(Sample Materials) Economic Survey & Government’s Plan, Programme & Policies - "Millennium Development Goals"

Contents of the Chapter:

• Historical Background & the Genesis of the Millennium Development Goals
• MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF)
• Global Goals after 2015
• World MDG Report 201
• MDGs : Achievements & issues
• MDG - India Country Report 2011

Historical Background & the Genesis of the Millennium Development Goals

The period from 1950 to 1980 witnessed economic growth at a respectable pace across the developing world, which was a radical departure from the stagnation in the colonial era, but this growth did not translate into well-being for ordinary people. Further, the era of markets and globalization (1980 to 2000), belied the expectations and promises of the ideologues. Economic growth across the developing world, except for China and India, was much slower and more volatile than the preceding three decades. What is more, there was a discernible increase in economic inequalities between countries and people, while poverty and deprivation persisted in large parts of the developing world.

During 1980’s the ‘Washington Consensus’, resting squarely on neoliberal economic theory, had dominated the international debate (Gsänger 1996a; Eberlei 2000). It found expression above all in the stabilisation and structural adjustment programs (SAPs) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank that provided for consolidation of the current accounts and budgets of indebted developing countries, continuous and non-interventionist monetary and fiscal policies and structural market reforms (market opening, deregulation and privatisation). Poverty reduction was largely equated with higher economic growth, the assumption being that such growth would, sooner or later, benefit the poor through trickle-down effects.

In the early 1990s, however, it gradually become apparent that this assumption was, at least in its then current form, not tenable. Indeed, in many developing countries – above all in Africa, but also in Latin America – poverty had even worsened under the SAPs (Decker 2003, 488; Betz 2003, 456). The first Human Development Report (HDR) released by UNDP in 1990 acted as counter piece to World Banks World development Report (El Masry 2003, 472) as it argued that economic growth by no means automatically ensured social development. The Report also critically brought out the one dimensional, purely economic understanding of poverty that had been in vogue in the development debate so far.

The disappointing balance of development in the 1980s also led to the calling, in the early 1990s, of a number of international conferences in the UN framework that dealt with various aspects of social and ecological development leading to ‘the decade of world conferences’ .One conference of particular importance for what was to come was the 1995 Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development. Among other things, the conference adopted a 10-point Declaration on Social Development that later formed the basis of the MDGs. At the end of the decade, there was a large measure of consensus on numerous development related issues and it was this that paved the way for the adoption of the Millennium Declaration. In particular, the conferences served to establish a broad consensus on a common goal system as well as on strategic approaches for translating it into practice.

In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was adopted at the Millennium Summit, held in the framework of the 55th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). The summit was attended by the heads of state or government of nearly all UN member states. In the wake of the Millennium Summit, a joint working group was constituted with representatives from the UN, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other international organisations. It extracted a number of measurable targets from two of the eight chapters of the Millennium Declaration – Chapter 3 “Development and poverty eradication”) and Chapter 4 (“Protecting our common environment”) and specified these goals by 18 targets and 48 indicators. Most of the goals are set to be implemented by 2015. In September 2001, the MDGs were approved by the 56th UN General Assembly. The international community was thus in possession of a common goal system that has been agreed upon by all relevant actors and that is both measurable and set to be implemented by a fixed date.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and targets come from the Millennium Declaration, signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of State and Government, in Setember 2000. The eight (8) Goals as under:

• Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
• Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
• Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
• Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB
• Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
• Goal 8:Develop Global Partnership for Development

Eighteen (18) targets were set as quantitative benchmarks for attaining the goals. The United Nations Development Group (UNDG) in its 2nd Guidance note (endorsed in 2003) on ‘Country Reporting on the Millennium Development Goals’ provided a framework of 53 indicators (48 basic + 5 alternative) which are categorized according to targets, for measuring the progress towards individual targets.

Subsequently the targets and indicators under the 8 goals have been increased to 21 and 60 respectively. The objectives are specified in many different ways. Some objectives are set out in proportional terms: reducing the proportion of people who live in poverty or hunger by one-half; reducing child mortality rates by two-thirds; reducing maternal mortality rates by three-fourths; or reducing the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities by one-half. Other objectives are set out in terms of completion: universal primary education; gender equality in school education; productive employment with decent work for all; or universal access to reproductive health. Yet other objectives are set out as statements of intentions: reduce loss in bio-diversity or improve the lives of slum-dwellers.

WORLD MDG REPORT 2012

The World Report on progress towards MDGs highlights several milestones. Three important targets on poverty, slums and water have been met three years ahead of 2015. Meeting the remaining targets, while challenging, is possible but only if Governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago. Some of the developments highlighted in the Report are :

• Extreme poverty is falling in every region For the first time since poverty trends began to be monitored, the number of people living in extreme poverty and poverty rates fell in every developing region—including in sub Saharan Africa, where rates are highest. The proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 per cent in 1990 to 24 per cent in 2008—a reduction from over 2 billion to less than 1.4 billion.

• The poverty reduction target was met Preliminary estimates indicate that the global poverty rate at $1.25 a day fell in 2010 to less than half the 1990 rate. If these results are confirmed, the first target of the MDGs— cutting the extreme poverty rate to half its 1990 level—will have been achieved at the global level well ahead of 2015.

• The world has met the target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water .The target of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water was also met by 2010, with the proportion of people using an improved water source rising from 76 per cent in 1990 to 89 per cent in 2010. Between 1990 and 2010, over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells.

• Improvements in the lives of 200 million slum dwellers exceeded the slum target. The share of urban residents in the developing world living in slums declined from 39 per cent in 2000 to 33 per cent in 2012. More than 200 million gained access to either improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or durable or less crowded housing. This achievement exceeds the target of significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, well ahead of the 2020 deadline.

• The world has achieved parity in primary education between girls and boys Driven by national and international efforts and the MDG campaign, many more of the world’s children are enrolled in school at the primary level, especially since 2000. Girls have benefited the most. The ratio between the enrolment rate of girls and that of boys grew from 91 in 1999 to 97 in 2010 for all developing regions. The gender parity index value of 97 falls within the plus-or-minus 3-point margin of 100 per cent, the accepted measure for parity.

• Many countries facing the greatest challenges have made significant progress towards universal primary education .Enrolment rates of children of primary school age increased markedly in sub-Saharan Africa, from 58 to 76 per cent between 1999 and 2010. Many countries in that region succeeded in reducing their relatively high out-of-school rates even as their primary school age populations were growing.

• Child survival progress is gaining momentum . Despite population growth, the number of under-five deaths worldwide fell from more than 12.0 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010. And progress in the developing world as a whole has accelerated. Sub-Saharan Africa—the region with the highest level of under-five mortality—has doubled its average rate of reduction, from 1.2 per cent a year over 1990-2000 to 2.4 per cent during 2000-2010.

• Access to treatment for people living with HIV increased in all regions .At the end of 2010, 6.5 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV or AIDS in developing regions. This total constitutes an increase of over 1.4 million people from December 2009, and the largest one-year increase ever. The 2010 target of universal access, however, was not reached.

• The world is on track to achieve the target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of tuberculosis. Globally, tuberculosis incidence rates have been falling since 2002, and current projections suggest that the 1990 death rate from the disease will be halved by 2015.

• Global malaria deaths have declined .The estimated incidence of malaria has decreased globally, by 17 per cent since 2000. Over the same period, malaria-specific mortality rates have decreased by 25 per cent. Reported malaria cases fell by more than 50 per cent between 2000 and 2010 in 43 of the 99 countries with ongoing malaria transmission.

Inequality is detracting from these gains, and slowing advances in other key areas

Achievements were unequally distributed across and within regions and countries. Moreover, progress has slowed for some MDGs after the multiple crises of 2008-2009.

• Vulnerable employment has decreased only marginally over twenty years Vulnerable employment—defined as the share of unpaid family workers and own-account workers in total employment—accounted for an estimated 58 per cent of all employment in developing regions in 2011, down only moderately from 67 per cent two decades earlier. Women and youth are more likely to find themselves in such insecure and poorly remunerated positions than the rest of the employed population.

• Decreases in maternal mortality are far from the 2015 target .There have been important improvements in maternal health and reduction in maternal deaths, but progress is still slow. Reductions in adolescent childbearing and expansion of contraceptive use have continued, but at a slower pace since 2000 than over the decade before.

• Use of improved sources of water remains lower in rural areas .While 19 per cent of the rural population used unimproved sources of water in 2010, the rate in urban areas was only 4 per cent. And since dimensions of safety, reliability and sustainability are not reflected in the proxy indicator used to track progress towards the MDG target, it is likely that these figures overestimate the actual number of people using safe water supplies. Worse, nearly half of the population in developing regions—2.5 billion—still lacks access to improved sanitation facilities. By 2015, the world will have reached only 67 per cent coverage, well short of the 75 per cent needed to achieve the MDG target.

• Hunger remains a global challenge. The most recent FAO estimates of undernourishment set the mark at 850 million living in hunger in the world in the 2006/2008 period—15.5 per cent of the world population. This continuing high level reflects the lack of progress on hunger in several regions, even as income poverty has decreased. Progress has also been slow in reducing child under nutrition. Close to one third of children in Southern Asia were underweight in 2010.

• The number of people living in slums continues to grow. Despite a reduction in the share of urban populations living in slums, the absolute number has continued to grow from a 1990 baseline of 650 million. An estimated 863 million people now live in slum conditions.

MDG- INDIA COUNTRY REPORT 2011

India’s MDG framework recognizes all the 48 indicators that were included in UNDG’s 2003 framework for monitoring of the 8 MDGs. However, India has found 35 of the indicators as relevant to India. India’s MDGframework has been contextualized through a concordance with the existing official indicators of corresponding dimensions in the national statistical system. Some of the goal wise achievements highlighted in the recent Country Report released by India are given below.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Target 1 : Halve, between 1990 & 2015 , the percentage of population below the National Poverty Line.

The Planning Commission data reveals decline in poverty headcount ratio. However, to achieve the target under MDG, the pace of decline in poverty needs to be accelerated. Target 2: Halve, between 1990 & 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Malnutrition continues to be a major hurdle. All India trend of the proportion of underweight (severe & moderate) children below three years of age shows India is going slow in eliminating the effect of malnourishment. From estimated 52 % in 1990, the proportion of underweight children below three years is required to be reduced to 26% by 2015. According to the official estimates the proportion of underweight children has declined by 3 percentage points from about 43% during 1998- 99 to about 40% in 2005-06,. At the historical rate of decline , the proportion is expected to come down to only about 33% by 2015 vis a vis the target value of 26%

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Target 3: Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary education.

Achieving universal primary education is round the corner. A trend based on DISE (District Information System on Education) data shows that the country is now well set to achieve cent per cent primary education for children in the primary schooling age of 6-10 years ahead of 2015 . In the years 2008-09 and 2009-10, India’s NER for primary education by the DISE statistics were 98.6 % and 98.3 % respectively.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Target 4 : Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education, no later than 2015. 45.15 Gender Parity has already been achieved in primary education (in 2007 -08 itself ) and the disparity in secondary education is set to disappear by 2015.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Target 5 : Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the Under-Five Mortality Ratio.

Child Survival Prospects looks up. As per MDG targets under 5 mortality rate was to be reduced to 42 per thousand live births by 2015. India, however, is likely to attain the mortality rate of about 52 (per 1000 live births) by 2015, missing the target by ten percentage points.

As per historical trend IMR is likely to miss the 2015 target. However, the faster decline in recent years indicates that the gap between target and likely achievement by 2015 is narrowing down.

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Target 6 : Reduce by three quarters , between 1990 & 2015 , the Maternal Mortality Ratio.

Data reveals that more efforts are required for safer motherhood. At the historical pace of decrease, India would reach MMR of 139 per 1 lakh live births by 2015, against the target of 109.

With the existing rate of increase in deliveries by skilled personnel, the achievements for 2015 is likely to be only 62 % , which is far short of the targeted universal coverage.

Goal 6: Combat HI V/AIDS, Malaria and TB

Target 7 : Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HI V/AIDS 45.20 As per the database maintained by HIV Sentinel Surveillance , trend reversal in prevalence of HIV/AIDS continues since 2005 even though the reduction in prevalence has become less noticeable after 2007.

Target 8 : Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of Malaria and other major diseases.

The graphs below reveals that the stability in reversing the trends in prevalence of Malaria & TB is still to be achieved. Prevalence of TB shows an increase since 2009.

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Target 9 : Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

Past measures regarding conservation of environment have shown some results. There is an increase in forest cover by about 1128 Sq. Km between 2007 and 2011 and the consumption of CFCs (Ozone depleting products) has gone down.

Target 10 : Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Target of halving the proportion of households without access to safe drinking water by 2015, from its 1990 level of about 34 %, has already been attained by 2007-08. The prevailing trend over time suggests attainability of almost cent percent coverage of safe drinking water by 2015, including both rural and urban sectors. Improved sanitation facility still eludes half the households. In 1990, about 76 % households in India had no sanitation facility. The target, presently, is to reduce the proportion of households having no access to improved sanitation to 38 % by 2015. However likely reduction by 2015 seems to be only about 43 %, a 5 % points deviation from the target.

Target 11: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

As per Census 2001, 640 towns spread over 26 States/UTs reported existence of slums, with 42.6 million people, consisting of 8.2 million households, residing in slums of these towns. The share of slum population as percentage of urban population in respect of these town/cities was about 23.1% in 2001. The condition of slum dwellers in India’s urban areas, as revealed from NSS results 2008-09 compared with corresponding results of 2002, shows signs of marginal improvement in terms of roads, water supply, electricity connection, sanitation, sewerage, garbage disposal, education and medical facilities.

Goal 8: Develop Global Partnership for Development

Target 18 : In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication.

Indian Telecom market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Information provided by TRAI shows that connectivity in terms of teledensity has increased significantly. However, Rural Urban gap in telephone connectivity continues to rise despite faster growth in rural subscriber base. Number of internet subscribers has also increased significantly to about 13.54 million subscribers in 2009.

MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF)

The 2015 deadline for achieving the targets under MDGs is fast approaching. The contributions of national Governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector needs to be strengthened to meet the longstanding and long term challenge of inequality, and to move forward on achieving food security, gender equality, maternal health, rural development, infrastructure and environmental sustainability, and responses to climate change. MAF seeks to help countries in attaining their targets under MDGs.

The framework provides a systematic way for countries to develop their own action plan based on existing plans and processes to pursue their MDG priorities. It also helps governments to focus on disparities and inequalities, two of the major causes of uneven progress, by particularly responding to the needs of the vulnerable.

There is now a great deal of evidence about both the obstacles to MDG progress and how to overcome them. This evidence reveals that there is a range of tried and tested policies which, adapted to national contexts, will ensure MDG progress, where there is the leadership, capacity, and funding to implement them. To accelerate MDG progress, as called for by the MDG Summit Outcome Document, this evidence must be put into practice in a concerted effort that takes us to 2015.

In response to this call, the UNDG has endorsed the UNDP’s fieldtested MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) which offers a systematic way to identifying bottlenecks to those MDGs that are lagging behind in specific countries, as well as prioritized solutions to these bottlenecks. The MAF is expected to build upon existing country knowledge and experiences, as well as policy and planning processes, and to help the development of countrylevel partnerships, with mutual accountability of all partners, towards the efforts needed to reach the MDGs by 2015.

The MAF is characterized by 4 factors:

• Responding to national/local political determination to tackle identified off-track MDGs.
• Drawing upon country experiences and ongoing processes to identify and prioritize bottlenecks interfering with the implementation of key MDG interventions.
• Using lessons learned to determine objective and feasible solutions for accelerating MDG progress.
• Creating a partnership with identified roles for all relevant stakeholders to jointly achieve MDG progress.

Once an MDG target making slow progress is identified by a country, the MAF suggests four systematic steps:

1. identification of the necessary interventions to achieve the MDG target;
2. identification of bottlenecks that impede the effectiveness of key interventions on the ground;
3. identification of high-impact and feasible solutions to prioritized bottlenecks; and
4. formulation of an action plan, with identified roles for all development partners, that will help realize the solutions.

Following the demand from countries, UNDP, in collaboration with the UN System organizations, has been supporting the development of MDG accelerated Action Plans in about 37 countries covering the 2010 – 2012 period. These include countries where MAF action plans are currently under development, as well as those where completed action plans are under implementation:

• Latin America and Caribbean: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Perú.
• Asia and Pacific: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Nepal, Lao PDR PNG, Indonesia and the Philippines.
• Africa: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, CAR, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
• Europe and CIS: Armenia, Moldova,Tajikistan and Ukraine.
• Arab States: Jordan

GLOBAL GOALS AFTER 2015

With the expiration of the MDGs in 2015, the promises of the Millennium Declaration remain unrealized, and the extent of global poverty and the slow pace of progress remain unacceptable in today’s world of prosperity. The benefits of global economic integration have been as unevenly distributed since 2000 as in the previous decade — the gaps between the rich and poor within and between countries remain considerable.

It may be argued that global goals would not be worth setting after 2015, because the MDGs did not have adequate impact on shifting policy. Nonetheless, the MDGs have demonstrated the power of global goals and the value of comprehensive development goals in raising awareness, maintaining political support for development, and in coordinating policy debates. Without the MDGs, it is likely that the Millennium Declaration would have been shelved soon after its adoption along with numerous other decisions by the General Assembly. For these reasons, new global goals should be set to advance the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, but they need to be pursued with the institutional weight of the UN Secretary- General and with the UN investing in efforts to promote and mobilize support for them. The UN has set many global goals since the 1960s, but none has had the reach – or the investment – of the MDGs.

What should be in the new goals? The expiry of the MDGs in 2015 presents an opportunity to correct the deficiencies of the current list and emphasize new priorities, which are becoming clearer as the 21st century advances. It is also an opportunity to build goals consistent with their function as normative instruments to promote inclusive and equitable development, rooted in the ethical commitments of the Millennium Declaration.
The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda as the targets under MDGs were to be achieved by 2015.

Following the outcome of the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations Secretary-General established the UN System Task Team in September 2011 to support UN system-wide preparations for the post-2015 UN development agenda, in consultation with all stakeholders. The Task Team is led by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme and brings together senior experts from over 50 UN entities and international organizations to provide system-wide support to the post-2015 consultation process, including analytical input, expertise and outreach.

The post-2015 agenda will reflect new development challenges and is linked to the outcome of “Rio+20” -- the UN Conference on Sustainable Development -- that took place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

MDGS : ACHIEVEMENTS & ISSUES

MDGs have occupied the centre stage of world debate for over a decade & have generated unprecedented awareness and support on various issues. Amongst the significant achievements of MDGs are:

• The MDGs being simple, catchy and acceptable have caught the imagination of all- international community, national governments and civil society. They have been a fundamental framework for global development and their progress shows the power of global goals and a shared purpose. A clear agenda, with measurable goals and targets, and a common vision has been crucial for this success.

• New Development Consensus: MDGs have been successful in evolution of ‘Post Washington Consensus’ bringing about rapprochement between Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank & IMF) and United Nations.

• Building on the concept of Human Development, MDGs have helped in introducing multidimensionality of progress instead of one sided focus on economic growth.

• Outcome orientation of MDGs, focused on measuring the impacts rather than inputs inherently favors result yielding interventions.

• MDGs have been able to muster Global partnership for development with donor countries assisting in implementation of Plans set out by developing/underdeveloped countries. The extent of commitment shown by international community and individual countries has been unprecedented.

Issues related to MDGs

Minimum Development Goals : some argue that MDGs were not aimed at accelerating the pace of development and have termed it as minimum development goals adding that lowering it any further would not have been acceptable. Also it had little for countries placed favourably and many countries achieved the goals in span of 10-15 years.

• Too narrow concept of development : Despite shifting the focus away one dimensional economic growth to that incorporating social and environmental dimensions as well, MDGs still left many areas un traversed. Indicators for political deprivation (lack of human and civil rights, means of participation, rule of law, or administrative transparency), social deprivation (marginalisation of social groups, insufficient cohesion and unifying forces in society), or vulnerability (lack of social protection) were not included and isuses like distributional equality , employment generation, human rights, etc were also not adequately reflected.

• Goals without a theory : Multiple & diverse goals identified under MDGs were articulated differently (proportional targets like reduction by half, absolute targets like universal attainment and expressions of intent like in case of global partnership ) and were apparently linked by concept of human development but they lacked any sound framework /theoretical underpinning. For this reason, the MDGs were vulnerable to focus mostly on those specific concerns that were raised by aid agencies. (Explicit grounding in development theory was consciously avoided to eliminate any opposition on the grounds of differences with the theory).

• Neglect of process dimension : MDGs specify an outcome but do not set out the process which would make it possible to realize the objectives. In other words, the MDGs specify a destination but do not chart the journey. Consequently MDGs may be regarded, by countries, in isolation, with measures designed to implement them being taken only in the most obvious sectors neglecting the multi causalities which may in turn affect the outcome. But, since ‘one size fits all’ policy prescriptions would be equally ineffective a set of linkages, based on diverse experiences, could have been included at best. Further, merely counting countries that have achieved/missed may not reveal the reasons as to why the countries could/could not achieve the targets. However, presently, MAF may be a step ahead in this direction.

• MDGs were stipulated without any reference to initial conditions, but where a country gets to, in any given time horizon, depends at least, in part, on where it starts out from. Goals aiming to reduce incidences in proportion like reducing proportion of people living in poverty by one-half, much depend on initial level whether it is 60 per cent or 20 per cent. Consequently, targets may be set too high for some and too low for others. The levels set under MDGs are unrealistic for many countries (Clemens and others 2007) and biased against countries with low starting points (Clemens and others 2007; Easterly 2009; Fukuda-Parr forthcoming).

• The MDGs are set out in terms of aggregates or averages which often conceal as much as they reveal because there is no reference to distributional outcomes. It is essential to disaggregate outcomes so as to reveal rather than conceal distributional realities.

• Quantity at the Expense of Quality: while the countries try to meet the quantified targets, there is risk of compromising /neglecting the dimension of quality e.g. more enrolment may be achieved without adequate attention to the quality of education.

• Optimizing inputs at the expense of efficiency: International debate on MDGs has been focused on inputs (e.g how much will to ODA have to be increased if the target is to be met etc) whereas efficient use of funds, absorptive capacity of the country, administrative and organizational capacities of their institutions etc might be equally important.

• Short term planning & distortion of national priorities : Too much focus on 2015, based on ODA, might not be sustainable on its own in the long run. Donor-centric view of development with disproportionate emphasis on the importance of external financing in the pursuit of MDGs, has also tended to shift the focus of attention away from national governments to the international community. But success or failure in the pursuit of MDGs depends largely upon what happens within countries, where governments are both responsible and accountable for outcomes. While the outcome-focused approach of the MDGs helped to avoid some of the pitfalls of a descriptive development theory, their success with the donor community did lead to a neglect of issues that were not explicitly mentioned in the MDGs. As a result ‘perverse’ game ensued where all development efforts by donors had to be mapped onto one or more of the goals. Further, Progress in achieving the MDGs is not a guarantee for broad-based social development. At the beginning of 2011, various Arab regimes were toppled by populations that not only asked for more democracy, but perhaps even more importantly, for good jobs and the prospect of advancement in life for their youth. Yet this turmoil took place in countries that scored very high on progress indices of the Millennium Development Goals.

• Insufficient underpinning of the ides of sustainability. The issue of sustainability has been shunted to the back ground in the MDGs which are dominated by social and economic targets. It is at least equally important to ensure that the idea of sustainability, with all its ecological and economic aspects, is firmly entrenched as an action guiding (i.e. crosscutting) principle in all fields of development policy.

• Measurement issues: Targets that are set out as statements of intentions (Goal 8) mean different things to different people and are exceedingly difficult to monitor. In some countries and for some indicators, statistics are not good enough. In other countries and for other indicators, statistics are difficult to find.

• Misunderstanding: Global MDG targets are often used as a scale for assessing the performance of different regions or specific countries. But the MDGs were meant to be collective targets for the world as a whole which did not have to be reached by every country. In fact, countries were meant to contextualize the MDGs in terms of initial conditions and national priorities.