Millennium Development Goals - Research Paper Example

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The eight main Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2000 were formulated by world leaders of countries belonging to the United Nations (UN). The goals include the eradication of poverty, child mortality, HIV/ AIDS and other diseases, improvement of education, gender equality, maternal health, the environment, and the optimization of global partnership. Shifting from the UN’s earlier developmental decades’ emphasis on economic growth and industrialization, the MDGs directly address the improving of human lives by focusing on poverty and human well-being (Fukuda-Parr 2004). Though the millennium development goals are being successfully achieved in certain areas, setbacks to development are mainly due to the severe downturn in the world’s economy. To prevent the economic crisis turning into a development crisis, it is vital that global partnerhips are strengthened, while meeting obligations in the areas of trade, providing aid, “debt relief and access to affordable medicines and new technologies” (UN 2009: vii). This report has identified the Millennium Development Goals, discussed their current progress, the reasons for the successes and failures, their benefit to the international community, and the measures necessary for meeting the 2015 deadline. INTRODUCTION The United Nations has set many developmental goals since the 1960s. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), however, are unprecedented in a number of ways. An immense assembly of the world’s heads of state formulated the development goals in September 2000. They replaced the earlier focus on economic transformation, growth and industrialization, with human development in relation to poverty, people and their lives in the “global development agenda for the new millennium” (Fukuda-Parr 2004: 395). Further, the MDGs are not just aspirations, they provide a framework for accountability by defining concrete goals that can be monitored. They address official development assistance from rich countries in addition to development outcomes, thus forming an alliance that holds both rich and poor countries accountable in the transfer of technology, the opening of markets, and the provision of adequate aid and debt relief. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND HUMAN RIGHTS The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is in the service of an immense global cause. The eight main MDGs (Sachs & McArthur 2005: 347) are: 1. Reduce extreme poverty and hunger by half, as compared to 1990. 2. Achieve universal primary education. 3. Promote gender equality and empowerment of women. 4. Reduce child mortality by two-thirds as compared to 1990. 5. Improve maternal health, including reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters as compared to 1990. 6. Prevent the spread of HIV/ AIDs, malaria and other diseases. 7. Ensure environmental sustainability. 8. Develop a global partnership for development. The main purpose of the MDGs is: to eradicate poverty from the world, and uphold the principles of human dignity and equality in all spheres. The participants form a worldwide network of development practitioners and experts across a great number of countries, disciplines and organizations. The ten task forces of the UN Millennium Project were “to identify strategies and means of implementation to achieve each MDG target” (Sachs & McArthur 2005: 347). The Goals are an end in themselves, as well as inputs to economic growth and further development. PROGRESS IN ATTAINING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS By the year 2005, significant progress had been made in achieving many of the MDGs. By the year 2002, as compared to 1990, an increase of 21 percent was achieved in overall incomes. Populations in extreme poverty declined by 130 million people, there was a reduction in child mortality rates from 103 deaths per 1,000 live births a year to 88, an increase was recorded in life expectancy from 63 years to nearly 65 years; there were increases by 8 percent and 15 percent in the number of people in the developing world who received access to water and improved sanitation services respectively (Sachs 2005: 9). Progress in achieving the MDGs and the extent to which they have been achieved are not uniform in all the developing countries. Further, there are extensive disparities within countries, with highest poverty in rural areas, although urban poverty is increasing rapidly and is under-reported by traditional indicators. “Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of crisis, with continuing food insecurity, a rise of extreme poverty, stunningly high child and maternal mortality, large numbers of people living in slums, and a widespread shortfall for most of the MDGs” (Sachs 2005: 9). The region with the most rapid development is Asia, however it continues to have hundreds of millions of people in extreme poverty and failure in nonincome goals. Similar regions with mixed results are: Latin America, the transition economies, and the Middle East and North Africa where there was slow or no progress on some of the Goals and persistent inequalities hindering progress on others (Sachs 2005). Access to drinking water has improved substantially among the populations in developing countries, except for Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and rural areas of most regions. Progress towards the sanitation goal is low in most of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the proportion of undernourished people is falling slowly in most regions of the world, the proportions have increased since 1990 in Western Asia, Oceania, and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa, though some countries have achieved improved outcomes, the overall proportions of undernourishment continue to remain high. Similarly, in primary education there is progress in most regions, but Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to fall behind. The goals of improved standards of education, gender equality and parity in education also remain unfulfilled. Although child mortality rates have declined overall, progress has slowed in West Asia and Oceania, and reverting to the earlier conditions have been recorded in CIS Asia. Child mortality continues to remain extremely high in Sub-Saharan Africa. Concurrently, maternal mortality remains extremely high in all developing regions, which indicates poor public attention to women’s health needs, access to information and emergency obstetric services. The world-wide prevalence of HIV/ AIDs is round 40 million people, it is pandemic in southern Africa, along with other diseases (Sachs 2005). Moreover, diseases are caused by substantial environmental degradation continuing to worsen due to man-made, long term global climate change. SUCCESS/ FAILURE AT GLOBAL, REGIONAL & COUNTRY LEVELS Around 70 percent of the urban population continue to be slum-dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. When individuals and whole economies lack basic infrastructure, health services, and education, market forces are unsuccessful in helping people to achieve the Goals. In today’s global economy, the means to a productive life for each individual include “adequate human capital, access to essential infrastructure, and core political, social and economic rights” (Sachs 2005: 12). Progress towards the MDGs has been mixed across countries. Improvements have been remarkable in east Asia and south Asia, where more than half the world’s population live. However, huge disparaties are evident, with Sub-Saharan Africa in pervasive crisis, and little progress in Latin America, Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia (Sachs & McArthur 2005). Primarily, environmental sustainability, gender equality and maternal mortality are of increasing concern in most countries. The reasons for some goals remaining unmet at global, regional and country-specific levels, and some regions failing to meet MDGs are explained by four broad causes: poor governance, poverty traps, persistent pockets of poverty, and policy neglect. Poor governance may be due to lack of resources, corruption, mismanagement or weak but willing governments. Poverty traps result in a vicious circle which cause poor people’s inability to make the necessary investments to overcome hunger, disease and lack of infrastructure, to achieve sustained economic growth. Poverty traps are more common in adverse geographical conditions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, marked by poor agricultural conditions, high transportation costs and prevalence of disease. Persistent pockets of poverty in large middle-income countries with ethnic and regional diversity such as Brazil, China and Mexico have to be eliminated through channelizing critical investments in infrastructure, human capital and improved public administration to regions lagging behind and to social groups excluded from the mainstream. Policy neglect occurs where policy makers are “unaware of the challenges or neglectful of core public issues” (Sachs & McArthur 2005: 349) such as discrimination against women. This leads to failure in achieving the Goals at regional and country-specific levels. MDGs: A UNIFYING VISION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNTY The Millennium Development Goals can serve as a unifying vision for the international community. “Achieving the MDGs by 2015 in all countries will require a major unified effort by the international community” (Helsinki Process 2004: 6) with the private sector, the development state and civil society forming the three main sources of transformational change. Integrated and extensive efforts on multiple fronts will result in high yield outcomes, which are necessary to achieve the MDGs by 2015. The MDGs aim at the powerful combined outcome of improving health, education, gender equality, the environment and poverty reduction to produce high returns on investing in all the goals simultaneously. This inter-sectoral synergy is a dynamic force that becomes evident when progress is made on all the MDGs concurrently. Based on the new global agenda, global policy leadership has to prioritize the intersectoral nature of the agenda, and guide the inter-institutional relationships most appropriate for implementing the agenda. Success depends on the essential issues being implemented through coordination and cooperation by the international institutions and other agencies towards productive results (Helsinki Process 2004). KEY RECOMMENDATIONS Developing countries should adopt developmental strategies that align with the Millennium Development Goals. The MDG-based poverty reduction strategies should promote the rise of public investments, “capacity building, domestic resource mobilization, and official development assistance” (Sachs 2005: xiv). They should provide a framework for strengthening governance, promoting human rights, involving civil society and promoting the private sector. Transparent and inclusive processes should be used by developing countries in designing policies and implementing MDG-based poverty reduction strategies. International donors should identify and increase their official development assistance to around a dozen “MDG fast-track countries” who have achieved good governance and absorptive capacity. Both developing and advanced countries should combine efforts to implement a “group of quick-win actions to save and improve millions of lives, and to promote economic growth” (Sachs 2005: xiv). Examples are expansion of school-meal programmes, free distribution of anti-malaria medicines, improving the health of millions of AIDs patients to the level of antiretroviral treatment. The training of community workers should ensure that each local community has expertise in public sector management and ascertaining of gender equality, besides “health, education, agriculture, nutrition, infrastructure, water supply and sanitation, and environmental management” (Sachs 2005: xiv). The governments of developing countries should align national strategies with regional initiatives such as the new partnership for Africa’s Development and the Caribbean Community, and Common Market. Regional groups should receive increased direct donor support for regional projects. Wealthy nations should increase debt relief and official development assistance to the poorer countries. High income countries should help developing countries raise their export competitiveness by investing in trade-related infrastructure, and open their markets to the latter’s exports. The special needs of the poor should be addressed by the donor countries, on the basis of global scientific research in areas of “health, agriculture, natural resource, environmental management, energy and climate” (Sachs 2005: xvi). The United Nations country teams should be strengthened to work closely with the international financial institutions to implement the MDGs. CONCLUSION This report has highlighted the Millennium Development Goals, the progresses made so far in achieving them, the successes and set-backs with their underlying reasons, the MDGs producing a unifying vision for the international community, and crucial measures have been recommended that can help achieve the Goals within the timeline planned. The ambition to eradicate poverty from the world is considered to be realistic, and can be achieved with the integrated efforts of all the relevant international institutions, the governments, the private sector and the civil society. Once extreme poverty is overcome with the help of financial aid and other resources, the low income countries can begin to independently achieve self-sustaining economic growth and development. WORD COUNT: 2000 words BIBLIOGRAPHY Fukuda-Parr, S. (2004). Millennium Development Goals: Why they matter. Global Governance, 10 (4): pp.395-402. Retrieved on 22nd May, 2010 from: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-126555616.html Helsinki Process. (2004). Mobilizing resources for the Millennium Development Goals. Helsinki Process Track Report. Retrieved on 31st May, 2010 from: http://www.helsinkiprocess.fi/netcomm/ImgLib/24/89/Track2.pdf Sachs, J.D. (2005). Investing in development: A practical plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. UN Millennium Project. Retrieved on 22nd May, 2010 from: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/overviewEngi-1LowRes.pdf Sachs, J.D. & McArthur, J.W. (2005). The Millennium Project: A plan for meeting the Millennium Goals. The Lancet, 365: pp.347-353. Retrieved on 30th May, 2010 from: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/LancetwithMcArthurJan222005-TheMillenniumProject.pdf United Nations. (2009). Mdg Gap Task Force Report. New York: United Nations Publications. Read More