Video: What’s next for global development?

In this World Economic Forum video, John W. McArthur, economist and Senior Fellow with the United Nations Foundation, looks beyond the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are due to expire at the end of 2015. As the deadline approaches, McArthur says we must consider what’s next for global development, and asks – what is possible by 2030?

Watch the full video above or read selected quotes below.

On Progress so far

If we look at the basic components of the agenda, the first one without question is the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030. Today there’s about a billion people living on less than a $1.25 a day. It’s about 18% of developing world living below that threshold. That might seem like a huge number but we have to keep in mind it was more than 40% just a generation ago. We literally are the first generation that can see the end of extreme poverty.

If the first goal is zero extreme poverty, I would say the second goal has to be 100 percent inclusion. In some places it’s going to be better designed cities that have better jobs opportunities and better social services. In other places it will be supporting farmers with better infrastructure, better access to market, access to inputs.

The biggest breakthrough has been in health, particularly in the global effort to make treatment available for HIV/AIDs. At the turn of the Millennium, 25 million people were infected with HIV/AIDs, with a couple of million people dying every year because they couldn’t get the right drugs. Today, ten million people are on basic antiretroviral treatment – something many people said was impossible to even try.

Despite population growth, the MDGs have also helped reduce child mortality. In 1990, 12 million children were dying every year. Now it’s about six and half million child deaths a year. Child deaths have dropped dramatically, and the MDGs have changed the way we think about saving lives, now and in the future.

On Universal Secondary Education

We’ve seen major gains in primary education. We may not have had the leap in quality that we hoped to see, but tens of millions more children are attending primary school than when the MDGs were introduced.

However, we need both primary and secondary education; there should be no question that in the 21st century you need a secondary school education to get a job and make a living. More and more countries are shifting emphasis away from just access to primary education. Uganda, for example, has started to push the policy of universal secondary education. This should be obvious, but it’s not. As a global community, we don’t yet emphasise that universal access to primary and secondary education should be a minimum standard.

On Innovation

By 2019, 93% of the world will have access to mobile phone coverage. That doesn’t just promise a breakthrough in communications, but also in mobile health. Local community health workers will be able to collect data via their smartphones, and get relevant advice on the spot. It’s incredible to think how far we’ve come in such a short time, and how technology will enable us to reach the most remote parts of world.

On Recommendations

The Millennium Development Goals will expire on December 31, 2015, but there is still time for progress. Governments have a real timetable through to September 2015 to come to an agreement on the new development goals agenda. That doesn’t just mean setting goals, it means setting an economic and financial framework to get there. New goals need the budget to pay for them.

Secondly, the private sector needs to understand its opportunity and responsibility to contribute. The voices of CEOs are powerful tools for sending strong messages on how to get the job done. Industry by industry, they could set their own goals and be subject to the same accountability that we expect from governments.

Thirdly, there is a major need for investment in infrastructure – transport, agriculture and energy systems. Those investments might be up to a trillion dollars a year, and will be mainly from the private sector. However, investments may also come from partnership with the public sector: politicians, business and civil society leaders, independent scientists and academics working together to achieve lasting change. This coalition approach is the type of strategy that can help the world solve its biggest problems.

Finally, I think we can achieve more than we every imagined possible after 2015. We are the first generation that can see the end of extreme poverty. So, let’s work together – across sectors and countries – to make that a reality.

Author: John W McArthur, Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation

Image: Malian pupils study during a French language class during a French language lesson in Mali’s capital Bamako. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly