Unexpected Obstacles to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

This week the UN opened its summit on achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This summit has convened at a time when the world is emerging from one of the worst financial crises since the Great Depression, facing the harsh consequences of multiple natural disasters, and grappling with how to secure sustainable development in post-conflict states. Looking to 2015 and beyond, the sustainability of progress increasingly depends on meeting unexpected obstacles such as natural disasters, environmental setbacks, climate change, and global economic crises.

Available data and estimates suggest that the goal of reducing the number of people living in absolute poverty by half will be met. However, achieving other MDGs -- related to health, education, environment and gender parity -- is not looking as promising. A good part of the progress made in the MDGs has been based mainly on the achievements of the middle-income countries in East Asia, especially China, where rapid economic growth has brought a large number of people out of poverty.

Recent natural disasters in Haiti and Pakistan have shown that the intensity and detrimental impact of these events are increasing, leaving many countries devastated. Although around fifty countries face recurrent earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and droughts, governments and external agencies do not recognize these risks and are failing to build in-disaster response and mitigation measures in their pre-disaster plans.

Developing countries are also among the most vulnerable to climate change, just by virtue of their geography. This vulnerability is further exacerbated by the growing threats to biodiversity, forests and water. In order to ensure that developing countries can adequately respond to climate change -- and have a say in the global discussion -- advanced economies should share the burden of financing the participation of the developing world.

Additionally, the global financial and economic crisis of the last two years has rolled back years of progress that now threaten the goals of poverty reduction and human development. Although it may not be possible to prevent global crises, countries can take actions to prepare for them. Countries need to have credible macroeconomic policies and effective social safety nets to protect vulnerable populations. It is also important to secure effective support to sectors susceptible to such crises using multi-sector approaches.

Vinod Thomas, Director-General and Senior Vice-President, Independent Evaluation Group

To read IEG's paper on Priorities in Meeting the MDGs: Lessons from Evaluation, please click here.

 

Comments

[OrangeSalad]

09:13 AM on 09/21/2010

If the repercussions of the actions of your organization and others like it weren't so tragic this would be a laughable post.
John Perkins, author of 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man', exposed the truth about the World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions several years ago.
Here is an excerpt, "...utilize international financial organizations to foment conditions that make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our government, and our banks....loans to develop infrastructure —electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks. A condition of such loans is that engineering and construction companies from our own country must build all these projects. In essence, most of the money never leaves the United States; it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in New York, Houston, or San Francisco.

Despite the fact that the money is returned almost immediately to corporations that are members of the corporatocracy...the recipient country is required to pay...principal plus interest. If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound of flesh...control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal...and another country is added to our global empire."
www.economichitman.com

as to how we handle our own infrastructure - Katrina

[Karen Hudes]

05:58 AM on 09/21/2010

Mr. Thomas' views must be taken with more than a grain of salt. The World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group is a misnomer because it is not independent. The World Bank's Staff Association is on record that staff are too intimidated to correct inaccurate evaluations from fear of getting fired. The World Bank's whistleblower protection policy is not best practice and for all that it is not applied. Reforms that provide for independent arbitration to protect whistleblowers required by 2005 US appropriations legislation were never implemented. Generally Accepted Accounting Standards are not applied to the external audit of the World Bank's internal controls. No wonder the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is refusing to approve a capital increase for the World Bank until there are reforms to guarantee independence, accountability and transparency at the World Bank.

[James17]

04:33 AM on 09/21/2010

Isn't it the World Bank that has kept most nations in grinding poverty by requiring the repayment of debts for loans most countries didn't want or need? That was the reason that some of these countries in So. America told the bank to go fly a kite. - not how I wanted to phrase that. Most loans cannot be accounted for having been taken by corrupt leaders. Is it no wonder that these nations are not prepared for these kinds of disasters when corrupt leaders and banksters bleed the people into poverty. A lot of things the UN does is not for the benefit of anyone, but for a handful of people that want to control the planet. To understand why I say this, take a look at this site. - http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/la21_198.html - The U.N. Plan for Your "Sustainable" Community. These things look good from some points of view, but if the U.N. has other plans for the world population then whatever they do is only for a price. They expect something in return and if it isn't what they want they have a military that goes in to get it. "grappling with how to secure sustainable development in post-conflict states." "sustainability" "-advanced economies- should < share the burden of financing the participation of the developing world." The writer of this is from a think tank of the World Bank and he has read the article from the link above.

[dbmetzger]

12:00 AM on 09/21/2010

Government 'Politicizing' Pakistan Aid
It has been over six weeks since heavy rains caused devastating floods across Pakistan. The country has received more than $1 billion in emergency aid, but some opposition politicians accuse the government of playing politics with international money. http://www.newslook.com/videos/251334-government-politicizing-pakistan-aid?autoplay=true