Editing Millennium Development Goals (section)

==Progress==
[[File:Extreme poverty 1981-2008.svg|thumb|Graph of global population living on under 1, 1.25 and 2 equivalent of 2005 US dollars a day (red) and as a proportion of world population (blue) from 1981 to 2008 based on data from The World Bank]]A major conference was held at [[UN headquarters]] in New York on 20–22 September 2010 to review progress.  The conference concluded with the adoption of a global action plan to accelerate progress towards the eight anti-poverty goals. Major new commitments on women's and children's health, poverty, hunger and disease ensued.

Between 1990 and 2010 the population living on less than $1.25 a day in developing countries halved to 21%, or 1.2 billion people, achieving MDG 1A before the target date, although the biggest decline was in China, which took no notice of the goal. However, the child mortality and maternal mortality are down by less than half. [[Sanitation]] (MDG 7) and education (MDG 2) targets will also be missed.<ref name="econ2013">{{cite news |date=21 September 2013 |title=Poverty: Growth or safety net? |url=https://www.economist.com/news/international/21586601-eradicating-extreme-poverty-no-longer-pipe-dream-first-governments-must-agree |access-date=4 October 2013 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>

Fundamental issues such as gender, the divide between the humanitarian and development agendas and economic growth will determine whether or not the MDGs are achieved, according to researchers at the [[Overseas Development Institute]] (ODI).<ref>{{cite web |title=Gender and the MDGs |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2386&title=gender-mdgs-gender-lens-vital-pro-poor-results/ |access-date=7 July 2011 |work=ODI Briefing Paper |publisher=[[Overseas Development Institute]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=MDGs and the humanitarian-development divide |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=1937&title=mdgs-humanitarian-development-divide |access-date=7 July 2011 |work=ODI Briefing Paper |publisher=[[Overseas Development Institute]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Economic Growth and the MDGs |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=4892&title=millennium-development-goals-equitable-growth-policy-brief |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717041456/http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=4892&title=millennium-development-goals-equitable-growth-policy-brief |archive-date=17 July 2011 |access-date=7 July 2011 |work=ODI Briefing Paper |publisher=[[Overseas Development Institute]]}}</ref>

Progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven across countries. [[Brazil]] achieved many of the goals,<ref>{{cite web |title=Brazil: Quick Facts |url=http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=BRA&cd= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603005622/http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=BRA&cd= |archive-date=3 June 2013 |access-date=14 October 2012 |publisher=MDG Monitor}}</ref> while others, such as [[Benin]], are not on track to realize any.<ref>{{cite web |title=Benin: Quick Facts |url=http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=BEN&cd= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216134539/http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=BEN&cd= |archive-date=16 December 2012 |access-date=14 October 2012 |publisher=MDG Monitor}}</ref> The major successful countries include China (whose [[Poverty in China|poverty population]] declined from 452 million to 278 million) and India.<ref name="econ.lse.ac.uk">{{cite web |title=Halving Global Poverty |url=http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/rburgess/wp/jep11.pdf |access-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> The [[World Bank]] estimated that MDG&nbsp;1A (halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day) was achieved in 2008 mainly due to the results from these two countries and East Asia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chen |first1=Shaohua |last2=Ravallion |first2=Martin |author-link2=Martin Ravallion |date=29 February 2012 |title=An Update to the World Bank's Estimates of Consumption Poverty in the Developing World |url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVCALNET/Resources/Global_Poverty_Update_2012_02-29-12.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904162456/http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVCALNET/Resources/Global_Poverty_Update_2012_02-29-12.pdf |archive-date=Sep 4, 2012 |access-date=14 August 2012 |publisher=Development Research Group, World Bank}}</ref>

In the early 1990s [[Nepal]] was one of the world's poorest countries and remains South Asia's poorest country. Doubling health spending and concentrating on its poorest areas halved maternal mortality between 1998 and 2006. Its [[Multidimensional Poverty Index]] has seen the largest decreases of any tracked country. [[Bangladesh]] has made some of the greatest improvements in infant and maternal mortality ever seen, despite modest income growth.<ref name="econ2013" />

=== Success factors ===
Scholars identified six factors that have "enabled or hindered MDG implementation" for particular countries:<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Hickmann |first=Thomas |last2=Biermann |first2=Frank |last3=Spinazzola |first3=Matteo |last4=Ballard |first4=Charlotte |last5=Bogers |first5=Maya |last6=Forestier |first6=Oana |last7=Kalfagianni |first7=Agni |last8=Kim |first8=Rakhyun E. |last9=Montesano |first9=Francesco S. |last10=Peek |first10=Tom |last11=Sénit |first11=Carole‐Anne |last12=van Driel |first12=Melanie |last13=Vijge |first13=Marjanneke J. |last14=Yunita |first14=Abbie |date=2023 |title=Success factors of global goal‐setting for sustainable development: Learning from the Millennium Development Goals |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sd.2461 |journal=Sustainable Development |language=en |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=1214–1225 |doi=10.1002/sd.2461 |issn=0968-0802}}</ref> These include ''path dependencies'' ("whether the MDGs are in line with the historical political orientation and tradition of a country"), government ownership of the MDGs, pressure from [[Non-governmental organization|NGOs]], availability of financial resources, "administrative capacity and level of economic development", and "support from international or bilateral donors". The researchers found China successful in achieving the MDGs due to its strong administration, economic growth, and effective national strategies, which were well aligned with the MDGs.<ref name=":3" />

===Multilateral debt reduction===
[[G8|G‑8]] Finance Ministers met in [[London]] in June 2005 in preparation for the [[31st G8 summit|Gleneagles Summit]] in July and agreed to provide enough funds to the World Bank, IMF and the [[African Development Bank]] (AfDB) to cancel the remaining HIPC multilateral debt ($40 to $55&nbsp;billion). Recipients would theoretically re-channel debt payments to health and education.<ref name="Carrasco">E.&nbsp;Carrasco, C.&nbsp;McClellan, & J.&nbsp;Ro (2007) [http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/ebook2/contents/part4-I.shtml "Foreign Debt:  Forgiveness and Repudiation"] University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development E-Book {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731123358/http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/ebook2/contents/part4-I.shtml |date=31 July 2008 }}</ref>

The Gleaneagles plan became the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). Countries became eligible once their lending agency confirmed that the countries had continued to maintain the reforms they had implemented.<ref name="Carrasco" />

While the World Bank and AfDB limited MDRI to countries that complete the HIPC program, the IMF's eligibility criteria were slightly less restrictive so as to comply with the IMF's unique "uniform treatment" requirement. Instead of limiting eligibility to HIPC countries, any country with [[per capita income]] of $380 or less qualified for debt cancellation. The IMF adopted the $380 threshold because it closely approximated the HIPC threshold.<ref name="Carrasco" />

=== Millennium Development Goal 3 (gender equality) ===
[[File:Geena Davis at the podium (9922450166).jpg|thumb|The Hollywood actress [[Geena Davis]] in a speech at the MDG Countdown event at the [[Ford Foundation]] in New York, addressing gender roles and issues in film such as her organization's work in combating [[inequality in Hollywood]] (24 September 2013)]]
Increased focus on gender issues could accelerate MDG progress, e.g. empowering women through access to paid work could help reduce child mortality.<ref name="Kabeer, Naila 2003">Kabeer, Naila. 2003. ''Gender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and the Millennium Development Goals: A Handbook for Policy-Makers and Other Stakeholders''. Commonwealth Secretariat.</ref> In [[South Asia]]n countries babies often suffered from [[low birth weight]] and high mortality due to limited access to healthcare and maternal [[malnutrition]]. Paid work could increase women's access to health care and better nutrition, reducing child mortality. Increasing female education and workforce participation increased these effects. Improved economic opportunities for women also decreased participation in the sex market, which decreased the spread of AIDS, MDG&nbsp;6A.<ref name="Kabeer, Naila 2003" />

Although the resources, technology and knowledge exist to decrease poverty through improving gender equality, the political will is often missing.<ref name="Grown, Caren 2005">{{cite journal |last1=Grown |first1=Caren |year=2005 |title=Answering the Skeptics: Achieving Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals |journal=Development |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=82–86 |doi=10.1057/palgrave.development.1100170 |s2cid=83769004}}</ref> If donor and developing countries focused on seven "priority areas", great progress could be made towards the MDG. These seven priority areas include: increasing girls' completion of secondary school, guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health rights, improving infrastructure to ease women's and girl's time burdens, guaranteeing women's property rights, reducing gender inequalities in employment, increasing seats held by [[women in government]], and combating violence against women.<ref name="Grown, Caren 2005" />

It is thought by some women's rights' advocatess that the current MDGs targets do not place enough emphasis on tracking gender inequalities in poverty reduction and employment as there are only gender goals relating to health, education, and political representation.<ref name="Kabeer, Naila 2003" /><ref>[[Noeleen Heyzer]]. 2005. "Making the Links: Women's Rights and Empowerment Are Key to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals". ''Gender and Development'', Vol.&nbsp;13, No.&nbsp;1, Millennium Development Goals (March 2005), pp. 9–12</ref> Feminist writers such as [[Naila Kabeer]] have argued that in order to encourage women's empowerment and progress towards the MDGs, increased emphasis should be placed on gender mainstreaming development policies and collecting data based on gender.

According to MDG Monitor, the target under MDG 3 "To eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, and in all levels of education by 2015" was met.<ref name="Monitor">{{Cite web |date=15 November 2016 |title=MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women |url=http://www.mdgmonitor.org/mdg-3-promote-gender-equality-and-empower-women/ |access-date=1 December 2016 |quote=Gender disparity has reduced dramatically at all levels of education in the developing regions since 2000, hitting the MDG target.}}</ref>

However MDG monitor points out that while parity has been achieved across the developing world, there are regional and national differences favouring girls in some cases and boys in others.  In secondary education in "Western Asia, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa, girls are still at a disadvantage, while the opposite is true in Latin America and the Caribbean – boys are at a disadvantage."  Similarly in tertiary education there are disparities "at the expense of men in Northern Africa, Eastern Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean" while conversely they are "at the expense of women in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa."<ref name="Monitor" />