Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Development Goals

Development

At its broadest, the term 'development' denotes the progression, evolution or maturation of an individual or society. Despite the wide usage - and crucial importance - of terms such as international development, sustainable development, community development, and economic development, there remains widespread debate and disagreement on the precise definition of these terms, let alone their most appropriate and effective forms of implementation, and the positive and negative linkages between them (Collier, 2007). Despite the lack of precise and universally accepted definitions, there has been growing consensus during the past decade that poverty reduction, at both the household level and national level, lies at the heart of the concept of development. Linked to this, there is growing consensus that an effective process of development requires:

Improving people's access to products and services to meet their basic needs;

Improving opportunity and access to markets to enable people to build income and assets, including both economic and human capital (Easterly, 2006);

Giving people a political voice and enabling them to participate in and influence the policy-making, decision-making and resource allocation processes that directly affect the quality of their lives; and

Ensuring people have sufficient financial and physical security or social insurance to enable them to better survive natural and economic crises or conflict.

In short, development involves a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary and multi-sector set of actions, mechanisms and institutions aimed at improving the quality of people's lives. Sustainable development adds the further dimension - in short, the need to sustain or build environmental capital, in addition to economic, social, human and political capital, over the long term as well as in the short term (Goldin, 2007).

For the first time in over 50 years of international development efforts, an increasingly clear and widely accepted framework is emerging on the roles and responsibilities of different development actors and the key types of intervention that are most likely to make a difference. Since 2002, the un millennium development goals (MDGs) have become broadly accepted by, if not yet fully integrated into the policies and practices of, most donor and developing country governments and major multilateral institutions in the UN system, the World Bank Group, the IMF, and OECD. Leading international non-governmental organisations and corporations are also increasingly using the MDGs as a frame of reference when they address development challenges and opportunities (Hansen, 2000).

These goals have become the defining framework for international development, calling for action by a more diverse group of actors than ever before, ranging from donor and developing governments to non-governmental organisations, trade unions and community-based groups, to large multinational corporations and small-scale entrepreneurs and farmers. The Millennium Project's 2005 report to the UN Secretary-General, Investing in Development, described them as, 'the most broadly supported, comprehensive, and specific poverty reduction targets the world has ever established, so their importance is manifold'(Klein, 2005). A results-oriented emphasis on measurable indicators is one of the MDGs' key advantages and innovations. In devising the MDGs, the United Nations Development Programme worked with the World Bank, the IMF, the ...