Source:
Social Watch
The BCI uses an alternative methodology to register the progress – or lack of progress – towards compliance with the Millennium Development Goals. This index constitutes a new methodology that complements in numerous respects the human development indexes most commonly used. December 2009.
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In September 2005, the United Nations hosted a Millennium+5 Summit to evaluate the progress towards the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by over 150 Heads of State at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. Since 2000, however, many governments have not acted on their promises, and the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. While many NGOs argue that the MDGs are not ambitious enough, at the present rate of action, some observers speculate that the world will not meet the current goals in one hundred years, let alone by 2015. (From Global Policy Forum)
In 1995, the heads of State and Government of the world, gathered in Copenhagen at the World Summit for Social Development -amid the series of international conferences through which the United Nations renewed its global social agenda in the post-cold war era- made a solemn commitment to eradicate world poverty.
The Millennium Declaration was adopted in September 2000 by 189 world leaders who commited to "free all men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty" by the year 2015. For that purpose, eight Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) have been drawn that cope with a variety of issues such as the promotion of education, maternity health care, gender equality, poverty reduction policies, child mortality, AIDS and other fatal deseases. These goals were set for the year 2015 with reference to the international situation prevalent in 1990.
Upon undertaking to eradicate poverty, government leaders around the world clearly stated that for the first time in the history of humanity it was possible to achieve such a goal using the resources, knowledge and technologies now available to humankind.
And if this goal was feasible, then it would be outrageous not to achieve it. Hence the statement made in the Copenhagen Declaration that the eradication of poverty is not merely an ethical and moral imperative, but also a political one, as the international system will not be able to sustain itself much longer on such enormous inequalities as was rightly foreseen even then.
The Declaration contains numerous commitments to enhance the future of humanity in the new century. The United Nations Secretariat subsequently drafted the list of eight objectives, each with a set of targets and specific indicators. The first objective is to halve the proportion of the world’s people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger. The full list of MDGs is:
These goals are currently being discussed both internationally and nationally, with many organizations deliberating how to include them in the various global or national strategies.
Since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration, civil society organizations (CSOs) have have made some basic questions about the MDGs: Why should the public mobilise behind them when so many earlier UN goals remain unfulfilled? Do the MDGs apply to everyone in the global street? Do the Goals concern only aid? What trade-offs took place in reaching the "Monterrey Consensus" and how fair are they? Do the MDGs represent a new global bargain or the old-style impositions?
Many women's organizations are also exploring how to "engender" each MDGs goal, and are calling for a linkage, within the UN, of the Beijing ten year review and the Millennium Declaration five year review. There is enormous concern about the co-optation of "gender and development" and "gender mainstreaming" in a way that would seek to engender a failed development model.
Controversial discussions took place in the Copenhagen Plus Five summit regarding the report "A Better World For All", published by the UN Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). NGO pressing arguments resulted in the inclusion of point 8 of the MDG (see in this report "Background: Copenhangen +5, Geneva 2000").
Millennium +5 Summit In September 2005, the United Nations hosted the Millennium +5 Summit to review the progress so far in the implementation of the UN Millenium Declaration, adopted by 150 Heads-of-State in September 2000.
NGO’s, people’s organisations and movements, organised in caucuses, were outraged about the document released at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Social Summit +5, called A Better World for All.
“Why should the UN Secretary-General publish a joint report with donor countries (OECD/DAC), the IMF and the World Bank and not with the Group of 77?” asked Martin Khor, Director of the Third World Network during an official dialogue meeting between NGOs and the board of the UN Development Programme held in Geneva on 21 June 2000. By Roberto Bissio, Geneva, 23 June 2000.
The BCI uses an alternative methodology to register the progress – or lack of progress – towards compliance with the Millennium Development Goals. This index constitutes a new methodology that complements in numerous respects the human development indexes most commonly used. December 2009.
Contrary to repeated mainstream claims that poverty is diminishing fast in the world, the coverage of the basic needs required to escape poverty is slowing down and even regressing in many places, says the 2008 Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) released by Social Watch. September 2008.
The Social Watch Report 2005 presents two new indexes to measure social development, and concludes that the targets set for 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met. The new study shows that the international community has largely failed to live up to the commitments it adopted five years ago to eradicate poverty and promote development, a fact that has been highlighted with increasing urgency by civil society. September 2005.
What is really new in the promises made by the G8 leaders in Gleneagles? What should we demand from the leaders of the world when they meet next September in New York? In order to help answer those questions, the Social Watch secretariat has compiled a table comparing the language agreed by the heads of State and Government in different recent Summits: The World Summit on Social Development (1995), the G7 meeting of 1999, the Millennium Summit in 2000, the Financing for Development Summit in 2002 and the most recent G8 meeting in Scotland. July 2005.
Social Watch presented a comprehensive list of recommendations to eradicate poverty, diminish inequalities and achieve democratic governance structures at national and international level. Consequently, Social Watch called on the leaders of the international community to take bold and decisive action when they meet in New York in September 2005. The document was the result of extensive consultation with the national coalitions around the world that form the Social Watch network. Pdf format, 10 March 2005.
Poverty Reduction is now at the centre of development activities through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in which a global commitment was made to reduce poverty by 50% by 2015, and has become the overarching objective for both national and international stakeholders.
Paper prepared for the High-Level United Nations Development Conference on Millennium Development Goals, New York, 14-15 March 2005. In this paper the autor attempt to explain why he does not think the Millennium Goals represent a good social policy in the long run.The novelty in the Millennium Goal approach, he says, lies in the large emphasis on foreign financing of domestic social goals rather than developing/industrializing countries so they themselves, internally, can solve their own problems of redistribution.PDF Format
Latin America is leading the developing world in terms of statistical progress towards most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, it is failing on the main goal: halving the proportion of people living in poverty, according to findings of the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 released by the UN. July 2007.
Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation (February 2002). This report tracks the progress of poor countries under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative and likely progress in meeting the MDGs (pdf format).
ActionAid, June 2002. This report card on the MDGs, finds that at current rates of progress the poorest regions are set to fail to meet the targets. It urges the G8 to provide leadership on aid, trade, education and HIV/AIDS (pdf format).
The actual test of the EU's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals goes beyond the use of the EU's aid budget, or indeed the promotion of increased levels of ODA. This is an important contribution that the EU can make, but its global responsibility also require it to respond to challenges in other areas of the development paradigm, not least the macro-economic framework.
Latin America cannot count on foreign aid to help it reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 10 years from now. Nor can it meet these targets solely on the strength of economic growth, because the gap between rich and poor remains the biggest hurdle, according to U.N. experts. February 2005.
The new "World Population 2005" report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) calls upon world leaders to fulfil promises made to the world’s women and young people in order to meet poverty reduction goals agreed to at the 2000 Millennium Summit and reaffirmed by last month’s World Summit in New York. Investing in women and young people - who constitute the majority of the world’s population — will accelerate long-term development. Failure to do so may entrench poverty for generations to come. October 2005.
"The Millennium Development Goals were generated nontransparently by the United Nations, itself simultaneously moving to embrace the Washington Consensus with its pro-corporate Global Compact, endorsement of ‘Type 2’ Public-Private Partnership privatisation strategies, and growing collaboration with the World Bank. Aspirational targets like the MDGs are far less important than the actual social struggles underway across the world for basic needs and democracy. Campaigning for MDGs distracts us from solidarity with the real agents of progressive social and environmental history". Report on the Millennium Development Goals and the anti-poverty work: "Working seriously, bottom-up, with the existing anti-poverty, global justice movements, would constitute a much wiser use of resources, energy and political". By Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. August 2005, pdf format.
There is a direct and critical link between environmental degradation and rural poverty. This publication illustrates the tragic cycle between the over-exploitation of the environment; loss of cultural, political and economic self-determination; inequity; hunger; and poverty.(PDF document). July 2005.
Not even a die-hard optimist would suggest that the Millennium Development Goals can be met through economic growth alone. Politically controlled redistribution is better than its reputation. Theoretical and empirical studies show that the millennium goals of poverty reduction cannot be met without redistributive steps. June 2005.
Less obsessive macroeconomic stabilization policies are needed to effectively reduce poverty, argues a policy discussion paper by UNDP expert Terry McKinley. The paper analyzes economic policies in countries that are linking their poverty reduction strategies to the Millennium Development Goals and focuses on fiscal and monetary policies, public spending, financial deregulation and privatization of public services. January 2005.
Economic growth in advanced countries created Third World poverty in its wake: not simply that the Third World is poor in comparison with the industrialised world; rather that it is poor because development of the industrial system in Western Europe and North America changed and impoverished many societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America, through colonialism, imperialism and extractive terms of trade. By Sharmila Joshi, January 2005.
On the World Food Day, the development community is divided over the best course of action to fight malnutrition and hunger, the leading causes of death and sickness worldwide. Every day, nearly one million people across Africa depend on food aid and nearly 110 million people will need it over the next year, according to the United Nations.
This page provides access to different articles that deal with the international commitment to universal education assumed in the Millennium Summit in 2000 with a special focus on the girls that are being left aside. May 2004.
Ilusion nternational (II), a federation of 200 organizations advocating for the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities worldwide, calls on world leaders and governments to step up efforts to ensure that the world's most vulnerable people are included in efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Debt is a major obstacle to the provision of safe water, food, education and health care in all of the heavily indebted poor countries and most middle income ones. Yet, countries get debt relief only if they meet the arbitrary criteria agreed upon by their creditors. A CIDSE-Caritas Internationalis Paper, October 2003.
Addressing sexual and reproductive health is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, reveals a new report released by the UN Millennium Project at the Global Health Council's 33rd Annual International Conference on Global Health. Public Choices, Private Decisions: Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals confirms that combating HIV/AIDS, promoting gender equality, improving maternal and child health, and fighting poverty are all greatly helped by improving the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services in developing nations. June 2006.
This report states that although some progress has been made, health outcomes have been unacceptably poor across much of the developing world according to. Inequitable health systems are the key obstacle, including particularly a crisis in health personnel and the urgent need for sustainable health financing. August 2005.
The World Health Organization launched a report on the occasion of the World Health Day 2005 that states that 11 million children under five years of age will die from causes that are largely preventable while more than half a million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after. An appalling number of which live in developing countries and have no access to basic healthcare and sanitation. Reducing this toll in line with the Millenium Development Goals is therefore an urgent point in the international agenda. April 2005.
The World Bank warned that millions of children and hundreds of thousands of pregnant women are still dying every year worldwide despite a high-profile global pact that promised to sharply cut those deaths by the year 2015. But some of the World Bank's many critics say the institution itself is partly to blame for recommending policies that often deprive the poor of good health care, urge privatisation of health systems, and tacitly encourage imposing higher user fees on services. November 2004.
Several participants expressed concern that the meeting should clarify means for mutual reinforcement in implementing the Monterrey Consensus and attaining the Millennium Development Goals. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, said the world must concentrate all of its efforts on reaching the Millennium Development Goals and fighting poverty. "A just war was the one against hunger and poverty, disease, illiteracy and exclusion, and injustice".
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the world was falling short in meeting the objectives agreed by global leaders two years ago in the Millennium Declaration and outlined a series of steps being taken by the United Nations and its partners to help accelerate progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Eveline Herfkens, executive coordinator of the Millennium Campaign, said that leaders from rich countries "often come to the UN, make beautiful tear-jerking speeches, put their signatures to fantastic declarations, and then take the plane back". They must now "live up to what they promise". There is a limit to what the UN can do, she said. "The UN cannot enforce compliance, we can't send the police after them". May 2005.
Introduced by South Africa on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and adopted by a vote of 133-4-47, the resolution highlighted key issues for consideration by goverments, at the national and international levels, in order to ensure the right to development for everyone, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (pdf format).
The Minister stated that the battle against war and fear was the essence of the Millennium Summit outcomes, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Action; the compass had been pointed clearly at development; her Government was firmly committed to the principles of multilateralism and the peaceful resolution of crises, as well as enhanced development efforts; and sustainable development and international solidarity were high on its agenda.
Senior U.N. officials and civil society groups are urging the rich industrialised countries to increase funding for developing nations struggling to provide clean drinking water, sanitation and affordable hosing to millions of poor. The call comes as more than 75 development and environment ministers from around the world gather here for a two-week meeting to decide what practical steps they can take to achieve the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to water, sanitation and human settlements. April 2005.
The current draft of the Summit outcome declaration contains strong statements on fighting poverty. However, the United States has proposed deleting key wording on tackling global poverty and disease. The proposed US changes include cutting all references to the Millennium Development Goals - the internationally agreed targets for halving world poverty. The US also wants to cut all references to small arms controls and weaken wording on all governments’ responsibility to protect civilians in cases of mass killing such as the Rwandan genocide. August, 2005.
Calling for action, not more words, to fulfil pledges already made, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 21 March laid before the General Assembly his plan for United Nations reform, ranging from greater investment in developing countries to steps to fight catastrophic terrorism and collective action against genocide and ethnic cleansing. He did include women's reproductive health in a number of its key recommendations as well. March 2005, Pdf format.
The leaders of the industrialised North and the developing South must hold
regular meetings, and global reforms must be instituted if the Millennium
Development Goals are to be achieved, according to the Helsinki Process meeting
at the fifth World Social Forum (WSF). January 2005.
We have the opportunity in the coming decade to cut world poverty by half. Billions more people could enjoy the fruits of the global economy. Tens of millions of lives can be saved. The practical solutions exist. The political framework is established. And for the first time, the cost is utterly affordable. Whatever one’s motivation for attacking the crisis of extreme poverty—human rights, religious values, security, fiscal prudence, ideology—the solutions are the same. All that is needed is action. This report recommends the way forward. It outlines a way to attain this bold ambition. It describes how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. January 2005.
While there have been some notable improvements across the globe in terms of access to water, sanitation, education, healthcare and employment, inequality has grown faster in the last 15 years than in the past 50, as UNDP reports over the years consistently indicate. The gaps between the rich and the poor, resource inequality, consumption, access to healthcare, water, employment: all these gaps keep growing. By Sharmila Joshi, January 2005.
Parliamentarians from around the world have called for greater action to defend sexual and reproductive rights of all individuals. Over 130 parliamentarians from 90 countries committed themselves to a set of actions that would help realize the ICPD Programme of Action. October 2004.
Alliance2015, a partnership of six European development organisations says that although there has been a growing focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the European Union (EU) in recent years, there is a ”big gap between policy and implementation, between theory and reality, and between rhetoric and results”. July 2004.
In this report on Goal 8, the first by an OECD country, the danish government pledges to cancel all official bilateral debt and support further debt relief to countries that have been affected by, for example, natural disasters and similar events. PDF format.
The developed world must meet its financing commitments if poor countries are to see a rise in living standards in accordance with a set of internationally endorsed development targets, the UNDP's Human Development Report asserts.
It is more than 30 years since the developed world made a promise to transfer 0.7% of GDP in development assistance, and only a small handful of nations have ever achieved that target. Useful information.
Gender, trade, environment and indigenous peoples are the issues analized in a paper published by the CSO Division of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Four viewpoints are developed by members of Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice, Third World Network, Tebtebba Foundation and Center for Science and Environment. April 2005.
In light of the shifting trends in global governance, what are civil society's proposals to build a more democratically governed world? What visions and strategies can civil society, diverse in its interests but potentially united in its actions, propose as means of attaining global democracy? The Global Democracy Conference 2005 (G05) that took place in Montreal, Canada from May 29th to June 1st 2005 gathered participants from civil society organizations together with representatives of governments, private entities, and intergovernmental organizations to share civil society perspectives on the key issues that determine the state of global democracy. October 2005.
CSOs pose five basic questions about the MDGs: Why should the public mobilise behind them when so
many earlier UN goals remain unfulfilled? Do the MDGs apply to everyone in the global street? Do
the Goals concern only aid? What trade-offs took place in reaching the "Monterrey Consensus" and
how fair are they? Do the MDGs represent a new global bargain or the old-style impositions? Pdf format.
If the current slogan of "mainstreaming trade in development" is to stress development, it
demands a focus on mainstreaming development concerns in trade and trade policy. This kind of
emphasis points to reforming current policies, rules and conditionalities in international trade,
finance, investment, intellectual property rights and aid. WTO processes should become more
transparent and participatory and the Organisation's mandate on non-trade issues needs to be
reconsidered. The global financial architecture also requires reform, especially with regard to
capital flows and investment. Pdf format.
A worldwide report on CSO response to the Millennium Declaration and the Goals it proclaims
brings to light significant regional differences concerning the realisation of the different
MDGs. It also indicates the importance CSOs attach to policy and institutional reform, along
with the ongoing commitment of many to monitoring government performance, as well as to their own
practical implementation of strategies for meeting the MDGs within the stipulated timeframe. Pdf format.
With the aim of spreading and sensitizing civil society on the objective 8 of the Millennium Goals: Develop a Global Partnership for Development, the United Nations Association in Spain (ANUE) organized a meeting in Barcelona inviting civil society representatives to discuss the work ahead in looking for the implementation of concrete actions to achieving the goals before the feeling of despair that came up at the midpoint (2007) that we won’t make it in 2015. This is the presentation that Fanny Gomez, representing the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and the Women’s Popular Education Network (REPEM) gave in the meeting named "Global Alliance for Development: Getting to the end of the way to meeting the Millennium Development Goals" held in Barcelona. November 2007.
The Civil Society Development Forum 2007 (“A Platform for Development: Countdown to 2015”) gathered together over 600 participants from 75 countries representing over 200 NGOs and wrapped-up its 3-day proceedings with the adoption of this Final Statement. The Forum took place in Geneva from 28-30 June 2007. July 2007 (pdf version).
The world’s rich countries have had time to chew over the issues affecting the poorest nations. The World Summit had to be a time to swallow hard and take action. Civil society hearings had been held in June to get civil society input to the formal process, but the views expressed by civil society at these pre-summit hearings do not appear to have been seriously considered. September 2005.
In 2001 the United Nations launched the Millennium Development Goals to mobilize global support to end extreme poverty.
Unlike many international conference declarations and programs for action, the goals have specific targets and dates for accomplishment. Because of this, and reflecting the high level endorsement, they have fed a revival of interest and debate about development and the eradication of poverty. They have stimulated hope and expectations. As a result, if the MDGs remain unfulfilled, there will be rising cynicism and millions will be left in unnecessary destitution, disease, and hopelessness. Therefore, governments, civil society, the private sector, and international organizations face a crucial challenge this year to take prompt action to ensure commitments will be met and to remove roadblocks that frustrate the eradication of poverty and the achievement of greater global justice. July 2005.
General Assembly President's summary of the Informal Interactive Hearings of the General Assembly with NGOs, civil society organizations and the private sector, which took place in New York on 23-24 June 2005. The draft outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly of September 2005 should have given greater attention to the rights, needs and contributions of groups such as indigenous peoples, persons discriminated against based on race, persons with disabilities, children, youth and older people, both in time of peace and during armed conflicts. 21 July, 2005, pdf format.
It is now widely accepted that under current conditions the Millennium Development Goals will not be met for another 100 years. This is particularly the case for the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The high debt service payments of many countries is a major obstacle to efforts to reach these agreed goals and achieve social justice in countries where very large numbers of people are suffering. We welcome any serious efforts to secure further debt cancellation but concrete commitments to date fall very far short of
what civil society groups demand. The claim that these proposals represent “up to 100% multilateral debt cancellation” is extremely misleading. June 2005.
Report published by the South Centre, institution with member nations from the South on the occation of the 2nd South Summit ending in Doha in June 16, 2005.
The UN General Assembly Special Summit will be held in September to review the implementation of the MDGs. If they are to decide what to do in the next decade to meet their promise to reduce extreme poverty by half by 2015, they should know that their performance so far has been very disappointing. And they must decide to do better. June 2005.
The reforms proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are both pragmatic and ambitious. They urgently require public support, so that they are not ignored or trimmed down by world leaders when they meet in New York next September and, instead, take concrete actions to restore the United Nations’ credibility and act decisively against poverty. The proposals of the Secretary-General certainly do not reflect what many NGOs hold to be necessary. Instead, they show what the Secretary-General believes is achievable in the short term, given the present situation in world politics. April 2005.
Further to the opportunity provided by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) to gather NGO comments and observations on the Secretary-General's Report "In Larger Freedom: towards freedom, security and human rights for all", NGLS received an important number of submissions from the members of the NGO community. They are currently reading and digesting the content of the submissions with a view to producing an overview report in time for the 23-24 June 2005 General Assembly Hearings with Civil Society.
Presentations made at the IGNIS-Conference, in Oslo in September 2004 that provide different perspectives on the MDGs, from their origin to their further implementation, as well as an understanding of the various aspects
of poverty and the ways of addressing it to attain sustainable development.
It is the third annual report on civil society engagement with the Millennium Declaration and its Development Goals (MDGs). This report is based on an extensive survey directed to civil society organizations from over 82 countries. The findings highlight the strengths and weaknesses of UN efforts to involve civil society organizations at a country level and calls for a scaling up of financial and political commitments towards the MDGs. September 2004, pdf format.
At a recent one day workshop, organised by the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), Action Aid, African Monitor and the National Development Agency (NDA), civil society organisations (CSOs) gathered together to evaluate the progress made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the continent and in South Africa. South African CSOs have continuously voiced concerns over the progress made in meeting the MDGs by the year 2015. Although 2007 marks the half-way point for attaining millennium goals, South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, are not on track to achieve the goals. While CSOs acknowledge that some gains have been made, they maintain that progress in reducing extreme poverty is insufficient. August 2007.
A centre for animating campaigns in diverse sectors for the MDGs. The Millennium Campaign "encourages citizens around the world to hold their governments to account for their promises in the Millennium Declaration".
It is a partnership of six like-minded non-government organizations working in the field of development cooperation. The purpose of the Alliance is to fight poverty more effectively by cooperating on various levels, working together in developing countries as well as on campaigns to influence public and political opinion in Europe . By joining forces, we will be able to meet the challenges and changing demands of donors. Alliance2105 seeks the full achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The proposed ACSF 2004 is a main follow-up to the ACSF 2002 and at the same time a regional preparatory process and forum for the "NGO Forum for Millennium+5" in 2005. It also serves as a follow-up meeting to the Asian NGOs’ consultation meeting on UN-civil society relations (Bangkok, Oct. 22-23, 2003) by UN High-level Panel on UN-Civil Society Relations.
Mobilizing the next generation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals: "The Pan-Asian Youth Leadership Summit aims to help the next generation of leaders in the region face these challenges. Organized by the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the Global Peace Initiative of Women in close consultation with the United Nations Programme on Youth, the Summit will enable young men and women to develop and implement programmes to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and provide a global platform for their voices".
Africa 2015 is an advocacy campaign designed to create sustained awareness and engage multiple audiences and constituencies in fighting poverty and the spread HIV/AIDS. The effort aims to mobilize and coalesces all sectors of society to advocate for the MDGs.
ANND aims at raising the awareness of civil societies in the Arab countries and building their capacities in order to enable them to monitor and to advocate the social and economic policies of their own governments. Moreover, ANND, as a regional focal point of Social Watch, will be part of its global campaign on the MDG and is planning to use the MDGs as a tool in order to launch the awareness campaign among the civil societies in Arab countries. Furthermore, ANND will encourage and support its members to elaborate relevant national targets and to improve appropriate indicators.
The MDGs are a potentially powerful tool for progress on development, including around gender. However there are inadequacies in the MDGs content: they instrumentalise women as girls and mothers; many key areas are ignored such as conflict, security and reproductive and sexual health and rights; accountability mechanisms are stronger for developing countries than developed countries. This report recommends re-grounding the MDGs in human rights instruments, including the BPFA, the ICESCR, and CEDAW, and at the same time building on the political will mobilised around the MDGs to support human rights obligations which lack political clout. To these ends links should be fostered between the two reviews in 2005: the Commission on the Status of Women which reviews implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in March, and the review of progress on the Millennium Declaration and the Millenium Development Goals in September. This paper was commissioned by the Gender and Development (GAD) Network and made possible through the support of the UK Department for International Development and GAD Network members. By Genevieve Renard Painter, October 2004.
Published at the halfway point to the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs, this report presents clear evidence that women’s empowerment and gender equality are drivers for reducing poverty, building food security, reducing maternal mortality, and enhancing the effectiveness of aid. July 2009.
The Beijing Platform for Action and Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action are much stronger commitments to social development than the MDGs. They are also more attentive to unequal economic structures and policies and the human rights dimensions of poverty and gender inequality. The MDGs are not explicit enough on these dimensions or on the unequal power relations between rich and poor countries. October 2006.
Any discussion on attaining the MDGs must start with an understanding of the different positions of women and men, girls and boys in society. A WEDO information and action guide. Pdf format
In 2000, world leaders representing all 191 countries that belong to the United Nations pledged to achieve these eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Since then, the goals have become the main framework for development policy worldwide. They have even been adopted by many of the international agencies and banks that control the budgets of most poor countries, giving the MDGs real currency in the political economy of UN declarations. The MDGs create opportunities for advancing women's human rights, but only if we are able to participate effectively in the process of realizing the goals. November 2005.
The 2005 Summit was deeply affected by widespread distrust of U.S. motives and frustrations with its unilateralist stance against including any reference to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the Summit Outcome document is of special significance to women’s rights advocates because it includes, for the first time in a UN agreement at the level of Heads of State, particularly detailed language on gender equality. October 2005.
On the agenda was a review of the progress made towards meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals, as well as discussions on the proposed UN reforms. What were some of the outcomes? How were women’s voices heard at the Summit? What are the implications for women’s advocacy and real, positive change? AWID interviewed Zonibel Woods about some of these issues. September 2005.
The United Nations has been a galvanizing force for women in the past two decades, facilitating their efforts to define a comprehensive global agenda for peace and human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and poverty eradication and sustainable development. More than 190 governments have made commitments to this global agenda yet there continues to be a large gap between these promises and implementation at the international and national level. 1 September 2005.
Critics of the MDG have said that the target goals are over simplistic and too quantitative. The indicators chosen for monitoring reflect only the data which already exist and do not take into account the myriad of differences among countries and cultures. "Though the MDG treats gender equality as an explicit goal, its indicators of progress nonetheless are reduced to mere numbers such as: the ratio of boys and girls at all levels of education; gender disparities in adult literacy; the percentage of women in waged employment in the non-agricultural sector; and the percentage of women holding seats in national parliament".These indicators do not take into consideration other key areas for which there are no international comparable statistics such as the frequency of child-brides or violence against women, which have as much influence on how girls are educated as say, how much budget a government decides to set aside for them. August 2005.
Exhaustive information provided on Peace Women website: proposed civil society amendments on the Draft Outcome Documents, useful information on women's networks participation, etc.
African Union Member States are asked to recognize the importance of this Protocol in ensuring African women their rights. Rape in Congo, Sudan and Uganda are rampant; Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) plagues girls and women in Ethiopia, Mali, Sierra Leone and Somalia amongst other countries; forced early marriages steal young girls of their childhood in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. July 2005.
About 250 women from eighteen African countries representing grassroots movements, activists, parliamentarians, councilors, scholars and mothers from east, west and southern Africa met Kenya from May 9-11, 2005 to speak on their experiences with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and poverty reduction prescriptions implemented under various national Poverty Reduction Strategy Plans. The women were angry. They were angry with their governments who had mortgaged their futures as well as of their children without having a say in the matter. June 6, 2005. Pdf format.
The report, elaborated by Eurostep, Social Watch, WIDE and Karat, was launched in New York. This report marks a crucial meeting of civil society organisations in Europe. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security. Pdf format, March 2005.
The Millennium Campaign, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and the Heinrich Böll Foundation organized a three-day consultation with women’s organizations to brainstorm on key opportunities and challenges in 2005, focusing on the ten-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action and the five-year review of progress in implementing the Millennium Declaration. December 2004.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should incorporate sexual and reproductive rights, which were ignored in the targets and indicators adopted by the international community in 2000, along with the recommendations of U.N. conferences on population and women. November 30, 2004.
The governments of the world agreed on... “Discrimination against women,denying or limiting as it does their equality of rights with men,is fundamentally unjust and constitutes an offence against human dignity.” Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Article 1.1967. “We are convinced that ..women ’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality,development and peace”. Conference on Women -Beijing Platform for Action ,Paragraph 13.1995.
If for most of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean human security is a long way from becoming a reality, this is especially true for women, for whom human security is only a dream. In the region, women have suffered historically from discrimination and social exclusion in the non-recognition of their specific rights as women and the violence to which they are subjected.
There is much discussion among women’s organizations about the MDGs — on whether and how to engage with them. From Internet conversations and articles to national and international meetings, women are exploring whether the MDGs are useful tools for advancing their agenda of gender equality, economic justice and peace.
This site is a collaborative effort by the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, the OECD/DAC Network on Gender Equality, and the Multilateral Development Bank Working Group on Gender.
Special issue on the Millennium Development Goals, the main critiques by the international women's movement, as well as the challenges and opportunities that the MDGs present for the advancement of women's rights already achieved in the Conferences of the nineties. By Ana Inés Obando.
In a presentation at the UNDP Caribbean Regional MDGs Conference, held in Barbados, 7-9 July 2003, Peggy Antrobus examined how the Millennium Development Goals could be made to work to promote women’s equality and empowerment in the CARICOM region.
Review conducted by Kalyani Menon-Sen, an independent gender expert who is currently Gender Advisor to the Human Development Resource Centre, UNDP India. Pdf format.
There is a growing pessimism among indigenous peoples that the MDGs can be achieved. Can the MDGs be made relevant for indigenous peoples? This paper was submitted to the 4th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, New York, 16-27 May 2005.
The fourth session of the Permanent Forum will take place from 16 to 27 May 2005 at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York. The theme of the session is: “Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples”, with special emphasis on Goal 1: “Eradicate extreme poverty and Hunger” and Goal 2: “Achieve universal primary education”.
The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues recommends that agencies and bodies of the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations rethink the concept of development, with the full participation of indigenous peoples in development processes, taking into account the rights of indigenous peoples and the practices of their traditional knowledge.
2005: G8, Millenium+5 and the WTO Ministerial Meeting
"What took place at the UN during the few weeks leading to the Summit was a disgrace - an ugly diplomatic spectacle where a large majority of Member States saw their carefully drafted outcome document blown up before their eyes, and where the entire process of delicate inter-governmental negotiations was held hostage to a small minority pulling in opposite directions." stated the CIVICUS´ UN Representative, Vicente García-Delgado. September 2005.
Following weeks of intense negotiations and numerous draft texts, the General Assembly (GA) approved a final outcome document for the Millennium+5 Summit. Heads of state who gathered at UN headquarters for the summit approved the text that provoked mixed feelings - a few were pleased with the text, while many others felt that priority issues had become diluted to the point of meaninglessness. 13 September 2005.
In September 2005, the United Nations will host a Millennium +5 Summit to evaluate the progress towards the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by over 150 Heads of State at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. Leaders also resolved to meet a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include halving the proportion of people living in poverty and hunger by 2015. As part of the preparatory process, the General Assembly held Hearings with Civil Society, NGOs and the Private Sector from 24-25 June 2005.
The Bush administration has declared war on the world. The 450 changes that Washington is demanding to the action agenda that will culminate at the September 2005 United Nations Summit don’t represent U.N. reform. They are a clear onslaught against any move that could strengthen the United Nations or international law.
The 60-year-old United Nations, criticised for its inherent structural political flaws, is so preoccupied with restructuring itself that the upcoming Millennium Summit is in danger of losing sight of one of its primary goals: a plan of action to primarily eradicate extreme hunger and poverty by 2015. "Development was being moved to the back burner --mostly by spreading the perception that issues surrounding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed upon and that there was nothing to negotiate", said Saradha Iyer of the Malaysian-based Third World Network, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that closely monitors the world body. August 2005.
This section offers a collection of news and reports on the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong, China, from 13 to 18 December 2005.
The 2005 edition of the Group of eight (G8) Summit that took place in Gleneagles, Scotland 6-8 July joined leaders of the eight most powerful countries - the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. This year's meeting was marked by the decision made by host Britain to build the meeting on two basic pillars: poverty in Africa and climate change. Choike's in depth report.
UN-NGLS has published a "Roundup" on key aspects of Millennium Development Goals activity: reporting, campaigning and research. It contains country reporting schedules, listing of Millennium Project Task Force coordinators, focal point contacts, as well as web-based links.
Roundup 121 - March 2005: UNEP & the Millennium Development Goals
23rd Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. The 23rd session of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC-23/GMEF) was held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi from 21-25 February 2005. It brought together over 1,000 participants, including delegates from 136 countries, representatives of UN agencies, international organizations, academia, NGOs, indigenous peoples, women’s groups, trade unions, business and industry, and youth organizations to reflect on the importance of a healthy environment for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The weeklong meeting was preceded by the 6th Global Civil Society Forum, held from 19-20 February, also in Nairobi. Pdf format.
On 17 January 2005, the Millennium Project presented its much anticipated report, entitled "Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals", to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The report is a compendium of specific cost-effective measures that, if followed by Member States, would cut extreme poverty in half and radically improve the lives of at least one billion people in poor developing countries by 2015. Pdf format.
The national examples outlined in this Roundup show how the Millennium Development Goals are trying to raise the level of engagement of regular citizens, civil society groups and parliamentarians with their government's development commitments and
achievements in order to raise the level of accountability of policy makers and deliver more results for citizens (see NGLS Roundups 98 and 105).
The recently launched Human Development Report 2003 says that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are an “idea whose time has come” and that they are propelling governments, aid agencies and civil society organizations everywhere to reorient their work. Pdf format.
A status report prepared by 25 UN agencies and international organizations on reaching the internationally endorsed Millennium Development Goals has been issued Thursday, 9 June 2005 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Pdf format.
Report that looks at the differences across countries in terms of their chances of attaining the Goals and, wherever possible, the differences between trends in various segments of the population -classified by gender, ethnic group, age group, place of residence and income stratum- as a means of helping to pinpoint the areas in which efforts must be redoubled in order to ensure that advances are of benefit to all. June 2005.
MDGNet is a UN ‘virtual network’ that supports a global dialogue for achieving MDGs. The network is a platform for practitioners to exchange information and experience on implementation of policies and strategies in support of achieving the MDGs, monitoring and reporting of MDG progress, and MDG advocacy and campaigning activities. MDGNet was initiated in 2002 as a follow-up to the World Summit and the signing of the Millennium Declaration. Its membership consists of representatives of UN agencies and development partners in civil society, governments and the private sector. The network has currently over 3400 members.
That report represents the Secretary-General's contribution to the Millennium Summit+5 that will take place from 14-16 September 2005. As part of the preparatory process, the General Assembly will hold Hearings with Civil Society, NGOs and the Private Sector from 24-25 June 2005.
Advanced version of the Report of the Secretary-General on the modalities, format and organization of the high-level plenary meeting of the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which is a follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit. Pdf format. February 2005.
A centre for animating campaigns in diverse sectors for the MDGs. The Millennium Campaign "encourages citizens around the world to hold their governments to account for their promises in the Millennium Declaration".
The ECLAC has a Web Portal on the Millennium Development Goals. Focused on a regional perspective, this Portal offers statistical information on MDG indicators for countries in the region. Additionally, it shows ECLAC's MDG-related work as well as background information and links to major MDG websites. This Portal is available in English and Spanish and is constantly being updated.
Accommodating people’s growing demands for their inclusion in society, for respect of their ethnicity, religion and language, takes more than democracy and equitable growth. Also needed are multicultural policies that recognize differences that recognize differences, champion diversity and promote cultural freedoms, so that all people can choose to speak their language, practice their religion, and participate in shaping their culture—so that all people can choose to be who they are. July 2004.
The Millennium Project's research focuses on identifying the operational priorities, organizational means of implementation, and financing structures necessary to achieve the MDGs.
A framework of 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development goals was adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations Secretariat and IMF, OECD and the World Bank.
UNDP and many partners, including other UN Development Group agencies and the World Bank, are already well underway with a number of pilots to lead country teams in monitoring and reporting on goals.
This Web site provides access to resources to promote better understanding of and sharing of tools for addressing gender equality in all of the MDGs — from literature on gender equality as it relates to each goal, to tools for advocacy and action. It is a collaborative effort of the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, the OECD/DAC Network on Gender Equality, and the Multilateral Development Bank Working Group on Gender.
