{"id":7506,"date":"2012-07-16T13:23:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T13:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.global-briefing.org\/?p=7506"},"modified":"2012-07-16T13:23:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T13:23:15","slug":"after-the-mdgs-what-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-briefing.org\/2012\/07\/after-the-mdgs-what-next\/","title":{"rendered":"After the MDGs, what next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Breaking Point, a new collaboration between the Commonwealth Foundation and the United Nations Millennium Campaign, will review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and assess the effectiveness of the framework. As the 2015 deadline draws near, the question becomes: how to measure progress in a post-MDG world and balance priorities with the shift of focus from poverty to sustainable development?<\/strong><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The politics of development has changed sig\u00adnificantly in the 12 years since 189 heads of state and government – from the North and the South – signed up to the Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit. The threat of climate change, the stalling of the Doha Development Round trade negotiations and the crises of global finance have chal\u00adlenged the viability of neo-liberal orthodox\u00adies and raised questions about the ability of many countries to achieve the eight goals and twenty-one targets laid out in the declaration.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

On 29 May 2012, the Commonwealth Foundation announced a groundbreaking partnership with the United Nations Millen\u00adnium Campaign, the first with a UN agency, to collaborate on Breaking Point, a project that will review progress towards the MDGs in 20 countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Grenada, The Gambia, India, Jamaica, Ma\u00adlawi, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zambia, plus Nepal and the Philip\u00adpines, two non-Commonwealth states. This innovative research for the first time cuts across OECD members, small island developing states, newly classified middle-income countries and donor nations.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2010, the Overseas Development Insti\u00adtute in London published a list of the top ten achievers that had made absolute progress on the MDGs (i.e. countries that have seen the biggest positive change on the devel\u00adopment indicators). Four Commonwealth countries – The Gambia, Malawi, Uganda and India – featured on this list. Further\u00admore, Belize ranked in the top ten countries that had seen relative progress (i.e. coun\u00adtries with the fastest rate of progress rela\u00adtive to their starting point).<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

But what comes after 2015? Given the chal\u00adlenging, complex and unpredictable context in which any post-2015 framework is likely to be negotiated, the following must be considered:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n