Over the past decade, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have succeeded in drawing attention to the need to counter aid fatigue and to build a case for development partnerships around tackling poverty, hunger, illiteracy, etc. However, the 8 goals, 22 quantitative targets and more than 60 specific indicators have framed the international cooperation agenda very much in terms of human deprivation, leaving economic development policies largely in the hands of the International Financial Institutions, which have tended to promote a narrow, one-size-fits-all approach around freeing market forces. With the recent economic and financial crisis, returning to a business-as-usual approach to economic policy is neither advisable nor acceptable, particularly given evidence that many developing countries are “off track” to meet the MDGs by 2015. What is urgently needed is a more inclusive development framework which can not only deliver faster and more sustainable growth, but can establish a more virtuous link between that growth and human development.
This course looks at what that alternative framework might look like. It emphasizes the importance of domestic resource mobilization (including public sector investment), the need to strengthen productive capacities and widen policy space, as well as the need to pay more attention to income inequality. The MDGs also need to reconnect with the broader set of international development goals, including those emerging from new challenges around the global financial crisis and climate change. Despite awareness of the need for greater ownership and stronger development partnerships, the existing multilateral rules and arrangements have not yet became sufficiently directed towards achieving the MDGs. The course also looks at the likely institutional changes, big and small, that could reorient international development cooperation to better support inclusive development.
Delivered by: Unit on Economic Cooperation and Integration among Developing Countries
