A variety of examples shows that development assistance can
help address some of the most difficult challenges developing
countries face in achieving the MDGs.
• Through investments in irrigation systems and
transportation infrastructure, the U.S. government is
helping Mali to diversify and strengthen its economy, a
key step in ensuring that recent gains in the fight against
poverty are sustainable.41
• The World Bank is investing in Mongolia to build on
recent improvements in human development. The Bank’s
technical and financial assistance is aimed at improving the
efficiency and transparency of the country’s government,
especially its financial accounting systems.42
• Since 2005, the British government has provided more
than $170 million to aid Sierra Leone in its move from
conflict to peace and achieve social and political stability
through democratic and accountable government.43
In each of these cases, development assistance is flexible
enough to meet real conditions in developing countries. Unfortunately, too often such examples are exceptions to the rule.
U.S. development assistance is a powerful tool to help achieve
sustainable development, but currently, it is not designed to meet
the challenges identified in this paper. The current structure
makes it difficult for U.S. assistance to respond in flexible and
creative ways. There is much that can be done to update and
improve U.S. assistance policies.
The good news is developing countries are increasingly
taking charge of their own development agendas. It is the
responsibility of developed countries to stand as partners for
development. Working together, developed and developing
countries are proving that the MDGs are an ambitious but
achievable agenda for human development.
World Bank (2007). Table 4.1.: Growth of Output.
14
UNICEF (2007). Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children.
15
U.N. Development Program (1990). Human Development Report.
16 U.N. Development Program (2007). Human Development Report 2007/2008:
Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World.
17 World
18
Bank (2007).
Author’s Calculation.
19
Coorey, S. et al. (2007). Lessons from High Inflation Episodes for Stabilizing the
Economy in Zimbabwe.
20
U.N. Statistics Division.
21 Collier, P. (2008). The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can be Done About It. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
24 U.N. Development Program (2007). Table 2: Human Development Index
Trends.
25 Coghlan, B. (2008). Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: An Ongoing
Crisis.
26 Food and Agriculture Organization (2006). Prevalence of Undernourishment
in Total Population.
27
U.N. Development Program (2008). Table 1: Human Development
Index.
28
Human Rights Watch (2005). Seeking Justice: The Prosecution of Sexual
Violence in the Congo War.
29 Collier
(2007). Op. cit.
30
U.N. Development Program (2008). Table 1: Human Development
Index.
31
Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone (2005). Millennium
Development Goals Report from Sierra Leone.
32
Government of Sierra Leone (2005). Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper: A
National Program for Food Security, Job Creation, and Good Governance.
33 International Monetary Fund (2008). Global Monitoring Report 2008: MDGs
and the Environment: Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development.
34
Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook: Timor-Leste. https://www.
cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tt.html.
35 Conservation International. Biodiversity Hotspots: Wallacea. http://www.
Endnotes
biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/wallacea/Pages/default.aspx.
1 U.N.
Department of Public Information (2007). Africa and the Millennium
Development Goals: 2007 Update.
2
13
U.N. Statistics Division. MDG Dataset.
3
World Bank (2007). World Development Indicators. Table 2.6: Poverty; Food
and Agricultural Organization (2006). The State of Food Insecurity in the
World.
4 UNICEF (2007). Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children; World Health
Organization (2007). Maternal Mortality in 2005.
36
Government of Timor-Leste (2005). Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—
National Development Plan, Road Map for Implementation of National Development
Plan, Overview of Sector Investment Programs—Strategies and Priorities for the
Medium Term.
37
U.N. Development Program (2006). Human Development Report.
38 Ibid.
39
World Resources Institute (2005). World Resources 2005: The Wealth of the
Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty.
U.N. Millennium Task Force (2005). Health, Dignity and Development: What
Will it Take?
40 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007). Climate Change 2007:
6
41
5
U.N. Statistics Division.
7
U.N. Millennium Task Force (2005). Investing in Development: A Practical
Plan to Achieve the MDGs.
Synthesis Report: Summary for Policymakers.
Millennium Challenge Corporation. Mali Project Compact Overview.
http://www.mcc.gov/countries/mali/projects.php.
42
10
Government of Mali (2000). Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
World Bank (2006). Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Grant
in the Amount of SDR 9.737 million to Mongolia for Government
Assistance Project. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/
WDSCo ntentServer/WDSP/IB/2006/05/04/000160016_20060504110439/
Rendered/PDF/35212.pdf.
11
Government of Mali (2002). Final Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
43 Department
8
U.N. Statistics Division.
9
Author’s Calculation based on U.N. Statistics Division. MDG Dataset.
12 Government
for International Development (2008). Sierra Leone Factsheet.
of Botswana (2004). Botswana: Millennium Development Goals
Status Report.
www.bread.org
Bread for the World Institute 7