Millennium Development Goals: A milestone or millstone?

By Jennifer Kargbo

In September of 2000, world leaders gathered for a summit meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York and once again, riled against global poverty and economic injustice. However, what made this summit different is that every leader agreed on a common vision for a better future – a world with less poverty, less hunger, equal opportunities for women, better access to education and health services. The vision was captured in eight goals collectively known as the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, and every country, rich and poor, large and small, agreed that by 2015, these noble goals would be achieved in every corner of the globe.

The MDGs are a milestone in global agreements because it marks the first time that all countries accepted that poverty and injustice anywhere is a collective problem and demands a collective response. Since the world is now half-way from the MDGs declaration in 2000 to the target date of 2015, it is important to take stock of progress in order to ensure that these vital goals are achieved sooner rather than later. This is why the Southern Africa office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has organized its annual Intergovernmental Committee of Experts meeting this year on the theme : Accelerating Africa's Development to meet the Millennium Development Goals: Challenges and the Way Forward for Southern Africa. The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts comprises senior government officials from southern Africa, and is the top policy organ governing the work of ECA in the sub-region, and this year's meeting is taking place in Lusaka, Zambia from 14 – 16 March 2007.

The Southern African sub-region has remained committed to achieving the MDGs despite suffering from crises of high levels of poverty and the HIV and AIDS pandemic. For example, some countries in the sub-region – including, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia – have adopted either development strategies or budgets that are poverty centred. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), 2006-2011 aims at transforming Malawi from relative poor country into a middle-income industrial nation. Similarly, the Zambian 5 th National Development Plan is pro-poor with the vision of Zambia becoming a 'Middle Income Prosperous Nation By 2030”. Similarly, t he key message underlying the South Africa 2007 budget was “Human life has equal worth”. This underscores the Government's desire to ensure better life for all, and resonates well with the MDGs. The challenge lies in the practical translation of these policy statements into pro-poor development programmes.

According to UNDP (2006), Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all experienced reversals in human development since 1990. Over one third of the population of Southern Africa is living on less than one US dollar a day. Lesotho and Zimbabwe had actually attained the status of countries with medium human development, but have now slipped back into the low human development category. And for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, estimates state that if current trends were to continue, the first MDG of reducing acute poverty by half will not be achieved until 2150! Therefore, present trends cannot continue.

Attaining the MDGs in Southern Africa will certainly be costly, requiring massive public investments and huge financial resources, funded by both domestic savings and funds from abroad. Some calculations show that given the current low levels of domestic savings, US$ 17.6 billion in external financing will be required to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger in Southern Africa by 2015. The financing required for achieving the remaining MDGs in the sub-region is estimated at US$ 10.5 billion.

External financing must come without increasing the already heavy burden of debt. Southern African countries have a total debt stock of US$ 78.1 billion, with the annual cost of servicing this debt as high as US$ 6.8 billion. Some countries in the region spend more money on debt servicing than they do on the social sectors necessary to achieve the MDGs. It is therefore critical that Africa's development partners offer steep, front-loaded debt relief and increase external financing, which fits neatly into MDG 8.

Southern Africa should also pursue comprehensive agrarian reform programmes that include land re-distribution and support for improved agricultural productivity, including timely availability of seeds and fertilizers, improved technology, effective agricultural extension services, and effective price incentives. Since a large proportion of people living on less than one US dollar a day depend on subsistence farming for their livelihoods, such programmes will have a direct impact on the level of poverty, directly tackling MDG 1. It could also encourage poorer families to send their children to school, instead of using them as child labourers, thus addressing MDG2.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic poses the most severe development challenge in the region. Southern Africa has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. Out of the 28.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 42% are in Southern Africa. The region accounts for one-third of all AIDS deaths globally and average life expectancy has dropped by fifteen years largely as a result of this.

And increasingly within Africa, the face of HIV/AIDS is that of a woman. Disempowered women cannot resist demands for unsafe practices because of the unequal relationship with men. AIDS also exacerbates poverty, forcing victims out of the labour market, and making them vulnerable to other infectious diseases. Since women are also the primary care givers, their role is crucial in protecting children's health. There is a strong link therefore between MDGs 3,4,5 and 6. None of these goals can be achieved without successfully addressing the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Achieving the MDGs will require a combination of strategies including redefining wealth creation as an approach to achieving the MDGs and eradicating poverty. The role of the private sector in wealth creation processes is invaluable as clearly expressed in influential reports such as the UN Millennium Project's "Investing in Development" (2005), "The Commission for Africa Report: Our Common Interest" (2005), the 2004 G8 Declaration on expanding access to Micro Finance for Entrepreneurs, and the UN report "Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor" (2004). Mainstreaming trade into national development strategies is also an important pillar, which will enable Southern African countries to use trade as an engine for growth and wealth creation.

ECA is working in close collaboration with all governments and other stakeholders in the sub-region to address the above challenges. The committee of experts will deliberate on all the challenges and will come up with a concrete action plan to accelerate country responses. This is the best way to ensure that milestones achieved in agreeing to the MDGs, does not turn into a millstone, grinding into oblivion the hopes and aspirations of communities as well as the credibility of international systems.

Jennifer Kargbo is the director of ECA's sub-regional office based in Lusaka, Zambia.