Links

Can ethical trade certification contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals? A review of organic & fair-trade certification  new

This paper assesses how the conditions under organic certification and fair-trade certification directly and indirectly contribute to the achievement of the MDG targets.(Sununtar Setboonsarng, ADB Institute,25 August 2008)

http://www.adbi.org/files/2008.08.organic.fairtrade.certification.pdf

(Added: Fri Oct 03 2008   Hits: 0)

Gender Equality Now. Accelerating the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals  new

Attention to gender equality and women's empowerment are essential to enable countries and the international community to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This resource pack explores and makes recommendations on the actions needed to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs; the progress made so far and the backlogs on gender equality; and the costs of prioritizing gender equality as well as the costs of failing to do so. (UNIFEM, 2008)

http://www.unifem.org/resources/item_detail.php?ProductID=123

(Added: Fri Oct 03 2008   Hits: 0)

Latin American Unity - Noam Chomsky  new

Noam Chomsky on Latin American development at VII Social Summit for the Latin American and Caribbean Unity. "During the past decade, Latin America has become the most exciting region of the world. The dynamic has very largely flowed from right where you are meeting, in Caracas, with the election of a leftist president dedicated to using Venezuela's rich resources for the benefit of the population rather than for wealth and privilege at home and abroad, and to promote the regional integration that is so desperately needed as a prerequisite for independence, for democracy, and for meaningful development. The initiatives taken in Venezuela have had a significant impact throughout the subcontinent, what has now come to be called 'the pink tide.'" (Noam Chomsky, 2008)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1503/68/

(Added: Fri Oct 03 2008   Hits: 0)

Achieving the MDGs: The fundamentals [pdf]

This Briefing Paper outlines the fundamental issues that will determine whether or not the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved. (Andrew Shepherd. ODI Publications - Briefing Paper 43, September 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing-papers/43-mdgs-fundamentals-poverty-social-protection.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 19 2008   Hits: 5)

The MDGs and the humanitarian-development divide [pdf]

This Opinion examines the divide between the humanitarian and development agendas, pointing out that the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 will be a hollow victory if those who are worst off including many of those living in fragile states see little or no improvement in their living conditions (James Darcy. ODI Publications - Opinion 111, September 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/111-mdgs-humanitarian-development-poverty-fragile-states.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 19 2008   Hits: 26)

Creating Value for All: strategies for doing business with the poor [pdf]

This report is the first in a series to advance UNDP's efforts to turn their Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative (aimed at utilizing private sector investment and innovation to achieve MDGs) into action through dialogue with the private sector, government and civil society.The report provides an overview of inclusive business models, how these can both produce and reap the benefits of human development and how the featured case studies promote progress against each of the MDGs.(UNDP, July 2008)

http://www.undp.org/gimlaunch/press/docs/GIM_ExecSum_EN.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 12 2008   Hits: 5)

Gender and the MDGs [pdf]

Gender inequality causes and perpetuates poverty, hampering progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. A gender lens is vital for pro-poor progress across all eight of the Goals. Nicola Jones, Rebecca Holmes & Jessica Espey, ODI, September 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing-papers/42-gender-mdgs-poverty.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 12 2008   Hits: 70)

Sanitation and the MDGs: Making the politics work [pdf]

The world is not on track to reach the MDG sanitation target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sanitation by the year 2015. Recent research suggests that the problem lies in failures in sanitation policy-making (Peter Newborne, ODI, September 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/109-sanitation-MDGs-politics-poverty.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 12 2008   Hits: 60)

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008 [pdf]

The latest Millennium Development Goals report says the world is on track to meet the number one goal of halving poverty by 2015. Much of this is due to the progress made by East Asia, particularly China.(UN, September 2008)

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/The%20Millennium%20Development%20Goals%20Report%202008.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 12 2008   Hits: 140)

Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 [pdf]

A United Nations report finds significant progress in providing debt relief to the world's poorest countries, but not in fulfilling trade and development aid commitments. (United Nations, September 2008)

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/mdg2007.pdf

(Added: Mon Sep 08 2008   Hits: 6)

The Millenium Development Goals: Chances and Risks [pdf]

The challenge for the future will be to anchor the spirit of the Millennium Declaration and the Programme of Action 2015 at all levels of German policy and to provide for more coherence between development policy and other external policies, including security policy, trade policy, environmental policy and agricultural policy.(Deutsches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik, June 2008)

http://www.die-gdi.de/die_homepage.nsf/6f3fa777ba64bd9ec12569cb00547f1b/569d2dd71a9a9cf7c12573ae002eeff1/$FILE/DP%206.2008%20Loewe%20Mill.Devl.Goals.pdf

(Added: Fri Jul 18 2008   Hits: 19)

Business and the Millennium Development Goals [pdf]

Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were pledged in 2000 by 189 heads of state - to be achieved by 2015. This briefing from Oxfam shows what business can do to help achieve them. (Oxfam, May 2008)

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/private_sector/downloads/business_mdgs.pdf

(Added: Wed Jul 09 2008   Hits: 42)

Q&A Tough talk on reaching the MDGs

The Institute of Policy Studies interviews the director of the Millennium Campaign (IPS, 22/6/08)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42915

(Added: Fri Jun 27 2008   Hits: 12)

Progress Towards the Child Mortality Millennium Development Goal in Urban sub-Saharan Africa: the Dynamics of Population Growth, Immunization, and Acc

This paper highlights the implications of urban population growth and access to health and social services on progress in achieving MDG 4. Specifically, it examines trends in childhood mortality in SSA in relation to urban population growth, vaccination coverage and access to safe drinking water(Jean-Christophe Fotso et al, BMC Public Health 7:218, 2007).

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/218

(Added: Wed Jun 18 2008   Hits: 21)

A new paradigm for low-cost urban water supplies and sanitation in developing countries [pdf]

Reaching Millennium Development Goals for urban water and sanitation will require ensuring over 300,000 additional people are provided with adequate water and sanitation every single day until 2015. This can only be achieved by policies to provide services in urban areas to groups of households. Individual connections are not realistic (Duncan Mara and Graham Alabaster, 2008)

http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/pdf%27s%202006+/0711.pdf

(Added: Thu May 29 2008   Hits: 47)

Stepping up the ladder: how business can help achieve the MDGs [pdf]

Business and development is the topic to watch and work on in 2008. This Opinion outlines the three -- possibly four -- steps to effective engagement of the private sector in efforts to reach the MDGs. It calls for action to seize growing opportunities to build new kinds of development relationships with the private sector( Simon Maxwell, ODI, April 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/99_private_sector_simon_maxwell_apr08.pdf

(Added: Fri May 02 2008   Hits: 66)

Alternatives for Projecting MDG Indicators [pdf]

Many countries ask the question: will my country reach all or some of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015? The answer to this question requires some kind of projection. However, scarcities of data and technical skills make this exercise difficult. In this paper, the author introduces simple techniques to project the behaviour of indicators, especially when there are limited data points to work with (Rafael Guerreiro Osorio, International Poverty Centre, 2008).

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCTechnicalPaper2.pdf

(Added: Tue Apr 29 2008   Hits: 9)

World Economic Forum Calls for Speedy Implementation of Millennium Development Goals

The World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland has called for renewed commitment to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. (Voice of America, February, 2008).

http://voanews.com/english/2008-01-25-voa40.cfm

(Added: Thu Feb 07 2008   Hits: 11)

Classroom shortages threaten primary education targets

The success of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme which aims to provide free education to every child in Nigeria caused the number of primary school leavers to more than double in 2007, creating a backlog that the secondary education system is struggling to cope with. (18/1/08, IRIN)

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76243

(Added: Tue Jan 22 2008   Hits: 15)

Projecting progress toward the Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals have become the frame of reference for most of the development community, the standard by which performance will ultimately be judged. Given their importance, considerable attention has been paid as to whether these goals will be met or not. The overwhelming conclusions from such analyses are not positive. (United Nations University, August 2007)

http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/rps/rps2007/rp2007-47.pdf

(Added: Thu Nov 29 2007   Hits: 12)

Q&A: 'How the MDGs Could Curtail Development' Interview with Inge Kaul, former UNDP Official

Some of the ways in which the MDGs are being pushed could actually limit development, says Inge Kaul, former director of the UNDP Office of Development Studies. (Ips news,28/10/2007)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39761

(Added: Tue Oct 30 2007   Hits: 101)

MDGs Progress Unknown for Lack of Data

Article from IPS news about how officials from a regional United Nations body and the Asia Development Bank (AsDB) have admitted that measurement of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been hampered by out-of-date information.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/MDGs%20progress.doc

(Added: Fri Oct 12 2007   Hits: 48)

The HuriLink WebPortal

The HuriLink WebPortal has been developed in conjunction with the Primer. It is an on-line tool which presents the experiences and challenges that practitioners face when striving to link human rights and the Millennium Development Goals in their work. It is a resource that has been developed by practitioners, for practitioners. It features lessons learned, common challenges, tools and resources.

http://www.hurilink.org/

(Added: Tue Oct 02 2007   Hits: 81)

Ending Poverty, But Only on Paper

On the 14th September 2005, when heads of state gathered in New York to endorse the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-eight targets, intended to improve the lives of people in developing countries, that are supposed to be achieved by 2015-I wrote a column in the International Herald Tribune arguing that the program would not work. Two years later, there is no change in the handout approach to which I object, and the quality of life of the very poor has not improved. (Bunker Roy, The American, 30 July 2007).

http://www.american.com/archive/2007/july-0707/ending-poverty-but-only-on-paper

(Added: Fri Aug 03 2007   Hits: 157)

Africa's Village of Dreams

This article in the Wilson Quarterly, written by a former development consultant, provides a critical analysis of the Millennium Villages concept (pioneered by Jeffrey Sachs as part of the push to meet the MDGs). In the article the author visits one of these villages. He argues that while considerable improvements have been made to the lives of the people in the village, mistakes have also been made.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=231264

(Added: Thu Jun 07 2007   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 129)

Privatising Basic Utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: The MDG Impact

This report from the UNDP's International Poverty Centre examines the impact of utility privatisation on Sub-Saharan African countries' efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. It concludes that privatisation as a whole has reduced state's abilities to meet the MDGs. (IPC, Jan 2007)

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPolicyResearchBrief003.pdf

(Added: Mon Feb 05 2007   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 82)

Synergies between Health, Wealth, Education, Fertility and Aid: Implications for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires inter alia an understanding of their inter-dependence and the efficient intra-country allocation of development aid. This paper addresses both issues. It uses a new cross-country dataset to estimate: (i) the strength of the links between a number of MDG target and related variables, including health and educational status and access to water and sanitation; and (ii) the extent to which aid impacts on these variables. The paper differs from previous studies of synergies between well-being related variables and studies of aid effectiveness by analysing data for different income groups in each country, thus avoiding a number of drawbacks of using national level data. (David Fielding, Mark McGillivray, and Sebastian Torres, UNU Wider, August 2005)

http://www.wider.unu.edu/research/2004-2005/2004-2005-1/mdg-papers/fielding-mcgillivray-torres-160805.pdf

(Added: Thu Nov 16 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 67)

Indigenous Knowledge for Development Results

This World Bank website opens a gateway to development approaches that rely on traditional knowledge systems to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The goal of the website is to (a) raise awareness among the development community of the role that community-based practices can play in enriching the development process; and (b) help development practitioners to mainstream indigenous/traditional knowledge into the activities of development partners and to optimize the benefits of development assistance, especially to the poor.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/EXTINDKNOWLEDGE/0,,menuPK:825562~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:825547,00.html

(Added: Thu Oct 26 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 225)

Global Public Goods: a key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are an ambitious international initiative. Their attainment calls for focusing efforts and using available resources efficiently. This, in turn, requires among other things, to promote an adequate mix of private goods and public goods. However, as the analysis in this paper suggests, some global public goods today are either severely underprovided or malprovided, and as a result, impeding rather than fostering economic growth and development in developing countries. Enhancing the provision of these goods could be a decisive-and cost-effective-step towards meeting the MDGs. But do the conditions necessary to mobilize political will to take such corrective steps exist? The discussion in this paper indicates "yes". The incentive is that making these corrections could be possible more or less immediately. It would be economically desirable, yielding overall positive net-benefits. And it could be politically attractive, since all stand to gain, industrial and developing countries alike.

http://www.sdnp.undp.org/gpgn/pdfs/AchievingMGDs.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 04 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 62)

Does Debt Relief Increase Fiscal Space in Zambia?

This Country Study examines fiscal policy in Zambia, and how expenditure and taxation could be used to accelerate growth and reduce poverty. Since 1990, fiscal policy has been closely linked to debt servicing and constrained by external loan conditionalities. This inversion of social priorities has had a debilitating effect on growth, poverty reduction and combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It finds that due to associated policy conditionalities and other factors, HIPC debt relief will result in less fiscal space, rather than more. The Zambian government has little leeway to choose its own fiscal policies, despite donor rhetoric about 'national ownership' of poverty-reduction policies. (UNDP, September 2006)

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCCountryStudy005.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 03 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 210)

International Sustainability Watch Report: Barriers to Development

Sustainability Watch focuses on the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the context of monitoring the implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. This report presents the assessments made by 15 national CSO networks of the existing implementation barriers hindering the effective realisation of sustainable development goals. Specifically, this report intends to provide Southern governments, civil society and donors with a useful perspective on how to improve the capacities to overcome the current implementation crisis regarding MDG 1 and 7 in pursuit of poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Barriers to Sustainable Development include: Market-oriented economic/trade development frameworks that do not pay serious attention to environmental constraints and do not invest sufficient, weak governance, institutional constraints, inconsistent policies and inadequate resources. (Sustainability Watch, September 2006)

http://www.suswatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=91

(Added: Fri Sep 22 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 190)

Millennium Villages: A New Approach to Fighting Poverty

The Millennium Villages seek to end extreme poverty by working with the poorest of the poor, village by village throughout Africa, in partnership with governments and other committed stakeholders, providing affordable and science-based solutions to help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Millennium Villages offer a scalable model for fighting poverty at the village level and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The approach can be expanded from the village to district level and eventually to countries across Africa.

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/mv/mv_news.htm

(Added: Thu Sep 14 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 138)

Rewrite the Future: Education for children in conflict-affected countries [pdf]

No child should have to pay the price for adults' wars, but increasingly they do. Millions of children are killed, millions more are injured, and millions spend their entire childhood in camps and other temporary shelters. Children cannot wait for conflict to end before we begin to address their educational needs. It is shameful that, in 2006, there are still 115 million children around the world who are denied their right to primary education. It is even more disturbing that one-third of these children are being kept out of school because of the effects of conflict. This report is part of Save the Children's five-year Rewrite the Future education initiative, which seeks to help millions of children in conflict-affected areas gain access to and reap the current and future benefits of a quality education. (International Save the Children Alliance, 2006)

http://www.savethechildren.org/rewrite-the-future/RewritetheFuture-PolicyReport.pdf

(Added: Wed Sep 13 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 131)

Linking the dots: MDGs and the 2010 Global Biodiversity Challenge

Beginning with the 1972 Stockholm Summit on Sustainable Development, the links between economic, social and environmental aspects to achieving sustainable development have received increasing attention. Currently, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), form the basis of all debates and discussions on development around the world. This paper will not attempt to exhaust all resources and literature available on the MDGs and the 2010 target, but to engage readers in a broad discussion on the validity of the indicators, the need for cross-cutting references and analysis, and the need for reviewing and/or generating newer indicators. (Agorra Foundation, 2006)

http://www.agorrafoundation.org/res/CBD_MDG_FINAL.pdf

(Added: Tue Sep 12 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 113)

A Decade After Cairo: Women's Health in a Free Market Economy

The 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo was heralded as a "quantum leap" forward and a "paradigm shift in the discourse about population and development". Its Programme of Action, endorsed by 179 countries and intended to establish international and national population policy for the following two decades, was the first and most comprehensive international policy document to promote the concepts of reproductive rights and reproductive health. One decade later, however, maternal mortality worldwide remains high. Some 600,000 women die each year, 95 per cent of them in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, and 18 million are left disabled or chronically ill because of largely preventable complications during pregnancy or childbirth. This briefing summarises the actions of several women's groups to influence the outcome of the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development and evaluates with hindsight some of the successes and failures of the Programme of Action. (The Corner House, June, 2004)

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=62140#introduction

(Added: Mon Sep 04 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 303)

Water, A Shared Responsibility: The 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report

For some, the water crisis means having to walk long distances every day to fetch enough drinking water - clean or unclean - just to get by. For others, it means suffering from avoidable malnutrition or disease caused by drought, flood or inadequate sanitation. Still others experience it as a lack of funds, institutions or knowledge to solve local problems of water use and allocation. This report offers a comprehensive and holistic assessment of the world's water, while bringing the issues of water governance, knowledge accessibility and the specific challenges of managing water into the mainstream of development thinking and practices, across all the major intersections of water, human well-being and development. (United Nations, March 2006)

http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr2/index.shtml

(Added: Mon Sep 04 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 87)

Women Matter - In All of the Millennium Goals

In order to advance towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gender equality cannot merely be limited to a number of specific objectives, but must be the lens through which all the targets are viewed, say experts and representatives of women's movements in Argentina. (Marcela Valente, 21 August 2006, IPS)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34412

(Added: Wed Aug 23 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 243)

The Devil's Brew of Poverty Relief

Back in 2000, the United Nations established a Millennium Development Goal to halve global poverty by 2015. The Group of 8's enormous wealth, along with its dominance in world trade, was to play the key role in this worldwide assault on poverty and disease. But six years into this war on poverty the goals are mired in a devil's brew of self-serving economic policies, lethargic bureaucracy, and outright disingenuousness. The recent G8 meeting did nothing to eliminate these obstacles or advance the agenda of poverty reduction. (Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy In Focus, 19 July 2006)

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3374

(Added: Mon Jul 24 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 51)

Millennium Development Goals Report 2006

The eight Millennium Development Goals provide countries around the world a framework for development, and time-bound targets by which progress can be measured. This report shows that there are clear signs of hope. Yet we also know that disparities in progress, both among and within countries, are vast, and that the poorest among us, mostly those in remote rural areas, are being left behind. This report contains the latest and most comprehensive figures available through improved data collection and monitoring worldwide. (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2006)

http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf

(Added: Mon Jul 17 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 319)

Foreign aid must focus on smaller goals - WEF

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a "Utopian, feel-good scheme" bound to fail because no single aid agency was held responsible for anything. That was the word from New York University economics professor, William Easterly, speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town . Easterly described the MDGs as "the worst designed incentive scheme for public policy seen in my lifetime", and said that foreign aid must focus on smaller goals. (Dominique Herman, Cape Times, 2 June 2006)

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20060602014804267C657104

(Added: Tue Jun 13 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 176)

Public Choices, Private Decisions: Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals

Sexual and reproductive health is crucial for the achievement of the MDGs. Access to family planning services; safe motherhood; prevention efforts as well as treatment of sexual transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; and the elimination of gender violence would improve the lives of the poor and spur economic and social development. (UN Millennium Project, May 2006)

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/srh_main.htm

(Added: Thu Jun 01 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 159)

Reducing the Risk of Disasters - Helping to Achieve Sustainable Poverty Reduction in a Vulnerable World [pdf]

The links between disaster and poverty are clear. It is the poorest who are worst affected and suffer most.The capacity to cope and to reduce risk is much more limited in poorer countries. Disasters damage infrastructure and affect productivity and growth. Rarely do disasters just happen - they often result from failures of development which increase vulnerability. This paper summarises DFID's policy on disaster risk reduction as it applies to natural and technological disasters; it shows examples of disaster impacts on efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); as well as examples of good practice in disaster risk reduction. (Department For International Development, March 2006)

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/disaster-risk-reduction-policy.pdf

(Added: Tue May 23 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 296)

Energy Services for the Millennium Development Goals (pdf)

While much of the world focuses on the expense of fueling its cars and jet aircraft, there is a energy crisis with greater human impact in developing nations. Worldwide, 1.6 billion people lack electricity at home. For many, cooking a meal over a smoky three-stone fire in a poorly lit and ventilated kitchen and spending an hour each day collecting firewood is a constant reality. Changing this reality, however, is both feasible and affordable. According to this report, it would cost approximately US$15 to US$20 per person per year to provide access to modern energy services to enable the poor to meet fundamental human needs. Furthermore, providing basic cooking, heating and lighting services would not significantly impact climate change. (UN Millennium Project, UNDP, World Bank, 2005)

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/MP_Energy_Low_Res.pdf

(Added: Tue May 16 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 185)

Global Monitoring Report 2006: Strengthening Mutual Accountability - Aid, Trade & Governance

The third report on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It highlights economic growth, better quality aid, and trade reforms, as well as governance as essential elements to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The elements of global monitoring examined in detail in the report include poverty and malnutrition; human development outcomes; meeting commitments on aid, trade, and debt relief; performance of international financial institutions; governance in developing countries; and global checks and balances to strengthen governance. (World Bank and International Monetary Fund, 20 April 2006)

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTGLOBALMONITOR/EXTGLOBALMONITOR2006/0,,contentMDK:20810084~menuPK:2199415~pagePK:64218950~piPK:64218883~theSitePK:2186432,00.html

(Added: Wed May 03 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 288)

Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in the poorest communities

Despite a plethora of newly validated interventions, the millennium development goals to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters and child mortality by two thirds are unlikely to be achieved.1 One of the reasons for this is that current safer motherhood and newborn care programmes emphasise interventions that do not reach the poorest households. In this article the authors argue that community based interventions have been neglected and undervalued. Large scale community effectiveness trials are both necessary and feasible if we are to make further progress with reducing maternal and child mortality. (Anthony Costello, David Osrin, Dharma Manandhar, British Medical Journal, 13 November 2004)

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/329/7475/1166?ck=nck

(Added: Wed Apr 12 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 164)

The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible [PDF]

This 2006 report by UNICEF assesses the world's most vulnerable children, whose rights to a safe and healthy childhood are exceptionally difficult to protect. Millions of children are growing up beyond the reach of development campaigns and are often invisible in everything from public debate and legislation, to statistics and news stories. In the past, UNICEF has reported extensively on how poverty, HIV/AIDS and armed conflict are undermining childhood itself. These factors, as well as weak governance and discrimination, deprive children of protection from abuse and exploitation, and exclude them from school, healthcare and other essential services at alarming rates. The report outlines concrete actions that can be taken by governments, civil society, the private sector, donors and the media to help prevent these children from falling between the cracks. (UNICEF, 2006)

http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_fullreport.pdf

(Added: Thu Mar 23 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 249)

Achieving the MDGs in Asia: a case for more aid? [PDF 377.51]

This paper attempts to broaden the perspective on the performance of countries in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by highlighting the work that remains to be done in Asia. First, it shows that, despite the progress that many countries in the region are making towards reaching the MDGs, by far the largest number of people affected by the various social and economic dimensions of poverty live in Asia. Second, it demonstrates that given this large number, Asia is benefiting from relative small amounts of development aid. This report was prepared by UNESCAP as background for the Asia 2015 Conference - Promoting Growth, Ending Poverty, London, 6-7 March 2006, with funding support from the Asian Development Bank. Draft, UNESCAP, March 2006.

http://www.mdgasiapacific.org/files/shared_folder/documents/A_Case_for_more_AIDS.pdf

(Added: Thu Mar 09 2006   Modified: Fri Mar 28 2008   Hits: 276)

The challenge of inequality

The greatest development challenge facing Mexico is to bridge the inequality gap. The Government's report on the Millennium Development Goals recognizes that the goals achieved so far are not equitable when analyzing the population from a geographical, gender or ethnic group perspective. Nevertheless the federal authorities do not approach the fight against poverty from a human rights perspective and they have not incorporated the substantial contributions of citizen organizations. From SocialWatch.

http://www.socialwatch.org/en/informesNacionales/461.html

(Added: Thu Mar 09 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 62)

The IMF and capital flight: Redesigning the international financial architecture

This article by David Spencer (a senior adviser in Tax Justice Network) takes aim at the architecture of the international financial system arguing that the system at present facilitates tax evasion and capital flight. Spencer notes that tax evasion using international tax havens deprives the World's governments of tax revenue to the scale of $255 billion annually; approximately the same amount that it is estimated would be required to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=i-126-17f93f2679c816832a6e8f99a2b36037

(Added: Wed Feb 01 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 340)

Square pegs, Round Holes [pdf 142.53 KB]

This Action Aid briefing paper states that there is a fundamental contradiction between the between the need to greatly scale-up social spending to fight HIV/AIDS and what can actually be spent under the IMF's current low inflation monetary policy. The briefing paper argues that more money needs to be spent on health care in order for developing countries to achieve the MDGs

http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/SquarePegRoundHole108pdf.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 13 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 242)

The cost of making the poor pay

This article written by Jeffrey D. Sachs Awash Teklehaimanot and Gordon McCord of the UN Millennium Development Project, recommends practical strategies to reduce the number of people who die from malaria-currently about 3 million per year The authors recommend an integrated package of preventive and treatment methods to help achieve UN Millennium Goal of tackling the health problems of the world's poor.

http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem&rgwid=4&item=Opinions&itemid=442&language=1

(Added: Tue Dec 20 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 223)

Changing Course Alternative Approaches to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Fight HIV/AIDS [PDF]

ActionAid's explosive new report details how the Millennium Development Goals and the war against HIV/AIDS can never succeed as long as the IMF continues to bind the growth and sovereignty of developing nations through its restrictive policies.

http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/Changing%20Course%20Report.pdf

(Added: Fri Nov 11 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 241)

We the People 2005 - Mobilizing for Change: Messages from Civil Society

For the last four years, The North-South Institute (NSI) and the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) have conducted annual global online surveys of civil society engagement with the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2005, civil society organizations around the world are reviewing the lessons learned and, the progress made, over the past five years. Through our most recent global survey, more than 400 groups provided a wealth of information about their work on the MDGs and their assessment of progress on Declaration objectives.

http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/publications/default.asp#wtp2005

(Added: Thu Nov 10 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 132)

Aid Harmonization: What Will It Take to Meet the MDGs?

This Development Gateway Special Report looks at aid harmonization, a new framework for how donors may soon be conducting business in the developing world. This report contains interviews and feedback from the donor community, from aid recipients, from civil society, and from private citizens discussing the complexities of donor harmonization--and the promise it holds for meeting the MDGs in the developing world. You will find here links to resources about MDG- related aid projects, opportunities to participate in reader polls on aid issues, and opinions from Development Gateway members.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/special/aidharmonization

(Added: Tue Oct 11 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 243)

Reflections on the United Nations Summit

Release Date: 30 September 2005 By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General and chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) Many civil society organisations from around the world sent representatives to New York to lobby national delegations to take decisive action at the much anticipated World Summit. Many campaigners from developing countries and their allies in the developed world came to the UN with a common expectation: The world's rich countries have had time to chew over the issues affecting the poorest nations. The World Summit had to be a time to swallow hard and take action. However, this largest ever gathering of the world's political leaders at the United Nations World Summit has failed the poor. The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), the alliance which includes 91 national coalitions and several political leaders from developing countries, has expressed deep disappointment at the decisions emanating from the summit.

http://www.civicus.org/new/content/deskofthesecretarygeneral20.htm

(Added: Tue Oct 11 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 166)

How to Make Poverty History: The central role of local organizations in meeting the MDGs

IIED. Edited by Tom Bigg, David Satterthwaite, Sep 2005. Whether or not most of the MDGs are met depends on more effective and pro-poor local organizations being engaged in all aspects - from determining what should be done, to doing it, and to monitoring progress. So it also depends on donor agencies changing to support this. If this is neglected, it is unlikely that most of the MDGs will be met. If the poor lack voice and influence, rights and protection by the rule of law, then much-increased donor flows and even debt relief and fairer global markets are unlikely to bring them much benefit. The people on whose poverty the programmes of all donor agencies are justified surely have a right to a greater influence on what is done and by whom. As the examples given in this book show, this greater influence can transform the quality, scale and cost-effectiveness of development assistance. It can also contribute much to building more effective governance systems, but doing so from the bottom up - which is where it is most needed.

http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=11000IIED&n=1&l=67&c=ngo&x=Y

(Added: Wed Sep 28 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 134)

Women's Empowerment, Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals

Women's Environment & Development Organization, 2004. Describes the Millennium Development Goals, their connection to women's equality and strategies to insure they include a gender perspective.

http://www.wedo.org/library.aspx?ResourceID=5

(Added: Wed Sep 28 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 129)

UN World Summit 2005: What Civil Society Is Saying

Reformtheun.org provides a list of all civil society statements from the 2005 UN World Summit in PDF format.

http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php/civil_society_statements/c458?theme=alt1

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 279)

New Zealand's Contribution to the Global Partnership for Development the Millennium Development Goals [PDF]

NZAID, September 2005. Aid Minister Marian Hobbs has launched a report on New Zealand's contribution to helping developing countries reach targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "New Zealand is committed to improving the lives of the millions of people who exist in poverty," Marian Hobbs said. "The report, 'New Zealand's Contribution to the Global Partnership for Development' assesses our progress five years into the project.

http://www.nzaid.govt.nz/library/docs/mdg-report-2005.pdf

(Added: Mon Sep 19 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 391)

Amnesty International's views on key UN World Summit issues.

Amnesty International urges governments to settle remaining differences and finalize a strong text that effectively places human rights next to development and security as one of three pillars of the United Nations (UN). Governments with a long record of serious human rights violations or little demonstrated commitment to human rights protection must no longer be allowed to stand in the way of the majority of member states that wish the Summit to agree on a better human rights protection system. World leaders must not disappoint the millions of men and women who see the Summit as a historic opportunity to give human rights more authority and resources needed to provide effective human rights protection.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGIOR410582005

(Added: Thu Sep 15 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 183)

Health and the Millennium Development Goals

WHO, 2005. The report, Health and the Millennium Development Goals, presents data on progress on the health goals and targets and looks beyond the numbers to analyse why improvements in health have been slow and to suggest what must be done to change this. The report points to weak and inequitable health systems as a key obstacle, including particularly a crisis in health personnel and the urgent need for sustainable health financing. Building up and strengthening health systems is vital if more progress is to be made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report. Unless urgent investments are made in health systems, current rates of progress will not be sufficient to meet most of the Goals.

http://www.who.int/mdg/publications/mdg_report/en/index.html

(Added: Mon Sep 12 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 193)

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Population and Reproductive Health as Critical Determinants

Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) goal of universal access to quality reproductive health services by 2015 is not one of the MDGs. Yet as this publication demonstrates, it is essential for meeting the MDGs. The attainment of reproductive health and reproductive rights are fundamental for development, for fighting poverty and for meeting the MDG targets. This publication shows by means of analytical graphics, the fundamental importance of addressing population and reproductive health for achieving the MDGs.

http://www.mdgender.net/resources/monograph_detail.php?MonographID=35

(Added: Fri Aug 05 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 283)

New sources of development finance: Funding the Millennium development goals

By A. B. Atkinson (2004). This Policy Brief summarizes the key findings of the study carried out by UNUWIDER to determine innovative sources for development finance in order to meet the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Developing countries are mobilizing resources themselves to meet the MDG targets by 2015, but they will fall short without additional external flows. Increased private and public money is needed in order for the world's poorest countries to invest in the basic services and infrastructure necessary for human development, and to improve livelihoods and employment for poor people.

http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/policy-brief/PB10.pdf

(Added: Mon Aug 01 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 91)

In the Balance: Why Debts Must be Cancelled Now to Meet the Millennium Development Goals [PDF]

Jubilee Debt Campaign, ActionAid UK and Christian Aid. The poorest people in the world are trapped in a cycle of poverty and powerlessness. This is perpetuated, at least in part, by the unremitting demands of the rich world for money from the poor world in debt payments. These demands continue regardless of the source of the debts or the impact on the poor of their being paid. It is now accepted that on current trends the Millennium Development Goals, which 189 governments agreed to achieve by 2015, will not be met for more than 100 years. These are not notional goals for the total eradication of the poverty gripping much of the world, but were intended as achievable, realistic targets simply for the partial alleviation by 2015 of extreme poverty.

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/docs/inthebalance.pdf

(Added: Tue May 31 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 279)

Global Monitoring Report 2005

The Global Monitoring Report 2005 is the second in a series of annual reports assessing progress on the policy agenda for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and related outcomes. It is prepared jointly by the staff of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in close collaboration with partner agencies. This report comes at an important time, when the international development community is taking stock of implementation of the Millennium Declaration in the five years since its adoption and discussing how progress toward the MDGs can be accelerated. We hope that the analysis presented in this report will make a useful contribution to those efforts.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/GLOBALMONITORINGEXT/0,,contentMDK:20445926~pagePK:64022011~piPK:292245~theSitePK:278515,00.html

(Added: Thu May 26 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 272)

Millennium Project: Core MDG Documents

This webpage from the Millennium Project website has a collection of key documents relating to the Millennium Development Goals and the challenge of meeting them.

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/

(Added: Thu May 19 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 195)

MDG-Based PRSPs Need More Ambitious Economic Policies [Doc]

Terry McKinley, Policy Discussion Paper, United Nations Development Programme. Jan 2005. This paper identifies implications for economic policies of basing Poverty Reduction Strategies on the ambitious, long-term framework of the Millennium Development Goals. One of its main objectives is to open up the dialogue on the policy content of Poverty Reduction Strategies and promote greater policy choice for national policymakers.

http://www.choike.org/documentos/undp_mdg2005.pdf

(Added: Tue May 17 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 463)

Youth and the Millennium Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities for Implementation [PDF]

Final Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group for Youth and the MDGs, April 2005. An international team of youth experts from all over the world formed a working group and decided to write a paper on how young people can get involved with the MDGs. The members, all young people, spent hours researching and consulting with other organizations. In order to ensure a broad representation, a 3-week online consultation with over 350 youth from around the world was held. The report consists of three parts. The first part outlines how youth are already involved in decision-making processes in government bodies and civil society organizations. The level of participation ranges from effective to non-existent. The second part goes into detail on each Goal and describes how young people are affected by the Goal, how young people are already contributing to the Goal, and what can be done to increase youth participation in achieving the Goal. For each Goal there are several "Options for Action" concrete suggestions for how national and international institutions can get more young people involved. The third and final part of the report contains general recommendations and focuses on how young people can get involved with the Goals through raising awareness, taking part in policy decisions, taking action, and networking and collaborating. Overall, the report is a call out to governments and institutions to get more youth involved with the Goals.

http://www.takingitglobal.org/themes/mdg/pdf/YouthMDG.pdf

(Added: Mon May 02 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 281)

The Millennium Project: A Sound Strategy for Reaching the MDGs?

ODI Opinions, by John Roberts, Feb 2005. The Millennium Project Report Investing in Development invites developing countries to formulate expenditure plans based on what they will need to do to reach the Millennium Development Goals. Additional aid needed will be very substantial, even after allowing for re-allocation of current aid flows away from non-MDG related purposes. The report estimates that the additional requirement, over and above current net ODA of some $65 billion p.a., will rise in constant prices from $70 billion in 2006 to $120 billion in 2015. Is this 'Big Bang' strategy realistic? This note welcomes the prospect of more aid for the world's most important project, points to some problems in getting started and to some pitfalls to avoid, and emphasises the need to sustain momentum in poverty reduction after 2015.

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/37_mdgs_feb05.html

(Added: Tue Apr 26 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 358)

In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All

(United Nations, New York, 20 March) Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on leaders to reach a new global deal to tackle the challenges of development, security and human rights, and to overhaul the United Nations. The recommendations in his report, titled In larger freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all, lay the groundwork for decisions at the upcoming summit of world leaders at the UN in September 2005. Taking its name from a key phrase of the UN Charter, which speaks of social progress and better standards of life "in larger freedom", the report promotes a realignment of the world body to give additional weight to key development, security and human rights issues, while setting out plans to make the UN more efficient, open and accountable. Its recommendations are drawn in part from the conclusions of two UN-commissioned panels on collective security and on the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals, as well as promises made in the Millennium Declaration of 2000.

http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/

(Added: Tue Mar 22 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 644)

Oxfam challenges governments - back Annan's vision, save lives

March 22, 2005 Oxfam International. New York: International agency Oxfam today challenged world leaders to seize the chance to save millions of lives by acting on Kofi Annan's blueprint for a safer, fairer world. Governments must now make long overdue commitments to protect civilians in conflict, the agency said, as well as deliver urgently needed aid, debt relief and trade reforms.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Oxfam220305.pdf

(Added: Tue Mar 22 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 355)

Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa

11 March 2005. A year ago, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, brought together 17 people to form a Commission for Africa. We were invited in our individual and personal capacities rather than as representatives of governments or institutions. A majority of us come from Africa and we have varied experience as political leaders, public servants and in the private sector. The task we were set was this: to define the challenges facing Africa, and to provide clear recommendations on how to support the changes needed to reduce poverty.

http://www.commissionforafrica.org/english/report/introduction.html

(Added: Mon Mar 21 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 230)

Poverty can be halved if efforts are coupled with better governance, says TI

19 January 2005. Transparency International calls on leading donor governments to respond positively to the UN Millennium Project report, and to conduct a major evaluation of the impact of aid.

http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2005/2005.01.19.better_gov.html

(Added: Tue Mar 15 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 332)

Owning the loan - poor countries and the MDGs

A Christian Aid and African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) report on how national ownership of the loan process can help poor countries reach the Millennium Development Goals. April 2004. This report argues that the process by which aid-recipient countries agree to take on the terms and conditions of a loan needs to be opened up to scrutiny by citizen groups and their representatives in parliament and other formal democratic structures. This should help to avoid lending and borrowing mistakes, which in the past have led to the build-up of unsustainable debts that now have to be paid off at the cost of financing the MDGs.

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/404afrodad/owningtheloan.pdf

(Added: Tue Feb 15 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 107)

WDM Media Briefing on the UN Millennium Project report, edited by Jeffrey Sachs (Doc)

Briefing written by Peter Hardstaff, Head of Policy, World Development Movement, Monday 17 January 2005. The World Development Movement provides analysis on the Jeffery Sachs edited report: "Investing in Development".

http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/sachsbrief.doc

(Added: Fri Jan 28 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 444)

The world economies and development goals : an architectural policy framework

Washington University Economics Department working paper, September 2004 by Dr. Godwin Chukwudum Nwaobi. Development is the most important challenge facing the human race, but the processes driving economic development are by no means fully understood. However, the core challenge for development is to ensure productive work and a better quality of life for all the people of the world. This challenge is daunting. This paper therefore argues that a global economic architecture is imperative for the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals within a framework of the mutual impact of developed and developing worlds. Within the emerging new economies, development policies must focus on achieving knowledge-intensive development or e-development (with cultural inclusion).

http://econwpa.wustl.edu/eps/dev/papers/0409/0409017.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 26 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 124)

"Good Governance" and the MDGS: Contradictory or Complementary?

Focus on the Global South. By Alejandro Bendana, first presented at the Institute for Global Network, Information and Studies (IGNIS) conference in Oslo, 20 September 2004. "In much of the development debate today, the notion of governance has been presented as the missing link to successful growth and economic "reform" including the attainment of the MDGs. (1) But governance has diverse understandings. There is one that is people-centered and there is another-unfortunately predominant--which in our opinion takes us away from democracy and the possibilities of genuine development (including the attainment of the MDGs). In essence, a faulty notion of "good governance" is taking us away from the goals because it entails placing the state and society at the service of the market, under the presumption that economic growth alone will deliver development."

http://www.rorg.no/Artikler/740.html

(Added: Tue Oct 19 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 396)

Making Sense of MDG Costing (pdf)

By Jan Vandemoortele & Rathin Roy, UNDP August 2004. MDG costing is necessary for integrating global development goals into national poverty reduction strategies. But the price tag of the MDGs depends on strategic choices about the ways and means for reaching the targets. Since the technical experts seldom agree on the optimal path towards the MDGs, it is best to approach MDG costing through a participatory process of political economy, driven by tailored targets for 2015 that are expressed in intermediate targets and actionable propositions. When estimating MDG costs, the key words must be flexibility, humility and learning. None of the existing methods yield robust or accurate cost estimates. In making sense of MDG costing, more attention must be paid to country-level estimates than to global ones; to the short-to-medium time horizon than to the long-term one; to relative cost estimates than to absolute ones; to domestic sources of funding than to foreign aid; and to national ownership than to donorship. Three practical steps are proposed for aligning the PRSP and the MTEF with MDG targets in a meaningful way. They are based on the premise that for the sake of the MDGs, prudence is silver but ambition is golden.

http://www.undp.org/poverty/docs/prm/MakingsenseofMDGcosting-August.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 23 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 296)

The World Bank at 60: A Case of Institutional Amnesia?: A Critical Look at the Implementation of the Bank's Infrastructure Action Plan (pdf)

International Rivers Network, April 2004. By Peter Bosshard. The International Rivers Network reports on how the World Bank is implementing its Infrastructure Action Plan, and concludes that the new high-risk strategy "has not incorporated the lessons of past experience, will exacerbate conflicts, and will not help to reach the Millennium Development Goals".

http://www.irn.org/programs/finance/pdf/wb_at_60.pdf

(Added: Wed Jul 21 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 382)

The Trouble with the MDGs: Confronting Expectations of Aid and Development Success (pdf)

By Michael A. Clemens, Charles J. Kenny, and Todd J. Moss, Centre for Global Development, Working Paper 40, 05/10/2004. Growing concern that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be achieved by 2015 should not obscure the bigger picture that development progress has been occurring at unprecedented levels over the past thirty or more years. At the same time, the MDGs may perhaps create an unnecessary pessimism toward aid by labeling many development successes as failures. The first MDG of halving the number of people living in poverty will probably be met globally, but for most developing countries to achieve this at the national level, the growth rates required are at the bounds of historical precedent. Additionally, there appears to be only a weak relationship between aid and rapid economic growth. A similar problem holds for many of the other education and health goals. For many countries, the rates of progress required to meet the MDGs by 2015 are extremely high compared to historical experience and there is only a tenuous relationship between expenditure and outcomes. Nevertheless, estimates that an additional $50 billion in aid per year is necessary to meet the MDGs are frequently misinterpreted to suggest that it is also sufficient. Most of the goals are unlikely to be reached, but this will probably not be due primarily to shortfalls in aid. This is in part because development is a long-term and complex process dependent on relieving more than a supply-side constraint on resources. Aid remains vital and contributes to development progress, but even considerable increases in aid are unlikely to buy these particular goals. Goal setting is also useful, but continuing to suggest that the MDGs can be met may undermine future constituencies for aid (in donors) and reform (in recipients). The MDGs might be better viewed not as realistic targets but as reminders of the stark contrast between the world we want and the world we have, and a call to redouble our search for interventions to close the gap.

http://www.cgdev.org/Publications/?PubID=117

(Added: Fri May 21 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 375)

Challenges to World Bank report on MDG progress

5th April 2004, Bretton Woods Project. The World Bank has produced its first report on countries' progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While few disagree with the aims of the goals, a number of groups are concerned that the Bank is not the appropriate agency to be undertaking such a review. This is because the goals are primarily a UN creation and because the World Bank suffers a major conflict of interests in producing reports about the policies of countries where it is itself deeply involved in policy-making. This problem is at its clearest in the third section of the Bank's report which focuses on the policy performance of the international financial institutions themselves.

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=x-126-42242

(Added: Thu Apr 29 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 379)

Global Monitoring Report 2004: Policies and Actions for Achieving the MDGs and Related Outcomes (pdf)

World Bank / IMF, April 16, 2004. The world's poor have little hope of emerging from lives of deprivation unless governments in rich and poor countries alike take urgent action to address the root causes of poverty, a major report from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found. The Global Monitoring Report 2004 (155kK pdf) , warns that on current trends, most developing countries will fail to meet most of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - internationally agreed targets to reduce poverty and improve services for the poor by 2015. The report will be the centerpiece of discussions by the Development Committee, the joint Ministerial body of the World Bank and the IMF, during this weekend's Spring Meetings in Washington DC. It will be produced annually to monitor progress on key development issues and hold developing and developed countries - as well as multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the IMF - accountable for their performances.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEVCOMMINT/Documentation/20193743/DC2004-0006-Add1(E)-GMR.pdf

(Added: Thu Apr 29 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 429)

Aid Effectiveness and the Millennium Development Goals (Word & pdf)

By Steven Radelet, Centre for Global Development. Working Paper 39, 04/15/2004. This paper focuses on key ways in which donors can improve the quality of foreign assistance and make it more effective in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The paper makes three central arguments. First, donors should be much more goal and results oriented in their assistance programs, and should work with low-income countries to ensure that poverty reduction strategies (PRSs) have specific, well-defined goals both in the short-run and long-run. PRSs should be expected to specifically refer to the MDGs, even if governments choose to adopt goals that do not exactly coincide with the MDGs. PRSs should provide both a "baseline scenario" with targets consistent with the most likely policy changes and levels of financing and a "high achievement" scenario with much more ambitious targets which lays out the additional policy, institutional, and financing changes needed to reach these goals. Second, donors must go beyond the rhetoric of "country selectivity" and actually begin to allocate aid more seriously to poorer countries with strong and moderate governance. Although there has been some improvement in aid allocation in recent years, much more can be done. Donors should establish basic rules for allocating aid based on the extent of poverty and the quality of governance, not to be dogmatic and rigid, but to provide some defenses against other forces that push aid allocations towards political and commercial considerations. Third, country selectivity should be conceived as much more than simply allocating more money to countries with stronger governance: it should change the way donors deliver aid to different countries. Well-governed countries should have a much greater say in designing aid programs, should receive more of their aid as program funding, and should receive longer-term commitments from the donor community. In these countries, foreign assistance should finance a broader set of activities, with most (but not all) of the funding channeled through the recipient government. Poorly governed countries should not only receive less money, they should receive more of it as project aid, it should come with a shorter time commitment, should be focused on a narrower set of activities, and much of it should be distributed through NGOs.

http://www.cgdev.org/Publications/?PubID=108

(Added: Fri Apr 16 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 469)

Anti Poverty or Anti Poor?: The Millennium Development Goals and the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (pdf)

Produced by: Focus on the Global South with generous assistance from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok, 2003. This dossier contains the discussion paper and the statement that form the output of the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum held in Bangkok, Thailand October 6-8, 2003. The main purpose of this Asia-Pacific Civil Society Forum was to propose recommendations to the Committee on Poverty Reduction of the UNESCAP as to how countries of the regions could better achieve the goal. The rest of the dossier is a compilation of relevant analyses and experience contributed by some of the participants as well as others in the regional civil society.

http://www.focusweb.org/pdf/MDG-2003.pdf

(Added: Tue Mar 30 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 397)

The MDGs and Pro-Poor Policies: Can external partners make a difference? (Word 119KB)

Jan Vandemoortele, Leader, Poverty Group, United Nations Development Programme, New York March, 2004. The paper argues that there are two major dimensions to the partnership between rich and poor countries: one is concerned with 'money changing hands', the other with 'ideas changing minds'. The former often overshadows the latter. The paper asks whether the millennium development goals (MDGs) and the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) have offered new opportunities for enlarging pro-poor policy choices at the country level. It argues that in most countries the policy framework is not yet aligned with the MDGs and the fundamental objective of reducing human poverty. Too often, poverty reduction is seen as an automatic by-product of economic growth and macroeconomic stability. Governments and their partners find it difficult to translate the concept of pro-poor policies into practice. Equity continues to be the big absentee in most anti-poverty strategies. Seven aspects of the standard policy framework are reviewed, leading to the following advice: (i) avoid a dogmatic view the 'small government' paradigm; (ii) use cost recovery sparingly; (iii) use narrow targeting with caution; (iv) set inflation targets that are not too tight; (v) deregulate financial markets with great care; (vi) liberalise trade cautiously and (vii) bring equity concerns into the policy debate.

http://www.gdnet.org/pdf2/gdn_library/annual_conferences/fifth_annual_conference/vandemoortele_paper.pdf

(Added: Tue Mar 23 2004   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 160)

The Millennium Development Goals and Local Processes: Hitting the Target or Missing the Point?

Edited by David Satterthwaite, IIED, 2003. 'Hitting the Target' probes whether the global community's approach to reducing poverty through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is likely to succeed and what needs to change to ensure it does.

http://www.un-ngls.org/MDG-booklet%20-%20The%20MDG%20and%20local%20processes.pdf

(Added: Fri Dec 05 2003   Modified: Mon Sep 29 2008   Hits: 287)

Building on Hidden Opportunities to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals

Poverty reduction through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Growing concern over the effects of biodiversity loss on progress towards sustainable development led to the establishment of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992. To date over 180 countries have ratified it demonstrating a significant global commitment to the cause. The CBD presents a comprehensive series of pragmatic and innovative principles for action, which have been further elaborated by six Conferences of the Parties. Yet there has been insufficient advancement in operational terms. This lack of progress should be taken very seriously as biodiversity loss, together with other forms of environmental degradation, has the potential to undermine progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals . It is also essential to acknowledge that the 'environment', including biodiversity, offers many interesting poverty reduction opportunities - yet these are often overlooked, and may function outside the prevailing policy environment.

http://www.undp.org/equatorinitiative/documents/pdf/poverty_reduction.pdf

(Added: Tue Sep 24 2002   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 247)