21/09/2001
No Backsliding on Millennium Goals

It has long been the case that at international conferences world leaders vie with one another to create aspirations in the belief that they can safely leave them to others to fulfil. A variation on this strategy is to set ambitious targets as if setting targets alone was, by some magical process, sufficient to bring about a desired event. The gap between image and reality is then filled with lengthy feasibility studies that give everyone the excuse to procrastinate and nicely fill the gap until the next conference, when the process begins again.

Now there are signs that the UN, under Kofi Annan's direction, is beginning to call their bluff. The Millennium provided the excuse for a grandiose exercise in objective setting. At the Millennium Summit, one year ago, targets were set in all kinds of humanitarian and development areas. Did anyone believe that the states that freely made those pledges would be held to account?

Well, yes. Having swallowed the hook of looking good at the Millennium Summit, the world's rich countries are now impaled. And to ensure that they stay impaled the UN Secretary-General has just published a snappy report that examines in detail how the world community and the United Nations are putting into practice the goals set out in last year's landmark Millennium Summit declaration.

The 59-page report, entitled 'Road Map Towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration,' reviews progress under way, suggests paths to follow and presents 'strategies for moving forward' for each of the Declaration's goals.

Most importantly it highlights the yardsticks that will be used to measure the implementation of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), calling it 'crucial' that the MDGs become national goals and serve to increase the coherence and consistency of national policies and programmes.

To ensure no backsliding Annan says that this year's 'road map' will be followed up with annual reports, buttressed by comprehensive five-yearly reports on progress made in achieving the Millennium Assembly's goals. He makes clear the scale of the challenge that lies ahead, and focuses on implementation. "What is needed is not more technical or feasibility studies. Rather, states need to demonstrate the political will to carry out commitments already given and to implement strategies already worked out."

Yardsticks to measure implementation, indicators to track progress? Somebody is at last getting serious about focusing on end results.