Abstract
As we approach 2015 the question of what, if anything, should replace the MDGs becomes increasingly important. This paper presents findings from studies on the implementation of the poverty, education and gender MDGs in Kenya and South Africa. These show how top-down processes associated with meeting the MDG targets led by government or large NGOs are disassociated from bottom-up engagements with gender, education and poverty by households or communities. A missing middle linked with professional action by teachers or civil servants and enhanced information flow means that groups from the top and the bottom talk past each other. We therefore argue that these experiences with implementing the MDGs, coupled with a variety of global changes since 2000s, mean that a major concern in developing a set of post 2015 goals is the need to address the disarticulation between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches in international development. We link this challenge with five principles put forward for post 2015 goals and indicators: holism, equity, sustainability, ownership and global obligation. The application of this approach to work on goals and targets is illustrated in relation to nutrition/food security and secondary education.
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Notes
In the discussion that follows we present conclusions from this study, without detailed commentary on the data, which has been fully analyzed in the cited articles. The data from this study exemplifies processes which we wish to consider in relation to our key concern with new MDGs.
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Acknowledgments
This paper was presented at the European Association of Development Research Institutes/Development Studies Association 2011 Conference ‘Rethinking Development in an Age of Scarcity and Uncertainty’ special session on Multi-dimensional Poverty. We are grateful for helpful comments in discussion on the paper at the conference, for the suggestions from the referees for this journal Special Issue, and our dialogue with the editors in refining the analysis.
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This paper is a development of ideas initially formulated by colleagues participating with us in The Lancet MDG project led by Jeff Waage at the London International Development Centre (LIDC) (see Waage et al. 2010). In taking some of these discussions further, we want to acknowledge the insights we drew from work with other co-authors of the commission and the issues highlighted by participants in a seminar on future MDGs which took place at LIDC in February 2011.
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Unterhalter, E., Dorward, A. New MDGs, Development Concepts, Principles and Challenges in a Post-2015 World. Soc Indic Res 113, 609–625 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0292-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0292-0