Introduction Reducing poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require improved policies around the world (UNDP, 2003). However, policymakers and other stakeholders often don’t know which policies are most suitable and how they can best be implemented in different contexts. Research is one way for policymakers and other stakeholders to enhance the processes of policy for...

• Policy dialogue on the MDGs needs to recognise that the gender dynamics of power, poverty, vulnerability and care link all the goals • The achievement of the MDGs requires a coordinated policy approach that is sensitive to gender-specific discrimination and risks • Gender-sensitive social protection policies offer an opportunity to link gender equality and the MDGs G ender inequality causes a...

In September 2015, countries at the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), a set of targets for 2030 to mobilise action on three interwoven dimensions of our existence—people, planet, and prosperity. The problems facing humanity and the planet are now acknowledged as being too large to be tackled by specific sectors—such as health, education, or tra...

We analyse the aid portfolio of various bilateral and multilateral donors, testing whether they have prioritized aid in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Employing Tobit models that combine sectorally disaggregated aid data with various indicators reflecting the situation of recipient countries with regard to the MDGs, we show that donors differ in the extent to which their sec...

Introduction The Millennium Development Goals laid out an ambitious agenda to improve living standards in poor countries. Now, with the Sustainable Development Goals, world leaders are aiming to set a broader agenda for 2015 and beyond: a set of universal goals that engages countries at all income levels to ensure the long-term well-being of humankind. Put another way, while the MDGs aimed to l...

This paper presents a brief overview of the Power of Numbers project (the “Project”), an independent research initiative involving 17 scholars and coordinated by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (The New School) and Alicia Ely Yamin (Harvard University). It arose out of a shared concern amongst the 17 participating scholars with the need to more fully understand the consequences of the Millennium Development...

Global commitment for reducing maternal and child mortality has been reaffirmed by the governments through the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. Emanating from the Millennium Declaration, commitment to eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) united countries around the world in the fight against poverty, illiteracy, gender discrimination, maternal and child mortality, infectious disea...

Background Disease epidemics and shortage of healthcare professionals present major challenges for developing countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), specifically the health related goals (4, 5 and 6). In these countries, the explosive growth of mobile communications offers a new opportunity for the promotion of quality healthcare. There is a growing body of evidence tha...