Some Notes on the Conceptual Foundations of the MDG Process Ravi

If they are to have any force, the MDGs must surely represent some sort of international consensus on the goals of the development process. They fare best when viewed as a minimal set of objectives to which all or most in the international community would subscribe. Reducing Income poverty and hunger (MDG1) surely commands widespread assent as a goal of development, as do universal primary education (MDG2), reducing child mortality (MDG4), improving maternal health (MDG5) and combating disease (MDG6). However, despite the fact that the millennium declaration was signed by most countries of the world, it is not clear that MDG3, gender equality and empowerment of women, commands universal assent across cultures, at least in the way that is specified in the MDG documents. MDG7, ensuring environmental sustainability, would no doubt command assent as a general goal, but the agreement would melt as we got closer to specifying how the inevitable tradeoffs would be handled. And it seems that MDG8, developing a global partnership for development, is more akin to an instrument for development, rather than an objective of development.