Change the World in Eight Steps

Aims of Workshop For you to have fun and learn! For you to recognise the world’s interdependence and the need to address global problems. For you to understand what the MDG’s are and their targets. To explore more through a ‘philosophical enquiry’

MDGs Are we good global citizens?

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) In 2000 the major countries of the world came together to agree life/world changing targets. These were called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) They are the most ambitious targets ever agreed, aiming to improve the lives of over 500 million people, lifting them out of poverty by the year 2015.

What are the MDG’s and which is the most important?

MDG 1 To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Target – Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.

MDG 2 To achieve universal primary education Target – Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

MDG 3 To promote gender equality and empower women Target – Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.

MDG 4 To reduce child mortality Target – Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

MDG 5 To improve maternal health Target – Reduce by three- quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality rate.

MDG 6 To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Target – To have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases by 2015.

MDG 7 To ensure environmental sustainability (reduce slums and increase access to clean water) Target –To put the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

MDG 8 To build a global partnership for development Target – Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and nondiscriminatory against developing countries.

If the MDGs are achieved: fewer women will die in childbirth fewer people will die from treatable diseases many more boys and girls will go to school the lives of millions of people will improve dramatically(500 million no longer in poverty!).

What was the ‘picture’ before 2000?

MDG 1-Poverty The proportion of people living in extreme poverty (currently defined as an income of less than $1 a day) in developing regions before 2000 was: 31% 15% 50%

MDG 2-Education The number of eligible children having primary education before 2000 (for developing countries as a whole – including those in Asia and South America as well as in Africa) was: 57% 7% 80%

MDG 3-Gender equality Before 2000 in Northern Africa, what proportion of paid workers were women?: 1 in 10 1 in 5 4 out of 5

MDG 4-Reduce child mortality Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest child mortality: before 2000 the number of child deaths before they reached 5 was: 185 deaths per thousand 250 deaths per thousand 999 deaths per thousand

MDG 5-Improve maternal health Before 2000 in sub- Saharan Africa a woman’s lifetime risk of dying while giving birth or from complications of pregnancy is: One in 10 One in 16 One in 5

MDG 6-Combat diseases Before 2000 the percentage of the developing worlds population with AIDS was: 5% 28% 1%

MDG 7- Improving the environment Before 2000 what percentage of the developing population had access to clean water and sanitation?: 33% 50% 19%

MDG 8-Partnerships Before the year 2000 rich countries promised to give what proportion of their income as foreign aid? 5% 10% 0.7%

MDG 1-Poverty The proportion of people living in extreme poverty (currently defined as an income of less than $1 a day) in developing regions in 2000 was: 31% An estimated 3.5 million people die annually from malnutrition, and this number is expected to rise because of the continuing food crisis and the credit crisis.

MDG 2-Education The number of eligible children having primary education before 2000 (for developing countries as a whole – including those in Asia and South America as well as in Africa) was: 80% In sub-Saharan Africa, the figure was 57. In many rural places, nearly one in three children is still missing out on a basic education.

MDG 3-Gender equality Before 2000 in Northern Africa, what proportion of paid workers were women?: 1 in 5 Before 2000 only 5% of all women in the world were in parliamentary roles.

MDG 4-Reduce child mortality Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest child mortality: before 2000 the number of child deaths before they reached 5 was: 185 deaths per thousand In Europe the level of deaths of children under 5 before 2000 was 27 per thousand live births

MDG 5-Improve maternal health Before 2000 in sub- Saharan Africa a woman’s lifetime risk of dying while giving birth or from complications of pregnancy is: One in 16 Compare this with one in 3,800 in the developed world.

MDG 6-Combat diseases Before 2000 the percentage of the developing worlds population with AIDS was: 1% This still means more than 39.5 million people were living with HIV worldwide, with the number of AIDS-related deaths being around 2.9million. It is estimated that 15.2 million children worldwide lost one or both parents to AIDS in 2005,

MDG 7- Improving the environment Only 33% of developing countries had access to sanitation before 2000-drinking dirty water accounts for most child deaths before the age of 5

MDG 8-Partnerships Before the year 2000 rich countries promised to give what proportion of their income as foreign aid? 0.7% Today the figure still remains at 0.28%. The cancellation of debt is vital to improve poverty in developing countries!

Where are the MDG’s targets in 2010?

MDG 1-Poverty Current projections suggest that overall poverty rates in the developing world will still fall in 2009, but at a much slower pace than before the downturn.. However, the UN states that if progress continues at the same rate, the target will be met in global terms by A Note of warning-The combined effect of spiralling food prices crisis could delay the attainment of several health-related Millennium Development Goals (1, 4, 5 and 6).

MDG 2-Education The number of eligible children having primary education has continued to increase world wide to over 88%. However there continue to be regional differences with still only 70% of sub-Saharan African children going to school-those in the country to cities are also less likely to go!

MDG 3-Gender equality More females are accessing education and this will improve their job prospects in the future. However the underlying cultural and religious attitudes towards women that result in them being treated unequally also need to be addressed. It is highly unlikely this type of fundamental change will happen before 2015!

MDG 4-Reduce child mortality In Southern Asia child deaths dropped from 126 to 82 per thousand live births between 1990 and Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest child mortality: in children out of every thousand died before they reached five years old. This is a fairly insignificant improvement on the 185 deaths per thousand Some regions are not on target to meet the goal.

MDG 5-Improve maternal health The world is short of an estimated 4.25 million healthcare workers today. The statistics suggest that adequate healthcare greatly reduces the rate of maternal deaths, an urgent focus on making adequate free healthcare more widely available is needed if the world is to progress towards this goal.

MDG 6-Combat diseases Globally, HIV infection has begun to level off, but it continues to rise in sub-Saharan Africa, where 59 per cent of those infected are women. Malaria - Insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the major strategies for preventing the mosquito bites that spread malaria-Yet the UN reports that only a few malaria-affected countries are close to the target of 60 per cent of children sleeping under bed nets. Measles -During this period due to world immunization programmes, measles deaths dropped by an astonishing 74 per cent, with the largest reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, there were an estimated 197,000 measles-related deaths in 2007, down from 750,000 in 2000.

MDG 7- Improving the environment 1. Deforestation-still increasing which impacts on CO2 levels and climate change. 2. Global carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase. 3. Sanitation-access to clean water still to be improved for 600 million people by Reduce number of slums-likely to be met in 2020 For this target to improve World leaders need drastically to step up their efforts to shift to an economy less reliant on fossil fuels, discourage deforestation and in the meantime protect poorer countries from the worst effects of climate change.

MDG 8-Partnerships Unpayable and illegitimate debt is a major obstacle to the attainment of the MDGs. Considerable progress has been made on debt relief, but we still have a long way to go. More needs to be done in relation to agreed international aid. Rich countries are failing to live up to their commitments.

It’s not the one leap that counts but every small step Don’t panic!!