Millennium Development Goals

MDG Progress Review – Qatar, UK, and Kuwait

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Millennium-Development-Goals-for-2015Today, as part of the Annual Ministerial Review on development, Qatar, the UK, and Kuwait gave their respective countries’ development reports, and had these reports reviewed by their peers as part of the monitoring and evaluation process of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Beginning the meeting, the representative from Qatar presented Qatar’s National Development Strategy (NDS), which covers the period from 2011-2016. So far it’s found that Qatar has done exceedingly well in GNI per capita (ranking 1st globally), and in having high levels of citizen satisfaction with life. However, the NDS report pointed out population growth as a major challenge to development in Qatar. Qatar’s population has grown from 1.4 million in 2008 to 2.1 million in 2013, with almost a quarter of a million more people expected by 2014. Population growth places a burden on schools, hospitals, housing, and other aspects of social infrastructure. Traffic congestion and accidents were also highlighted as main challenges for Qatar. Concluding the presentation, proposed future actions for development include creating a high-level sustainable development committee, ensuring the integration of environmental and social concerns, and improving quantitative and qualitative measures of well-being.

Next, the UK’s development report was presented. The UK is the only G8 country to reach the UN set target of allocating .7% of its GNI for official development assistance (ODA). Furthermore, the UK identified its key priorities for development as gender equality, education and health, humanitarian work, multilateral aid effectiveness, reducing barriers to economic growth, supporting capital market development in Sub Saharan Africa, and international efforts to combat tax evasion and corruption. To promote development, the UK has given 40% of its bilateral aid to Sub Saharan Africa. Furthermore, in 2013, the UK gave 4.4 billion pounds to 40 different multilateral aid agencies. The presentation concluded with a quote from the UK’s International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, “Development is in all of our interests. Helping other countries to grow and develop means a better, more prosperous future for Britain too.”

Lastly, Kuwait gave its presentation on its development progress. So far, Kuwait has done relatively well in meeting the MDGs. By 2011, only .33% of its population lived on less than $1.25 per day, by 2012 97% of children were enrolled in primary schools, and Kuwait has seen a significant improvement in maternal health – 1.7 deaths for every 100,000 births as of 2012. However, increasing CO2 levels in Kuwait remain a challenge, and water desalination and power stations are main sources of pollution. Thus far, Kuwait has been successful in building a global partnership for development – allocating 1.23% of its GNI for ODA, hosting the first Arab summit on economic and social development, and creating the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The meeting concluded with reviews by peer countries of the development reports.

 

Meeting Title: Annual Ministerial Review National Voluntary Presentations: Qatar, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Kuwait
Speakers: H.E. Mr. Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit, Minister of Development Planning and Statistics, Qatar; Mr. Anthony Smith, Head, International Relations, Department for International Development, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; H.E. Mr. Mansour Ayyad SH A Alotaibi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait
Date: 9 July 2014
Location: Conference Room 2, United Nations HQ, New York
Written By WIT Representative: Marli Kasdan

UN Annual Ministerial Review on MDGs

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The United Nations held its annual ministerial review, and Mr.Wu presented the 2014 ARM report of the Secretary General. Mr. Wu elucidated that the MDGs have been important in prioritizing development and creating momentum for their implementation. He then acknowledged that although there has been significant progress in meeting many of the goals and targets, achievements have not been equal among goals, countries and regions.

Further, Ms. Fukuda-Parr gave a report on the sixteenth session of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), (E/2014/33, and Supplement No. 13). The CDP gave policy analysis and substantial recommendations on global governance and global rule. She explained that there are five principles crucial to guiding the reforms on global rules, namely, (i) Common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities, (ii) Subsidiarity, (iii) Inclusiveness, transparency and accountability, (iv) Coherence and (v) Responsible sovereignty. Ms. Fukuda-Parr concluded her statements by recommending that the council’s role to coordinate and guide initiatives of global socio-economic development should include an effective mechanism to monitor all development partners, including developed and developing countries, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and multilateral organizations.images-8

Further, the representatives of Norway and Costa Rica concurred with Ms. Fukuda-Parr’s conclusion. Next, the representative of Costa Rica added that her delegation is interested in establishing a truly global development partnership that builds upon the Monterrey Consensus, the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development and the Rio+20 outcome. The three dimensions of Sustainable Development: Economic, Social and Environment, were at the top of the agenda for many delegates, such as the delegates of South Africa, European Union, Serbia, G77 and China, San Marino and Zambia. With conviction, these ministers and diplomats agreed that a balanced integration and implementation of the injunctions given at Rio+20 asserts the function of the council in achieving a balanced integration of the three dimensions.

 

Meeting: The afternoon session of the high-level segment of the 2014 session of the Economic and Social Council and the three-day ministerial meeting of the high-level political forum on Sustainable Development. The Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) “Addressing on-going and emerging challenges for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and for sustaining development gains in the future”
Speakers: Introduction of the report of the Secretary-General: Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; Introduction of the report of the Committee for Development Policy: Ms. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Vice-Chair, And Committee for Development Policy. General debate (rolling list), His Excellency Sacha Sergio Llorentty Solíz, Permanent Representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China); Her Excellency Olga Marta Sánchez Oviedo, Minister of Planning and Economic Policy  of Costa Rica (on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States); His Excellency Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Environment (on behalf of the European Union); His Excellency Ivica Dacic, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia; His Excellency Pasquale Valentini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of San Marino; Representative of Zambia, Representative of South Africa, and Representative of European Union.
Date: 8 July 2014
Location: United Nations Headquarters, NY, ECOSOC Chamber
Written by WIT Representative: Modou Cham

 

 

Charting the Course For the Education We Want

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To inform the community on the progress of achieving “Education for All” through the Sustainable Development Goals, UNESCO and UNICEF hosted an information meeting to provide updates on their work. Ms. Jensen highlighted the enormity of the task of incorporating education for all as a distinct developmental goal, which has its roots in the 1990s. She cautioned the audience that the visionary goal of ensuring “equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning” in the zero draft must not be watered down in subsequent deliberations, a mistake learnt from the lessons of the Millennium Development Goals.Image

Mr. Vedeler mentioned the importance ensuring quality education, and how it is reflected in the zero draft targets by aiming at educating children that are not only literate, but are also equipped to work and become global citizens. His remarks on the importance of qualified teachers are also echoed by Ms. Wulff, who stated that some countries have more than 50% of teachers who are not qualified to teach. Ms. Wulff also stated the importance of motivating teachers by means of improving their compensation and restoring respect to the profession.

Miss Crosco intervened on the point of monitoring and evaluation, and stressed the positive role that the civil society has played in shaping education development should be maintained in the SDGs monitoring process. On the technical aspect of monitoring, Mr. Antonisis stated the need to develop new measurable indicators for intangible goals such as students’ acquisition of problem-solving skills and equity in education achievement. However, he also made an encouraging statement on the positive progress in developing these new indicators so far. The Deputy Permanent Representatives of two sponsoring states, Argentina and Brazil, showed their support to UNESCO and UNICEF, and shared their countries best practices in achieving education for all.

Meeting Title: Beyond 2015: The Education We Want Information Meeting
Speakers: H.E. Mr. Guilherme de Guiar Patriota, Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil; Ms. Josephine Bourne, UNICEF Global Chief of Education; Ms. Vibeke Jensen, Director of UNESCO Liaison Office in New York; Mr. Dankert Vedeler, Chair of Education for All Steering Committee, Ms. Antonia Wulff, Education International Coordinator for Education and Employment; Ms. Camilla Crosco, Co-Chair of EFA Steering Committee; Mr. Manos Antoninis, Senior Policy Analyst for Education For All Global Monitoring Report.
Location: Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, United Nations Headquarters, New York
Date: 16 June 2014
Written By WIT Representative: Harrison Chung
Edited by WIT Representative: Marli Kasdan