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What I am always saying is that from an African perspective the Millennium Development Goals still have a long way to go, because both African politics and economy carry with them a baggage of debt burden.
When I am saying that debt has to be considered I am definitely talking about cancellation. This means that African economies will be able to redirect funds that would otherwise be used to service debts, to go into education, to go into fighting HIV/AIDS, to go into developing a global partnership for development, reducing child mortality rates and all the key areas of concern within the Millennium Development Goals.
The debt burden must be off-loaded if African and other poor countries are expected to be able to perform well on the MDGs in the 10 years left till 2015. I don’t think that it is possible for African Nations and economies to be reformed and therefore by extension to cut poverty by half in the next 10 years, remove diseases, address issues of HIV/AIDS, issues of Information Technology and how they are spread into the livelihoods of people especially in poor countries of the world. All that won’t be achieved with debt burden not being considered and not being one of the agendas of the Millennium Campaign."
Olexi: "The issue of political will comes to mind when one evaluates the progress made on the MDGs in recent years. What’s your take on this?"
Eddy: "I think it is really frustrating for the UN to address the MDGs in the next 10 years, without full political will of countries like America, who still remain reluctant in terms of being the front runners on the issues of debt cancellation. If this is done, this is a sure way to achieve the Goals. They are clearly achievable and it’s only a matter of political will on part of countries like the US to realize them.
As well there’s a need to look at other international issues regarding development assistance that affect the MDGs. I am particularly looking at those programs that are intended for Africa, for instance – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, recently launched by the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair - International Commission on Africa. These Initiatives are great, but lets approach them from another perspective – they all come in the middle of one key program that has been agreed to by over 189 nations of the world including Britain and America. So it is rather inconsistent and subversive to undermine the MDGs in such a way."
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Olexi
Ukrainian student, journalist and a planetary citizen. I invite you to take a look at Central's Europe largest state- Ukraine through Olexi-tinted spectacles. Somewhat approaching unbiased subjectivity :)
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Comments
MDGs are not enough Antony Felix O. O. Simbowo | May 7th, 2005
I think more should be expected from the developing nations themselves...
Without them working daily to better their own lives, no one will ever bother with them. MDGs alone will never solve their poverty problems...What with misgovernment, misrule, etc still reigning in some of the said countries...
MDGs are not manna...
Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) neil jay wollman | Sep 6th, 2009
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