The Millennium Development Goals: aims and framework

Overview

Eight Millennium Development Goals, overall aim of the Millennium Development Goals and aims of the Millennium Development Goals.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What were the Millennium Development Goals and where did they come from?

   Model answer

   They were a set of eight global development targets agreed by the United Nations. World leaders from 189 member states met at the Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000 and signed the Millennium Declaration, a statement of shared values and commitments; the eight goals, with 21 measurable targets and a set of statistical indicators, were drawn up from it. Progress was measured against a baseline of 1990 and the deadline for achievement was the end of 2015.

2. 2

   Name the eight Millennium Development Goals.

   Model answer

   One, eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Two, achieve universal primary education. Three, promote gender equality and empower women. Four, reduce child mortality. Five, improve maternal health. Six, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Seven, ensure environmental sustainability. Eight, develop a global partnership for development.

3. 3

   What was the overall aim of the Millennium Development Goals?

   Model answer

   To reduce the worst forms of global poverty within a fixed period by committing every country to a small number of measurable, time-bound targets. They aimed to tackle poverty as a set of connected deprivations rather than as low income alone, which is why they covered hunger, schooling, gender, child and maternal health, disease and the environment together. They were also intended to make development efforts accountable, by publishing annual progress data against which governments and donors could be judged.

4. 4

   Who were the Millennium Development Goals mainly aimed at?

   Model answer

   The first seven goals set targets that were essentially to be met in LEDCs, since that is where extreme poverty, low enrolment and high child mortality were concentrated. MEDCs had no domestic targets of their own; their obligations were confined largely to the eighth goal, which asked them to provide aid, debt relief, fairer trade access and technology. This made the framework a set of commitments about poor countries rather than a shared agenda for all countries, and that became one of the main criticisms of it.

5. 5

   What was the eighth goal about, and why was it included?

   Model answer

   It called for a global partnership for development: more and better aid, with a reminder of the long-standing target of 0.7 per cent of national income; debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; a trading system offering better market access for LEDC exports; affordable access to essential medicines; and the spread of new technologies. It was included because the other seven goals were largely unachievable without MEDC action on money, debt and trade, and it was the only goal placing obligations on rich countries. It was also the vaguest goal, with the fewest measurable targets, and progress against it was correspondingly weak.

6. 6

   Why were the goals given numerical targets and a fixed deadline, and what were the drawbacks of doing so?

   Model answer

   Numbers and a deadline made progress measurable, forced governments and donors to be specific, focused attention and money on a few priorities, and allowed comparison between countries and over time. The drawbacks were that what is measurable is not always what matters most, so quality of schooling and health care was neglected in favour of countable enrolments and coverage; that targets encouraged reaching the easiest people first, since national averages improve fastest that way; and that a single global target applied to countries starting from very different positions was unfair to those beginning lowest.

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