Millennium Development Goals - Essay Example

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) In the year 2000, the United Nations (UN) marked a significant step towards improvement of the global social environment by establishing the millennium developed goals, popularly referred to as MDGs. Through launching these distinctive goals, the UN sought to improve people’s quality of life, particularly targeting the underprivileged in various societies. It is imperative to take note of the fact that, MDGs constituted ideas originating from the most advanced global nations. These economically endowed countries saw it fit to have a framework of practical and measurable approaches, to diminishing poverty around the world, while improving education, health, and other crucial social aspects of people’s lives. Some of the specific goals defined included eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, with the primary aim being to pave way and bolster education for all. Another MDG that is discussed in further detail in this report is the achievement of universal fundamental education. The UN initially set the timeline for achievement of these and other MDGs as a decade and a half, meaning that signatories to the organization were expected to attain stipulated objectives by 2015. Having ushered in 2015, it is imperative to assess whether these MDGs have been achieved and the barriers that have impeded successful implementation in some environments, such as access, quality, cost, and stability in respective nations. According to a report by UNICEF (2010), countries around the globe were fairly successful in alleviating poverty half a decade earlier than the projected year. The diminished poverty levels were evident from the significant decrease in proportion of people living under the poverty line. For instance, in 2010 about 21% of the populace in developing countries sustained themselves with the minimal 1.25 USD per day or lower. During the 1990s this population percentage was at 43%, showing that it halved by 2010 thus demonstrating significant poverty reduction. More than a billion individuals internationally still live in life-threatening poverty, and many of them experience deprivation and are susceptible to ecological or price shocks. Under nutrition remains one of the most serious global issues but least talked about public health challenges. Nearly one-third of offspring in emerging countries are underfed or diminutive (low height that does not match with age), and under nutrition accounts for one-third of all infant deaths. The World Bank Group is operating with the global community to end life-threatening poverty in the future generation, and increase incomes for the lowest 40% in every country (UNICEF, 2010). With nutrition security a vivacious part of this effort, the Group is improving agriculture funding to $8-10 billion every year besides working in various ways to physique agrarian productivity and pliability to average temperature changes or global warming. To eradicate poverty and hunger, the Bank Group initiated several projects across the world. Most of these projects aimed at investing in agriculture, expanding social safety nets, creating jobs, expanding nutrition programs that targets children aged below two years, making education universal, promoting gender equality, as well as protecting susceptible nations during crisis. While carrying out these projects, the Bank Group holds that an evocative path out of abject poverty needs a robust economy that creates occupations and offers considerable wages; a political regime that can offer schools, hospices, infrastructures, energy and health. It also necessitates well-fed children who are the forthcoming human assets that will steer economic growth. Between 2003 and 2013, the Group reinforced rudimentary nutrition services for more than 211 million expectant women, mothers, teenage girls, and progenies less than 5 years (Karver et al, 2012).  The fund for the most underprivileged republics namely, the International Development Association (IDA), dedicated $22.2 billion in the financial year of 2014 to stimulate monetary growth, upsurge shared success, and combat life-threatening poverty. The group has joined with more than 100 partners and groups to sanction nutrition under an Agenda for Action, which outlines forth philosophies and primacies for action to discourse under nutrition and aid republics realize the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015 (Karver et al 2012). The Bank Group’s used a clearly defined strategy to attain this goal. They aimed at providing governments zero-interest expansion funding, endowments, and warranties. Also, they offer practical aid and other suggested services to condense poverty and undernourishment. This is done by use of security nets and nutrition packages to mitigate the effect of the food and economic crises, and by increasing provision for agronomy and food security. The Group planned to increase expenditure on agronomy to $8-10 billion between 2013 and 2015 from $4 billion in 2008 (Karver et al, 2012). Lastly, the Bank Group is committed to serve as executor for the multi-donor Worldwide Agronomy and Nourishment Security Program aiding republics initiate and apply food security stratagems. The organization has registered successful implementation by utilizing numerous programs, as well as, adopting different projects. This is evident in some of the developing nations that it has been established. For instance, in Kenya the organization has strived on sustaining approximately two hundred and forty five thousand urchins as well as other  defenseless kids that have been affected  by great poverty. This has been achieved by utilization of a security net package covering eighty three thousand  families (Karver et al, 2012). The organization has established improved accessibility in education, transportation, hygienic water and health centers in Lao PDR. This has assisted distance societies and rural lowliest in accessing the necessary basic amenities. About six hundred and fifty thousand people have benefited from these programs in this region. In Moldova the implemented programs have assisted  about 932,000 people. This is almost a quarter of the total population and this has been achieved via social venture funds established in 1998 to 2011, focused on  accomplishing needed improvements. Another developing country that has benefited from the program is Senegal. The implemented programs have assisted in enhancing food security for approximately 1.3 million children under the age of five years by the introduction of  a public nourishment program. Moreover, nearly 300,000 primary school progenies received daily micronutrients complements and deworming prescriptions (Karver et al, 2012). If we go by the attainment of the goals globally, it can be noted that 54% of emerging nations have met or are on the way to meet the goal of cutting abject poverty in half. Further, 29% of nations have reduced by half malnutrition, and 1.2 billion people across the world still live in abject poverty, which means that the goal has not yet been attained fully. The second millennium development objective under scrutiny, in this case, is the expectation of both developed and developing nations to guarantee every person’s accessibility to basic education. This goal was developed with the premise that women with formal education are more likely to seek for medical care during pregnancy, ensure that their children are immunized, are better informed about their children’s nutrition requirements, and can better adopt sanitation practices. As a result, their children have high survival rates and are better nourished, which means that the nation will be healthy in general. Significant milestones have been attained around the globe in regard to fostering primary education accessibility. From 2000 to 2012, the overall number of out-of-school teenagers globally reduced from 100 million to 58 million, and the worldwide primary education achievement rate augmented from 81% to 92% (Alkire, 2013). Nevertheless, 58 million progenies are still out-of-school (Alkire, 2013). Even when progenies complete education, they frequently do so short of obtaining rudimentary abilities necessary for work. Hitherto, of all the millennium development goals, enlightening progenies—predominantly a girl—has the utmost effect on eradicating poverty. Studies indicate that an additional year of secondary education for girls can upsurge their future salaries by 10 to 20% (Mensha et al, 2010). Schooling is an influential driver of economic growth and one of the strongest mechanisms for refining health, gender parity, peace, and political stability. The World Bank Group has positioned learning at the front of its poverty-fighting task, and is one of the major outside financiers of learning in the emerging world. According to a World Bank report, a girl with a fifth grade level of education is likely to marry at later ages, have fewer children, decrease her chances of getting infected with HIV/AIDS, seek employment at later age in life, seek medical care, participate in community matters, as well as have the ability to gain access to credit. Each of these elements contributes towards improvement of the entire community’s welfare. The World Bank funds education with a total sum of $2.8 billion every year for the lowliest republics as well as for average-income republics (Mensha et al, 2010). Funding for primary schooling has been precedence over the past years for the Global Development Association, the Bank’s endowment for the underprivileged countries. GDA integrates schooling into nationwide economic policies, and generates educating systems that sanction children to become creative populations. The bank’s strategy to achieve universal education by 2015 entails; Measuring education results, expressly for unfortunate people and destitute communities, Offering state-of-the-art enticements, like cash for attending and to keep children in schools, Ensuring that learning leads to knowledge skills, and it is pertinent and of high quality, Establishing criterions for instructors and learning institutions, as well as Training educators, particularly those who attend destitute communities. Following this strategy, several outcomes have been realized in different nations. With GDA’s assistance, states recruited or educated more than 3.5 million extra instructors since 2002-2012, and constructed or reconditioned over 2 million schoolrooms for 105 million progenies, and acquired or disseminated about 300 million course books since 2000-2010 (Mensha et al, 2010). In Chad from 2003 to 2012, 2.6 million textbooks were dispersed to institutions, 400 schoolrooms were constructed and furnished, 20,000 individuals were trained to read and write; besides 11,700 public tutors were educated (Sumer & Melamed, 2012). Globally, the rate of primary school enrollment stands at 91%, 58 million children of school going age were out of school as of 2012, there has been a decline of 2 million in the number of out-of-school children from 2007 to 2012 (Sumer & Melamed, 2012). Following the above assessment, it can be noted that the two goals are not yet fully attained. Generally speaking, implementers are doing well in attainment of these goals, and holding all other factors constant, they might achieve them fully by the end of 2015. Alleviation of poverty remains a challenge in the global context. Despite the efforts done by the World Bank, many people from developing world still continue to live in abject poverty. References Alkire, S. (2013). Multidimensional Poverty and the Post-2015 MDGs. Development, 56(1), 46-51. Karver, J., Kenny, C., & Sumner, A. (2012). MDGs 2.0: What Goals, Targets, and Timeframe? IDS Working Papers, 398, 1-57. Mensah, J., Oppong, J., & Schmidt, C. (2010). Ghanas National Health Insurance Scheme in the context of the health MDGs: An empirical evaluation using propensity score matching. Health economics, 19(S1), 95-106. Sumner, A., & Melamed, C. (2012). Introduction–The MDGs and Beyond: Pro‐poor Policy in a Changing World. IDS Bulletin, 41(1), 1-6. UNICEF. (2010). Progress for Children: Achieving the MDGs with Equity (No. 9). UNICEF. Read More