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Should the Millennium Development Goals be achieved by 2015?

A discursive essay.

In September 2000, a total of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration
which laid the foundation of what was/is known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs represented a global commitment to
reduce poverty and hunger, alongside: poor health, gender inequality, lack of
education, lack of access to clean water, and environmental degradation (Haines
and Cassels, 2004). The Millennium Declaration consisted of 8 goals, and
included 21 time-bound targets (see Appendix 1), with a strict deadline for
completion by 31st December 2015. These development goals built on past
development targets alongside new development practices based on Sens
Capabilities Approach, which emphasised that, all human beings have the right to
aspire to satisfy their basic requirements and that poverty needed to be
understood through multiple dimensions (1999). This essay discusses the
design and nature of the MDGs alongside analysing the most and least successful
countries to determine whether the MDGs can be achieved by their deadline.

The design and nature of the MDGs has been critically assessed by some
academics. For example, Clemens et al stated, it is almost certain that the
majority of developing countries will not meet many of the goals (2007). Whilst
some theorists suggested that the MDGs have limited theoretical grounding,
Vandemoortele (2011) notes that there was a deliberate decision not to dwell
on different theories in order to achieve broad consensus. Therefore, it might be
more prudent to suggest that it is the design of the goals that will bring about
their actual success (or indeed failure as the case may be).

It could be further argued that the MDGs were set using a western society
donor-driven approach. In this way, the MDGs could be seen as simply
focussing on achieving quick fixes, possibly at the expense of the root cause of
poverty. Nelson appears to recognise this and noted that, access to land, labour,
wages credit and (some would add) entrepreneurial opportunity is not included
within the MDGs (2007). These demands are understood and perhaps required

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to attract donor agencies, who rely on such figures and data to determine and
demonstrate success. As a result, world leaders believed achieving the MDGs
was primarily a question of a donors willingness to give specific quantities of
money (Clemens et al 2007). Further complications in the successful adoption
of the MDGs are met when considering the competence of each individual
country to spend large sums of money. Practically, the view that the goals
establish attainable levels of progress could be seen as a strength of the
Millennium Declaration, as they relied on interventions that could be
accomplished without even addressing potentially difficult social and political
issues. Yet, the belief that the MDGs could simply be purchased led to a neglect
of real development issues, such as the creation of jobs, alongside good
governance and environmental practices. Nelson suggested, [Such] incentives
imply a quiet retreat from the need to guarantee political freedoms in order to
make poverty reduction politically sustainable (2007).

Three of the MDGs directly relate to health and wellbeing (MDG 4: Reduce child
mortality, MDG 5: Improve maternal health, and MDG 6: Combat HIV/Aids,
Malaria and other diseases). Since the creation of the MDGs successes have been
claimed, with certain high profile health initiatives; such as the under-five
mortality rate falling by 30% between 1990 and 2007 and maternal health
improving in sub-Saharan Africa (ODI 2010). However, interestingly the World
Bank and Clemens et al considered that many low-income countries are unlikely
to achieve the MDG health targets by 2015 (2007). The World Health
Organisation (WHO) (2004) identified three critical deficiencies to achieving the
health-related MDGs as: a) shortfalls in the health workforce, b) lack of donor co-
ordination, and c) weak information systems. Travis et al appeared critical
regarding the success of the MDGs related to health observing, there is currently
little direct focus on these systems strengthening (2004).

Furthermore, the MDGs are also criticised as having limited accountability. For
example, the fact that a government pledges to halve the number of people living
in extreme poverty does not give any one person the right to claim against his or
her government for not fulfilling their promises. This is increasingly seen when

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analysing the impact of environmental sustainability and the creation of a global

partnership for development (MDG 7 and 8). The target of halving the number of
people without access to safe water has become controversial, as the UN does
not define how this target is to be achieved. Nelson criticises the MDGs claiming
they are, being dominated by the commercial and investment interests of the
industrial country governments (2007). The design of the MDGs is such that it
removes political accountability and creates a by any means necessary
approach to achieving the goals.

The scale and scope of the MDGs could also be questioned. For example, the first
MDG was to halve the number of people living under poverty between 1990 and
2015. On a global scale, this goal has already been reached (Bhalla, 2002, World
Bank 2004a). The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) hails this as a success
from the Millennium Declaration. However, some academics such as van der
Hoeven remain sceptical about its success suggesting this outcome is largely the
result of successes in a limited number of large and fast-growing countries
(2012). In fact, the poverty headcount ratio in Africa has actually increased,
from 47% to 49% between 1990 and 2000 (World Bank, 2004b). The way in
which MDGs are measured has itself become an important issue, as success
stories can often mask further crisis. It must also be stressed that the recent
economic growth of nations such as India, China and Brazil has helped to
eradicate poverty much more effectively than that of the donor approaches
across Africa.

Conversely, for all of the negative reporting about the outcomes of the
Millennium Declaration, there are indeed proponents that are keen to emphasise
the benefits that the MDGs have created for development. For example, John
McArthur acknowledges that the [MDGs] have unified, galvanised and expanded
efforts to help the worlds poorest people (2013). During the 1990s,
development assistance had stagnated and so too had many developing
economies. The Millennium Declaration helped to set a benchmark for burden
sharing and helped triple global support from OECD countries (McArthur, 2013).
Furthermore, the MDGs have presented an effective way of logging global

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poverty; realising that the goals and targets are also measures of performance
and an important way to track progress of issues such as poverty. The success in
monitoring and appreciation of factors that may have hindered their success is a
key aspect and attribute that has been established from the MDGs.

The economic growth of Middle Income countries such as China, India and
Brazil has been unprecedented and seen as a successful outcome of the
Millennium Declaration. However, as discussed above, it would be too simplistic
to state that these positive outcomes of the countries are as a result of the
implementation of the MDGs alone. Analysis here is therefore confined to the
Least Developed Countries to analyse a more accurate effect of the MDGs.
Bhattacharya et al (2013) identified Rwanda as one of the most progressive
countries1, Rwanda is likely to meet 8 out of the 14 targets and progressed
towards 5 others. Rwanda has worked well towards goals on gender equality,
women make up 64% of MPs (Michel, 2013). Another factor considered crucial
in the alleviation of poverty is the dramatic economic growth, averaged at 8%
(Michel, 2013). The World Bank estimates the typical African country will need
to grow on average by at least 7% in order to halve poverty rates. Rwanda has
exceeded this target. The successes observed in Rwanda have in part to do with
the governments commitment to attain each of the MDGs whilst also having a
stable environment allowing them to do so. Bhattacharya et al (2013) does point
out however, in one area, such as employment-to-population ratio, the country
is off track, which may prove critical to sustain Rwandas success; highlighting
the MDGs lack of depth in combating the root causes of poverty.

The developing nature of Rwanda as a country is contrasted with Somalia, which
is said to be off track of 5 out of the 9 targets (for which data is available), whilst
it is unlikely to meet the other 4 targets (Bhattacharya, 2013). Somalia is a
country in conflict, which in itself has had a detrimental effect on the possible aid
efforts it requires. Furthermore, progress towards achieving the MDGs in

1 Using Mazziotta-Pareto Index (MPI) as an alternative composite index which,
starting from a linear aggregation, introduces penalties for the countries or
geographical areas with unbalanced values of the indicators. (De Muro,
Mazziotta and Pareto, 2009)

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Somalia is confronted with security issues, anarchy, human rights violations,

displacement and droughts which have all severely affected the ability of the
Somalian government and foreign aid agencies to enact the MDGs.

In conclusion, it is highly unlikely that the MDGs will be achieved by December
2015. It is considered that the MDGs are unable to address all of the key
development issues beyond the lowest level of poverty reduction. Some
Economists such as Amsden claim, The grass roots approach to solving poverty
doesnt go far enough, because it aims only at improving the supply side of the
labour market, making job seekers more capable, and not the demand side,
making new jobs available for them (2011). Human Rights activists claim, more
is needed to be done to make governments accountable for poverty alleviation.
The MDGs have however managed to increase much-needed donor spending and
monitoring of development. Furthermore, the goals have proven critical in
creating a debate over which issues should stipulated be in the next global
commitment to reduce poverty and hunger.

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Appendices

Appendix 1:

Source: Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, Report of

the Secretary-General. Document A/57/270 (31 July 2002)

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