International Development in Practice

Millennium Development Goals

Steve ReifenbergUniversity of Notre DameApril 4, 2013

Millennium Development Goals1) MDGsWhats striking about them? Historical contextNegotiated outcome

2) Post 2015.SDGs What are they?Where are they likely to go?

3) Development Advisory Team Projects

Millennium Development GoalsThe Worlds Biggest PromiseIn September 2000, 189 member states of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, which included concrete commitments and targets for poverty eradication, development, and protecting the environment.Photo credit:www.kremlin.ru.Some rights reserved.

Millennium Development GoalsEradicate extreme poverty and hungerAchieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower womenReduce child mortalityImprove maternal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesEnsure environmental sustainabilityGlobal partnership for development

How will the world look in 2015 if the Goals are achieved?

More than 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty.

More than 300 million will no longer suffer from hunger.

Dramatic progress in child health. Rather than die before reaching their fifth birthdays, 30 million children will be saved.

Lives of more than 2 million mothers.

MDG -- SupportersTime is short. We must seize this historic moment to act responsibly and decisively for the common good.- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, speaking of the 2015 deadline

The end of extreme poverty is at hand within our generation- Jeffery Sachs, 2005

MDG A More Critical ViewThe setting of utopian goals means aid workers will focus efforts on infeasible tasks, instead of the feasible tasks that will do some good - William Easterly, 2006

I do not believe in the MDGs. I think of them as a Major Distracting Gimmick - Peggy Antrobus, 2003

MDG Big Picture Historical, political, economic, social, cultural and religious context in late 1990s

8 Goals, 21 Targets, and 60 Indicators

Fiercely negotiated outcome

Enormously promising

Enormous challenges

MDG Big PictureImportant role of human development

Human beings are the ends and means of development

Challenges per capital economic growth of many policy makers and economists

UNDP Human Development Report hugely influential

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day 1.2 Poverty gap ratio 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption Target 1B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.

Target 1C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer hunger.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 2A: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. 2.1 Net enrollment ratio in primary education2.2 Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach last grade of primary 2.3 Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds, women and men

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. 3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Target 4A: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate. 4.1 Under-five mortality rate4.2 Infant mortality rate4.3 Proportion of 1 year-old children immunized against measles

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio5.1 Maternal mortality ratio5.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 5 B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health 5.3 Contraceptive prevalence rate 5.4 Adolescent birth rate5.5 Antenatal care coverage 5.6 Unmet need for family planning

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 6A: Have halved by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. 6.1 HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years 6.2 Condom use at last high-risk sex6.3 Proportion of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS6.4 Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non orphans aged 10-14 years Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.Target 6C: Halve halved by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases (especially malaria and TB).

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7A: Integrate principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

Target 7 B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss.

Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 8 A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory lending and financial system.

Target 8 B: Address the special needs of the least developed countries

Target 8 C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states.

Target 8 D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries.

Target 8 E: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.

Target 8 F: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Historical context leading up to 1990Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care (Article 25)

1960s declared the first UN Development Decade rash of target setting .education, food, small islands, drugsfew plans of action and little monitoring

1980s stalling of global summitry and goal settingIMF and World Bank -- structural adjustment policiesgetting prices right

Historical Context 1990

1990 a pivotal year (against backdrop of end of Cold War) World Development Report, 1990 UNDP Human Development Report, 1990 Re-activation of UN Summits and Conferences

World Summit of Children, 1990 Set specific goals for infant survival, under five mortality, education, etc. UNICEF executive director James Grant travelled the world asking leaders what progress they were making

Historical context early 1990sUN Conference on Environment and Development, Earth Summit or Rio Summit, 1992Mobilized public attentionFailed in grander objective of global consensus on climate change and deforestation

International Conference on Food and Nutrition in Rome, 1992Lower profileCommitment to a world free from hunger

International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 1994Moves beyond population controlIncludes development when discussing population

Historical context mid 1990sWorld Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995Agenda for market friendly state intervention Poverty reduction, employment & social integration

UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995Not just another conference -- represented a movementStrong opposition -- conservative Christians and MuslimsFocus on rights and social relations did not lend itself to goal setting and performance management

Second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul, 1995 & World Food Summit in Rome, 1996Sense of overload and over engagement Summit fatigue

Historical context late 1990sOECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Development Assistance Committee (DAC)International Development Goals (IDG), 1995

By late 1998, UN actively re-enters game of global target settingPlans for the Millennium Assembly of the United NationsMother of all summits, in NYC in September 2000If youre not a Millennium Development Goal, youre not on the agenda. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan takes responsibilityCreates We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st CenturyDifferent set of goals than the IDGsAs in almost all negotiations -- winners and losers

Results-based managementSMARTStretchingMeasureableAgreedRealisticTime-limited

MDG negotiations

Over summer 2000, frantic negotiationsResolutions Paragraph 19 we resolve further will be implementedResolution Paragraph 20 we also resolve will not a be concrete item

Negotiation strategyall or nothingparagraph 20 compromise

Historical context MDG negotiations

WinnersPoverty reductionEducation

LosersGender equality (primarily related to educational disparity)Reproductive rights/birth control/domestic violenceRequiring commitments for aidPolicy implications guidelines (look at Target 8a 8f)

MDG Optimistic Raises worlds awareness on addressing extreme poverty in all its dimensions Sets aspirations high (major progress on specific issues through annual reports and the scorecards) Mobilizes international collaboration Defines quantifiable targets that build off a baseline Adds urgency through deadline (2015) Creates new institutional mechanisms such as the Global Fund for Aids, TB and Malaria, and the Millennium Villages Pushes for greater financial investments in MDG

MDG Challenges

What and how you measure What you cant measure or leave out Who is engaged? Who is accountable? Challenge of reporting by region and country Policy linkages and expectations Resource commitment

What and how you measureData availability and quality varies widely for several MDG indicators. Accurate figures for the percentage of people living on less than a dollar a day is unavailable for many countries during the early 1990s. In more recent years, reporting for this target indicator has remained spotty with only sporadic data points for most countries. Regional averages can produce significant volatility, inconsistency, and misleading results due tothe inclusion or exclusion of different countries.

What you cant measure or leave outThere is evidently widespread awareness of their limitation: their inadequate targets and indicators; their restriction to indicators that are quantifiable, when much of what is most important such as Womens Equality and Empowerment is not easily quantifiable; their omission of important Goals and Targets, such as Violence against Women and Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

Peggy Antrobus, Presentation to Working Group on the MDGs and Gender Equality, UNDP Caribbean Regional Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Conference, Barbados, 7 July 2003.

Whos engaged? Whos accountable?United Cities and Local Governments calls upon their members to write to national governments requesting that they give serious attention to the role of local and regional governments in writing their national MDG report, and asking them to consider our proposed amendments which focus on the areas of local ownership, the importance of governance and the cultural dimension of the MDGs.

cities-localgovernments.org/news

Regional reporting tends to mask dramatic intraregional variations Chinas impressive achievements and size drive the overall MDG performance picture for East Asia.

Poor performance of large African countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo weigh down regional Africa aggregates.

Nonetheless, many African countries have made tremendous strides in achieving development outcomes.

Country ReportingMDG Progress Index developed by the Center for Global Development to country progress toward MDG targets.

Evidence of dramatic achievements by many poor countries, such as Laos, Ethiopia, Nepal, and Cambodia.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for many of the star MDG performers such as Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

Least progress largely consists of countries devastated by conflict over the last few decades, such as Afghanistan, Burundi, the DRC, and Guinea-Bissau.

Most countries fall somewhere in between, demonstrating solid progress on some indicators and little on others.

Policy linkagesIn fact, a major problem of the MDGs is their abstraction from the social, political and economic context in which they are to be implemented the political economy of the MDGs

To the extent that all the goals relate to the role of the state, one must ask how feasible it is that states weakened by the requirements of policy frameworks of neo-liberalism and whose revenues are reduced by privatization and trade liberalism can be expected to achieve the goals and targets of the MDGs?

Peggy Antrobus, Presentation to Working Group on the MDGs and Gender Equality

Failure of Commitments? Failure to achieve necessary commitments to fund goals.

Failure of international donors to deliver funds committed.

Theres a lot about the MDGs that is problematic in Washington or in London, Paris or so on, but that is mostly about us, not about the Millennium Development Goals per se, Jeffery Sachs says. Multilateral, accountable mechanisms exist to deliver development, but governments remain committed to working through bilateral programs, which are often governed more by politics than by development metrics.

MDGs Big Picture Historical, political, economic, social, cultural and religious context

Fiercely negotiated outcome

Enormously promising

Enormous challenges post 2015 goals SDGs

ROUND #2 MDGS to SDGs!Sustainable Development GoalsGoals that address and incorporate all three dimensions of sustainable development economic, social, and environmental to guide the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015

Based on Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI)Agenda 21: 1992 UN resolution that encourages sustainable development globallyJohannesburg Plan: affirms UN commitment to Agenda 21 and the MDGs

Process to Achieve SDGs: Plan of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonDefine a path to an inclusive green economyLeaders must agree to define sustainable development goals with clear and measurable targetsMake decisions on key elements of the institutional frameworkNeed strong outcomes on a wide range of cross-cutting issuesNeed progress on implementationNeed more partnerships with civil society and the private sector to get public support and drive change

Process to Achieve SDGs: Plan of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonDefine a path to an inclusive green economyLeaders must agree to define sustainable development goals with clear and measurable targetsMake decisions on key elements of the institutional frameworkNeed strong outcomes on a wide range of cross-cutting issuesNeed progress on implementationNeed more partnerships with civil society and the private sector to get public support and drive change

Differences between MDGs and SDGsMDGsSimplicity: Single set of goals of the 21st centurySingle focal point for monitoringSet global poverty eradication/reduction as the international normApply primarily to developing countriesPrioritized social needs over economic and environmental onesSeven social goals and just one environmental goalEstablished in 2000, expire in 2015SDGsUniversal goalsRequire buy-in from all countriesDeveloped and developing countiesStrongly linked to Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, Agenda 21Three Dimensions: economic, social, and environmental Different in scope and naturePost-2015 development agenda

From Brookings Institution presentation on May 2, 2012 entitled What Should Sustainable Goals Look Like?

Sustainable DevelopmentMore than 20 institutions participating in the global sustainable development governanceMost relevant bodies: UN General Assembly, Second Committee or ECOFIN, Economic and Social Council, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Environmental Management Group, UN Environmental Program, and UNDPAgencies that will shape sustainable development and governance

Why This MattersMoney is being committed differently that it would have been otherwiseBroader public perception that these goals matter: legitimacy, credibility, ownershipMoving toward a more open and inclusive process with wider consultationCall to action: SDGs put sustainable development at the center of global thinking and action

Rio +20 will help young people solve the triple-bottom-line challenge economic well-being, environmental sustainability, and social inclusionthat will define their era Jeffrey Sachs

We are nearing the end of the unprecedented, ambitious Millennium Development Goals, and the negotiations over the next two years will define the next generation of global development.

MGSs Sources

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/overviewEngi-1LowRes.pdf

http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424377

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/overviewEngi-1LowRes.pdf

Peggy Antrobus, Presentation to Working Group on the MDGs and Gender Equality, UNDP Caribbean Regional Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Conference, Barbados, 7 July 2003.

http://web.thisisafricaonline.com/2010/09/22/mdg-interview-jeffrey-sachs/cities-localgovernments.org/news

http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home_old/Articlehttp://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home_old/Article/tabid/191/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/21712

Global governance campaigning and MDGs: From top-down to bottom-up anti-poverty work By Patrick Bondhttp://www.choike.org/documentos/bond_mdgs_2005.pdf

SDGs Sources1.) The Brookings Institution: What Should Sustainable Development Goals Look Like?2.) European Sustainable Development Solutions Network 3.) Bond Development & Environment Group. Sustainable Development Goals: Building the Foundation for an Inclusive Process4.) After Rio, we know, 20125.) Jeffrey Sachs opinion piece: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a-rio-report-card6.) Rio +20: The Good, the Bad, and the Invisible by Megan Rowling (trust.org)7.) http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6087/1396.2.full 8.) HOMI KHARAS, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Global Economy and Development, The Brookings Institution9.) From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs10.) CRS Report on Rio+2011.) NGO Views Rio +20: the good, the bad, and the invisible http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ngo-views-rio20-the-good-the-bad-and-the-invisible 12.) Press Conference by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Rio+20 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sgsm14336.doc.htm

Sources13.) Beyond 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals and their relationship to the Millennium Development Goals: the Beyond 2015 response to the Zero Draft 14.) GLOBAL POVERTY REDUCTION TO 2015 AND BEYOND: WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF THE MDGS AND WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR A POST-2015 GLOBAL FRAMEWORK? (Summer and Tiwari)15.) http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-28/developmental-issues/34147052_1_mdgs-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs/216.) http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/7537.pdf17.) http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/mdg_report.pdf18.) http://developmentalpathways.blogspot.com19.) http://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2012/08/three-un-millennium-development-targets-reached-and-a-review-of-the-human-drivers-of-climate-change/20.) Parr and Hulme (2009) International Norm Dynamics21.) Melamed, Contexts. Politics and processes for a post-2015 global agreement on development22.) http://www.ids.ac.uk/idsresearch/millennium-development-goals-mdgs-and-post-2015-agenda23.) http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1362Concept_Note_for_Special_Event_on_SDGs.pdf 24.) http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/10/4-key-factors-sustainable-development-goals25.) One of the criticisms of the MDGs is that the process to construct them was not sufficiently inclusive. Much greater effort is being taken this time to consult widely. \26.) 16 October 2012 2nd Committee SDG Meeting, Notes of Ambassador Mootaz Khalil

Sustainable Development Website: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org

****Poverty reduction resolutions in the declaration into two paragraphs. Paragraph 19 listed goals on which agreement had been reached. Paragraph 20 goals not actionable -- unless objections met. (gender equality and women empowerment, reproductive rights*Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the SDGs, are Goals that address and incorporate all three dimensions of sustainable development economic, social, and environmental to guide the United States development agenda beyond 2015 This was outlined in The Future We Want Rio+20 Conference outcome document from June 2012

With regard to the objectives, characteristics, and scope of the SDGs, They seek to articulate a nexus between the three pillars of sustainable development economic, social, and environmental.Further, they will be time bound and measurable, with targets and indicatorsFinally, they will be few and in number and easy to communicate and understand (paragraph 247 of The Future We Want)

They are based on Based on Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI)Agenda 21 is 1992, agreed upon at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit UN resolution that encourages sustainable development globallyThe Johannesburg Plan, agreed to in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, affirmed UN commitment to the full implementation of Agenda 21, alongside achievement of the MDGs An effective institutional

The post-2015 development agenda will be closely linked to the commitments made during Rio+20 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Three of the MDGs have been achieved so far with respect to the number of people living in extreme poverty, access to safe drinking water, and giving slum dwellers access to either improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or durable or less crowded housing (19)

The 2012 report indicates that the number of people living in extreme poverty has been halved since 1990; the proportion of people in the world without sustainable access to safe drinking water has also been halved; and more than 200 million slum dwellers have gained access to either improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or durable or less crowded housing.

*Differences between MDGs and SDGsRio+20 summit marks a dramatic shift in the role that developing countries play in these international negotiationsJeffrey Sachs in Lancet 2012: The MDGs were targets mainly for poor countries, to which rich countries were to add their solidarity and assistance through finances and technology. The SDGs will, necessarily, have a different feel about them. Sustainable development is eluding the entire planet.

MDGsSingle set of goals of the 21st century (1)May not be perfect but they are simple and straightforwardSingle focal point for monitoringIt had a single focal point for its articulation and implementation -- or monitoring, at least -- which was the Development Assistance Committee at the OECD where the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations sit with the bilateral donors. (1)MDGs facilitated the emergence and partial institutionalization of global poverty eradication/reduction as an international norm. (20)Applies primarily to developing countriesWith the exception of MDG8 (global partnership) which contains targets for developed countries, the MDGs are often perceived as goals mostly for developing countries.Prioritized social needs over economic and environmental onesSeven social goals and just one environmental goalDoes not cover issues such as climate change and energy security The eighth goal focused on a global partnership, which focused on donor government commitments and achievements, rather than successes in the developing world.Based on the International Development Goals (IDGs)Began in 2000, expire in 2015

SDGsUniversal goals universal and broader

Require buy-in from all countriesMDGs focused on developing countries, but SDGs need buy-in from all nations. (7)If the goals are binding, it would be difficult to get all G-20 countries in agreement, especially given the time-scale (7)

Strongly linked to Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, Agenda 21Three Dimensions: economic, social, and environmental (8)What Jeffrey Sachs calls the triple bottom line approach to human well-beingAlmost all the worlds societies agree generally that they aim for economic development, environmental sustainability , and social inclusion, but they disagree on specifics both between and within countries

Post-2015 development agenda

*This demonstrates how the UN system for the promotion of Sustainable Development into all areas of international governance and how an array of actors independent of UN organizations continue to shape global sustainable development governance. There are bodies such as the MacArthur Foundation, a private foundation, as well as NGOs, business associations, and charitable organizations, to name a few.Most relevant bodies: UN General Assembly, Second Committee or Second Committee or Economic and Financial Committee ECOFIN, Economic and Social Council, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Environmental Management Group, UN Environmental Program, and UNDP

*What will shape the next three years, leading up to 2015?Over the next few years, we will see the challenge of defining the Sustainable Development Goals, and well find out who are the most influential people coming to the table We will see how much money comes to the table from governments and international organizations for the SDGs, and also how the SDGs will shape how governments and organizations spend devote their resources

Sachs (at State of the Planet 2015)Now begins the countdown until 2015 starts with the countdown to fulfill our commitmentsTwo tasks: completing the goals the world set in 2000 alongside the formation of the SDGsMDGs had a hold on the public imagination and a capacity to move governments in our very, very noisy worldUpdates MDGs to the complexities of todays worldSociety has three vital goals: economic development (reducing extreme poverty), social inclusion (human rights, gender equality, social trust, lower government corruption, etc.), and the environment

Money is being committed differently that it would have been otherwiseThe MDGs are widely cited as the primary yardstick against which advances in international development efforts are to be judgedBroader public perception that these goals matter: legitimacy, credibilityLegitimacy depends on transparency and accountabilityBeyond2015.org, whose mission reads campaigning for a global development framework after the Millennium Development Goal, believes, to achieve a legitimate and effective global development framework, the goals must be holistic, inclusive, equitable, and universally applicable.Requires approval by heads of state or government, and therefore requires a greater commitment from developed countries governmentsGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and President Obama did not attend the Rio +20 SummitGoals to achieve principles of Ownership and Legitimacy: The design and implementation of SDGs must involve widespread consultation and active participation of all stakeholders, especially those groups conventionally marginalised. (3)

Call to action to put sustainable development at the center of global thinking and action

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