Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Development Goals
Millennium
Development Goals
Chair: Phillip Grudier
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Millennium Development Goals
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Millennium Development Goals
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Millennium Development Goals
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Dear Delegates and Faculty Advisors,
Welcome to VAMUN XXXIV! As the chair of the 2014 UN Millennium Development
Goals Summit, I am excited meet you all and enjoy a great conference weekend.
I was born in Ohio but at the ripe age of nine months my family moved to Turkey where I
lived until my freshman year of high school when we moved to Northern Virginia. Through
my years in Turkey I became interested in international development as I saw the vast
disparity between the elite who lived in very westernized cities and the villages that were
sustained by little more than farming. My interest in politics was sparked by living my teen
years in such close proximity to our nation’s capital. The combination of my interests in
international development and politics led to my involvement in Model UN starting my
freshman year of high school. Here at UVA I am a fourth year student studying Materials
Science and Engineering but my interest in international issues remains strong. I was a
delegate at VAMUN all four years of high school and I staffed VAMUN my first year and
chaired VAMUN both my second and third year. My memories of VAMUN are some of the
best I have and I am sure that with this set of topics this will be another great year for me
and for all of the delegates.
Set in real-time, half of a year from the 2015 end-date of the Millennium Development Goal
initiative, this summit will convene to discuss progress on the UN-authored goals, and to
discuss what actions can and must still be taken to ensure that as many member nations as
possible are elevated to reach these goals. I hope that the committee can work together to
come up with innovative solutions to problems that face the world. I strove to choose topics
that are both relevant and engaging which I hope will lead to some great debate!
If you have any questions about this committee, or specialized committees at VAMUN
XXXIV, please don’t hesitate to contact myself, or our Undersecretary General for GA and
Specialized committees, Michelle Wang. I look forward to working with and meeting you
all in November!
Sincerely,
Philip Grudier
Chair, 2014 UN Millennium Development Goals Summit
Virginia Model United Nations Conference XXXIV
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A Brief History of the UN Millennium Development Goals:
In September 2000 world leaders met at the United Nations Headquarters to reaffirm
faith in the international organization by drafting monumental legislation that would directly
address the critical issues that dominated the global scene. The result was the United Nations
Millennium Declaration in which each nation pledged to take responsibility of the global
society and focus on bringing up the lower echelons that remained around the world. The
hope was that those who took part in drafting this document would directly lead to
establishing a “just and lasting peace all over the world.”1 The Declaration pinpointed eight
major needs of the global community that needed to reach specified targets by the year
2015. These eight needs and their targets became known as the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. They are:
1. To eradicate extreme hunger and poverty: the target is to halve the proportion of
people whose income is less than $1 USD a day and the proportion of people who
suffer from hunger.
2. To achieve universal education at the primary level: the target is to secure a full
course of primary schooling for children, boys and girls alike, around the globe.
3. To promote gender equality and empower women: this goal is tightly linked to
goal number 2 in that it is believed that by securing education for all, a reduction in
disparity will occur.
4. To reduce child mortality: the goal is to reduce the under age five child mortality
rate by two thirds.
1 "A/res/55/2."
UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 23 July. 2014. www.un.org/millennium.declaration.ares552e.pdf Millennium Development Goals
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5. To improve maternal health: the goal is to reduce the maternal mortality rate by
three-quarters.
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases: the goal is to halt and reverse
the spread of the specified diseases.
7. To ensure environmental sustainability: the goal is to integrate the principals of
sustainable development into the programs and policies of governments. Specifically
by halving the proportion of people living without safe drinking water and basic
sanitation as well as improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
8. To develop a global partnership for development: the goal is to develop an open,
rule based, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. Specifically the needs of
the Least Developed Countries should be addressed on all levels.
In 2002 the Millennium Project was commissioned by the UN Secretary General to
formulate a concrete plan of action to focus on the first goal. In 2005 an advisory board
presented a report, Investing in Development: A practical Plan to Achieve the
Millennium Development Goals2. The product was twofold in its benefit. Not only did it
provide specific solutions to achieving the goals but it also stressed the need for urgency
and deliberate actions to achieve the goals. On the heels of this summit the United
Nations met in September. The product was a series of resolutions that showed
continued commitment to the goals and pledges to give an additional $50 billion USD
per year to fight poverty by 2010. In 2008 governments, foundations, businesses and
civil groups met and agreed to target goals one and six and raised an estimated $16
billion for food security, education, and disease reduction. On the heels of this
impressive commitment many UN agencies began to increase their involvement with the
MDGs. In September 2010 world leaders gathered under the direction of Secretary
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General Ban-ki Moon so that the global community could pinpoint successful tactics as
well as the shortcomings that were becoming apparent.
While not being one of the traditional arms of the United Nations, the Millennium
Development Goals Summit draws much of its jurisdiction and power from the original
mandate to bring a just and lasting peace through economic and social building. Thus
this committee’s jurisdiction reaches to the economic, social and health realms, and any
other area that can be leveraged to help bring about greater equality and aid those that
live underprovided lives. This wide jurisdiction grants this committee the power to
identify needs and act in an advisory role to the international community and foster
discussion as to how actors in the international community can work to remedy the ills
identified by this committee. This committee has particularly strong ties to the
International Monetary Fund, World Bank and many NGOs that it supports.
Considering the progress that has been made, the committee needs to focus again on
best practices and on what issues are holding back nations from reaching these goals.
This meeting will be used to specifically deal with two topics that are very
interdependent: the topic of the future of the Millennium Development Goals and the
best practices that lead to development. Both topics require a look at the progress that
has been made and what must be done in the future to continue the international
communities moral obligation to development. Delegates will be expected to be
knowledgeable about current events that are relevant while also bringing innovative
solutions to the table that keep that individual’s nation in mind but also seeks what is
best for the overall MDGs.
Topic 1: Future of the Millennium Development Goals
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The UN Conference on Sustainable Development, that took place June 2012 in, Rio de
Janerio Brazil began to look at the post-2015 agenda. One of the major outcomes from that
conference was a document titled “The Future We Want” and called for the creation of an
intergovernmental Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals to develop
proposals for consideration by the General Assembly2. The group has begun drafting a
cohesive development framework that has poverty reduction and sustainable development at
its core. While the current work put forth by this working group and the United Nations as a
whole is a step in the right direction, only two of the 8 original MDG’s dealt directly with
the issues of sustainable development and poverty reduction. Thus this committee should
look at what the future could hold for these two areas but keep in mind that health,
education, human rights and the environment are also issues that the international
community maintains a moral responsibility to promote and protect.
While the international community has kept track of the indicators that were singled out
in during the articulation of the MDG’s, major effort was placed on taking a look at progress
towards the goals in both 2010 and in 2013. In 2010 the indicators held mixed results with
some goals showing tremendous potential of reaching targets while others seemed
disappointingly far from realization. An example of this is the target to improve the lives of
at least 100 million slum dwellers had already been achieved twice over by 2010 but only 9
out of the 49 Least Developed Countries were on target to have a two-thirds reduction in
child mortality by 2015 in 20103. The story remains very similar in the World Banks 2013
Progress Status report. While major gains have been made, 70% of developing nations are
2 "United Nations Millennium Development Goals." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/beyond2015.shtml 3 Summit, United Nations. Ensure Environmental Sustainability (n.d.): n. pag. United Nations Summit, 22 Sept. 2010.
Web. 31 July 2014. www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_7_EN.pdf Millennium Development Goals
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seriously off target to reach the goal of reducing undernourishment4. Across the board this is
the story: Some nations have already met the goals sometimes many times over while others
struggle and remain off target and while it varies goal to goal, the overall trend is that some
of the goals will not be met by 2015. In addition, current events continue to hinder the
international communities’ progress towards the goals. For example, the Arab spring that
destabilized parts of North Africa and have left conflict stricken nations like Tunisia that
have stagnated and regressed in their progress towards the MDG’s.
This leads to the first question pertaining to the future of the Millennium
Development Goals: what should be done with those goals that cannot and will not be met?
Should the goals simply be extended or should they be reconsidered and potentially
changed? It is of the utmost importance that the committee examines the goals that are
farthest from being met, particularly those of maternal mortality, infant mortality and
improved sanitation and determines what is preventing these goals in particular from being
reached and how these important goals should be treated after 2015.
On August 9th, 2012 the United Nations held its first High-Level Panel on the Post-2015
Development Agenda. The meeting opened with an encouragement to be “bold but
practical”5 seeking to be both bold and practical the committee decided to consider making a
change in the mode of operation of the MDGs. Delegates considered making goals that were
more qualitative than quantitative. An example of this is the second MDG was to achieve
universal education. This goal is tied to a numerical goal, have every child receive a primary
4 "MDG Data Dashboards." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2014. www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_4_EN.pdf 5 "Press Statement from High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post-2015 Development Agenda, at Conclusion of Its
First Meeting, 25 September." UN News Center. UN, 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 31 July 2014.
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/dev2959.doc.htm Millennium Development Goals
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level education. Talk has shifted to changing the goal to be an increase in the quality of the
education across the globe.
One of the major concerns and critiques of the original MDGs was that they were not
concrete enough. People claimed that there are no defined way to measure advances in areas
such as gender equality and that it just acted as a corollary to universal education. With this
in mind the committee needs to consider what types of goals we should adopt. Are broad
goals like increased quality of education sufficient or are measureable goals preferred?
Additionally the committee should not overlook the goals that the world is not on track to
meet by 2015. Should the goals be carried over and should the global community just accept
a new time line or should the goals and goal date be adjusted? Additional considerations
must include how we want to portray the MDGs and the future of development to the
international community. In the past development has been portrayed as directly linked to
economic gain and economic indicators - do we wish to continue this legacy or suggest and
stress other means such as education and gender equality as a separate phenomenon? Thus
the major goals of this committee are to engage in soul searching and see what should
constitute the future of the Millennium Development Goals and what are some practical
steps that could be taken to reach these new goals.
Questions for the committee
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What should be done about the goals that will not be met by 2015?
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Should new goals be adopted and what could they be?
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Should new goals be more quantitative in nature or qualitative in nature?
Topic 2: Best Practices and Furthering Development
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With the mandate to “promote higher standards of living, full employment and
conditions of economic and social progress and development” the United Nations has
devised and implemented a plethora of programs and initiatives that aim to do justice to this
charter6. With the creation of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the
International Community provided a way for loans and monetary assistance to be able to be
taped for development. More creative means of development have also been started through
the Land Policy Initiative that aims to enable the use of lands in Africa to the poor and
underprivileged so that they may farm and begin the process of development on a more local
scale. The number of ways that the United Nations has embarked upon to reach its
development mandate is large but the practices stem from some relatively basic
understandings of how to best spark development in communities that have yet to achieve
progress and development.
The 2013 Global Monitoring Report confirmed that the goal of cutting extreme
income poverty in half by 2015 was met in 2010, indicating that some of the steps taken by
the international community to reach the Millennium Development Goals have been
fruitful7. With the end date of the goals, the time is ripe to examine what strategies and
tactics have been successful and determine what lends these strategies success. The data
collected over the past years as a part of measuring the progress of the MDG’s provides a
wealth of information and quantitative data that could be instrumental in building better
strategies in furthering development on the local and international scale. Whatever the future
of the Millennium Development Goals are themselves the undeniable fact remains that
6 Land Policy Initiative. United Nations Economic Commision for Africa, n.d. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.uneca.org/lpi 7 "Factsheet -- The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals." Factsheet -- The IMF and the Millennium Development
Goals. International Monetary Fund, n.d. Web. 31 July 2014. https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/mdg.htm Millennium Development Goals
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beyond 2015 there is much in the way of development that needs to be done. Using the
progress made by the MDG’s as a case study presents as unique opportunity to compile a list
of the most effective and efficient methods to further development. Currently there is no
dedicated effort that aims to look at what has worked over the past years and what has been
rendered ineffective and thus this committee should endeavor to create a program or strategy
that takes advantage of the wealth of resource waiting to be found in the history and legacy
of the first fifteen years of the Millennium Development Goals.
To have a fruitful discussion on the topic of development and how we can pinpoint
optimal strategies for furthering development, first an understanding of the term economic
development must be achieved. Economists originally declared that by helping nations
industrialize and modernize wealth could be brought in and this would constitute economic
development. However, indicators of wealth, which indicate the quantity of resources
available to a society, provide no information about how those resources are allocated within
that society8. It is possible to have a large amount of resources in a nation, but all of these
resources being held by an elite class results in a swath of the population living a poor
quality of life. Because of this the United Nations has begun to emphasize “human
development” which is the umbrella term for focusing on human capital through education
and medicine9. The Human Development Report 1996 went as far as to say that “human
development is the end – economic growth a means” 10. The current MDG’s have shown the
United Nations commitment to that statement by having only one of the goals being
centered on what has been traditionally described as economic development.
8 "Beyond Economic Growth Chapter I." Beyond Economic Growth Chapter I. World Bank, n.d. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/global/chapter1.html 9 Slim, Hugo. "What Is Development?" Development in Practice 5.2 (1995): 143-48. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_01.pdf 10 Slim, Hugo. "What Is Development?" Development in Practice 5.2 (1995): 143-48. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_01.pdf Millennium Development Goals
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With this more holistic look at development this committee should focus on actions and
programs instituted that have aided in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Major
areas that should be considered are education programs, medical and economic initiatives.
With the goal being “human development” and the empowering of human capital this
committee should determine what has expanded the rights and built the dignity of the poor
in nations and how this process can be continued. The international community has
significant monetary resources available to it through the International Monetary Fund, the
World Bank, and aid given by individual nations. This money needs to be invested
efficiently, and hopefully some of these more efficient methods of resource allocation can be
extracted from those used in the past. Do not limit ideas to monetary ones, though. Look for
innovative ways that local governments, the private and non-for-profit sectors and
communities can partner to solve issues.
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Questions for the committee
What are the characteristics of programs that work in developing human capital
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How can these characteristics be replicated in the future to increase the
effectiveness of aid
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What innovative initiatives should be used to build communities that are
empowered to develop themselves.
Guide to Research
Some of the most helpful resources are United Nations sources on the issues that
hinder goals and how the problems are being solved. Such sources include the United
Nation’s website and specifically links that can be found on www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.
Additionally the home sites of NGOs can be invaluable in learning individual organizations
strategies for solving the problems that they have identified, examples of this would be
www.redcross.org, www.oxfam.org and www.wbcsb.org . Additionally it would be helpful
to know what government programs have to say on the topics above and solutions they see
to the problems, examples of this would be www.usaid.gov/ .
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Works Cited
"A/res/55/2." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 23 July. 2014.
www.un.org/millennium.declaration.ares552e.pdf
"UN Millennium Project | Publications." UN Millennium Project | Publications. N.p., n.d.
Web. www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/index.htm
"Press Statement from High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post-2015 Development
Agenda, at Conclusion of Its First Meeting, 25 September." UN News Center. UN,
26 Sept. 2012. Web. 31 July 2014.
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/dev2959.doc.htm
Summit, United Nations. Ensure Environmental Sustainability (n.d.): n. pag. United Nations
Summit, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 31 July 2014.
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_7_EN.pdf
"MDG Data Dashboards." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2014.
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_4_EN.pdf
"Factsheet -- The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals." Factsheet -- The IMF and
the Millennium Development Goals. International Monetary Fund, n.d. Web. 31 July
2014. https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/mdg.htm
"Beyond Economic Growth Chapter I." Beyond Economic Growth Chapter I. World Bank,
n.d. Web. 31 July 2014.
http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/global/chapter1.html
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Slim, Hugo. "What Is Development?" Development in Practice 5.2 (1995): 143-48. Web. 31
July 2014. http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_01.pdf
"United Nations Millennium Development Goals." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 31 July
2014. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/beyond2015.shtml
Land Policy Initiative. United Nations Economic Commision for Africa, n.d. Web. 31 July
2014. http://www.uneca.org/lpi
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