Millennium Development Goal 8 The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality MDG Gap Task Force Report 2012 UNITED NATIONS The present report was prepared by the MDG Gap Task Force which was created by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to improve the monitoring of MDG 8 by leveraging inter- agency coordination. More than 20 United Nations agencies are represented on the Task Force, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization. The United Nations Development Programme and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat acted as lead agencies in coordinating the work of the Task Force. The Task Force was co-chaired by Olav Kjørven, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau for Development Policy of the United Nations Development Programme, and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and coordinated by Rob Vos, Director in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. List of bodies and agencies represented on the MDG Gap Task Force Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Framework Convention on of the United Nations Secretariat (UN/DESA) Climate Change (UNFCCC) Department of Public Information of the United Nations Fund for International United Nations Secretariat (DPI) Partnerships (UNFIP) Economic and Social Commission for Asia United Nations Industrial Development and the Pacific (ESCAP) Organization (UNIDO) Economic and Social Commission for United Nations Institute for Training and Western Asia (ESCWA) Research (UNITAR) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) United Nations International Strategy for Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Economic Commission for Latin America United Nations Office for Project Services and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (UNOPS) International Labour Organization (ILO) United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed International Monetary Fund (IMF) Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) States (UN-OHRLLS) International Trade Centre (ITC) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS) United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) World Bank Organization for Economic Cooperation World Food Programme (WFP) and Development (OECD) World Health Organization (WHO) United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) World Institute for Development Economics United Nations Conference on Trade and Research of the United Nations University Development (UNCTAD) (UNU-WIDER) United Nations Development Programme World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (UNDP) World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Trade Organization (WTO) Cover photo: © UNESCO / M. Hofer Millennium Development Goal 8 The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality MDG Gap Task Force Report 2012 asdf United Nations New York, 2012 United Nations publication Sales No. E.12.I.5 ISBN 978-92-1-101259-0 © Copyright United Nations, 2012 All rights reserved iii Preface The protracted global economic crisis has begun to take its toll on international development cooperation. Last year, official development assistance (ODA) fell for the first time in many years, while trade protectionist measures increased. There has also been too little progress in fulfilling other key aspects of the global partnership for development. While the poorest nations have received gener- ous debt relief over the past decade, many still face unsustainable obligations. Essential medicines remain too expensive and difficult to obtain in many devel- oping countries. And despite recent progress, the vast digital divide between developed and developing countries persists, in part because access to the Inter- net and mobile phones remains far too costly for low-income households. Trade is another source of concern highlighted in this report. Negotiat- ing parties have yet to complete the Doha Round that was meant to usher in a fairer multilateral trading system. I urge negotiators to find a way out of the impasse through pragmatic approaches that seek agreement first on specific areas, such as ensuring duty-free and quota-free market access for exports from least developed countries. At the just-concluded Rio+20 Conference, commitments were made on an ambitious sustainable development agenda. But to keep those pledges cred- ible, we must deliver on previous commitments. As a world community, we must make rhetoric a reality and keep our promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I am convinced this can be done. Notwithstanding considerable fiscal constraints, a number of donor countries continue to meet the globally agreed target of devoting 0.7 per cent of national income to ODA or have managed to protect aid budgets. These efforts can and should be emulated. With that in mind, and given that greater transparency can help accountability, I launched the Integrated Implementation Framework in June to better track international and national support towards achieving the MDGs. The Framework is available and accessible to anyone in the world—a one-stop shop to monitor all commit- ments made by Member States to help meet the MDGs. This report contains a sobering warning. The Task Force has had dif- ficulty identifying areas of significant new progress towards the MDGs. Yet, signs of promise can be found. Global health initiatives have proven effective in making important medicines more easily available. My Sustainable Energy for All initiative has shown the power of partnership by generating commitments from governments, businesses, foundations and others that will bring light and promise to more than a billion people over the coming decades. Further, several developing countries are taking the initiative to acquire and develop green technologies, showing that it is possible to leapfrog towards the green economies of the future and that development and environmental protection can go hand in hand. iv The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality These glimmers of what can be achieved should provide encouragement and inspiration. Our challenge is to scale up these success stories and add to them so that we can achieve the promise of the MDGs to improve the well- being of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General of the United Nations v Contents Page Executive summary Official development assistance ................................ xii Market access (trade) ........................................ xiii Debt sustainability .......................................... xiv Access to affordable essential medicines .......................... xvi Access to new technologies ................................... xvii Introduction Continuing impact of the global financial and economic crisis ........ 1 Is political support for the global partnership weakening?. 3 The case for rebuilding the global partnership ..................... 4 Official development assistance ODA commitments made in 2011. 7 ODA delivery in 2011 and prospects. 8 Allocation of ODA by countries ............................... 12 Aid modalities ............................................. 16 ODA allocated for specific purposes ............................ 18 Aid effectiveness ............................................ 18 ODA needs of developing countries ............................. 21 Multiple modalities of development cooperation ................... 23 Figures 1. Trends in main components of ODA from DAC members, 2000- 2011 ................................................ 9 2. ODA of DAC members in 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2011 ......... 10 3. Fiscal retrenchment and change in ODA disbursement in 2011 compared with 2010 .................................... 12 4. ODA of DAC donors provided to least developed countries, 2000, 2009 and 2010 ........................................ 14 5. Total ODA received by priority groups of countries, 2000-2010 .. 15 6. Share of untied bilateral ODA of DAC members, 2010 ......... 17 7. Share of untied bilateral ODA of DAC members to LDCs, 2010 .. 17 8. Progress in the Paris Declaration indicators at the global level, 2010 20 9. Foreign aid required for financing MDG-related public spending by 2015 ............................................. 23 vi The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality Page Tables 1. Delivery gaps towards aid commitments by DAC donors, 2010 and 2011 ............................................. 9 2. Top aid recipients in 2010 ............................... 15 Market access (trade) Unproductive global trade negotiations .......................... 27 The Doha Round in deadlock .............................. 27 Other international trade policy discussions ................... 29 Developing-country trade performance .......................... 30 Impact of the global economic crisis ............................ 30 Trade-restrictive measures ................................. 30 Trade finance .......................................... 31 Labour movement and remittances .......................... 32 Market access ............................................. 33 Preferential access