More Effective Planning and Budgeting Will Help Achieve MDGs

Increased and more effective public expenditure on quality and accessible social services will make an important contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), says Michael Chai, an associate of the International Council on Social Welfare, in an article titled 'Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals in Commonwealth Member States'. It is featured in a new publication by the Commonwealth Foundation called 'Breaking with Business as Usual -- Perspectives from Civil Society in the Commonwealth on the Millennium Development Goals'.

Mr Chai has made his observations following his study of national, regional and civil society reports on 18 Commonwealth developing countries, namely, Bangladesh, Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

He notes varied progress in these countries in meeting the MDGs to date since 2000, with a mixed picture of progress and setbacks. Countries that have shown progress are those that are able to mobilise the necessary local and global resources, as well as human and financial, to complement their existing social, political and physical infrastructure and technical capacity, to make the finance and economics work. Those that have invested in education and health have seen their efforts pay off.

Mr Chai says urgent and concerted efforts are needed to attain real and significant progress to meet the Goals for poverty eradication and sustainable development by 2015. He points out that social protection schemes are crucial to help guard against any vulnerability and losses in the face of economic shocks, social instability or natural disasters. Reducing inequality is vital for poverty reduction and this includes the eradication of corruption. A fair distribution of assets, especially land, capital, human resources and infrastructure, is also important.

He states that HIV/AIDS continues to pose a major challenge for the Caribbean, which is second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of prevalence rates. The increases in HIV prevalence rates in some African countries have severely undermined progress towards MDGs in health and other areas. Small island developing states of the Commonwealth, he notes, have been making slow progress towards the MDGs because of poverty, political unrest or civil disturbance.

Mr Chai says the central challenge for governments is the development and implementation of national policies that promote sustainable growth.

"Improved access to education and better health enable poor people to contribute more fully to the growth process and to participate more equitably in the opportunities which growth creates and the benefits it offers. Policies that are good for equity are good for growth, and good for converting growth into poverty reduction," he writes.

He adds that government policies that have provided its rural poor with access to land, credit and marketing opportunities have enabled them to produce and invest their way out of poverty, and helped to unleash the productive potential of the poor.

Mr Chai says a meaningful partnership between the rich and the poor must address the need of developing countries for technology, medicines and jobs. He states that much more needs to be done to advance global partnerships for development, including developed country initiatives related to aid, trade and debt relief.

Commenting on Mr Chai's observations on the road ahead for Commonwealth countries to attain the MDGs, Dr Mark Collins, Director of the Foundation, said the MDGs are the best chance the developing world has to get out of the poverty trap.

"At the forthcoming meeting of the 60th UN General Assembly in New York, the pressure is on to reaffirm the Goals as globally agreed targets. Failure in implementation of the Goals weakens the case; listening to advice from the grassroots makes a lot of sense if we want to assure success," stated Dr Collins.

For more details on 'Breaking with Business as Usual -- Perspectives from Civil Society in the Commonwealth on the Millennium Development Goals', visit the website http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/.

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 252, 14 September 2005

Related Websites:

• Commonwealth Foundation