The Post-Monterrey Partnership, MDGs, and Country Priorities

James W. Adams and Ellen GoldsteinFebruary 5, 2004

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Today’s Discussion

I. Post-Monterrey Partnership

II. Millennium Development Goals

III. Country Priorities

IV. Moving Forward

I. Post-Monterrey Partnership

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New Partnership for Development

International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey called for:

• Improved policies and stronger institutions in developing countries

• More and better aid, plus action on trade and debt, by developed countries

Shared responsibility for getting country outcomes focuses global agenda on managing for development results

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Actions in Developing Countries

• Satisfactory macroeconomic and trade reforms—further progress can be made

• Priority areas for accelerated reform: – investment climate (rule of law, infrastructure), – public sector governance – scaling up investments in human development

• Vulnerability to crises among middle-income countries remains a major concern

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Actions in Developed Countries

• Biggest obstacle to improved developing country growth prospects—and thereby reducing poverty—is trade. Overcoming Doha/Cancun impasse is essential.

• Aid volumes are recovering from previous lows, but remain inadequate to accelerate progress toward MDGs

• Key issue is policy coherence of developed countries —to ensure consistency across trade, aid, macroeconomic, and other policy areas affecting developing countries.

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Improving Aid Effectiveness

Most relevant issue for this Roundtable is the quality of aid and development finance. Three related priorities:

• Strategic alignment of cooperation programs with national development strategies

• Harmonization (and simplification) of operational policies and procedures, in line with Rome Declaration

• Contribution of aid and development finance to country results

II. Millennium Development Goals

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Millennium Development Goals

• Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty

• Achieve universal primary education

• Promote gender equality and empower women

• Reduce child mortality

• Improve maternal health

• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and infectious diseases

• Ensure environmental sustainability

• Foster a global partnership

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Progress Toward MDG Targets

Based on current trends, by 2015:

• Halving of income poverty will be only goal achieved globally— progress in China and India.

• Africa will fall short of poverty target.• Middle-income countries are closer to achieving most

goals nationally, but regional disparities remain.• Risks are more pervasive worldwide for human

development goals—health, nutrition, education etc. • No region will achieve child mortality target.

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Progress toward MDG targets: How do we know?

• We really don’t.

• Robust conclusions depend on availability and quality of data—where we have severe lacunae.

• Many developing countries—particularly low-income countries—lack sufficient data to establish a trend line over a decade (e.g. malnutrition, school completion)

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Measurement Issues

• The concept of managing for development results—using reliable and timely data to steer toward clearly-defined goals—meets reality of data constraints.

• Poverty reduction requires growth, but MDG indicators do not track progress on determinants of growth.

• Measurement is particularly challenging for private sector development, governance and infrastructure.

• Requires intensified global partnership for measuring, monitoring and evaluation of policies and outcomes.

III. Country Priorities

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MDGs and Country Priorities

• MDGs cannot be achieved globally if not achieved locally.

• MDGs define a global vision around which aid programs can be aligned.

• They are not a management tool for countries, nor do they capture the specificity of country goals.

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National Strategies

• Country goals—including MDG-related goals—need to be clearly articulated in country-led national strategies;

• MDGs should be “customized” as country-specific objectives with realistic targets and measurable indicators

• National strategies, including poverty reduction strategies, need to be linked to budget process and public expenditure management.

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Poverty Reduction Strategies

• Recent reviews indicate that PRSPs reflect MDG priorities, but with a diversity of indicators due to country specificity and data availability. Areas for improvement:

– Better integration and customization of MDGs– More explicit growth strategy and indicators of growth

determinants – Striking the right balance between ambition and realism

in setting targets– More manageable monitoring and evaluation systems

with a stronger focus on results– Broader participation in monitoring and evaluation

of results

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Public Sector Management

• Middle income countries have also made significant progress in focusing on results in national development strategies firmly rooted in public sector budget and management systems. Based on foundations of:

– Sustained leadership and political will

– Public sector incentives to manage for results

– Clear understanding of institutional readiness

– Breadth and depth in core capacities: policy formulation, strategic planning, statistical analysis and M&E

IV. Moving Forward

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Countries and Agencies

• Stay focused on results, defined as sustained improvement in country outcomes

• Focus on results “from day one to day done”• Take action at three levels:

– in countries—where results are achieved– within agencies—to be more effective partners– in partnership—to harmonize and coordinate

support

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The Global Partnership

Main tasks are to harmonize approaches to managing for results and coordinate support to strengthen country capacity. Upcoming events– Discussion of Core Principles– Implementation of 2004 Action Plan– Follow-up Regional Workshops– Assessment of progress at 2005 Harmonization Forum– And, today, listen to country experiences from our

colleagues from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Chile.