The MDGs have received
unprecedented political commitment
and forged a strong consensus on poverty
eradication. But implementation lags,
raising questions about weak commitment
and sense of ownership. A content
analysis of current Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and donor policy
statements found that these documents
reflect a high degree of commitment to
the MDGs as a whole, but are selective in
which of the 34 goals and 60 indicators
are adopted as priority objectives.
The key issue is not whether there is
ownership of the MDGs as such, but how
they are being used (which of the MDG
priorities are being implemented, what
poverty reduction strategies are being
adopted, and how the MDGs are being
used as a policy tool) and whether they
reflect the objectives that world leaders
adopted in the Millennium Declaration
at the 2000 UN Summit.
Which of the MDGs?
PRSPs and donor policy statements
consistently emphasise income poverty
and social investments for education,
health and water, but not other targets
related to the empowerment and
inclusion of the most vulnerable, such
as gender violence or women’s political
representation. Neither the PRSPs nor
donor policy statements explore the
partnership efforts required to remove
the constraints on poverty reduction
posed by the global market environment,
nor the initiatives needed to move the
trade and aid agendas forward.
What Strategy for Poverty Reduction?
In most of the PRSPs, the strategy focuses
on economic growth and investment
in the social sectors, and reflects an
assumption that a “trickle-down” effect
would achieve the poverty reduction
objectives of the MDG agenda. Most of
them lack a strategy for pro-poor growth
and pro-poor social investments. Nor do
they contain strategies for building
democratic governance—creating an
environment to empower the poor and
addressing institutionalised obstacles
to their participation in economic,
social and political life.
The growth and social investment
approach, reminiscent of the 1980s,
ignores much that was learned during
the 1990s about the multidimensional
nature of poverty and about the
important role of empowerment and
participation as strategies for poverty
reduction. The 2000 World Development
Report, for example, notes that while
labour-intensive growth, social
protection and social investments are
necessary for poverty reduction, they
are not sufficient. The report expands
the strategy by proposing opportunity,
empowerment and security as pillars of
an effective poverty reduction strategy.
MDGs as a Tool
Global goals such as the MDGs can be
used as planning tools, benchmarks for
evaluating progress, or as normative
aspirations that command global
consensus. Because they are concrete,
global goals with quantitative and
time-bound targets can be powerful
in mobilising consensus around an
objective and in serving as benchmarks.
But applying global goals and targets as
national planning targets makes little
sense, since at a given point in time each
country has a unique set of constraints,
opportunities and priorities. Yet almost
all the PRSPs reviewed apply the MDGs as
planning targets in a mechanistic fashion,
by applying selected quantitative
targets without adapting them
to national circumstances.
Post-2015 Agenda
The MDGs were created to serve as
“indicators” of progress in implementing
the objectives of the Millennium
Declaration. While aligned
mechanistically with the MDGs, the policy
strategies in the PRSPs do not reflect the
Declaration’s core objective of making
globalisation a more inclusive process in
which the benefits would be more widely
shared, one rooted in the ethical values
of global solidarity and equality. The
agenda was therefore to redress the
increasing inequality between and within
countries resulting from liberalisation
and economic globalisation. Just as the
empowerment of poor people is a core
strategy in removing obstacles to equal
opportunities, so reform of global
economic institutions in order to create
a more level playing field was central
to integrating marginalised countries
into the global economy.
To align international development
more closely to the core objective of the
Millennium Declaration, the MDGs should
be refocused so as to take a human
rights-based approach. First, as an
instrument, local adaptation of targets
and processes should be promoted so
that the MDGs can be effective not only
as long-term objectives but also as
planning instruments. Second, as policy
agendas, they should focus on pro-poor
growth and democratic governance at
the national level, and on systemic
reforms in global governance.
Finally, as indicators of the complex
objectives of the Millennium Declaration,
the MDGs should include a goal on
reducing inequality within and
between countries.