Stronger Global Development Partnership Needed Amid Declining Aid Levels

Secretary-General Launches the 2012 MDG Gap Task Force Report © UN Photo/Paulo FilgueirasOn 20 September 2012, the United Nations launched the 2012 MDG Gap Task Force Report, entitled “The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality”.

At the launch of the Report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged a stronger global partnership to advance progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) amid declining aid levels, and called on the international community not to place the burden of fiscal austerity on the backs of the poor.

In March, major progress in achieving the MDGs was reported, with several important targets – on poverty, water, slums and on parity between girls and boys in primary education – having been met.

On the global partnership, however, progress is weaker. The Report notes that after reaching a peak in 2010, in 2011 the volume of official development assistance declined for the first time in many years (by almost three per cent). It warns that with no apparent commitment by donor governments to reverse the trend, it is possible that fewer of the MDGs will be reached in fewer countries by the 2015 deadline.

However, the Report says that while challenging, it is still possible to meet the remaining targets by 2015, but only if governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago and international support is adequate.

The Report CoverAccording to the Report, to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of donor country gross national income, total overseas development assistance should more than double to about $300 billion (in 2011 dollars), thus leaving a delivery gap of $167 billion against that commitment.

There has also been limited progress in fulfilling other key aspects of the global partnership for development. Despite the poorest countries receiving generous debt relief, many still face unsustainable obligations. And while new financing has been pledged to some disease-specific global health funds, there has been little improvement in recent years in increasing availability and affordability of essential medicines in developing countries.

To address the current situation, the MDG Gap Task Force calls upon the international community to honour its promises and close the gaps between commitments and delivery.

Source: UN News Centre

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The MDG Gap Task Force was created five years ago to systematically track existing international commitments and to identify gaps and obstacles in their fulfilment at the international, regional and country level in the areas of official development assistance, market access (trade), debt sustainability, access to essential medicines and new technologies. Its annual report is published in September.

To download the Report in English, please click here. For the Report in other languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) as well as past reports, please visit the MDG Gap Task Force website.

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