As world leaders convene in New York this week to find ways to reach the 2015 deadline of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, reports on the global progress in realizing the eight development goals abound.
Below are MDG progress reports, whose release coincide with the MDG summit in New York that runs until Sept. 23.
Education
What are the worst places in the world to be a school child - Somalia and Haiti, a report by the Global Campaign for Education says.
The report notes that underinvestment in education has kept 69 million children out of school. It estimates that USD4.6 billion annually will be lost to education budgets in sub-Saharan Africa due to the adverse impacts of the financial crisis.
The report recommends that poor nations allocate 20 percent of their budgets to education, half for primary schooling, and remove fees and charges that prevent households from sending children to school.
Donor nations, meanwhile, should put together a plan aimed at meeting the funding required for the Education for All initiative, launched in 1990, the report notes. Financing for basic education should reach USD8 billion each year, and increase incrementally to USD16 billion per year by 2014. The report also called on the G-20 to agree on a global financial transaction tax of at least USD400 billion per year, USD100 billion of which should support development initiatives, including education.
Asian Progress on MDGs
The number of people in Asia and the Pacific living on less than USD1.25 a day has declined from 1.5 billion in 1990 to under 950 million in 2005, a U.N.-backed report says. The region must step up efforts to translate economic growth into progress toward reducing poverty and hunger, according to the report jointly produced by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, U.N. Development Program and Asian Development Bank.
“Lifting people out of poverty is an essential step in building domestic demand in Asia and sustaining global economic growth,” said ESCAP Executive Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer, who urged the countries in the region to focus their development strategies on poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs.
Asian and Pacific nations have charted gains in ensuring that all children have access to primary school and limiting HIV prevalence, the report notes. It stresses, however, that the region, which is still home to two-thirds of the world’s poor and hungry, has made sluggish progress on improving maternal and child health.
If the region maintains its existing development track, it will have nearly 35 million more people living in extreme poverty, nearly 900,000 additional malnourished children, 1.7 million births not attended by skilled professionals, and 70 million more people lacking access to improved sanitation by 2015.
Women’s Development
Progress on the MDGs has failed to trickle down to large numbers of women and girls particularly those in rural areas, according to data unveiled by the U.N. Development Fund for Women on Sept. 20.
The findings released form part of the forthcoming report titled, “Progress of the World’s Women 2010/2011, Access to Justice,” which will be launched in December.
The publication calls for public services that help meet women and girls’ right to education, health and food, land, and jobs for women. It also pushes for greater women’s participation in decision-making and putting an end to violence against women.
African Progress on MDGs
In Africa, progress in realizing the MDGs is a mixed story, a report by the U.N. and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says.
The report notes the improvements in political and economic governance, and peace and security in Africa, which have helped the region weather the financial crisis. But progress on bolstering agriculture, food security, energy, environmental sustainability, and water and sanitation, as well as combating climate change has been much slower, the report adds.
Some of the key priorities for Africa’s development include encouraging regional integration, mobilizing domestic revenue, promoting trade and honoring aid commitments for the region.
A list of MDG progress reports has also been compiled by the Guardian. Devex News – live breaking news coverage of the Millennium Development Goals and the Sept. 20-22 U.N. MDG summit in New York.