The last 1,000 days of the 2015 MDGs, or the Millennium Development Goals, began on April 5, 2015. These MDGs included halving or eliminating extreme poverty, achieving equality for the sexes, creating global-wide education for primary school-aged children, and several others. These goals were originally launched in 2000. Recently, ONE has created a ONE Data Report to give updates on the MDG progress thus far, since time is inching closer and closer to the “end” of the goals. The ONE Data Report was created in order to see the progress that has already been made, which is incredibly encouraging, but also to point out the areas that have not been going as well, so that the globe knows where to focus over the next (less than) 1,000 days, at least in terms of the 2015 MDGs.
The 2013 ONE Data Report was officially released May 29, 2013. The report details all of the progress that has been made by developing countries with particular attention to Sub-Saharan Africa. It details all of the 8 core MDGs and their targets, and marks the progress made by the countries according to an “MDG Progress Index.” In addition, the ONE Data Report looks at the finances being made towards the important sectors of health, education, and agriculture, which are poverty-reducing. It looks at the contributions made by the government and donors, and then proceeds to compare the financing with the progress being made on the MDG targets that are related to the three sectors. For instance, in the MDG to “halve extreme poverty,” countries like Peru, Argentina, and Nigeria have scored a “zero” and are labeled as “off target.” Other countries, like Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, have scored a “one” and are labeled “on target.”
The ONE Data Report attempts to hold world leaders accountable to the promises that they have made to the poor. This year’s report, titled “Financing the Fight for Africa’s Transformation,” clearly focuses on the advances made in Sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies the countries that are not on-track to meet the MDG targets by 2015 in addition to why they are behind. The ONE Data Report also identifies the “MDG trailblazers,” or the countries which have made incredibly progress. Ten of these trailblazers are in Sub-Sahara Africa, including Rwanda, Ethiopia and Ghana. Over the last three years which progress indexes have been conducted, many other countries have also progressed at a fantastic rate.
The ONE Data Report also noted that Sub-Saharan Africa’s resource flows, including domestic government expenditures, has quadrupled since 2000. Burkina Faso, another country in Africa, is on-track to reach half of its eight MDG targets. But despite the successes of some, the report encourages the other “laggard”countries that are not meeting their goals to make changes. 9 of the 14 “laggard” countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In any case, much progress has been made, but there is still more to do. The best thing to do at this point, according to the data report, is for the governments and donors to give money to the organizations that can pick up the pace of development for some of these countries. For example, the Global Fund and the African Development Fund, which have both run into problems this year due to lack of funding. If more funding goes towards the “laggard” countries, it is entirely feasible that even if the globe does not achieve all 8 MDGs, they will certainly come close.
– Corina Balsamo
Sources: Think Africa Press, ONE Data Report, Sociolingo, AFDB
Photo: ONE