Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

They have offered a pathway to a better life – a life with access to adequate food and income; to basic education and health services; to clean water and sanitation; and to empowerment for women. Put simply, achieving the MDGs is about a better life for billions of people. The Goals can be achieved, and there is a range of tried and tested policies which, adapted to national contexts, can be ensure progress on them.

Drawing on studies from 50 countries to find out what has worked and what are common constraints on progress, UNDP completed an international assessment of where to focus to achieve the MDGs. Eight areas are identified. First, the importance of country-led development is emphasised.

Development strategies need to be locally-owned and based on broad national consensus. It helps immensely when a country's institution are responsive and accountable, and have the capacity to implement MDG policies and programmes. Development partners can help by supporting planning which includes the perspectives of poor and marginalised people; and also by supporting the strengthening of the capacities needed to mobilise resources, make evidence-based policy decisions and deliver services.

Second, more inclusive economic growth models are needed to drive MDG progress. The evidence suggests the rapid reductions in poverty and hunger result from economic growth which is job-rich, and which has a specific focus on agriculture and rural development in countries where large number of people live on the land. A fair distribution of income, assets and opportunities also helps.

In the developing world, 2.5bn people depend on agriculture for their living. Boosting agricultural production can simultaneously reduce poverty and improve food security. To be more productive, farmers need better fertilizers and seeds, extension services, secure land rights, and access to markets.

Ghana offers a good example of what can work in this area. It has managed, through a nationwide fertilizer subsidy programme, to increase its food production by 40 percent. That contributed to the 9 percent decline in hunger in Ghana between 2003 and 2005.

Boosting farm production also requires improvements in rural infrastructure. As well, the conclusion of the WTO Doha round in a way which works for poor people and countries would help. Recent decades saw a sharp decline in the share of official development assistance going to the agricultural sector. The G8 agreement at L'Aquila last year to invest in global food security, however, was a positive step away from that trend.

Third, opportunities for women and girls must be improved. That would be a powerful driver of MDG progress across all the goals. The evidence shows that children born to women with some formal education are more likely to survive.