Nov 03, 2006

The MDG Needs Assessment Report points out the need for doubling donor support if Nepal is to attain the goals

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Even as the clock is ticking, countries like Nepal need to redouble their efforts along with renewed help from development partners in order to attain the socio-economic development goals determined by the UN and endorsed by world leaders.

The level of external assistance needed to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be about double of what is currently available, says an MDGs Needs Assessment Report launched on October 17 on the occasion of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

"Donor support will need to be doubled over the next decade to properly finance development efforts especially if the nation is to reduce hunger and improve education," said Matthew Kahane, UNDP Resident Representative. Kahane, however, added that the international community is willing to invest in "well-planned, well-managed and well-monitored national efforts."

Presenting the report, Dr. Bal Gopal Baidya – leader of the team that compiled the report – estimated there would be about US$ 8 billion of financing gap in the next one decade to attain the MDGs.

The report showed that the government must make a public investment of US$ 12.6 billion over the next decade if the goals are to be reached. More than half of that money must be channeled to reducing hunger, improving education and, critically, developing rural infrastructure. The report has identified areas of interventions to meet the MDGs; estimate resource requirements; and estimate the financing gap.

Launching the report, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said that the government is committed to implement plans and programs to attain MDGs. He said that since sustainable peace is in sight, there are rooms for improvement in government performance.

Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, vice chairperson at the National Planning Commission (NPC), said the report would help the government to internalize MDGs in national plans.

MDGs are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions – income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion – while promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability.

The millennium goals summarize the development targets hammered out at international conferences and world summits during the 1990s. In September 2000, world leaders distilled the key goals and targets in the Millennium Declaration. There are eight major goals and 18 time-bound numerical targets to be achieved over a 25-year period (1990-2015).

Based on the surveys conducted before 2003, Nepal is on a right direction to attain many of the basic goals like reduction of poverty, universal primary education, access to safe drinking water and reduction of child mortality even as it is faltering to meet other goals like promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, improvement of maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. The eighth goal of developing a global partnership for development, too, does not look likely to be attained as the developed countries have not yet addressed the special needs of the Least Developed Countries like Nepal .

The number one goal of halving the level poverty (from 1990 to 2015) is attainable, particularly after the encouraging figures from the National Living Standard Survey II, which showed that from 42% of people living below absolute poverty line (less than $1 a day) in 1995/96, the figure has come down to 31%. On the issue of universal access to primary education, the net enrolment ratio is on track at 84%. The ratio of children completing up to fifth grade has also increased to 60% from 38% in 1990.

The goal of eliminating gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015 appears hard to achieve. The latest data show that the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary level of education stands at 86.1% (up from 62% in 1990); 81.7% (up from 46.7% in 1990) and 35% respectively. The gender disparity, especially at tertiary level, is huge and hard to bridge by the stipulated time.

The fourth goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds among children under five years of age, however, looks likely to be attained. From the Infant Mortality Rate of 102 (per 1000 births) in 1990, it has decreased to 61. The child mortality rate, too, has decreased from 162 to 82 during the period. The proportion of 1-year-old kids immunized against measles has increased remarkably from 42 to 85% in the same period.

The fifth goal of reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio is another weak point. In fact, the government has not even been able to conduct a survey to assess progress in this goal. The MMR in 1990 was 850 per 100,000 live births – one of the highest in the world. Latest estimations suggest it might have come down to 415. The goal of bringing this down to 213 by 2015 is going to be difficult job.

The sixth goal of halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other major diseases is also going to become a tall order. The incident of HIV prevalence has, instead, been growing from 0.29 percent of total population in 2000 to 0.5 percent in 2005. The incidences of malaria are decreasing but cases of drug-resistant malaria have also been emerging in recent years.

On the seventh goal, in 1996, there were 61 percent people who had access to safe drinking water, which increased to over 70 percent in 2005. It has to touch 80 percent mark by 2015. Likewise, the area under forest cover is 29% and the area reserved for conservation of biological diversity has increased by three-fold from 1990 to reach 28,587 square kms.

The eighth goal is largely associated with the help that will be extended by developing and developed countries to open up global partnership by promoting trading and financial assistance.