Blogging For the Eradication of Poverty – Reviewing the MDGs
October 17th, 2008 by SocProf and tagged Development, Economy, Education, Global Governance, Globalization, Health, Health Care, MDGs, Poverty, Social Inequalities, Social Stratification
First, for those unfamiliar with the Millenium Development Goals , the Guardian has thorough explainer. These are straightforward. The issues arise when it comes to implementation. How do we get there? For Anne Perkins, it’s time to review the MDGs. Why?
For Perkins, there are several other reasons to review the MDGs:
- In the context of the financial crisis in the West, donor countries are more likely to tighten their aid. Well, that’s true but that’s hardly saying anything about the MDGs themselves.
- Second, the MDGs are supposed to be global goals, yet, they are measured country by country and that might bias and distort the allocation of money.
- Third, money might be awarded to projects dealing with the slightly poor rather the really poorest, because the slightly poor are then more likely to leave poverty and therefore to produce better statistics of progress on that particular MDG. This means then that getting to the poorest of the poor will be truly expensive.
- Finally, the MDGs might be perceived as imposed from above or from the outside while local priorities might be different, especially for countries at war, such as the DRC, where stopping mass rapes and forced recruitment of child soldiers might be a more pressing need.
Based on a report by the Overseas Development Institute , Perkins calls for a better weaving of humanitarian and development aid. It’s usually one or the other. But of course, they have a mutual impact.
But again, the shocking thing is that 2005 was the year when donations were the highest toward the MDGs: $107 billion. And yet, rich countries will most certainly come up with trillions of dollars to bail out their financial sectors and claim that there is nothing left for foreign aid. There is something really wrong here.
Posted in Development, Economy, Global Governance, Globalization, Health, Health Care, Population, Poverty, Social Inequalities, Social Stratification | No Comments »
