Millennium Development Goal and Bangladesh

Introduction

The MDGs reflect a set of actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 193 nations in 2002 based on the Millennium Declaration agreed in September 2000. Bangladesh has recorded impressive feats in pulling people out of poverty, ensuring that more children, girls and boys, attend school, and have access to clean water. Considerable progress has been made in child survival rate. Bangladesh is among the 16 countries who have received UN recognition for being on track to achieve MDG4.

There have been some improvements to address the country’s massive environmental challenges over the past decade as well. Out of the 52 MDG targets, Bangladesh is on track on 19 of them; and 14 of them need attention (2011 data). Although Bangladesh is on track to achieve the Net Enrolment target, the drop-out rates remain to high; Enrolling the last 10% of the children, ensuring quality of education for children who are already enrolled in schools, and promoting gender equity in tertiary education, remain as major challenges. The maternal mortality ratio of Bangladesh at 194 has shown a major turnaround.

Performance on this goal which was lagging is a major achievement. The threat of climate change can also diminish the hard earned beneficial impacts of years of growth and development not just for the people in impoverished settlements along coastal belts and river banks, but for the entire nation. Achieving full and productive employment for all, including women and young people remains behind target. The labor force participation rate is low at about 51. 7% and women’s participation although improving, is much lower at 23%. It is highly unlikely that Bangladesh will be able to ensure employment for all by 2015.

Yet another challenge that Bangladesh faces is in addressing certain pockets of poverty that are lagging far behind with respect to the national averages and where the benefits of MDGs attainment need to be specifically reached. These areas include the urban slums, the hill tracts, coastal belts and other ecologically vulnerable areas. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international developmentgoals that were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

All 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by the year 2015. The MDGs were developed out of the eight chapters of the Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000. There are eight goals with 21 targets, and a series of measurable indicators for each target.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Target 1A: Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day
• Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People
• Target 1C: Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 2A: By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and boys

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates

Target 4A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

• Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
• Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

• Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
• Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

• Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
• Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
• Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water supply)
• Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

• Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
• Target 8B: Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDC)
• Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
• Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term
• Target 8E: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries
• Target 8F: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications Progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven. Some countries have achieved many of the goals, while others are not on track to realize any.

A UN conference in September 2010 reviewed progress to date and concluded with the adoption of a global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by their 2015 target date. There were also new commitments on women’s and children’s health, and new initiatives in the worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and disease. From next page, we have shown some statistics about progress of MDG all over the world.

Description

Here is the percentage of adjusted net enrolment ratio in primary education: In case of the developing countries Enrolment ratio in primary education in 1990s was 82% while in 2008 it was 89%. In case of the developed countries Enrolment ratio in primary education in 1990s was 97% while in 2008 it was 96%.

In case of the world Enrolment ratio in primary education in 1990s was 84% while in 2008 it was 90%.

Bar Chart (1) Description

This is the percentage of people earning less than $1. 25 a day. In the year 1990 58% sub Sahara African are earning less than $1. 25 a day. & In year 2005 the percentage was only reduce by 7% Which show that the progress is not good. On the other hand, In the year 1990 60% of eastern Asian is earning less than $1. 25 a day. While in the year 2005 the percentage was reduce by 44%, which is very high.

Bar Chart (2) Description

This is the percentage of mortality under five years old per 1000: In case of the developed countries in 1990s the number was 12 & In 2008 it was 6

In case of the developing countries in 1990s the number was 100 & In 2008 it was 72 Here we found huge deference between the developed & developing countries.

Bar Chart (3) MDG and Bangladesh

The Government of Bangladesh is committed to achieve the MDGs within the given timeframe. The recently approved Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015) titled” Accelerating Growth and Reducing Poverty” has laid out the operational details on the country’s endeavor to move forward with a view to achieving the “Vision 2021” of the Government. The Plan has integrated the Millennium Development Goals within the broader agenda of the economic and social targets.

The Sixth Plan has adopted a holistic approach to reduce poverty and improve other social indicators, with special attention provided to remove the regional disparities in development. The beauty of implementing the 6th Plan is that in pursuit of achieving national development goals, the MDG will also be achieved as the terminal year of both the milestone goals coincides. The recent progress report of MDGs in Bangladesh 2011, shows that Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in the areas of primary schooling, gender parity in primary and secondary level education, lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunization coverage and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases. The recent data reveal that incidence of poverty has been declining at an annual rate of 2. 6 percent in Bangladesh during 1991-1992 to 2010. If this trend continues, the target of halving the population living under the poverty line would be achieved well before 2015. However, achievement of the hunger target might be difficult to attain due to volatility of the commodity prices and the challenges of underemployment.

Progress of MDGs in Bangladesh

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger Bangladesh is well on track to achieving Goal 1 with poverty coming down to 31. 5 percent in 2010. Also, the average annual rate of poverty reduction has been above rate required to meet the 2015 target. The poverty gap ratio has also decreased dramatically.

As clearly identified during the recent MDGs needs assessment and costing exercise, Bangladesh needs more resources to achieve MDGs. Immediate efforts need to be undertaken by development partners to examine the gaps and renew efforts to support critical MDG-oriented sectors. At the same time, the imbalance between loans and grants should be addressed by increasing the share of grants in ODA.

In Bangladesh there have been numbers of policies, strategies, and implementation programmers, activities and interactions and debates surrounding the MDGs. In fact MDGs have emerged a way we are travelling through to the one goal of peace, prosperity and humanity. Conclusion Theatre for Humans believes the Millennium Development Goals are at the very heart of the stories to be portrayed in its’ inaugural production and will strive to bring these goals to the attention of as wide an audience as possible in order to further the dialogue needed for change. Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the MDGs are both global and local, tailored by each country to suit specific development needs.

They provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut in half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy. The MDGs are evident in the national planning framework. The revised National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper has adopted a holistic approach to reduce poverty and improve other social indicators to achieve the MDGs, with special attention to the lagging regions. Overall Bangladesh’s progress might be slow, but in some sector like child mortality, improvement of maternity health, primary education etc has the fast progress.

So it is a positive sign that we can achieve the goals, might not in 2015 but in near future definitely.

Bibliography

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