The Millennium Development Goals

Assessing Progress in Africa Toward the Millennium Development Goals

Mandated by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have, over the past five years, jointly produced this annual re- port on Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals. This year, the three pan-African institutions have been joined in this effort by the United Nations Development Programme.

This year’s report shows that, prior to the onset of the food and fuel crises and the global recession, African countries were making steady progress toward attainment of the MDGs. Even though information is not yet available to delineate the precise impact of the three crises on MDG achieve- ment, we know that many African countries were sharply affected by these shocks. However, with support from their international development part- ners, including the African Development Bank and UNDP, African countries have taken a series of measures aimed at stemming the adverse effects.

The emerging picture of Africa in this year’s report portrays a continent that has secured progress in key areas such as net primary enrollment, gender parity in primary education, political empowerment of women, access to safe drinking water, and stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral treatment is becoming available in a large number of countries and maternal mortality rates are falling in some places. On the economic front, growth has begun to pick up after the global economic and financial crises.

The report draws attention to policy innovations in Africa that are facilitating progress toward attainment of the MDGs. These innovations include new and expanded social protection programs, which were once thought to be unaffordable to most poor countries but are now embraced as important additional interventions to secure
progress on key human development indicators. In addition, countries have used the MDGs as a framework for development planning, strengthening coordination and cascading the MDGs to lower tiers of government.

Nonetheless challenges remain, especially in the area of health. Achieving the goal of “health for all,” as embraced in Almaty about 30 years ago, has proven to be difficult. Health in Africa is still not “for all” but rather is characterized by glaring inequities among socioeconomic groups and classes. Progress in achieving the MDGs has therefore been considerably fettered by the slow progress on meeting the health targets.

The adverse impacts of climate change pose a further threat to the sustainability of MDGs achievement. Moreover mitigating climate change presents a significant policy challenge for a region that faces huge energy needs to power its development and industrialization. The continent must have access to the technology and financing that will enable it to meet those energy needs, but in a way that is consistent – to the extent possible – with climate change mitigation.
FULL REPORT IS HERE
http://www.undp.org/africa/mdg2010.shtml