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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - UNDP - April 2003
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Foreword
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has assigned UNDP the role of global “campaign manager” in implementing the Millennium Declaration of
September 2000 and “scorekeeper” for the eight Goals. This third issue of the Development Policy Journal looks at a variety of challenges posed by the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) under three headings: their feasibility; their relationship to sustainable development; and prospects for reaching Goal 8, a global
partnership for development.
Although the United Nations began setting development goals in 1960 for each successive decade, they tended – until very recently – to stress the primacy of economic
growth over human development, with little more than a nod to the natural capital on which sustainable growth depends. Several articles of this Journal issue
draw attention to how this lingering assumption still skews countries’ statistical systems,
generates unrealistic notions for overcoming poverty, and distorts the framing of policy to reduce deprivation. Other articles underline the interdependence
of the MDGs. They show how neglecting human development can stunt a country’s potential for economic growth. They reveal the social and gender
dimensions of the environment-poverty nexus. They point to ways in which changing trade rules could serve people rather than markets. Several articles also discuss
the relationships of governments, private enterprise and civil society bodies within and beyond national borders – and the partnerships among them that could
create a global compact for development.
There is good reason to think the MDGs will not be universally attained by 2015. But there is no reason to believe that they cannot be reached within a foreseeable
future. They represent a consensus on the complexity of interactions among different human activities – and the need to unite different strengths to meet
multiple challenges.
As usual, we welcome any comments from readers on the contents of this Journal.
Shoji Nishimoto
Assistant Administrator and Director
Bureau for Development
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