Funding the Millennium Development Goals: A Challenge for Global Public Finance

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. ATKINSON

The UN commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 poses a major challenge. It is, first and foremost, a political challenge to wealthy countries, to provide the necessary transfer of resources, and to developing countries, to make effective use of these transfers. But it is also an intellectual challenge, to economists and other scientists, to better understand the processes by which the MDGs can be achieved. This article focuses on two aspects. On the substantive side, it examines how we can achieve increased funding for development, particularly via new methods of finance, such as global taxes. On the intellectual side, it describes how a new branch of economics is developing – global public finance – that can contribute to the analysis of new sources of funding for the MDGs and of the working of the global economy.

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuoluwapo A. Durokifa ◽  
Babatunde Moshood Abdul-Wasi

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was implemented in 2000 ostensibly to accelerate development within its 15 years plan of action. In the credence of this notion, Nigeria was one of the early countries that adopted the rational policy. Prior to the introduction of MDG, the country had implemented diverse developmental policies which are said not to have delivered the expected dividend. Hence, no sooner, the MDGs came to an end; the impulse of another developmental goal became necessary. Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) succeeding MDGs reiterates questions such as, how well did MDGs perform in developing countries? Where the aims of the MDGs met? If MDGs struggle to achieve 8 goals, how possible will SDGs 17 goals be realized? It is in this light, that the study using secondary data evaluate the MDG era in Nigeria, how far and how well they achieved their set target. The study suggests that although MDGs era in Nigeria recorded slight progress with regards to targeted goals, it did not meet the required plausible targets. Hence, as a very effective way of achieving sustainable development, the study recommends good governance and prioritizing of goals according to the country needs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bissane Harb ◽  
Dina Sidani

Purpose In light of the emphasis on “inclusion” in the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the notion of social inclusion encompasses the goal of granting opportunities for disabled people, integrate them and make them participate in the new environment. Referring to the capability theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the social inclusion of disabled young people in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative approach based on a series of focused semi-structured interviews with 11 participants occupying key positions in aid associations for disabled people. Findings The findings suggest that smart technologies can enhance social inclusion through three key factors: the nature of impairment and other personal characteristics of disabled people, the resources available to them and the environmental aspects provided by government policies and society’s cultural practices. In the contemporary society characterized by an increasing role of ICTs, the findings of this research could contribute to lead the developing countries to a sustainable and inclusive world through social inclusion of their youth. Research limitations/implications This study has some limitations that should be mentioned. First, it was conducted only on a small sample size (with 11 interviewees). Further empirical research must be conducted on larger sample to build and elaborate on the findings. Second, the results are mainly based on the points of view of people working in aid associations for disabled people. In future research, semi-structured interviews can be carried out with the disabled people themselves or with members of their family to ask them about their personal experience with smart technologies and the impact of this on their social inclusion. It was also suggested that the future research should explore the challenges of inclusion for different categories of disabled people separately because they are not all facing the same issues and the same challenges. Furthermore, as this paper focuses on the role of smart technologies in the development of social inclusion of disabled people, future research could take place with other groups, for example, Palestinian and Syrian refugees, to identify whether these groups are experiencing similar challenges and barriers when trying to use smart technologies as a way to enhance their social inclusion. Practical implications Related to a larger and broader approach, social inclusion of disabled or marginalized people or refugees in developing countries could be a way to commit to a sustainable and inclusive world, in alignment with the eight goals of the Millennium Development Goals. Originality/value Related to a larger and broader approach, social inclusion of disabled or marginalized people or refugees in developing countries could be a way to commit to a sustainable and inclusive world, in alignment with the eight goals of the Millennium Development Goals.


Author(s):  
Festus Prosper Olise

This paper advocates for the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and indigenous languages for the actualization of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria because both tools are capable of transforming the rural and urban populace. It explores the MDGs so as to unravel the ways ICTs and indigenous languages can facilitate the speedy actualization of MDGs in Nigeria, a country with peculiar cultural heritage and with over 750 indigenous languages. It also analyzes some of the contending constraints confronting Nigeria from actualizing MDGs such as corruption, extreme poverty, lack of attention to indigenous languages, high cost of ICTs which are products of bad leadership. The effective use of Nigeria’s different indigenous languages and ICTs, it maintains, remains the most effective way towards educating Nigerians and achieving the MDGs in Nigeria come 2015.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 539
Author(s):  
Tendai Chiguware

The Millennium Development Goals were a rather a bold initiate meant to curtail rising levels of poverty in developing countries. While the intention of the MDGs has been roundly praised, what has beenquestioned is the capacity of the respective governments to implement and achieve the stated goals. Conceptually, there were also questions about a program with uniform indicators that did not take cognisance of disparities within countries. However, the design of the MDGs did not raise as much questions as the execution of them. In recent, there have also been questions on the possibility and efficacy of achieving the MDG. While there were always doubts about the capacity of the international community to raise the requisite resources to achieve the MDGs, there were always undercurrents of the capacity of beneficiary countries to implement the goals. Further, the study argues that the prevailing development discourse in Zimbabwe entrenched in the use and dependence of donor agencies and their respective implementing NGOs further reduced the chances of the MDGs, and consequently, sustainable development ever being achieved in the country.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
SOHA SAID ◽  
MICHAEL GEARY

Obstetric haemorrhage has been recognised as a major cause of maternal death as long as physicians have studied and written about childbirth. Until the 20th century, however, little was possible in the way of effective treatment. Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is still a frequent cause of death in many parts of the world. Even in developing countries, it remains the 3rd biggest killer of women in childbirth, despite considerable advances in medical care in the last half-century. The modern management of PPH may include a team of anaesthetists, haematologists, vascular surgeons, gynaecologists and radiologists.1Clearly, this change represents an advance which has saved and will continue to save countless lives, not only in the developed world where such teamwork is routine, but also in developing nations that are desperately looking for ways to reduce maternal mortality as part of their efforts to comply with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.2


2007 ◽  
Vol 363 (1491) ◽  
pp. 467-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Kitzes ◽  
Mathis Wackernagel ◽  
Jonathan Loh ◽  
Audrey Peller ◽  
Steven Goldfinger ◽  
...  

Sustainability is the possibility of all people living rewarding lives within the means of nature. Despite ample recognition of the importance of achieving sustainable development, exemplified by the Rio Declaration of 1992 and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the global economy fails to meet the most fundamental minimum condition for sustainability—that human demand for ecosystem goods and services remains within the biosphere's total capacity. In 2002, humanity operated in a state of overshoot, demanding over 20% more biological capacity than the Earth's ecosystems could regenerate in that year. Using the Ecological Footprint as an accounting tool, we propose and discuss three possible global scenarios for the future of human demand and ecosystem supply. Bringing humanity out of overshoot and onto a potentially sustainable path will require managing the consumption of food, fibre and energy, and maintaining or increasing the productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-176
Author(s):  
Marina Larionova ◽  
◽  

The history of the millennium development goals (MDGs), the achievement of which experienced a major setback with the outbreak of the 2008 global economic and financial crisis, may provide some useful insights on the global partnership for the sustainable development goals (SDGs). There is a vast literature devoted to the MDGs. Most of the analysis is focused on the implementation and progress made toward achieving the MDGs. Fewer authors explore reasons for shortfalls or describe intrinsic limitations to the MDG framework, including limitations in the development, formulation and content of the MDGs themselves. This article reviews cooperation on the MDGs, exploring the priorities of different stakeholders and the challenges to progress inthe broader context of development and global governance.The review focuses on MDG 8, developing a global partnership for development. Added to the MDGs due to Kofi Annan’s leadership, MDG 8 helped to attract support from developing countries which viewed the MDGs as reflecting a one-sided deal favouring the interests of rich countries. Inclusion of the goal to reform the international economic system appeased some critics of the international development goals that were put forward by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and taken as the basis for the MDGs. This article argues that despite the endeavour by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to steer the development of global partnerships, extrinsic barriers such as lack of political will on the part of the key stakeholders, the financial crisis, and vested interests prevented deliveryon MDG 8’s key target ofdeveloping an open, predictable, rule-based, non-discriminatory trading and economic system. Achievement of this goal is necessary in order to create the equitable and inclusive international order demanded by developing countries for decades. Most markedly, a lack of progress on MDG 8’s goal of addressing systemic issues of global economic governance became the greatest challenge to achieving the MDGs, and the greatest disappointment. Systemic problems were inherited by the SDGs, the achievement of which requires a truly global partnership able to build a new economic order as a foundation for inclusive and sustainable development. This review draws on content analysis of General Assembly resolutions and the official records of its 55th to 70th sessions, documents from the three conferences on financing for development, the crisis summit, reports on MDG results, and public statements and analytical narratives about the MDGs


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