The Millennium Development Goals and Performance

1. The Millennium Development Goals and Performance Millennium Development Goals Website http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Performance Indicators: See “Global Monitoring Report 2009: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTGLOBALMONITOR/EXTGLOMONREP2009/0,,menuPK:5924413~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:5924405,00.html Carleton University, ECON 3510 May 23, 2012 Archibald R. M. Ritter

2. The Millennium Development Goals • Introduction: • UN Millennium Declaration (UN September 2000.) • committed its signatories to strive to • reduce poverty, • improve health, • promote peace, • improve Human Rights, and • improve the environment. • Specific measurable targets, to be achieved by 2015; • Most OECD and lower income countries were signatories

3. A Focus on the Neediest Countries is given top priority. This included: • 38 countries in Africa, • 4 in East Asia/Pacific; • 2 in South Asia; • 6 Arab States; • 4 Latin American and Caribbean States, and • 5 in East Europe. How can they escape their poverty traps?

4. How can they escape their poverty traps? This is easy to state but hard to implement. • Included in the relevant policy areas are • Investing in human development; • Helping small farmers raise their productivity and thence their incomes; • Investment in infrastructure in lagging areas; • Promote non-traditional and especially small-scale enterprise (informal sector ) • Emphasize social equity and strengthen the “voice” of marginalized peoples (aboriginal peoples, rural peoples, and women and girls in some countries.) • Environmental Sustainability

5. Millennium Development Goals and Targets for 2015 • Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger • Target 1: 50% reduction in extreme poverty (Income below $1.00 per day.) • Target 2: 50% reduction in hunger. • Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education • Target 3: 100% coverage for primary education for Males and Females • Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women • Target 4: Eliminate gender disparities in education. • Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality • Target 5 : reduce it by 67%.

6. Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health • Target 6: reduce it by 75%. • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases • Target 7: Reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. • Target 8: Halt and reduce incidence of Malaria and other major diseases. • Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability • Target 9: Reduce by 50% those lacking access to safe water. • Target 10: Incorporate Sustainable Development practices in all policies and programs’

7. Goal 8: A Global Partnership for Development • Target 12: Open rule-based International trading and financial systems’ • Target 13: Special treatment for the poorest countries re trade, debt, technology transfer • Target 14: Special treatment for remote and land-locked countries. • Target 14: Debt relief where needed. • Target 15: Special access to pharmaceuticals for poorest countries. • Target 18: Special access to IT for poorest countries

8. Implementing the Millennium Development Goals and Targets For Low Income Countries: • focus on general poverty reduction and meeting “Basic Human Needs” • emphasize achievable goals and implementable policies; • focus on resource mobilization For Middle Income Developing Countries: • focus efforts on intractable pockets of poverty For IFIs: • put the Millennium Goals at he centre of their analytical, advisory, and financing activities; • support effective policy making in developing countries.

9. For Donor Countries: • developing countries should “own” their strategies for meeting the millenium goals, but with support from donor countries; • more and better utilized aid; • trade liberalization for exports of interest to developing countries; • end protectionist subsidies • Note: the world failed in this endeavour at the Doha Round of trade negotiations For NGOs: • participate in the design of strategies, participate in implementation as appropriate • serve as “watchdogs” re target and goal fulfillment.

10. Evaluation of MDG Approach • Are targets and goals realistic? Is it too ambitious? • Focus on measurable targets is laudable for focusing energies. • Emphasis on poorest countries is appropriate;

11. 4. Will the focus on these targets lead to improvements or deformations of national objectives? 5. Will the MD approach help improve coordination among donors, IFIs and national governments? 6. Little is actually said re. Governance, despite its importance for the high priority countries.

12. 7. Implementation: need for secondary and higher education is ignored. 8. What about demography and population growth?

13. MDG Monitor • http://www.mdgmonitor.org/map.cfm?goal=&indicator=&cd= • NDG Indicators • http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Data/Trends.htm • “Gapminder” presentation of MDGs • http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Data/Trends.htm • Then go to “Data” then “ Gapminder”

14. Performance re Millennium Development Goals, 1990-2008

15. Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and HungerTarget 1: 50% reduction in extreme poverty (Income below $1.00 per day.)Target 2: 50% reduction in hunger.

16. Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education • Target 3: 100% coverage for primary education for Males and Females

17. Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality • Target 5 : reduce it by 67%.

18. Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health • Target 6: reduce it by 75%.

19. Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability • Target 9: Reduce by 50% those lacking access to safe water.

20. Conclusions re MDG Performance • Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger • Target 1: 50% reduction in extreme poverty (Income below $US1.25pc (PPP) per day.) • Modest results; from 57.6% to 50.9% • A minority of countries on track • Target 2: • 50% reduction in hunger. • Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education • Target 3: 100% coverage for primary education for Males and Females • Some Improvement but modest

21. Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women • Target 4: Eliminate gender disparities in education. • Very Good though below target • Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality • Target 5 : reduce it by 67%. • Improved but below target; • from 183 to 146 per 1,000 live births • Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health • Target 6: reduce it by 75%. • Little progress, • From 920 to 900 per 100,000 live births

22. Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases • Target 7: Reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. • Target 8: Halt and reduce incidence of Malaria and other major diseases. • Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability • Target 9: Reduce by 50% those lacking access to safe water. • Reasonable improvement on water but below target • from 49% coverage to 58% • Record worse for sanitation • Poor record regarding forestation

23. Goal 8: A Global Partnership for Development • Target 12: Open rule-based International trading and financial systems’ • Doha round of negotiations stalled, probably permanently • Some trade liberalization • Target 13: Special treatment for the poorest countries re trade, debt, technology transfer • Some tariff and NTB reduction • Target 14: Special treatment for remote and land-locked countries. • Target 14: Debt relief where needed. • Significant debt relief • Target 15: Special access to pharmaceuticals for poorest countries? • Target 18: Special access to IT for poorest countries?