MDGs in Focus. Goal 1: Eradicating extreme hunger and poverty
13 years ago, the member states of the United Nations teamed up with the world’s leading development organisations to kick-start an initiative that they hoped would change the world for good. 13 years on from the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), much progress has been made. This week we will look in-depth at what has been done so far to achieve the first of these goals: Eradicating extreme hunger and poverty by 2015.
Solving a centuries-old problem like extreme hunger and poverty may at first glance seem like a tall order in a time period of just 15 years. Yet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the MDGs as “ambitious but feasible” and much headway has been made so far in achieving this target. At its conception, this first goal was divided into three specific targets:
Target 1.A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day
Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
Target 1.C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
The first of these targets has perhaps been the most successful of the three, where the 50% reduction in extreme poverty was achieved back in 2010 – five years ahead of schedule. But progress has also been made in the other target areas: between 2001 and 2011 the number of people earning less that $1.25 a day fell by 294 million; the hunger reduction target looks set to be reached by 2015.
Nevertheless, the UN is the first to admit that there is plenty still to be done if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved before the 2015 deadline. Employment prospects for women were an important focus of this goal, however there is much evidence to suggest that there continues to be great disparity (a reported 28.4%) worldwide between the number of men and women in work. Moreover, with regards to hunger it is estimated that more than 100 million children under the age of five continue to be undernourished and underweight.
So what is being done to help achieve these ambitious targets? The ways in which the various governments and development agencies have set about tackling such issues are very varied. The World Bank, for example, has developed a multi-pronged strategy, which includes providing governments with 0% interest development financing, supporting the provision of 2.3 million school meals every day, and pledging $1.5 billion of support to the Global Food Crisis Response Programme (GFRP).
Elsewhere, an example of how youth unemployment is being combatted around the world can be seen in Serbia, where an MDG initiative has been set up by the Serbian government and the UN to tackle the problem. Aimed at young people from Roma communities, rural towns and villages, migrant communities and those with disabilities, the initiative uses grants, training and work placements in companies to help alleviate the country’s 45% youth unemployment rate.
So although there is still a lot of work to be done in order to achieve all the targets set out in Goal 1 of the MDGs, those working towards the goal aren’t about to give up yet. To find out how you can contribute to achieving the MDGs through the ICS programme, click here.
Tags: MDGs
