Millennium Development Goals Archive

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Global partnership key to achieving Millennium Development Goals by 2015 – UN report

– 27 July 2012Posted in: Development, Development Results, MDGs, News, Poverty, Publications

Three important targets on poverty, slums and water have been met three years ahead of 2015, says the 2012 Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Meeting the remaining targets, while challenging, is possible ─ but only if Governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago.

The 2012 MDG Report offers “the most comprehensive picture yet” on global progress towards the Goals, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he launched the report at the high-level segment of the annual session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The report states that meeting the remaining targets, while challenging, is possible – but only if governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago. Further success depends on fulfilling MDG 8 – the global partnership for development, Mr. Ban notes in his foreword to the report. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202012.pdf

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Public consultation on external relations funding

– 19 December 2010Posted in: Development

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on how the EU should fund
its external relations activities, in particular the European External Action Service
(EEAS). Contributions will be used by the Commission next year when preparing its
proposals for the EU budget after 2013. The EU budget has been the subject of much
wrangling in recent weeks between the EU institutions, following pressure from some
member states to impose tough restrictions on future EU budgets and fierce resistance from Parliament. The Commission website states: ‘‘Challenges for the future are plentiful. The EU’s external action must tackle global problems such as climate
change, energy security, and economic and financial stability. The 2015 deadline for
the Millennium Development Goals is also rapidly approaching, with more effort still
required as regards poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, sanitation and environmental sustainability.” See http://tinyurl.com/38y4aj6

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Time to deliver: Challenges of the new EU Commissioner for Development

– 22 February 2010Posted in: Development

In a challenge ahead, Europe has two main contributions to make: development policy thinking and development aid delivery. Development policy is a key part of the ”Europe 2020” vision presented by president Barroso. In particular, as we look ahead to a ”global Europe”, it is in times of development challenges that the EU can become a champion of global governance – challenges which include world economic recovery, climate change, migration, food security and making progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The Commission is already exploiting its expertise in development and strengthening the link between development policy, researchers, national authorities and civil society. To meet the Millennium Development Goals, the EU must implement its plans for greater coherence between policies in different sectors (”policy coherence for development”) and make aid more effective by coordinating the Commission (EuropAid) and 27 EU countries in one cogent effort to tackle poverty worldwide.

The EU is the biggest aid donor in the world, channelling some 60% of total official development assistance to Asia, Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Caribbean and Latin America ( €49bn in 2008, or €100 per European citizen). By improving aid predictability and achieving a better division of labour (the 2 main principles of efficient aid delivery), the EU could minimise the burden on recipient countries and free up resources worth €3-6bn a year (2009 aid-effectiveness study). Helping developing countries recover from the economic slowdown and beyond will be the top priority for the incoming development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. In times of economic crisis, sustaining financing for development is difficult but crucial for poor countries suffering even more than their developed counterparts. Source: European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/featured_20100209_en.cfm

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Asia’s Progress on Millennium Development Goals Remains Mixed

– 30 September 2009Posted in: Asia, Development, Economy

Asia and Pacific countries continue to make broad progress in reducing extreme poverty but hunger still remains widespread and many economies are struggling to meet other Millennium Development Goals, including reductions in maternal mortality rates and access to sanitation, latest available data show. Source: ADB http://www.adb.org/article.asp?id=12968

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Promoting Pro-Poor growth: A Practical Guide to ex-ante Poverty Impact Assessment

– 25 November 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

Enabling poor women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth is critical to creating a path out of poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Yet without ex ante assessment of likely impacts, policies and programmes often fail to achieve the desired pro-poor impacts. To help donors and partner countries identify the consequences of their interventions, the DAC Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET) has developed a modular, ex ante Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA) approach. This practical guide will help staff in development agencies and their partners to plan and execute PIA, and to interpret the findings it produces. OECD DAC Guidelines and Reference Series. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/39/38978856.pdf

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2015-Watch report: EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium Development Goals

– 28 August 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

On the occasion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) mid-point, Alliance2015 published its 4th ‘2015-Watch’ report addressing the crucial question whether Europe is still on track to fulfil its commitments and deliver on its promises.
The European Commission is currently finalising its aid programmes for countries in Africa for the period 2008 – 2013. Officially, the main objectives of these programmes are the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals but it appears that these are being pushed aside in favour of the EU’s own interests, as evidence suggests: the report cites the example of the new “Governance Facility” which, the Commission claims, will boost the EU’s support for health and education in its partner countries. However, according to the report, the evidence suggests otherwise. The Governance Facility uses a set of 23 indicators to determine which countries will be eligible for additional funding. Of these, only one is related to the Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.alliance2015.org/index.php/news/alliance_update/eu_aid_programme_to_africa_fails_to_address_millennium_development_goals

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Poverty Reduction through Small Enterprises

– 6 May 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

There is increasing recognition that private sector development has an important role to play in poverty reduction. The private sector, including small enterprises, creates and sustains the jobs necessary for poor people to work and earn the income needed to purchase goods and services. Two years ago, the ILO’s Small Enterprise Development Programme (SEED) initiated a process of internal discussion and review, assisted by outside experts, on the important issue of poverty reduction. This paper is a product of that process. Both the paper and the process complement the larger initiative taken by the ILO to make the fight against poverty a central element of its agenda. Through the Director-General’s Report, Working Out of Poverty, and the many initiatives guided by that report, the ILO has joined with its partners in taking up the challenge posed by the most important of the Millennium Development Goals, reducing by half the incidence of world poverty by 2015.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1094048

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