MDG 8

Julian Hickman

1   Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2.  Achieve universal primary education.

3.  Promote gender equality and empower women.

4.  Reduce child mortality.

5.  Improve maternal health.

6.  Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

7.  Ensure environmental sustainability.

8.  Develop a global partnership for development.

Millennium Development Goal #8

Create a Global Partnership for Development

Target 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system.

Target 13. Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries.

Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states .

Target 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

As I work on this paper, a list of the Eight Millennium Development Goals sits on the kitchen table along with lunch. On the plate I have a sandwich and some pickles. A cup of coffee is sitting beside the plate. It is Honduran coffee brought back from our last mission trip. Lunch will be a quick meal. Like everyone else,I am busy and there is little time to really enjoy lunch.

The reasons I have my lunch and others in the world have very little are not simple. It is not simply the result of my hard work or the efforts of my parents. We are born in this place by chance, not merit. We currently have a stable government. My ancestors came to an unknown country which luckily had many navigable rivers and was full of resources. Since then, our country has not been invaded.

Millennium Development Goal #8: deals with the broad issues of poverty and effective solutions. It is not the sexy goal, it is the hard work of the broad view. It is focused on policy, coordination, partnerships and information. As part of this, it addresses systemic issues of imbalance that are hard to address at the local level when the focus is on a single problem such as food production.

Stability and commitment: Local and international instability and chaos can frustrate any attempts to deal with health, food or other issues. Good governance, infrastructure and order are necessary. The local government must be able and willing to support the effort. Through Goal #8, organizations work with governments and NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) to promote needed solutions. Furthermore, accountability is essential to effectively using our funds.

Partnerships: Often the problem of severe poverty can not be addressed without partnerships. The problems require multiple players.

Farmers can not succeed if malaria keeps them and their families sick or the cost of fertilizer is so high they can not afford it. If large grain producing nations gain access to the local markets and are able to sell the grain at far less than can be produced locally. The local farmer is not going to succeed. The influx of cheap food but loss of work may leave their family in even more poverty.

Fairness: Embedded in Millennium Goal #8 is also an issue of fairness. If fertilizer in third world countries costs multiple times more than fertilizer in the USA, how can farmers compete? The cheap food we sell in poor countries means the money they spend leaves their country. Our food is cheaper not only because we can be more efficient but we have many hidden subsidies. The fairness of this competition is suspect.

Balancing fairness is not simple. Our drive to deal with the price of fuel at home resulted in an embrace of more ethanol production. This is part of the reason for significant shifts from food production to ethanol production. In the past week food riots broke out in several countries over the high cost of food. Our burning of food grain based fuels contributes to the problems in feeding the poor in other countries.

Debt: With a possible recession at our door, there are loud cries for government action to address the problem. We are now looking at issues of predatory lending, lax regulations, greed and other contributors. No matter what the cause, action must be taken so that the consequences do not ripple through our economy and drive us all deep into a major recession. The indebtedness of poor countries is very similar. Debt forgiveness may be the least expensive way to address resources in some countries.

Special Cases: In addition to the systemic issues, there are special problems for certain types of countries. Countries without navigable rivers or good ports may have unique problems. Island or land-locked nations may need additional efforts. An element of Millennium Development Goal #8 is to address these special cases.

Trinity's Support for Millennium Development Goal #8

One, the US organization promoting the Millennium Development Goals is our primary national catalyst to promote partnership, accountability and transparency. One does not act directly, its role is to promote, coordinate, and articulate the need for action.

This coming MDG Sunday at Trinity, we are collecting for One, to support its work in the overall MDG effort. We hope you will first look at One's Website, look at the organizations they promote, and then give generously in the envelopes provided on Sunday.