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Sustainable Development Goals: Lesson from the Past
Ajrina Rarasrum
CIMSA-ISMKI - Indonesia Gadjah Mada University ajrinararasrum23@gmail.com In 2015, MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) ended with several success, but some failures are hardly unavoidable. For example, the child mortality has been reduced by more than half over the past 25 years, falling from 90 to 43 deaths per 1000 live births. However, it failed to reduce two-thirds of the child mortality in MDGs target. There are several reasons why MDGs failed to achieve their targets. First, MDGs suffered lack of consensus on targets and indicators. It was made by a group of stakeholders and not all countries participated in the consensus process. The limitation of the consensus process is underscored by Richard et al. (2011), who added that only 22% of the world’s national parliament formally discussed the MDGs. Second, MDGs specify an outcome, but do not set out the process due to lack of accurate data. Researcher Varad Pande and Molly Elgin-Cossart, who worked with the UN high level panel on post 2015 development, noted that more than 40 developing countries are lacking the sufficient data to track the performance on extreme poverty and hunger.
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been learnt from the past mistake. Six goals of MDGs did not succeed at all, can 17 goals be achieved by 2030 ? There are also several highlights on SDGs flaws, such as in goal number 1, target number 4; the poverty eradication goal includes a guarantee in microfinance, yet, the microfinance wasn’t the main solution to poverty alleviation. The goals have been released, we can not change it, but we can guide the process and make sure the goals are achieved. We need to strike an excellent coordination among global citizens, not only to monitor and track, but also to evaluate. The goals belong to everybody, not just a particular group. If we do not make it happen together, then who will do it? The fifteen years process towards 2030 is the homework for everybody to make sure that no one is left behind. References: 1. Fehling, Maya, Brett D.Nelson, Sridhar Venkatapuram.2013. Limitations of the Millennium Development Goals: a literature review. Taylor & Francis Online. United States of America, Germany, United Kingdom.
Third, MDGs are stipulated without any reference to the initial condition, so there might be a difference in national priorities. Stated by Langford (2010),these goals fail for the low and middle-income countries because they are too ambitious for some countries and not challenging enough for other countries.
2. Nayyar, Deepak. 2012. The MDGs after 2015: Some reflections on the possibilities. India.
After the MDGs ended, United Nations was trying to make better goals for world development. It should involve all global citizens, could apply to all countries and cover other essential things that did not exist in the MDGs such as reducing inequality. The goals were SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). It was made to see where we will be in 2030. It was made by ‘global conversation’ conducted by the UN, which included 11 thematic and 83 national consultations, and also an online ‘My World’ survey asking people to prioritize the areas they would like to see addressed in the SDGs. The goals were expanded from 6 to 17 goals, including several new goals such as goal number 10- to reduce inequalities. This method was used in hope of having more inclusive and feasible goals. It seems like it has
4. Sukhdev, Pavan. 2015. Strategies to implement a sustainable development goals. Indonesia National Workshop on Sustainable Development Goals Executive Summary.www.unorcid.org. Accessed on January 11th 2016.
3. Provost, Claire, Rich Harris.2013. Millennium Development Goals: big ideas, broken promises ?. www.theguardian.com. Accessed on January 12th 2016.
5. Langford, M.(2010). A poverty of rights: Six ways to fix the MDGs. Ids Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies. 6. Richard, F.,Hercott, D., Ouedraogo,C.Delvaux, T. Samake, S. van Olmen, J,…Vandormoortrle,J.2011. Sub Saharan African and the health MDGs: The need to move beyond the ‘quick impact’ model. Reproductive Health Matters. medical students worldwide | MM 2016, Malta