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"In 2007, the Secretary-General of the United Nations invited the organizations of the multilateral system to form an inter-secretariat task force to better monitor implementation of the commitments commonly summarized as "Goal 8" of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since its formation, the MDG Gap Task Force has been measuring progress in implementing commitments to strengthen official development assistance (ODA), to improve access of developing-country exports to international markets, to enhance cooperation to achieve and maintain sustainable external debt situations in developing countries, and to deepen developing-country access to affordable essential medicines and new technologies. In addition to reporting the progress in these areas, since its first report in 2008, the Task Force has identified the gaps between commitment and delivery and has called upon the international community to fill those gaps. Each annual report has shown the additional progress and greater efforts needed if the world is to reach the MDGs on schedule. Even during the midst of the global financial and economic crisis, the MDG Gap Task Force reported additional progress and concluded that the international community was advancing towards its goals. The message of the present report, however, is a more sobering one: the Task Force has had difficulty identifying areas of significant new progress and for the first time there are signs of backsliding. With less than three years until 2015, there is no apparent commitment by Governments to "reverse the reversal" in time. Fewer MDGs will be reached in fewer countries as a result. The waning of support for the global partnership for development may be understandable in the context of a protracted economic and financial crisis. But the global partnership for development should be seen as a "positive-sum game". There is positive feedback when the economies of development partner countries achieve robust growth and become dynamic markets for world trade and investment. Unsustainable pressures on the Earth's natural limits are a further reason why the global partnership should be seen as an opportunity to yield positive-sum outcomes. Massive investments are needed for climate change mitigation and adaptation and other dimensions of environmental protection with global ramifications. Such investment will come about only through collective action--nationally, of course, but also, and foremost, internationally. The United Natio ...

"The promotion of economic development is a recurrent area of interest, both in the policy ground as well as in the academic arena. Developed and developing countries are aware that there are pending issues to be solved. Trying to offer a response to some of them, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations balance social, economic and environmental factors which are in turn the pillars for sustainable economic growth. In this context, social changes, innovations, and technological advances would play a crucial role. But the needed changes require adequate economic policies aimed to promote sustainable economic development. Joint to this, the past financial and economic crisis has questioned the usefulness of several paradigms accepted by the academy and has also favored the research on economic policies. In the current globalized world, the new approaches to conduct economic policies, and the practical lessons that emerge from empirical analysis, are revealed as necessary tools to understand international economic relations. In this book, we provide some contributions that show the most recent approaches showing to which extent economic policies would overcome a sustainable economic development. First, we will review the current situation and the perspectives of development theories and policies. Next, we will show the scope of both demand-side and supply-side policies, when trying to achieve economic development. Finally, we will show several examples of how developing countries from the Latin America area are dealing with the current situation after the economic crisis, in light of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our results provide a vast and comprehensive analysis of the situation, the perspective and the proposals for the future of the economic policies for development."

Global development goals have become increasingly used by the United Nations and the international community to promote priority global objectives. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most prominent example of such goals, but many others have been set since the 1960s. Despite their prominence and proliferation, little has been written about the concept of global goals as a policy tool, their effectiveness, limitations and broader consequences. This paper explores global development goals as a policy tool, and the mechanisms by which they lead to both intended and unintended consequences in influencing international development strategies and action. It analyses the MDGs as an example to argue that global goals activate the power of numbers to create incentives for national governments and others to mobilise action and galvanise support for important objectives. But the powers of simplification, reification and abstraction lead to broader unintended consequences when the goals are misinterpreted as national planning targets and strategic agendas, and when they enter the language of development to redefine concepts such as development and poverty.

Poverty levels in the developing world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa still pose major challenges to overall development in the continent and globally, against the backdrop of the millennium development goals. A critical appraisal of poverty and development theories suggests that as long as individuals and communities are caught in poverty traps (in the form of low resources, low physical and human capital), exclusions from global markets and government and market failures they cannot enjoy the economic development experienced in high income, developed countries. The MDGs were developed in good faith to assist in reducing global economic development disparities; however, an assessment of the current status of African countries reveals a trend whereby it is highly unlikely that any of the targets set by the goals will be met by 2015. Goal 4 - the reduction of infant mortality rates - which would have been met, has been threatened by civil disturbances and increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS. Within Nigeria, where 50% live below the poverty line, the poverty situation is exacerbated by inequality in incomes, in assets (education and health status), in control over public resources and in access to essential services, coupled with high levels of insecurity. Growth strategies for reducing poverty levels in Sub-Saharan countries, and Nigeria in particular, must be pro-poor. Such strategies must eliminate discrimination against rural and agricultural development; invest in human capital (education and health); improve household consumption levels to reduce deprivation of basic needs by vulnerable members, particularly children, the widowed and the aged; provide access to markets and public infrastructure and facilitate the creation of new jobs. Ongoing economic and structural reforms in the country must be maintained on a sustained level that will permit poverty reduction and better quality of life.

Im September 2015 werden die Staats- und Regierungschefs aller UN-Mitgliedstaaten in New York zusammenkommen, um die Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) zu verabschieden. Die SDGs sollen zu nachhaltigem Fortschritt in wirtschaftlichen, sozialen und in ökologischen Fragen führen. Die SDGs werden - anders als die Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - für alle Länder gleichermaßen gelten. Damit sind die SDGs nicht nur durch die deutsche Außen- und Entwicklungspolitik, sondern auch vor allem innerhalb Deutschlands in Politikbereichen wie Bildung, Armut und Beschäftigung umzusetzen. Welche Chancen bieten die SDGs für Politik und Gesellschaft in Deutschland? Das "aktuell" informiert über den Stand der Debatte und macht Vorschläge, wie Menschenrechte den SDG-Prozess in Deutschland befördern und wie die SDGs helfen können, Menschenrechte umzusetzen.

In September 2015, the heads of 193 United Nations (UN) Member States adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. The agenda provides a successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000, with a view to ending poverty in all forms and dimensions, protecting the planet, and ensuring prosperity for all.

Halving the burden of malaria by 2015 and ensuring that 80% of people with malaria receive treatment is among the health related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite political momentum toward achieving this target, progress is slow and many with malaria (particularly in poor and rural communities in Africa) are still without access to effective treatment. Finding ways to improve access to anti-malarial treatment in Africa is essential to achieve the malaria related and other MDG targets. During its work in Chad, Sierra Leone and Mali in the period 2004 to 2008, Médecins Sans Frontières showed that it was possible to significantly improve access to effective malaria treatment through: i) the removal of health centre level user fees for essential healthcare for vulnerable population groups, ii) the introduction of free community based treatment for children using malaria village workers to diagnose and treat simple malaria in communities where geographical and financial barriers limited access to effective malaria care, iii) the improved diagnosis and treatment of malaria using rapid diagnosis tests and artemisinin based combination therapy, at both health facilities and in the community. This paper describes and discusses these strategies and their related impact.