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UN Report Says MDGs are Within Reach

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A new report launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, celebrates the success of achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but acknowledges that others need to be addressed in order for them to be realized. The MDGs, established at a UN summit in 2000, identify eight areas of focus: poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental protection, HIV/AIDS and malaria reduction, and a global partnership for development. The report demonstrates how the combined effort of the government, civil society, and the private sector have made significant progress in meeting many of these goals.

Already, millions of lives have been improved – global poverty rates have been cut in half, access to safe water has increased and gender equality in primary schools has improved substantially. Advances in global healthcare are particularly notable; malaria fell by more than 25% globally between 2000 and 2010, saving 1.1 million lives. In addition, between 1995 and 2011, 51 million TB patients were successfully treated, saving another estimated 20 million lives.

However, the report also urges more action to be taken with regard to maternal healthcare and universal access to education. In particular, environmental sustainability is under threat, as global emissions of carbon dioxide continue to increase, with 46% more CO2 being emitted today compared to 1990. The report also notes that there has been uneven progress; there is disparity not only between regions and countries, but also among population groups within countries. In particular, people living in rural areas remain at a disadvantage – 83% of those without access to an improved drinking water source live in rural communities.

“Redoubled efforts are urgently needed, particularly in regions most behind to jump-start advancement and achieve maximum gains”, the MDG report says. While the global community should be proud of its efforts and accomplishments, the report encourages governments, organizations, and individuals to continue “building on existing momentum to reach as many goals as possible by 2015 and to realize gains for all”.

– Chloe Isacke
Source: All Africa, UNDP

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What is PEER?

What is PEER?
PEER or, Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research, is a collaboration between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). PEER is a competitive grant program that allocates money to scientists in developing countries, who are working on research that is of importance to the development of their respective regions. PEER focuses on granting money to scientists whose research involves food security, climate change, or other development tools such as biodiversity and renewable energy. PEER attempts to create connections between scientists of developed countries and scientists of developing countries. The grants allow these scientists to conduct research that they would not have been able to do without a grant. PEER is a relatively new program, being two years old.

Alex Dehgan, science and technology advisor to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah commented, “…PEER Science has provided over $12 million to 98 projects in 40 countries, and we are already seeing the tremendous benefits of bringing together developing and developed country researchers to solve some of our greatest global development challenges.”

Previous PEER success stories include reducing the risk of landslides and earthquakes in Lebanon and Bangladesh, decreasing air pollution in Mongolia, and improving the resilience of coral reefs and related habitats in Indonesia. PEER allows scientists in 87 countries to apply.

DeAndra Beck, program director for developing countries at NSF said, “With two or more parties contributing resources, a true intellectual partnership can be established, maximizing the potential to advance the pursuit of science and development in new and creative ways.”

PEER just announced its second cycle of awardees this June. PEER selected 54 new projects to receive a portion of the $7.5 million allocated to this cycle. Awardees were chosen out of 300 highly qualified applicants. These 54 projects reach across 32 countries and will focus on development issues. This has been an incredibly successful program in the short two years it has been running. Its innovative idea to connect scientists all over the developing world has been very effective in solving certain development issues.

– Catherine Ulrich

Sources: National Academies, All Africa
Photo: Minnesota Public Radio

2 Reasons Urbanization Helps Curb Poverty

2 Reasons Urbanization Helps Curb Poverty

In light of the U.N.’s Millenium Development Goals ending in two years and its own goal to end global poverty by 2030, the World Bank has published its annual report on the issue: the Global Monitoring Report 2013. In it, urbanization is strongly linked to alleviation of poverty. Jos Verbeek, the leading economist on the report, cites the following reasons.

  1.  “[Cities],” he says, “are centers of economic activity, growth and job creation; consequently, poverty is significantly lower in urban centers than in rural areas.”
  2. Due to their superior infrastructure, he says urban areas are also better at service delivery. For example, access to sanitation [such as toilets] is about 80 percent in urban areas and about 50 percent in rural ones. In Africa, about 40 percent of the population in urban areas have access to a toilet, while only half that amount have access in rural areas. Verbeek also states that due to their size, it is easier for urban areas to extend services such as health care, education, and clean water.

Verbeek does warn, however, that unchecked development can lead to slums. He implies that the institutions within a developing region are just as important as the cities themselves. For instance, urban planning is vital to increase the efficiency of buying and selling land. He says, “If there is uncertainty [over land ownership], then public providers will not come in and extend water pipes into the slums – because no one knows for sure if the slums will still be there a year from now. Government might [decide to] empty them out, which in certain countries has happened in the past.”

– Samantha Mauney

Source: Voice of America
Photo: Goway

Azerbaijan: MDGs Progress

Azerbaijan MDG Progress
Azerbaijan is a country of 9.5 million people in Southwestern Asia, surrounded by the Caspian Sea, Iran, Russia, and the European Caucasus mountain range. For a country with a name many Americans could not pronounce, let alone place on a map, Azerbaijan has made huge strides towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to the UN and World Bank.

Public and private supporters have rallied to “slash poverty, hunger and disease by 2015.” Private partnership has included the oil and gas industries. Revenues from these industries have been used to achieve significant economic growth and progress towards the MDGs. Diversification of this landlocked country is the next step in continuing progress. The “Azerbaijan 2020: vision of the future” details a plan to increase non-oil exports and decrease poverty. This plan develops the concept of growth based on the available natural and human resources in the country. The goals of the plan are:

• “sustainable economic growth;
• “social prosperity;
• “effective state governance;
• “rule of law;
• “complete exercise of all human rights and freedoms;
• “reach a development stage characterized with an active status of civil society in the country’s public life.”

The World Bank identified areas of progress: poverty reduction, basic education, and HIV infection. Because of the significant strides, the UN has included Azerbaijan in the group of 100 countries to define goals for post-2015 development. Areas specific to Azerbaijan include inclusive economic growth, new jobs, and regional development. Development of Human Capital should continue to be spotlighted, according to the World Bank.

The goal of achieving the MDGs and fulfilling the “Azerbaijan 2020: vision of the future” plan is to be an economic and politically competitive force. “From the standpoint of economic development, Azerbaijan will advance from being a regional leader to become a highly competitive participant in the system of international economic relations.”

– Katherine Zobre

Sources: Azernews
Photo: Azernews

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Role Of Social Media In Creating The Next Global Development Agenda

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Social media has changed the landscape of fighting poverty, creating policy, and changing the world. While there are some negatives to the spread of social media, the United Nations has turned the power of social media into a tool to create the next global development agenda.  In a bold step, the United Nations is reaching out to hundreds of thousands of people around the world to use their voice to shape the next decade of anti-poverty goals.

The United Nations started the process by holding simultaneous conferences in around 100 countries and then added digital media and mobile phone technology to include as many more people as they could in the development of the global development goals. These goals will build on the millennium development goals and set up a new generation of goals ready to fight global poverty.

The web platform, World We Want 2015, allows people to log on and collaboratively create policy ideas and vote on development priorities. Check out the website and cast a vote here.  The website is working to create user-driven communities able to provide solutions to critical global challenges. With more mobile phones than toilets in the world, short message service (SMS) and interactive voice response (IVR) are being used to engage with the public.  It’s working too. In Uganda, the United Nations was able to capture the views of more than 17,000 young people in a survey about their development priorities.

To increase participation, the United Nations is holding workshops in areas like the Amazon where access to the Internet and mobile phone technology is very limited.  Almost half a million people have participated in the global conversation and three key issues have risen to the top of the priority list. Those are:

1. Accelerate the progress to achieve the MDGs by the end of 2015

2. Address sustainability, governance, and security from violence and jobs in future goals

3. Include more opportunities for people to participate in agenda-setting and progress monitoring

All the information gathered from the global conversation is being used to shape the future development agenda to be put in place in 2015.  This is an exciting development in global policy-making. People have the ability to voice their concerns and ideas to negotiators and decision makers directly. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to make your voice heard.

– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: The Guardian

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Extreme Poverty Could End by 2030, Says World Bank President

Extreme Poverty Could End by 2030, Says World Bank PresidentThe world could end extreme poverty by 2030, according to Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group. “This feasible but ambitious goal should bring unity, urgency, and energy to our collective efforts in the fight against poverty.”

The percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day decreased by 22 percent from 1990 to 2010. Kim believes this number could decrease to a total of 3 percent by 2030 if nations work together to combat extreme poverty.  He acknowledges the immense difficulty but still finds it achievable.

He points to pass successes, such as the first Millennium Development Goal.  The first goal to halve extreme poverty was accomplished five years ahead of schedule.  The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most successful global anti-poverty initiatives in history. April 5, 2013, is the 1,000-day mark until the 2015 target for the completion of the MDGs. Governments, international organizations, and civil groups aim to accomplish the goals before the approaching deadline.

Kim believes success “requires transformational changes in fragile states.” The world’s poor reside in fragile states, and stronger governments must support more delicate countries. The key to alleviating poverty is averting financial shocks, such as climatic disasters, gas prices, or financial crises. Countries must build stronger infrastructures, so they will survive such spontaneous situations.

The main obstacle for combating extreme poverty is global climate change, and Kim worries about the effect of climate change on those with limited resources.  “It is the poor—those least responsible for climate change and least able to afford adaptation—who suffer the most.”  NASA published conclusive evidence that sea level is rising, global temperatures are increasing, and ice sheets are shrinking.  These issues present new challenges for the world’s poor that governments need to address in order to alleviate extreme poverty.

– Whitney M. Wyszynski

Source: The Guardian, Flickr

Madagascar’s Millennium Village is Independent

Madagascar's Millennium Village is Independent
Madagascar’s Millennium Village, Sambaina, is functioning independently after five years of support and development from the UN Development Program and the Millennium Villages Project. With a donor investment of $400,000 per year, or just $50 per person per year, living conditions have improved dramatically.

The country of Madagascar has suffered in the last five years as a result of political upheaval. Following a coup in 2009, foreign aid to the country has remained frozen, and the government does not have sufficient funds for social programs or the salaries of civil servants. In the commune of Sambaina, where over 60 percent of the population was living in extreme poverty when the project began, residents say that their lives have improved.

Targeted investments in the areas of agriculture, education, sanitation, health care, infrastructure, technology, and local business have made a world of difference in Madagascar’s Millennium Village. Implementing the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has helped farmers increase yields to the point of achieving food security for eleven months out of the year. Previously, their harvests only lasted three months. About 70 percent of Sambaina farmers now use the SRI method, and have seen sustainably increased rice production.

Pumps have ensured access to clean drinking water, while health education has encouraged people to maintain good hygiene and utilize the village’s health care facilities. Other investments include computers in classrooms, renovations in schools and infrastructure, and funding to start-up businesses.

Now that initial investments have been made in developing Sambaina’s basic necessities, the villagers will be responsible for maintaining them. To this end, committees have been established, which will collect contributions from residents to fund maintenance projects.

The success of Madagascar’s Millennium Village is undeniable. Even in a country with almost no economic growth and four years of political crisis, targeted investment and development assistance has nearly eliminated extreme poverty in Sambaina within just five years. The country of Madagascar has no hope of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. But Madagascar’s Millennium Village Project in Sambaina proves that foreign aid, when responsibly managed, is instrumental in improving the lives of the world’s poor.

– Kat Henrichs

Source: IRIN