Catalog

Staying on Track for 2015
ADB Review [ May - June 2004 ]

While not new for ADB, the MDGs represent shared, measurable, and monitorable goals that DMCs are seeking to achieve in partnership with ADB

By Bruce Purdue (bpurdue@adb.org)
Head, Results Management Unit

Background

FACING THE FUTURE Many challenges remain for ADB to effectively support an accelerated MDG agenda

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) takes pride in its role in helping its developing member countries (DMCs) — and the entire Asia and Pacific region — achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The MDGs are eight goals, supported by 18 time-bound targets and 48 measurable indicators that outline objectives for poor developing countries. They aim at measurable progress toward eradicating some key barriers of human development: poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women.

The MDGs are not “new” for ADB — there is much continuity in our work from the past. However, the MDGs do represent shared, measurable, and monitorable goals. What is clear is that ADB must be rigorous and systematic in how it addresses the MDGs in planning, formulating, implementing, and refining our country strategies and programs.

With more than 700 million people in Asia and the Pacific living on less than $1 a day, and more than two thirds of the world’s poor living in this region, ADB faces a great responsibility to help its poorer DMCs do their best to achieve the MDGs by 2015. ADB also understands it must aim to better mainstream MDGs in policies and actions, and help build consensus on MDG priorities with our DMCs. We must also aim for better consistency in how our country strategies and programs address the MDGs.

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Global Benchmarks

ADB, with the rest of the global development community — including developing countries — endorsed the MDGs as appropriate global benchmarks for tracking the key elements of poverty reduction. Since 2002, ADB has taken steps to help its DMCs achieve the MDGs and related outcomes.

The MDGs represent a fundamentally important global consensus on the key steps that must be taken to seriously tackle poverty and its attendant evils. The willingness of ADB and DMCs to become involved in the global struggle to achieve the MDGs will increase the pressure on developed countries to play their part, particularly when it comes to trade, elimination of subsidies, and the high ideals expressed in MDG 8—the global partnership for development.

In continuing to collaborate to accelerate progress toward the MDGs, ADB is already addressing initiatives such as identifying jointly with each DMC the MDGs most relevant to its stage of development and the priority actions to be taken, in concert with other development partners.

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Core Competencies

ADB is also focusing on core competencies, such as regional cooperation and the provision of global and regional public goods. It is working on creating stronger links between ADB programs and the MDGs and related outcomes; raising awareness within ADB to ensure that the momentum of MDGrelated actions is maintained; and helping mobilize sustainable resources (including local resources) to advance the MDG agenda.

After years of debate on whether development agencies have lost their way, a collective development mission appears to have made a significant breakthrough with the MDGs.

The MDGs can provide a great opportunity to an institution, such as ADB, to have clear and concrete answers to those nagging questions on the relevance of development work and the projects that we finance.

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Good Intentions

ADB has always pursued the good intentions enshrined in its Charter, policies, and projects. However, the problem is often being able to ensure a credible check on how those good intentions are pursued. Which of the many challenges facing DMCs do we tackle? How do we know the fight against poverty is being won, and if so, how do we measure ADB’s effectiveness in this? How can we go beyond repetitive statements of good intentions to factual, meaningful, and understandable evidence of real results? How do we get these important messages to our stakeholders, including our DMCs and civil society?

These are global challenges, and major questions for ADB.

However, the framework enshrined in the MDGs can provide us with the means to demonstrate our contribution to development effectiveness outcomes in plausible, concrete, and measurable ways.

Recent studies, such as the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2003 and the report of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on Promoting the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific (2003), highlight the need to accelerate progress toward achieving the MDGs. In other words, there is a need for a renewed commitment by development institutions to contribute to the emerging global partnership to help achieve the MDGs.

In addition to our work on country strategies and programs, ADB also continues to take steps in relation to economic and sector work, and regional initiatives to help DMCs achieve the MDGs and related outcomes. This has been combined with continuing efforts to support capacity building and data collection at the country level.

However, ADB still faces challenges at both country and regional levels in helping accelerate progress toward the MDGs, particularly in the case of countries identified as “top priority” and “high priority.” A solution to this could be even greater focus at country level to find better linkages between ADB projects and the targets and indicators reflecting the MDGs and related outcomes.

ADB has made considerable efforts to integrate the MDGs into its operations, including adopting policies and initiatives to facilitate the achievement of the MDGs. Yet, many challenges remain for us to effectively support an accelerated MDG agenda.

For example, with the adoption of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, poverty reduction became ADB’s overarching goal and in 2002 ADB endorsed the MDGs as the benchmark regime for assessing progress in the key areas of poverty reduction.

One major challenge is to better articulate the likely impact of ADB’s operations on that set of MDG targets that are most directly linked to ADB operations, having regard to the efforts of DMCs and other development partners.

We must analyze the linkages among the DMC’s national poverty reduction strategy (or equivalent), the MDGs, and ADB’s lending and nonlending interventions. In some cases, it may be possible to describe a direct link between a proposed project and MDG targets/indicators for the country. In other cases, there may be inherent problems in trying to link ADB inputs directly to MDG outcomes—especially when there are multiple players—all with important roles. Yet, this type of analysis must be tackled in collaboration with each DMC. This is essential to managing for development results.

There is much to be done in helping ADB DMCs strengthen research and diagnostic capacity to help them establish the linkages mentioned above. Without such sustainable capacity building, true MDG progress will be jeopardized.

A global review of the MDGs will take place in 2005. This assessment of progress will help create a clearer vision of how ADB must continue to meet the challenges in the following decade to push forward progress toward achieving the MDGs. While we may have already reached some success, we need to identify additional ways for ADB’s efforts to link into achieving the MDGs.

We cannot afford to be complacent.

With this drive for demonstrating results and our ongoing commitment to poverty reduction, ADB is well placed to continue its role as a valuable global partner in helping DMCs achieve the MDGs by 2015.

Find out how ADB supports the Millennium Development Goals

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