make a difference is now.”
Zidane and Drogba’s video can be viewed on UNDP’s new football site which gives people the opportunity to join the fight against poverty.
This spot was produced by UNDP with the creative vision of Mark Titus at August Island Picturesin Seattle, USA. All production costs were covered pro-bono thanks to August Island Pictures and Freestudios in Geneva. Official FIFA Partner, Sony Corporation, will be assisting with the broadcasting of the public service announcement.
The new anti-poverty website was produced pro-bono for UNDP by the HUGE digital agency in New York, USA.
Other key partners include Major League Soccer USA, Seattle Sounders Football Club and the UN Foundation.
UNDP would also like to recognise the time and effort contributed by the following: Bad Animals, Blue Goose Productions, Colehour + Cohen, Hotel Intercontinental Geneva, Hotel du Golf Sonnenmoser, Jason Brown Worldwide, Lenz Erwin Design, Light Press, PegLeg Pictures, Pump Audio, and Red Jet Films.