Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration

Millennium Development Goals

The United Nation's eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focus on key social factors that are crucial to poverty alleviation:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a Global Partnership for Development.10

Although the MDGs have been justifiably criticised for their top down, one-size-fits-all approach, they unite international development efforts around the single focus of tackling poverty. The Reality of Aid Network has recently released a detailed assessment of the MDGs and the progress of donors with regard to this.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

• The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness makes further progress towards improvements in international aid but it does not go far enough.
• The Declaration is limited by a failure to place human rights and justice at the heart of development. It fails to redress the imbalance of power between donors and recipients[i] and it has weak targets.
• The Reality of Aid Network believes that without redressing these failures the Paris Declaration will not be enough to alleviate poverty [ii]

According to a 2008 OECD survey, Australia’s progress in its commitment towards the Paris Declaration target is far behind the other donor countries.

Australia’s progress in implementing the Paris Declaration (2008)[i]

[i] AusAID's Management of the Expanding Australian Aid Program, The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Australian NAtional Audit Office, Attorney-General’s Department, ACT, Australia, 2010 p96.

[i] Reality of Aid 2008 Report (Abridged version) page 4

[ii] 1Reality of Aid 2008 Report (Abridged version) page 23