Achieving the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) in Africa : an issues paper

Abstract

The urgent need to address poverty around the world and the opportunity provided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have made them the rallying cry of a global partnership and the cornerstone of international and regional development policy. For the first time in history, a diverse range of players across the globe agree on a common platform of priorities for addressing the many faces of extreme poverty, hunger, joblessness, diseases lack of shelter, to gender inequality and environmental decline. The MDGs are measurable targets attached to a timeframe for making a difference to billions of lives. Governments in developing and developed countries have jointly committed themselves to provide the resources and the policies to implement the Goals. This Issues Paper provides the framework for discussion on the challenges of achieving the MOGs in Africa, proposing a paradigm shift in strategy and approach. The North African subregion is already making significant progress towards achieving the MDGs, but progress in the rest of the continent will remain unsatisfactory unless well-funded, broad and robust development frameworks are applied. supported and guided by committed political leadership.