Can We Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on December 20, 2010 at 10:13am

Dear Colleagues,

 

Thank you for all of your comments and for such an interesting discussion! Please find below and attached a summary of the main findings and ideas presented throughout the discussion. Let me know what you think!

 

Many thanks,

 

Hannah

 

From mid -October to mid- December 2010, the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results hosted an ediscussion on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The previous ediscussion focused on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), and as such, this ediscussion aimed to explore one level higher as MDGs often feed into PRSP. In addition, this September marked 5 year point before the MDGs are supposed to be achieved in 2015.

 

To focus of this ediscussion was to ask members what do they think about the MDGs; how do they link to their country’s PRSP; and do you members think that they will be achieved or not, and if so, why? Overall, this online discussion aim to give members the opportunity to:

• Assess progress has been made in achieving each of the eight goals;
• Describe how are implemented are implemented to achieve the MDGs and comment on MDG monitoring approaches;
•  Clarify roles and responsibilities of various actors (Governments, civil society, technical and financial partners, etc.);
•  Identify lessons learned, best practices and what worked.

 

The ediscussion ran from October 21 to December 16, 2010 and received 18 responses from 8 different participants. This is a somewhat low response rate and may be do to the fact that the topic of the previous discussion was similar and also there were a few technical difficulties (in some instances, members did not respond to each other but rather only to the original post leading to a disconnect in sequencing of the replies). Participants did highlight a number of interesting issues and ideas including:

 

• Defining Poverty: Members highlighted that there can be different definitions of poverty and emphasis on target goals depending on the priorities of their national governments. Poverty is sometimes better assessed through different measures that simply economic growth. In light of ranging definitions and interpretations of poverty, establishing MDG baselines as well as achieving the targets can sometimes be challenging.

 

• Indicators & Measurement: Measuring and defining the MDGs can have a large impact on achieving targets. Prof. William Easterly’s work on MDG targets and measurements were discussed. It may be possible that the MDGs are written in such a way and have measurements and targets that may be setting Africa up to fail, as Prof. Easterly discusses in his research: “One problem with the MDGs is that success on a goal is very sensitive to how you define the goal. There are actually three different choices you have to make to define a goal in 2015 relative to the 1990 baseline.” Members also raised the issue there are serious consequences when the same measurements are presumed to be suitable for indicating progress at every level of measurement and reporting (e.g., local, regional, national, and international). Using the same measurement to indicate progress at every level is likely to encourage inappropriate goal displacement and data gaming at some, if not all, levels. Furthermore, MDGs indicators maybe useful in judgments and prediction. However they don’t provide the underlying causes for the prevalence of any unsatisfactory stance that made that or this MDG as an objective of policy, and those reasons can be endless and strongly knotted together. Poverty usually comes with the convergence and alliance of multiple external and internal factors, which overwhelm the problem under focus.

 

• Challenges of Conflict: Some members highlighted the challenges that their countries face due to internal conflicts and/or wars. Living in a conflict area creates a host of additional challenges in terms of achieving the MDGs.

 

• Leadership & Accountability: A few members discussed the importance of ensuring that leadership at every level is accountable to their citizens and that information on MGD progress is shared, open, and access to all development stakeholders.

 

• Additional Considerations Meeting MDGs’ in Africa by their 2015 target date underline urgent need for all relevant stakeholders within and outside Africa to recognize: the magnitude and complexity of huge change processes that need to be strategically managed from village to global levels; the need for adequate levels of capacity building; the importance of organization, orientation and discipline of Evaluation / Program Commissioners, Managers and Service Providers; and the organization, orientation and discipline of citizens in each African country to be the driving force of transformation within their society.

Attachments:

• AfCoP_Ediscussion_Summary_-_Can_We_Achieve_the_MDGs[1].doc, 41 KB

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Permalink Reply by Ali Anwer on December 20, 2010 at 1:28pm

Dear colleagues,

 

Please find below a summary of the main findings and ideas presented by the members of the Francophone platform. Please don’t hesitate to give your thoughts on the subject.

Ali Anwer!

 

Members of the francophone platform participated in a lively debate on the relevance of setting development goals, their level of realism and chances of achieving the MDGs by 2015.

 

The ediscussion was launched on October 21, 2010 and ended with a final contribution, on December 17th. The ediscussion included many contributions from a dozen participants from Mali, Niger, DRC and Mauritania. Discussions allowed participants to share their experience on how their country intends to achieve the MDGs and how results are evaluated and monitored.

 

The ediscussion aimed to give participants the opportunity to:

 

• Assess what progress has been made in achieving each of the MDGs;
• Describe how are implemented are implemented to achieve the MDGs and comment on MDG monitoring approaches;
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of various actors (Governments, civil society, technical and financial partners, etc.);
• Identify lessons learned, best practices and what worked.

 

Throughout the weeks, the facilitator guided the discussions through a series of questions focusing on government policies towards achieving the MDGs; status and progress made to date; roles and responsibilities of stakeholders; and lessons learned and best practices.

The discussion was not as dynamic as we would have liked. Probably because the previous ediscussion focused on PRSP, which for many countries, include many results of the MDGs. Participants responded to the many questions raised, however, there was little dialogue or debate among members themselves. Key findings that generated the most interest from members are as follow:

 

• The MDGs are a minimum standard: According to participants, the MDGs are the minimum acceptable standard to provide a quality of life for citizens in order to induce social and economic development in Africa.The MDGs are primarily a global consensus on what is feasible for 2015. Any sound development program should include at a minimum, the 8 MDGs, because we can not conceive any social economic development without education, health, water, a sustainable environment, etc. Achieving the MDGs is the responsibility of the African countries as well as of the donors. The Millennium Declaration is a commitment by the entire international community to move towards the MDGs.

• The MDGs are difficult to achieve: However, African countries are struggling to reach that minimum mostly because the MDGs are not subject to any binding regulations for developing countries (conditionalities) even less for donors that support theim, which have, in many cases, their own aid programs. For some countries, 2015 is not a realistic target since most African countries, have developed and implemented macroeconomic policies (PRSP) without necessarily translating them in strategies or sectoral approaches modeled on the MDGs.

• The need to decentralize: To obtain meaningful results in terms of the MDGs, it is importante to reach the public and policymakers, not only globally but also (and mostly) at the village level. In this regard, decentralization initiatives, like the Millennium Villages (in Mali or elsewhere) can be extremely useful as they largely involve public participation in the definition of their own development plan, even in the most remote rural communities.

 

• Main obstacles: Some participants identified specific constraints to achieving the MDGs in their country such as political instability, civil war or risk of armed conflict. However, we can say that there is a consensus in that most countries have similar obstacles to achieving the MDGs. Such as:

- low capacity of stakeholders both locally and globally;
- inadequate funding to really make a difference at the community level;
- unreliability of statistical data as well as their lack of disaggregated data at the local level;
- poor governance at the economic, administrative and judicial level;
- lack of leadership in managing and coordinating aid programs;
- absence of a RBM culture; and,
-  ineffective monitoring and evaluation of projects and programs

• The critical issue of capacity development: For some participants, without coherent targeted capacity building programs in managing and implementing the MDGs for decision makers in government, civil society and the private sector, the MDGs will remain a utopian dream. These programs correspond to AfCoP aims and should focus on: developing a strong leadership; establishing institutional arrangements conducive to a sustainable development; promoting responsibility and accountability; and effective knowledge management.

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