by Whitner Chase, Humanitas Global
In our Millenium Development Goal (MDG) blog series, we provide a look at MDG outcomes as they are described in the UN’s final progress report released in July. In this first installment, we consider MDG 8: “Develop A Global Partnership for Development,” with the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3) still fresh in our minds. This gathering, held in Addis Ababa from July 13-16, represented the next step forward in transitioning from the MDGs to the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Funding is an extremely important part of ensuring success in development, and the Addis meeting can give interested parties sound guidance on how to expand upon Goal 8 post-2015.
There are six targets associated with MDG 8, but the Financing for Development conference most heavily targeted 8.B: “Address the special needs of the least developed countries.” The MDG Progress Report shows that this has indeed happened, but the FFD3 outcome document affirms that post-2015, the least developed countries “need enhanced global support to overcome the structural challenges they face” (pg. 3-4). The outcome document goes on to describe a commitment “to reinvigorating the global partnership for sustainable development” (pg. 4). As can be seen from the figure, Official Development Assistance (ODA) has plateaued since about 2010. The FFD3 outcome document calls all hands on deck to continue to increase development funding; not only governments, but also academia, philanthropy, volunteers, and other stakeholders are extremely important to complement government efforts and work to achieve related SDGs.
Goal 17 of the proposed SDGs corresponds well to MDG 8: “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.” Although the SDGs will not be formally adopted until next month, its draft outcome document was passed on August 2nd, so it is extremely important that the UN and its partners begin to prepare for their implementation. The 2015 MDG Task Force Gap Report, to be published in September, has recently released an Executive Summary, available here. The report evaluates the progress of Goal 8 specifically, and cites the FFD3 conference in Addis as an important step toward addressing MDG gaps with the SDGs. The document also mentions the failure to conclude the WTO’s Doha Development Round as a “significant gap in achieving the global partnership for development.” The Round was established to “improve trading prospects of developing countries,” and has been in negotiations since 2001. As of July 2015, for example, agriculture negotiations were still gridlocked.
Looking toward 2030, concluding and implementing the Doha Development Round will be a significant contribution to SDG 17. Additionally, the FFD3 conference in Addis should serve as a catalyst for kick starting the global partnership for sustainable development. The 8th MDG saw great success across all of its target areas for the first decade of its implementation, especially regarding Goal 8.B., but the past 5 years have been stagnant for 8.B. and most of the other Goal 8 initiatives. Achieving MDG 8.B and its associated targets will take a lot more work for years to come, but after FFD3, UN members and partners seem well-prepared to shift that burden to the post-2015 agenda, and are ready to move forward.
