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- Year: 2012
- Country: Transnational
- Language: English
- Document Type: Publication
- Topic: Aid Effectiveness,Assessments,Foreign Funding
Post-2015 Goals, tarGets and IndIcators
ApRIl 10 -11, 2012
pARIS, fRANCECoNfERENCE REpoRt
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Copyright © 2012 by The Centre for International Governance Innovatio
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Innovation
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al
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Cover and page design by Steve Cross.
Post-2015 Goals, tarGets
and IndIcators
aPrIl 10-11, 2012
ParIs, France
conFerence rePort
Barry Carin and Nicole Bates-Eamer
table oF contents
SUMMARY 1
ABoUt tHE AUtHoRS 1
CoNfERENCE REpoR t: poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICA toRS 2
AGENdA 27 post-2015 development Goals: potential t argets and Indicators 27
Experts workshop hosted by the oECd/dAC | paris, April 10-11, 2012
t uesday, April 10, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
pAR tICIp ANt lISt 29
WoRkS CItEd 30
toWARd A poSt-2015 dEvElopMENt p ARAdIGM pRojECt 34
ABoUt CIGI 35
CIGI MAStHEAd 35
acronyms
CIGI The Centre for International Governance
Innovation
DALY Disability-Adjusted Life Year Index (WHO)
EFA Education for All (UNESCO)
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (UN)
GLAAS Global Assessment of Annual Assessment of
Sanitation and Drinking Water
GPI gender parity indexes
HALE Healthy Life Expectancy Index (WHO)
IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute
IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies
ILO International Labour Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
KDI Korean Development Institute
LAMP Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme
MCGs Millennium Consumption Goals
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MPI Multidimensional Poverty Index OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
OPHI Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative
PISA Programme for International Student Assessment
(OECD)
PPP purchasing power parity
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
SG Secretary-General (UN)
TRIPS Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
UNISDR United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction
USAID United States Agency for International
Development
WFS World Food Summit
WHO World Health Organization (UN)
WTO World Trade Organization
WWAP World Water Assessment Program (UNESCO)
SUMMARY 1
poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICAtoRS
sUmmary
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have
been remarkably successful in focusing attention and
mobilizing resources to address the major gaps in human
development.
Future goals must reach beyond traditional development
thinking to become higher sustainable one-world goals
that apply to poor and rich countries alike. The paper
discusses the potential indicators for 12 future potential
goals, clustered into three categories.
The first four goals are about the essential endowments
necessary for individuals to achieve their fuller potential:
• Adequate livelihoods and income levels for
dignified human existence;
• Sufficient food and water for active living;
• Appropriate education and skills for productive
participation in society; and
• Good health for the best possible physical and
mental well-being.
The second set of four goals is concerned with protecting
and promoting collective human capital: • Security for ensuring freedom from violence;
• Gender equality for enabling males and females to
participate and benefit equally in society;
• Resilient communities and nations for reduced
disaster impact from natural and technological
hazards; and
• Connectivity for access to essential information,
services, and opportunities. The third set deal with the effective provision of global
public goods:
• Empowerment of people for realizing their civil
and political rights;
• Sustainable management of the biosphere for
enabling people and planet to thrive together;
• Rules on running the world economy for the fairly
shared benefit of all nations; and
• Good global governance for transparent and
accountable international institutions and
partnerships.
The potential effectiveness of indicators to underpin
targets for each of the 12 goals is critical. Organizations’
and individuals’ behaviours are influenced by how
success will be assessed. Without practical indicators,
goals remain purely aspirational and progress cannot be
measured.
But there are daunting challenges to devise indicators
that are both measureable and motivational — to
galvanize public support for development. Metrics
must be sophisticated — not too crude, but also not too
technocratic. Indicators should allow disaggregation
by sex, urban/rural, identity groups and income bands
so as to unmask the inequalities that hide behind
generalised statistics. Serious limitations in data exist.
This paper reviews a menu of indicators for the
12 candidate goals to inform the future process of
selecting the post 2015 successors to the Millennium
Development Goals.
aboUt tHe aUtHors
Barry Carin is a senior fellow at CIGI and adjunct professor and
former associate director of the Centre for Global Studies at the
University of Victoria in the School of Public Administration. From
2006 through 2009, he was editor of the journal Global Governance.
Prior to joining CIGI, Barry served as high commissioner of Canada
to Singapore and as assistant deputy minister of trade and economic
policy in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
He was Canadian representative on the executive committee of the
OECD, assistant deputy minister for strategic policy and planning in
the Department of Employment and Immigration and was director
of effectiveness evaluation in the Treasury Board Secretariat.
He has a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University and an Honours
B.A. in economics and political science from McGill University.
Nicole Bates-Eamer joined the Centre for Global Studies in 2008 as
a research assistant to Barry Carin and Gordon Smith. Her research focuses on development assistance, summit reform and effectiveness,
and global governance architecture. Nicole also works for other
senior associates at the Centre; she recently managed a project on
domestic health policy and wrote the final report, Perceived Shortage,
Relative Surplus: The Paradox of Quebec’s Family Physician Workforce:
An Intra- and Inter-Provincial Comparison.
In addition to her work at the Centre for Global Studies, Nicole
founded her own educational consulting company, Tutasoma, which
delivers interactive workshops to high school students on various
global issues. Nicole previously worked in children’s rights as a
project coordinator for Right To Play in Tanzania and as a research
consultant for Senator Landon Pearson in Ottawa.
She has an M.A. in international development from the Norman
Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and a
B.A. in history from the University of Memphis.
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conFerence rePort:
Post-2015 Goals, tarGets
and IndIcators
1
Barry Carin and Nicole Bates-Eamer
Foreword
On April 10-11, 2012, The Centre for International
Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Korean
Development Institute (KDI) co-hosted an event at
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris, France.
Statisticians, metrics and issue experts, and development
practitioners convened to discuss the options for
indicators to underpin potential post-2015 development
goals. The discussions flowed from a background paper
circulated before the meeting on the state of the art on
targets and indicators relevant to 12 broad goals.
The specific task in Paris was to refine the suite of
options on the “best” indicators to measure the potential
goals, given the various challenges that confront efforts
to construct a post-2015 development framework. Every
potential goal needs smart and parsimonious indicators.
A goal will not be selected for the post-2015 framework
unless there is a consensus on appropriate indicators to
measure progress.
The intention of conference participants is to contribute
technical inputs to the official United Nations (UN)
process. Rather than advocate any particular issue area,
this paper (building on the Paris discussion) provides a
compendium of the best options for each goal.
backGroUnd
Tell me what you’re going to measure;
and I’ll tell you how I’m going to
behave. (Anonymous)
The question is not whether to abandon
global targets but rather how to improve
the MDG architecture and how to adjust
them to the priorities beyond 2015.
(Vandemoortele, 2011)
You show me anything that depicts
institutional progress in America: school
test scores, crime stats, arrest reports,
arrest stats, anything that a politician
1 This report benefits from the contributions of Carla AbouZahr,
Sabina Alkire, Colin Bradford, Danny Bradlow, Lynn Brown, Carlo
Cafiero, Mukesh Kapila, Kaushal Joshi, Denise Lievesley, Wonhyuk
Lim, Richard Manning, Mike Muller, Anthony Redmond, Emma
Samman and Jan Vandemoortele.
can run on, anything that somebody
can get a promotion on. And as soon
as you invent that statistical category,
50 people in that institution will be at
work trying to make it look as if a lot
of progress is actually occurring when
actually no progress is. (David Simon,
quoted in Moyers, 2009)
It is clear that without solid information
we cannot measure where we are and
what needs to be done, with respect to
the MDGs or in other domains. If the
world cannot get the right numbers, it
cannot come out with the right solutions.
(Paul Cheung, quoted in UNDESA,
2012)
There is a great deal of reflection and activity reviewing
the effectiveness of the MDGs, proposing ideas for what
should succeed them in 2015.
2 What post-2015 goals
and targets would be both ambitious and feasible?
Should the targets and timelines of the existing eight
goals simply be revised? Or should new dimensions be
included? Should successor goals emphasize attention to
inequality, empowerment, climate change, sustainability
and the measurements of outputs and outcomes rather
than inputs? Should they address failing states, the
absence of democracy or trade rules? The answers matter
because goals influence investment and behaviour.
The premise is that aspirational statements are useless
without metrics; that one cannot have any sensible
discussion about targets if unable to measure progress
in agreed areas. The purpose of this report is to support
the process of selecting successor goals by providing
a comprehensive assessment of the strengths and
weaknesses of the range of potential targets and
indicators for 12 broad “candidate goals.” Practical ways
to measure progress in agreed areas must be made clear.
There are a number of lessons to learn from the old
MDGs in that regard — and participants do not want
to repeat errors (for example, simplistically measuring
education by school enrollment). Targets are about the
specific levels of global and national ambition. But the
questions before those levels of ambition (targets) are set
include determining what is important to do (goals), and
how to measure the success of that ambition (indicators).
Indicators will influence the type of development done;
targets are about how much of that agreed type of
development is desired.
The Paris meeting, held April 10-11, 2012, was tasked
with assessing the potential effectiveness of indicators to
2 See Annex 1 for an overview of current initiatives examining
post-2015 goals. Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/
project/toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
CoNfERENCE REpoRt: poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICA toRS 3
poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICAtoRS
underpin targets for each of the 12 goals that had emerged
from earlier meetings. Over the past 18 months, CIGI
and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC) examined the current literature
assessing the MDGs and hosted two meetings with
experts and civil society representatives. Discussions
included an overview of the MDGs’ progress to date,
their strengths and weaknesses as a framework, the
changing context of poverty and the criteria for a post-
2015 framework. In this process, the research to date was
surveyed and participants familiarized themselves with
others’ work (see previous meeting reports from Bellagio
and Geneva).
The 12 Bellagio goals would apply to both developing
and developed countries, setting global minimums with
individual national targets reflecting the country context.
Indicators would be disaggregated by gender, rural/
urban location, income groups, age, and vulnerable
populations;
3 place poverty at the centre of the process;
focus on equitable growth and development in terms
of freedom and justice and enabling conditions; and
empower countries to define, measure and achieve their
own development.
To expand on previous work, CIGI, KDI and IFRC
have formed partnerships with the Institute for
Poverty Reduction Centre (China), the Getulio Vargas
Foundation (Brazil), the University of Pretoria (South
Africa), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (India) and the
University of Manchester (United Kingdom). Together,
participants will refine the assessment of the menus of
indicators for candidate goals and targets.
cHallenGes
Participants agreed that an ideal set of global targets
should have the attributes listed by Jan Vandemoortele
(2011):
• Express the many dimensions of human well-being,
yet include a limited number of targets;
• Address the complexity of development, yet exploit
the charm of simplicity;
• Embody agreed principles, yet allow for
quantitative monitoring;
• Reflect global priorities and universal standards,
yet be tailored to the domestic situation and local
challenges;
• Specify the destination, yet spell out the journey for
getting there; and
3 The original MDGs state that “All indicators should be
disaggregated by sex and urban/rural as far as possible” (UN, 2000).
• Combine comprehensiveness with conciseness;
complexity with simplicity; principles with
measurability; universality with country-
specificity; and ends with means.
Vandemoortele characterized these attributes as
“practically impossible when it comes to setting
targets that require universal acceptance and a political
consensus among governments and world leaders”
(2011: 10). Nonetheless, cognizant of the challenge,
participants at the June 2011 Bellagio workshop proposed
a tentative architecture of 12 goals. Twelve post-2015
goals are too many. (The current eight MDGs are broken
down into 21 targets measured by 60 indicators.) As
Claire Melamed writes, “At this stage, it would be both
brave and extremely foolish to predict the shape, the
organizing principles, or the level of ambition of any
future agreement” (2012: 9).
The participants’ intention in proposing 12 goals is
to provide a potential set of options for inclusion in
a future framework and to begin to think through its
complexities, the intellectual and practical issues in
selecting targets and indicators that decision makers will
encounter in their official process. Participants do not
expect these 12 goals to succeed the current eight, nor
believe anything but an inclusive consultative process
led by the UN will be the official process for formulating
a legitimate post-2015 framework. The original MDGs
were criticized for having emerged from a faulty closed-
doors process, being poorly specified and influenced
by special interests, rather than a coherent conceptual
design or rigorous statistical parameters. The intention
is to contribute to the debate by arraying potential
indicators of progress and assessing their strengths and
weaknesses.
At the Bellagio meeting, Ian McKinnon (2011) reminded
participants that while indicators are useful and can
mobilize activity and enable comparisons, they are not
the complete story.
4 Indicators are not the goals; they
are merely metrics. Indicators must be selected that
illuminate, are accessible and can inform actions without
distorting them. The choice of targets is constrained by
the availability of appropriate indicators. In selecting
indicators, it should be ensured that:
• Indicators are accessible to the sophisticated lay reader.
Note that indicators that have relevance in people’s
daily experience are easier to understand and
have greater impact. For example, while analysts
may prefer the Gini index, it is more accessible
and relevant to say that the bottom 10 percent of a
4 This reminded participants of the quotation said to have hung in
Albert Einstein’s office: “Not everything that counts can be cou
nted
and not everything that can be counted counts.”
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country’s population has x percent of the national
income, while the top 10 percent has y percent.
• Measure outputs rather than inputs. Rather than
spending more on childhood education, it is
more important to focus on results like literacy
and numeracy. Looking at these outputs gives
a sense of the resources available for education,
the effectiveness of the delivery system and the
contribution from outside the formal system.
• Broad, summative indicators that reflect whole sector
outcomes are preferred over narrow indicators that
assess only a narrow element of the overall goal.
If multiple indicators are used, that they cover
quite different aspects of the general goal should be
ensured. The classic example is neonatal morbidity
and mortality that can best be improved only by
addressing a wide range of health and nutrition
factors.
• Already agreed upon indicators from relevant
international organizations (for example, UN Food
and Agriculture Organization [FAO] guidelines on
malnutrition/food insecurity) are exploited.
• They are sensitive to potential responses of behaviour
change to meet the indicator instead of the substance
of the issue. For example, under pressure to increase
high school graduation rates, a routine response by
administrators is to make graduation requirements
much less demanding without changing anything
else.
• Direct measures are preferred over indices or
derived variables to improve transparency and
comparability. Complex, transformed variables
may not stand up to close scrutiny when used in
cross-national comparisons.
• Direct measures to ones based on perceptions are
preferred, for reasons of comparability, robustness
and legitimacy.
5
• Participants remain wary of process indicators that do
not assess the underlying effectiveness of the process
(for example, democratic and judicial processes,
freedom of expression). Form is not enough. Valid
indicators need to assess the practice.
• Disaggregation information is provided with the overall
result (for example, release national immunization
rates with results by income group, region, urban/
rural location, gender, age, at-risk populations).
5 Bearing in mind that several recent analyses have drawn attention
to the increasing gap between the evolution of objective measures of
peoples’ economic situation and peoples’ own appreciation of this (see,
for example, www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr).
Meeting the communications imperative of clarity and
simplicity by consolidating information on multiple
variables into a succinct index represents a particular
challenge. The choice of weights is a subjective normative
exercise. For example, Wood and Gibney, the authors of
the Political Terror Scale, note the absurdity of attempting
to “count x number of imprisonments as equivalent to
y tortures and z killings” (2010: 373). An index can cope
only imperfectly with incommensurable variables.
There is a long wish list of criteria relevant to the
formulation of post-2015 goals, targets and indicators.
Revision of the MDGs, attempting to meet these criteria,
will face significant pitfalls and challenges. Some criteria
include:
6
• clarity and even-handedness;
• measurability not perfectibility;
• a focus on ends, not means;
• capturing the equity dimension in terms of equality
of opportunity for development;
• providing for empowerment, include enabling
factors (higher participation by people in those
things that affect their everyday life);
• including intermediate outcomes and interim
targets;
• motivating commitment and action;
• maintaining measurability that provides for
accountability, but includes quality considerations;
• providing for transparency and accountability;
• including some global challenges everyone faces;
• introducing sustainability considerations;
• a bottom-up, not global top-down approach;
• basing targets on ambitious yet reasonably
achievable expectations;
• measuring people’s well-being, rather than
measuring economic production; and
• addressing the “missing elements” of the
Millennium Declaration (for example, human
rights, security, equality and the economic
productivity component).
Ideally, participants want metrics that are both
measureable and motivational to continue to galvanize
public support for development. Metrics must be
sophisticated — not too crude, but also not too
6 See Vandemoortele (2011) and Moss (2010).
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poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICAtoRS
technocratic and it must be acknowledged that serious
limitations in data exist. At the October 2011 UN Inter-
Agency Experts Group for the MDGs, Francesca Perucci
(2011) identified several challenges related to the
availability of data:
• the burden on some countries of data monitoring
and reporting;
• the availability and unreliability of data collected;
• inconsistencies between data required for global
aggregation and what is available at the country
level;
• lack of international standards;
• failure to adopt existing international standards at
national level;
• lack of national capacity; and
• disagreement on the baseline year.
The OECD-hosted Global Project on Measuring the
Progress of Societies concluded its 2008 report with four
lessons for indicator development: • Be clear about your objectives and how you expect
to achieve them.
• Be realistic about what an indicator set can achieve.
• Never underestimate the importance of the process
of designing and agreeing to the indicators.
• Think long-term: be persistent and flexible.
Indicators in general terms should be valid, relevant and effective in measuring what they purport to
measure (OECD, 2008).
The indicators should also be reliable, enabling consistent
application across different contexts by different groups
of people at different times. Proposed indicators at the
global level should be measurable, time-bound, cost-
effective to collect, easy to communicate for advocacy
purposes and open to cross-country comparisons. The
process of indicator development should itself observe
accountability principles, including transparency about
data sources and methodology.
Determining targets and indicators is a difficult — but
worthy — problem. It is a normative exercise, but one
that can be informed by knowledgeable expertise. The
objective is to present the best options and to highlight
their advantages and flaws. This report presents the state
of the art on indicators relevant to each of the 12 goals to
help assess what can be done in terms of measurement
and data collection regarding a future set of goals and
targets. The task is to identify the best options for goals,
targets and indicators, given the various challenges that
confront efforts to construct a post-2015 development
framework.
Notwithstanding the challenge, this report presents
proposed options for targets and indicators for each of
the 12 goal areas in turn, contrasted with the current
MDG targets and indicators. The authors have included
in this report the best of conference participants’ findings,
refined on the basis of the Paris meeting discussions. It is
hoped that participants in future consultation processes
leading to a global consensus on post-2015 goals will
find these indicators useful.
Figure 1: Post-2015 Goals
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PotentIal IndIcators and t arGets For
candIdate Goals
The first group of four goals is concerned with the
necessary endowments for individuals to achieve their
fuller potential.
Candidate Goal 1: Adequate Livelihoods and Income
Levels for Dignified Human Existence
In the World Bank’s Voices of the Poor study (2000), one
of the four main priorities cited by those surveyed was
having a job. Employment income allows people to meet
their basic needs and make choices about their lives. Good
indicators on jobs and income should reflect both their
quality and quantity. A major consideration for income
levels is the distribution of income to ensure equitable
growth. While the MDGs collectively reflect poverty,
participants reframed the original goal on poverty and
hunger as “income and jobs” to reflect the findings of
the World Bank study; “poverty” is more than just
measuring GDP, the proportion of population below $1
per day (purchasing power parity [PPP]), poverty lines
or poverty ratios. This first goal should be measured by
income and employment indicators,
7 or, if still framed as
“poverty,” with one of the new multidimensional indices
on poverty that includes income indicators.
Table 1: Current MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and
Hunger
Target Indicator
1. A: Halve,
between 1990
and 2015, the
proportion of
people whose
income is less than
one dollar a day
• Proportion of population below
$1 PPP per day
• Poverty gap ratio (incidence x
depth of poverty)
• Share of poorest quintile in
national consumption
1. B: Achieve full
and productive
employment and
decent work for all,
including women
and young people • Growth rate of GDP per person
employed
• Employment-to-population ratio• Proportion of employed people
living below $1 PPP per day
• Proportion of own-account and
contributing family workers in
total employment
Criticisms of the current indicators focus on the
variety in household surveys’ design, definitions
and implementation, and the lack of analysis on
income distribution within the household, between
genders and within countries. Additionally, there is a
7 See Annex 2 for International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators.
Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm.
growing literature that GDP or economic indicators
are insufficient for measuring poverty — which is a
multidimensional phenomenon (Trebeck, 2012). The
Report on the Commission of Measurement of Economic
Performance and Social Progress calls for new measures of
growth and economic performance to incorporate well-
being (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, 2009).
Inequality was not adequately addressed in the original
MDGs; it is a major obstacle to poverty reduction,
economic growth and improved social conditions
(Melamed, 2012). To address inequality, a future
framework could include a focus on disaggregation and
presentation of data on the lowest decile or quintile.
Another approach would be to focus on the average level,
the distribution and the extreme tail across indicators.
There is also the question of whether to measure relative
poverty as well as absolute poverty via the US$1.25 PPP
per day. Relative poverty is the percentage of people
below 50 percent of the country’s median income.
This measure can give dramatically different results
from absolute poverty. For example, in Brazil, absolute
poverty decreased from over 20 percent to less than five
percent in the last 20 years, while the relative poverty
measure has remained constantly above 25 percent. In
China, absolute poverty has fallen from over 80 percent
to below 20 percent, while relative poverty has actually
increased in the last 25 years.
Traditionally, poverty has been measured by income
in terms of the price of the minimum required basket
of goods and services. Poverty is now defined more
broadly to include lack of education, health, housing,
empowerment, employment and personal security. As
Alkire and Santos assert, “No one indicator, such as
income, is uniquely able to capture the multiple aspects
that contribute to poverty. For this reason, since 1997,
Human Development Reports (HDRs) have measured
poverty in ways different than traditional income-based
measures. The Human Poverty Index (HPI) was the
first such measure, replaced by the Multidimensional
Poverty Index (MPI) in 2010” (2010: 3).
The MPI is designed to measure acute poverty, defined
by two main characteristics. First, acute poverty includes
people living under conditions that do not reach the
minimum internationally agreed standards, in indicators
of basic functions such as being well-nourished, educated
or having access to clean drinking water; second, it refers
to people living under conditions that do not reach the
minimum standards in several aspects at the same time.
In other words, the MPI measures those experiencing
multiple deprivations — people who, for example, are
both undernourished and do not have clean drinking
water, adequate sanitation or clean fuel. The MPI
combines two key pieces of information to measure
acute poverty: the incidence of poverty or the proportion
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of people (within a given population) who experience
multiple deprivations is measured with the intensity
of their deprivation — the average proportion of
deprivations they experience.
Table 2: Oxford Poverty and Human Development
Initiative Multidimensional Poverty Index
TopicIndicators
Education Years of school
School attendance
Health Child mortality
Nutrition
Standard of
Living Household electricity
Access to safe drinking water (<30 mins),
Improved sanitation
Household flooring (not dirt, sand or dung)
Cooking fuel (not wood, charcoal or dung)
Household assets (more than one of radio,
television, telephone, bike, motorbike, fridge
and own a car)
Multidimensional poverty is a measure of the joint
distribution of the outcomes related to several goals
aside from income and employment. One issue is that
the data required for an MPI is not equivalent to the data
collected by the United Nations and national statistical
agencies.
The OECD’s
Better Life Initiative, another
multidimensional index, measures well-being and looks
at both material living conditions and quality of life
across the population. It includes several indicators:
income, jobs, housing, health, work and life balance,
education, social connections, civic engagement and
governance, environment, personal security and
subjective well-being.
8
Annual publications such as the World Bank’s World
Development Report, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook,
and the United Nations Development Programme’s
(UNDP’s) Human Development Report contain a multitude
of statistics and indicators for measuring income, jobs
and poverty more generally.
Potential employment indicators include:
• proportion of population living below $2 a day
PPP;
• proportion of population living below national
poverty line (disaggregated by rural/urban
8 Sample indicators from the OECD publication How’s Life (chapters
on income and wealth and jobs and earning) are in Annex 2. Report
annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-post-
2015-development-paradigm.
location, regions, child poverty, female-headed
households, ethnic/minority communities, religion
and so on, to the extent supported by available
data);
• ratio of income/consumption of top 20 percent to
bottom 20 percent (rural/urban);
• annualized growth rate of per capita expenditure/
income (lowest and highest quintiles, total);
• employment rate (disaggregation male-female,
rural-urban, regions, age group);
• elasticity of total employment to total GDP
(employment elasticity); and
• number of (vulnerable) own-account and
contributing family workers per 100 wage and
salaried.
Work contributes not only to incomes, but also to self-
respect and fulfillment; work is “a constituent part of
individual’s wellbeing” (Lugo, 2007: 1). One option
would retain the current MDG indicators and add
indicators reflecting productivity, income and protection.
Additional proposed indicators could include: • growth rate of GDP per person employed;
• an index of seasonality of income;
• child labour force as share of children;
• deaths from workplace hazards per 100,000
workers; and
• discouraged workers (as share of population).
Candidate Goal 2: Sufficient Food and Water for Active
Living
Poverty and hunger were joined together in MDG 1 on
the basis that livelihoods, agriculture production, food
and nutrition are intrinsically linked for poor people and
should, therefore, be conceptually consolidated in one
goal. Some argue that food insecurity and water scarcity
warrant a goal separate from poverty; that ending hunger
and malnutrition is a critical prerequisite for sustainable
development and inclusive economic growth. A criticism
of the current MDGs is that the targets and indicators on
poverty obscured those for hunger. Hunger was lost as
an element of goal 1 and progress on hunger has been
marginal. Participants concluded that food security is
too important to risk being eclipsed by poverty, as it was
in the original MDGs.
The UN first adopted a goal to halve world hunger by
2015 at the World Food Summit (WFS) held in Rome in
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1996. 9 Hunger refers to the supply, access, consumption
and intake of food at levels that are insufficient to fulfill
human requirements. If the requirements are not met
through the adequate absorption and use of essential
nutrients, food deprivation and undernutrition occur
(Sibrian, 2009). Nutrition is an individual level outcome,
influenced by food intake and food availability. Food
security is a community level (or higher) outcome and
reflects dimensions of persistent poverty. The World
Bank (1986) defines food security as “access by all people
at all times to sufficient food for an active, healthy life.”
The word “sufficient” implies both quantitative and
qualitative dimensions, and there are cultural aspects in
the definition of what is considered “sufficient.” Food
and water serve basic human physiological needs, but
also moral and cultural ones. What is sufficient in one
context and from a mere physiological point of view can
be considered inadequate in other contexts for cultural
reasons.
If, in the post-2015 framework, food and water are
given their own goal to comprehensively address the
multidimensional nature of food and nutrition security,
then indicators on the availability of food, access to food
and adequate food consumption could be added. One
view is that an indicator for children less than two years
of age will be critical, particularly for stunting. The two-
year-old child is the signal of the future and the vital
importance of the 1,000-day window is being learned.
10
Table 3: Current MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and
Hunger
Target Indicators
1. C: Halve, between
1990 and 2015, the
proportion of people
who suffer from
hunger
• Prevalence of underweight
children under five years of age
• Proportion of population below
minimum level of dietary
energy consumption
Seven potential indicators include: • proportion of population below minimum level of
dietary energy consumption (FAO);
• prevalence of underweight children under five
years of age (World Health Organization [WHO]);
9 The WFS goal calls for halving the number of hungry people,
whereas the MDGs aim to reduce hunger by half, in terms of the
population proportion. The WFS target, then, was much more
ambitious.
10 The WHO currently collects data for stunting in children under
five years of age; however, revising it to under two years of age
provides sentinel information signalling that individual’s future
physiology. Furthermore, children stunted at two years old are more
likely to go to school later, learn less and have a lower income with less
ability to be taxed.
• food consumption score: number of days per week
of intake of eight different food groups;
• percentage of children less than five years of age
whose height-for-age is below minus two standard
deviations from the median (WHO);
• prevalence of underweight (<2500 grams / 5.5
pounds) infants at birth (WHO);
• prevalence of overweight (weight-for-height above
two standard deviations) (WHO); and
• prevalence of stunting in children under two years
of age.
Other potential measures could deal with agricultural
performance, household food security, micronutrient
supplies, post-harvest losses, anemia in women of
reproductive age, child mortality rates (International
Food Policy Research Institute [IFPRI]), access to basic
sanitation and incidence of diarrheal disease in children
under five (WHO).
11
If these are truly to be global goals, an indicator must
address the one billion people who are “overnourished”
or overweight; this is an expensive public health problem.
Although this is a different moral and conceptual issue
than lack of access to food, it makes the goal relevant to
both developed and developing countries. An indicator
on body mass index would simultaneously address
obesity and diet problems in developed countries,
and hunger and lack of food in developing countries.
There is also an argument for process indicators such as
identifying a national nutrition focal point, establishing
national nutrition plans, and the percentage of national
GDP devoted to food and nutrition security.
The consensus coming out of the International Scientific
Symposium on Measurement and Assesssment of Food
Deprivation and Undernutrition held at the FAO in
2002 (and again in January 2012) focused on the need
for a suite of indicators to measure food and nutrition
insecurity in its multidimensionality, and concluded
that different data sources will have to be tapped and
improved in order to better measure and monitor global
food insecurity. At the 2012 symposium, panellist Carlo
Cafiero (2012) stated, “The undoubted conclusion of the
debate so far is that there are indeed many dimensions
of well-being associated with food and that there is no
hope to come up with a single, measurable, objective
parameter that could be deemed superior to any other
indicator.”
11 See Annex 3 for two other frameworks for measuring hunger.
Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm.
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The multidimensional nature of food security and
nutrition poses many challenges for measurement. Food
insecurity covers a range of problems, from access to
food, to issues of dietary quality, to outright hunger;
these issues must be unbundled to be properly measured.
Furthermore, there are challenges in cross-country
comparability of data; reliability of data; and quality,
consistency and periodicity of the information being
collected. Problems exist with respect to current coverage
and timeliness of data collection. Either anecdotal,
occasional evidence is gathered through ad hoc
projects, usually over such a limited scale that it cannot
be deemed representative, or survey-based evidence of
broadly defined food expenditures/acquisitions at the
household level, is aggregated at a level that, simply put,
does not allow for the level of analysis on things such as
nutritional adequacy or gender disparity.
Two final considerations for drafting a goal on food are
important. Efforts must be made to continue to properly
monitor food production, trade and uses, as the global and
local availability of food at the macro level is always the
starting point for detecting and understanding the most
relevant problems in terms of food insecurity. Second,
availability of food at the aggregate level is a necessary,
but by no means sufficient, condition to guarantee
adequate access to all; therefore, the distribution of food
consumption among people needs to be monitored.
The FAO report, The State of Food Insecurity in the World
(2011) raises awareness about global hunger issues,
discusses underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition,
and monitors progress towards hunger reduction targets
(WFS and MDGs). The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook
is an annual publication presenting projections and
related market analysis for 15 agricultural products over
a 10-year horizon. The world needs to address trade
and environmental policies (enabling conditions: see
goals 10 and 11) that exacerbate the problems with food
management and distribution.
12
Water
The MDG indicator on improved drinking water was
reached in 2010, five years ahead of schedule. However,
over 700 million people still rely on unimproved sources
for drinking water, and 2.5 billion people lack access to
improved sanitation facilities.
12 For a discussion on extending special and differential treatment in
agriculture for developing countries, see the FAO paper “Extending special
and differential treatment (SDT) in agriculture for developing countries.”
Available at: www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y3733E/y3733e0b.htm.
Table 4: Current MDG 7: Ensure Environmental
Sustainability
Target Indicators
7. C: Halve, by 2015,
the proportion of
people without
sustainable access to
safe drinking water
and basic sanitation
• Proportion of population using
an improved drinking water
source
• Proportion of population using
an improved sanitation facility
Water security is defined as the “reliable availability of
an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health,
livelihoods and production, coupled with acceptable
level of water-related risks” (Grey and Sadoff, 2007). To
achieve water security, investments in infrastructure are
needed to store and transport water, and treat and reuse
waste water; robust institutions to make and implement
decisions; and information and the capacity to predict,
plan and cope.
The scope of the water goal could include indicators that
address both a narrow definition focusing on households
and a broader definition focusing on water for livelihoods
and safety from water-related disasters such as floods
and droughts. The outcome for the narrow definition
would be households that use safe and reliable sources of
water close enough to their dwelling to access adequate
quantities and in conditions of security at an affordable
cost. The desired outcomes for the broader definition
would be adequate reliable water supply to meet food
and livelihood needs, and reduced vulnerability/greater
resilience to drought and flood.
Proposed indicators: • Proportion of households that obtained a sufficient
quantity of water from a “safe” source, for x days
a year;
• Proportion of population at risk (below a particular
flood line (100 year, 10 year), or with rain-dependent
livelihoods at risk of drought); and
• Percentage of available water stored.
13
Framed this way, access to basic sanitation would
be categorized under the health goal. This is still up
for debate. Under this formulation, issues of trade,
infrastructure (dams), and environmental policies
that exacerbate the problems with food and water
management, and distribution would be dealt with
under other goals.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)’s World Water Assessment
13 This is contentious with environmentalists, but is telling of water
management capacity and necessary for resilience.
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Program (WWAP) has programs with indicator work:
WWAP Expert Group on Indicators, Monitoring and
Bases and WWAP Pilot Study on Indicators (UNESCO
2012b).
14
The Global Assessment of Annual Assessment of
Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) is a combined
effort of the WHO, UNICEF and UN Water ’s Joint
Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.
The GLAAS report brings together survey data from
42 countries and 27 external support agencies, and
overlays this information with information from other
databases, on the data presented by the Joint Monitoring
Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation regarding
access to, and use of, basic sanitation and safe drinking
water. It includes indicators for measuring a country’s
status, sector budget/expense, policies and institutions,
planning and evaluation, financial planning and
resources, human resources and overall perception.
15
The GLAAS is used to inform decision makers of the
Sanitation and Water for All Partnership.
Candidate Goal 3: Appropriate Education and Skills for
Productive Participation in Society
Education brings a wide variety of benefits and creates
opportunities both directly and indirectly; it is also an
enabling factor to achieve other development goals.
There would be profound and positive social, economic
and political implications if special attention were placed
on secondary school completion for girls. A broad
range of education indicators are available. Some refer
to inputs (for example, school enrollment, educational
expenditures and school resources); others refer to
throughputs and outputs (for example, graduation
rates, completed years of schooling, standardized
test measures of achievement in terms of literacy and
numeracy). The choice of indicator should depend on
the stage of a country’s development and the goal of the
evaluation exercise (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, 2009).
The original MDG failed to emphasize education quality
(despite the literacy indicator). The indicators focused on
the inputs of enrollment and attendance.
14 For other frameworks from the UNESCO and UN Water, see
Annex 3. Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
15 For an extensive list of indicators, see the GLAAS UN Water
Global Annual Assessment Annex (2010: 84): https://whqlibdoc.who.
int/publications/2010/9789241599351_eng_Annexes.pdf.
Table 5: Current MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary
Education
Target Indicators
2. A: Ensure that,
by 2015, children
everywhere, boys
and girls alike, will
be able to complete a
full course of primary
schooling
• Net enrollment ratio in
primary education
• Proportion of pupils starting
grade 1 who reach last grade
of primary
• Literacy rate of 15–24 year-
olds, women and men
In determining indicators for post-2015, there are three
challenges to consider: • appropriate balance between retaining the
emphasis on the goals set in the MDG/Education
for All (EFA) frameworks (given that many
countries have yet to reach these goals), and setting
more ambitious goals for the future;
• priority of cross-national comparisons; and
• source and quality of the data — from regular
administrative sources or from special surveys,
and the timeframe that each entail (annual data
collection presents a challenge, MDGs/EFA
monitoring required data that was not easily
collected on an annual basis).
Furthermore, the post-2015 indicators should extend
beyond children to include all age groups of the
population. Ideally, targets and indicators for the
education goal should focus on outcomes: learning,
skills and literacy levels (although this data is difficult
to collect). Access indicators (inputs/outputs) can also
be useful, especially for countries where enrollment and
completion rates are low. Access indicators are cheap and
easy to monitor but should be extended beyond primary
enrollment to primary completion, and to enrollment
and completion of secondary and tertiary education.
The issues that matter most are the hardest to measure.
In addition to access, indicators should measure quality,
political commitment to education and equity issues,
and should be disaggregated by gender. Access and
political commitment are the easiest to measure. Quality
indicators raise several issues: they are difficult to
measure, especially in comparable cross-country; they
require special surveys; good indicators of literacy show
lower levels of progress and are, therefore, a disincentive
for countries to use; and literacy measures are expensive.
Despite these measurement challenges, incorporating
quality measures into the post-2015 goals is too important
to omit, and research should be accelerated for good
baseline data and for measuring education quality. For
some, the ultimate goal of education is employment, so
assessments that make this connection could provide
insightful data.
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UNESCO’s conclusion regarding its EFA Development
Index of indicators, highlighted problems with country
coverage and provides the general cautionary note on
the EFA website:
A word of caution: any index that takes
a complex and multifaceted reality and
compresses it into something much
simpler will always do injustice to the
original. For this reason, it is important
to realize that indexes may be useful
for particular purposes, but they also
have limitations. Data and indicators
should be viewed within the broader
picture of a dynamic and specific
country context that is itself evolving
within a larger sub-regional or regional
environment. Therefore data must be
interpreted with care as good data and
good measuring tools are often lacking
where needed most.
Potential indicators include: • the proportion of pupils starting grade one who
reach last grade of primary/secondary/tertiary;
• the survival rate to grade five;
16
• the proportion of girls completing secondary
education;
• the average of the three gender parity indexes (GPI)
for primary education, secondary education and
adult literacy, with each being weighted equally;
• literacy
17 and numeracy rates of the population;
• the percentage of GDP devoted to education and/
or ratio of government subsidies for education to
poorer families; and
• universal primary education: the percentage of
primary school-age children who are enrolled in
either primary or secondary school.
In terms of assessments for creating internationally
comparable data on education levels, the OECD’s
Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) test involves 64 countries and tests 15-year-olds’
knowledge and skills in reading, math and science.
16 A UNESCO EFA indicator for quality.
17 The UNESCO Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme
(LAMP) monitors and assesses the literacy levels of the population
and with further research could be used for measuring quality. LAMP
builds national statistical/education systems’ capacity to measure the
literacy of a population sample and then to use a synthetic estimation
methodology to link proxy measures of literacy (such as years of
schooling completed) to estimate national levels of literacy.
In 2010, nine additional countries participated in the
PISA 2009+ project, including: Costa Rica, Georgia,
India (Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu), Malaysia,
Malta, Mauritius, Venezuela (Miranda), Moldova and
the United Arab Emirates (Australian Council for
Educational Research [ACER], 2011). The principles
that underpin PISA 2009+ could be applied to the post-
2015 MDGs for developing a “PISA light.”
18 With any
assessments, however, pass rates are valuable only if
they are correlated with better jobs, incomes, social and
economic outcomes.
Barrett proposes a Millennium Learning Goal that
focuses on process targets, framed as learning rather
than achievement, and includes qualitative targets on
“participation in different educational levels and non-
formal education programmes set at the national level…
national assessment tools and practices…inspection
systems effective in monitoring and improving
educational processes” (2011: 130). Barrett and other
proponents of this approach call for a future MDG
to “be focused on the international work of holding
governments accountable for provision of an education
of acceptable quality for all and supporting governments
in their efforts to provide education for all within their
borders” (2011: 129).
19
Candidate Goal 4: Good Health for the Best Possible
Physical and Mental Well-Being
A broader health goal would consolidate the three
specific health goals of the original MDGs.
The WHO Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) index
could frame the health goal. DALYs are the sum of years
of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the
years of productive life lost due to disability. According
to the WHO’s health statistics and health information
systems website, “One DALY can be thought of as one
lost year of ‘healthy’ life. The sum of these DALYs across
the population, or the burden of disease, can be thought
of as a measurement of the gap between current health
status and an ideal health situation where the entire
population lives to an advanced age, free of disease and
disability.” The DALY index provides statistics on health
concerns in both the developed and developing world.
18 Some participants challenged this as being controversial and
condescending, going against the approach of trying to get countries
on equal footing.
19 See Annex 4 for an index of other ways to measure education.
Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm. The annex includes the EFA
Development Index, a composite index focusing on four of the most
easily quantifiable EFA goals: goal 2, universal primary education; goal
4, adult literacy; goal 5, gender parity and equality; and goal 6, quality
of education. The EDI for each country is the arithmetic mean for each
of its components, each weighted equally (UNESCO, 2011).
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The indicator accounts for communicable diseases such
as HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and diarrheal and childhood
diseases, among others, as well as non-communicable
conditions such as cancers, cardiovascular and
respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
Countries could adopt targets and indicators for their
most pressing health problems. Using DALYs to measure
health achievement is globally applicable, provides a
comprehensive framework and allows countries to self-
select indicators and targets of greatest concern. DALYs are criticized for being too technocratic and not having
the mobilizing power of the original goals. Used at an
indicator level, however, they allow each country to
decide upon their burden of disease and develop the
primary, secondary and tertiary systems to deal with
it. Perhaps more than any other goal, health targets and
indicators should be set nationally to tackle specific
national health challenges. Sample targets could include
those on child mortality, maternal health, infectious
diseases, non-communicable diseases and disability
services.
Table 6: Current MDG 4, 5, 6
Target
Indicators
Current MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
4. A: Reduce by two-thirds, between
1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality
rate
• Under-five mortality rate• Infant mortality rate• Proportion of one-year-old children immunized against measles
Current MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
5. A: Reduce by three-quarters, between
1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality
ratio
• Maternal mortality ratio• Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
5. B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access
to reproductive health • Contraceptive prevalence rate • Adolescent birth rate• Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits)• Unmet need for family planning
Current MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
6. A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to
reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• HIV prevalence among population aged 15–24 years • Condom use at last high-risk sex• Proportion of population aged 15–24 years with comprehensive correct
knowledge of HIV/AIDS
• Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphan
s
aged 10–14 years
6. B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access
to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those
who need it • Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to
antiretroviral drugs
6. C: Have halted by 2015 and begun
to reverse the incidence of malaria and
other major diseases • Incidence and death rates associated with malaria• Proportion of children under five sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets• Proportion of children under five with fever who are treated with appropriate
anti-malarial drugs
• Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis• Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed
treatment short course
Discussing the challenges associated with health
measurement indices, Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi argue
that “The variety of dimensions of people’s health has
led to several attempts to define a summary measure
that combines both mortality and morbidity. However,
although several combined indices of people’s health
exist, none currently commands universal agreement.
Further, they all inevitably rest on ethical judgments
that are controversial, and on weights for various medical conditions whose legitimacy is not always
clear” (2009: 46). Further, Carla AbouZahr suggests that
measures should be incorporated to reflect emerging
patterns of mortality and morbidity, particularly in
relation to non-communicable diseases. While DALYs
offer a useful metric for estimating the distribution of
the burden of ill health across disease areas, they are
difficult to understand and do not readily translate into
motivational targets.
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The WHO’s Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) is a
metric that could have greater relevance in people’s
daily experience, would be easier to understand and
be accessible to the sophisticated lay reader. This
metric has the advantages of the DALY, in that it
reflects both fatal and non-fatal health outcomes, but
it is easier to understand and offers a counterpoint
to the widely understood measure of life expectancy
at birth. Calculating HALE, like DALYs, requires a lot
of information on mortality and morbidity that is not
widely available in many countries; as a result, the
indicator is often based on estimates by agencies such as
the WHO. Moreover, HALE is relatively slow to change,
from year to year, and is a measure with little in the way
of disaggregation.
The MDG framework included mortality indicators
reflecting maternal and child mortality along with
major infectious diseases. The post-2015 framework
could include mortality indicators (and related
targets) reflecting the growing contribution of non-
communicable diseases to ill health. These could include:
• child mortality rate (with subcomponents infant
and neonatal mortality);
• maternal mortality rate;
• adult mortality rate between the ages of 15 and 60
(45q15);
20 and
• unconditional probability of dying between ages 30
to 70 from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes
or chronic respiratory disease.
21
Only about two-thirds of countries have vital registration
systems that capture the total number of deaths
reasonably well. Accurate reporting of the cause of death
on the death certificate is a challenge, even in high-
income countries. Although total all-cause mortality
may be reported reasonably well, significant accuracy
problems exist for cause-specific certification and coding
in a large number of countries.
The definition of concepts will determine how they are
measured. Michael Thieren (2005) of the WHO expresses
the concept of effective coverage as factors of:
• price of intervention offered by provider;
• disposable income of an individual;
20 45Q15 is the percentage risk of a 15-year-old dying from a
particular disease by the time they reach 60 years of age.
21 This WHO proposal is linked to a target of a 25 percent relative
reduction in overall mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer,
diabetes or chronic respiratory disease.
• geographic location of a provider offering the
intervention in relation to the individual;
• cultural and social acceptability of the intervention
offered by the provider;
• availability of necessary technology to provider for
delivering intervention;
• expected health gain from the intervention;
• performance provider in relation to intervention;
and
• adherence of the individual to intervention.
To measure effective coverage requires knowing the
values of all of the factors that go into the definition.
This highlights the importance of national definition
and selection. Effective coverage has not actually
been measured anywhere. Two alternative coverage
suggestions include: • Universal health coverage, defined as a situation
where everyone can use critical health services
without the fear of impoverishment. The main
indicator currently being used is “out-of-pocket
expenditure as percentage of private expenditure
on health.” This indicator is measured in countries
that have systems of national health accounts and is
also estimated for all countries by the WHO.
• Coverage of essential maternal and child health
interventions, an index based on the use of services
including immunization, maternal care, care for
childhood illnesses and family planning.
This leads to a suggestion to identify a set of nested
indicators that would have life expectancy and HALE at
the top, with more readily measureable and responsive
measures, reflecting both outcome and processes, below
as in the chart below, from Carla AbouZahr.
Figure 2: Nested Health Indicators
Life expectancy at birth
Healthy life expectancy (HALE)
Under-five mortality rate
Adult mortality rate (45q15) Universal
coverage
Infant mortality rate Neonatal mortality rate Mortality
due to major
noncommunicabe diseases Coverage of MNCH care
Out-of-pocket
expenditure as
percentage of private
expenditure on health
When measuring matters of health, mortality and
morbidity only tell part of the story. As mortality at the
extremes of life may have a limited economic impact,
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one might look to reduce the impact that people dying
during their “most productive” years has on society
and the economy. Alongside mortality and DALYs,
“Potentially Productive Years of Life Lost” should be
measured, which can provide better representation
of the impact that diseases have upon the young and,
therefore, the impact this has on society more broadly;
although less in absolute numbers, these deaths have a
greater negative impact upon society and the economy.
As patients tend to put their trust in hospital-based
specialist services, doctors migrate to these specialties.
Primary care is perceived as being of a lesser status for
doctors and is nearly always less profitable. Hospital-
based service, then, remains a concern for the foreseeable
future and should receive more attention. The role
of surgery in public health, for instance, is generally
overlooked. It is often seen as too “high tech” and high
cost, when it is, in fact, as cost effective for common life-
threatening conditions as most immunization programs.
“Safe surgery,” for example, is essential to safe obstetric
care, as it is the only recourse to prolonged obstructed
labour; such surgery is also used to treat the victims
of road traffic accidents which, as a result of rapid
urbanization, are becoming a major threat in developing
countries. The burden of injury falls disproportionately
on the poor, who often live, work and travel in unsafe
environments (Zhou et al., 2003); children are particularly
vulnerable to traffic collisions. The introduction of
preventive measures will address childhood mortality
as safe surgery addresses maternal mortality.
To deliver a sustainable level of good health care, a
country must grow and retain its own health care
workers — not only at grassroots nursing and medical
treatment levels, but also at research and teaching
levels. The traffic of health-care workers from poor
to rich countries is a significant factor in the health of
populations at both ends of the road. Simply providing
health-care workers is not enough: some patients
cannot afford the cost of an appointment with a health
care professional, a stay in hospital or the medication
that is prescribed; controlling the cost of health care
must be strived for.
These considerations suggest the need for indicators
for “safe hospitals,” “safe surgery,” safety legislation,
monitoring migration of medical workers and controlling
the cost of health care:
• hospital mortality rates for common conditions,
hospital-acquired infections, needle stick injuries
and staff-to-patient ratio;
• post-operative mortality rates, surgical staff/
anaesthetist-to-patient ratio and the implementation
of the WHO surgical checklist (World Alliance for
Patient Safety, 2008); •
implementation of seat belt, child restraint and
motorcycle helmet legislation (FIA et al., 2009);
• inward and outward migration of health care
workers; and
• the ratio of disposable income to cost of drugs/
consultation/hospital stay/procedures.
The annual WHO report World Health Statistics provides
health information on all WHO member states.
Additionally, country reports summarize health statistics
for major health topics relevant for each member state
(193) of the WHO.
22
The second group of four goals is concerned with
protecting and promoting collective human capital.
Candidate Goal 5: Security for Ensuring Freedom from
Violence
Freedom — from fear of violence, oppression or injustice
— is one of the fundamental values espoused by the
Millennium Declaration (UN, 2000). Respondents to
the World Bank’s project Voices of the Poor identified
a reduction in violence as a basic value. Post-2015
development goals could include a goal on freedom
from violence, but its scope and definition will prove
difficult. Is the focus on personal or community security?
How will data be disaggregated?
Some countries may resist adopting indicators on
violence against children and domestic violence. There
will be challenges with tracking and monitoring.
Decisions need to be made on how data on violence is
defined, measured and monitored. Indicators could
be based on domestic violence reports, statistics on
violence against women and the treatment of migrants,
minorities, displaced persons and refugees. Statistics
could be presented on the numbers of people physically
affected by armed conflict or violence.
Reflecting on these perspectives, one option is to focus on
the personal experience of physical violence committed
against individuals by external actors, including state
and non-state agencies, community members or family
members, but such personal perspectives may be
limiting the scope of what can be objectively verified.
Other dimensions of violence, for example, emotional
22 There are other examples of measuring health: the WHO’s Better
Health for All used a goal framework in 1983 and included national
indicators (selected by each country), as well as global indicators; t
he
OECD’s Health at a Glance series measures quantitative indicators
annually; and the OECD’s Measuring Well-Being index includes a
perception indicator on self-reported health status / people reporting
good/very good health. These frameworks are found in Annex 5.
Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm.
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violence and threats of violence, are assumed to have a
correlation to measurable physical violence.
Other relevant dimensions of violence are taken up more
appropriately under the remit of other goals. Suicides,
prenatal termination on the grounds of gender (health
and gender goals); forced marriages (gender and civil
rights goals); repression (civil/political rights goal);
and interstate tensions and wars, arms proliferation
and military expenditures (goals toward good global
governance). Indicators could be framed as rates per
100,000 of the general population, and disaggregated
by gender, economic group, subnational administrative
units and minority or specific vulnerable groups. Such
indicators might include:
• direct deaths and injuries from armed conflict
(internal and external);
• direct deaths and injuries from crime;
• reported crimes (including against persons,
property);
• intimate partner violence;
• persons in unlawful detention;
• persons trafficked from and into a country; and
• gun/weapon holding in society (including civilian
police agencies and any non-governmental forces,
but excluding official government military forces).
For each of these indicators, databases exist and can
be improved with suitable investment. Estimates from
standardized survey methods may be needed for the
latter four indicators.
Annex 6
23 contains three other frameworks for
measuring security: the Global Peace Index, the Mo
Ibrahim Index and indicators on armed violence. The
Global Peace Index gauges ongoing domestic and
international conflicts, safety and security in society, and
militarization in 153 countries. The index is composed
of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from
respected sources, which combine internal and external
factors. The Mo Ibrahim Index, “Africa’s leading
assessment of governance,” has indicators under four
categories (Safety and Rules of Law; Participation and
Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity;
and Human Development), 14 subcategories, and 86
indicators to measure the effective delivery of public
goods and services to African citizens. The Expert
Workshop on Indicators of Armed Violence established a
23 Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
foundational list of potential indicators for measuring
armed violence (Kisielewski, Rosa and Asher, 2009).
There are other frameworks to measure violence. The
University of North Carolina’s Political Terror Scale
records the global and regional trend data on human
rights abuse in the developing world using a composite
indicator that captures core human rights abuses such as
torture, extra-judicial executions, and “disappearances”
backed by death squads (Wood and Gibney, 2010). The
Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Nuclear Materials Security
Index assesses 32 countries with one kilogram or more
of weapons-usable nuclear materials toward improved
global nuclear materials security conditions using five
categories and 18 indicators (Nuclear Threat Initiative,
n.d.).
Candidate Goal 6: Gender Equality Enabling Men and
Women to Participate and Benefit Equally in Society
For development to be sustainable, it must involve
all members of society, especially women. Gender
discrimination is the most dominant form of
discrimination in the world. Empowering women
combats poverty, hunger, disease and stimulates
economic activity. Although indicators for all goals must
be disaggregated by sex, there are many proponents for
a specific goal on gender equality.
Table 7: MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower
Women
Target Indicators
3. A: Eliminate gender
disparity in primary
and secondary
education, preferably
by 2005, and in all
levels of education no
later than 2015
• Ratios of girls to boys in
primary, secondary and
tertiary education
• Share of women in wage
employment in the non-
agricultural sector
• Proportion of seats held by
women in national parliament
A major challenge to monitoring gender equality is
limitations in data. The UNDP’s Human Development
Report (2010) identifies several difficulties with data
collection: the influence of gender roles on how men
and women spend their time (for example, division of
housework and care giving duties); available information
about economic assets owned by women; that violence
against women is prevalent, but not documented in an
internationally comparable way;
24 and that community-
level indicators for participation in political decision
24 Data on violence against women can come from two sources:
administrative and criminal statistics (which suffer from major
underreporting of such offenses) and surveys. Surveys may provide
more accurate data, but are harder for national and international
comparisons.
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making (for example, representation, leadership and
electoral turnout) are not readily available.
In 2008, the United Nations Development Fund for
Women released Making the MDGs Work for All: Gender-
Responsive Rights-Based Approaches to the MDGs (Corner,
2008). The report concludes that “gender equality is
not adequately mainstreamed into national reports;
traditional gender role and trait stereotyping persists; an
instrumentalist rather than a rights-based focus frames
approaches to gender equality; sex-disaggregated
quantitative data is not supplemented by qualitative
data or adequate gender analysis; the nature of reporting
makes invisible the cross-linkages between targets and
indicators across goals; and involvement of gender equality advocates in the preparation of MDG reports
across all the goals is lacking” (Corner, 2008: vii). In
response, Corner reframed the existing MDGs — targets
and indicators — to include a gender and rights-based
approach.
The 2010 Human Development Report introduced
three new multidimensional measures of poverty
and inequality: the inequality-adjusted Human
Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and
the MPI (discussed above). The Gender Inequality
Index includes educational attainment, economic
and political participation, and female-specific health
issues in accounting for overlapping inequalities at the
national level.
Figure 3: Gender Inequality Index
Empowerment
Labour force
participation Five Indicators
Three Dimensions
Labour Market Reproductive Health
Educational attainment (secondary level
and above) Parliamentary representation Adolescent fertility Maternal mortality
Gender
IneqUalIty Index
Note: The size of the boxes reflects the relative weights of the indicators and dimensions.
Source: UNDP Human Development Report Office
The original MDG on gender was criticized for not
addressing violence against women. Annex 7 25 includes
two frameworks: the Indicators to Measure Violence
Against Women, developed by the United Nations
Division for the Advancement of Women, the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the
United Nations Statistical Division (UN, 2007); and
Measuring Women’s Empowerment: Participation and Rights
in Civil, Political, Social, Economic and Cultural Domains
(Moghadam and Senftova, 2005). Both frameworks
provide useful indicators on violence against women; a
post-2015 goal on gender should include such indicators.
Considerations for the gender goal should include:
• Economic autonomy: Can women generate their own
income and control their assets and resources?
• Physical autonomy: Do women have control over
their own bodies?
25 Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
• Decision-making autonomy: Do women have full
participation in decisions that affect their lives and
communities? (Stockins, 2011: slide 17)
A set of indicators that address these three considerations
could include: • maternal mortality;
• women’s wage income as a proportion of men’s for
equal work;
• proportion of women who make decisions about or
control the household income; and
• percentage of women who have experienced
physical violence during the past year/yesterday.
The UN Economic Commission for Caribbean
and Latin America proposed complementary and
additional indicators to current MDGs 1 and 3, based
on their regional and contextual needs. Complementary
indicators are: • population without incomes of their own (by sex);
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• poverty gap ratio by sex of head of household of
poorest quintile in national consumption, men
and women;
• percentage of population employed in low
productivity sectors of the labor market, by sex;
and
• whether a country has a quota law at the
parliamentary level.
Additional potential indicators are: • poverty femininity index;
• proportion of poor female-headed households;
• female and male unemployment rates, population
aged 15 years and over;
• wage income of women as a proportion of men’s;
• percentage of males and females aged 12 and over
who participate in household tasks;
• average daily hours spent on household tasks, by
sex and according to length of workday;
• unmet need for family planning;
• percentage of unwanted fertility; and
• percentage of women that are currently (or were
formerly) engaged in relationships who have
suffered from physical, sexual or psychological
violence.
The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID)’s Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture
Index “focuses on five areas: decisions over agricultural
production; power over productive resources such as
land and livestock; decisions over income; leadership in
the community; and time use. Women are considered to be
empowered if they have adequate achievements in four
of the five areas. The index also takes into consideration
the empowerment of women compared with men in the
same household, based on asking women and men the
same survey questions” (USAID, 2012). The index was
developed by USAID, the IFPRI and the OPHI.
UNESCO’s World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education
maps boys’ and girls’ access, participation in and progress
through education, from primary to tertiary levels.
Candidate Goal 7: Resilient Communities and Nations
for Reduced Disaster Impact from Natural and
Technological Hazards
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UNISDR) defines resilience as “the ability
of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from
the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner,
including through the preservation and restoration of its
essential basic structures and functions” (2009: 24). There
are linkages between climate change, disasters and
poverty. Losses from disasters are increasing and climatic
events cause 90 percent of disasters: windstorms, floods,
hurricanes and droughts. A resilient community is one
that is able to prepare for, adapt to and live through such
shocks, while preserving its basic assets, but the criteria
that make communities resilient differs from place to
place. While a common understanding of the concept of
resilience exists, its meaning has to be adapted at local
levels and translated into concrete, specific indicators for
each community.
No Current MDG
The UNISDR has been working on ways to measure
implementation of the Hyogo Framework and to help
foster progress towards disaster risk reduction. In 2005,
it proposed 81 indicators for measuring the Hyogo
Framework.
26 The UNISDR suggested modifications to
the MDGs to capture disaster risk reduction, including
the following potential indicators:
• Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
does not decline in years of extreme weather and
hazards (cyclones, earthquakes and floods).
• Prevalence of underweight children (under five
years of age) does not increase during occurrence
of major hazard event.
• Proportion of population below minimum level of
dietary energy consumption does not increase in
years of major hazard events.
• Percentage of primary schools certified to be in
conformity with hazard resistant standards relevant
for the region or in areas identified as high risk on
hazard-risk maps.
• Percentage of area complying with enforcement
of no development or no construction by laws, on
lands classified in land-use-plans to be at high risk
as per hazard-risk maps.
• Proportion of population with sustainable access to
a safe water source not susceptible to destruction or
depletion by natural hazards like floods, droughts,
and seismic and cyclone risks.
• Proportion of people with access to secure land
tenure not located in high-risk, hazard-prone zones
26 For key documents in this discussion, see “Assessing progress
towards disaster risk reduction within the context of the Hyogo
Framework,” available at: www.unisdr.org/2005/HFdialogue/
backdocs.htm.
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(for example, land-slide, flood-prone or seismic
zones) (UNISDR, 2008).
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre: Key Indicators
of Community Resilience
In its guidance on community-based disaster risk
management, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre
has drawn up the following list of qualitative indicators
of a “minimum level of resiliency.” In the US context,
the Community and Regional Resilience Institute has
come up with indicators for measuring disaster-resilient
communities (Cutter, Emrich and Burton, 2009). See
Annex 8 for these two sets of indicators.
27
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Disaster
Risk Index presents a model of factors influencing levels
of human losses from natural hazards at the global scale,
for the period 1980–2000. This model was designed
for the UNDP as a building block of the Disaster Risk
Index, monitoring the evolution of risk. Assessing which
countries are most at risk requires considering various
types of hazards, such as droughts, floods, cyclones
and earthquakes. These four hazards were tested
with a model of population distribution in order to
estimate human exposure before assessing risk. Human
vulnerability was measured by comparing exposure
with selected socio-economic parameters. The model
evaluates to what extent observed past losses are related
to population exposure and vulnerability.
A conceptual framework for seismic resilience
Resilience for physical and social systems can be further
defined as consisting of the following properties:
• Robustness: strength, or the ability of elements,
systems and other units of analysis to withstand a
given level of stress or demand without suffering
degradation or loss of function.
• Redundancy: the extent to which elements,
systems or other units of analysis exist that
are substitutable, that is, capable of satisfying
functional requirements in the event of disruption,
degradation, or loss of functionality.
• Resourcefulness: the capacity to identify problems,
establish priorities and mobilize resources
when conditions exist that threaten to disrupt
some element, system or other unit of analysis;
resourcefulness can be further conceptualized
as consisting of the ability to apply material
(that is, monetary, physical, technological and
27 Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
informational) and human resources to meet
established priorities and achieve goals.
• Rapidity: the capacity to meet priorities and achieve
goals in a timely manner in order to contain losses
and avoid future disruption. (Bruneau et al., 2003)
Resilience can also be conceptualized as encompassing
four interrelated dimensions: • Technical: the ability of physical systems
(including components, their interconnections
and interactions, and entire systems) to perform
to acceptable/desired levels when subject to
earthquake forces.
• Organizational: the capacity of organizations that
manage critical facilities and have the responsibility
for carrying out critical disaster-related functions
to make decisions and take actions that contribute
to achieving the properties of resilience outlined
above, that is, that help to achieve greater robustness,
redundancy, resourcefulness and rapidity.
• Social: measures specifically designed to lessen the
extent to which earthquake-stricken communities
and governmental jurisdictions suffer negative
consequences due to the loss of critical services as a
result of earthquakes.
• Economic: capacity to reduce both direct and indirect
economic losses resulting from earthquakes.
These four dimensions of community resilience —
technical, organization, social and economic — cannot
be adequately measured by any single measure of
performance; instead, different performance measures
are required for different systems under analysis.
Candidate Goal 8: Connectivity for Access to Essential
Information, Services and Opportunities
Connectivity development is a subset of infrastructure,
with a focus on linking two or more points in a system. It
goes beyond access to information and communication
technology (which was included in original MDG 8) to
include access to energy, transport and information, and
communication technology services.
Table 8: Current MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership
for Development
Target Indicators
8. F: In cooperation with
the private sector, make
available the benefits
of new technologies,
especially information
and communications
• Fixed telephone lines per
100 inhabitants
• Mobile cellular subscriptions
per 100 inhabitants
• Internet users per 100
inhabitants
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Improved connectivity was one of the four crucial
elements that respondents identified in Voices of the
Poor (World Bank, 2000). Connectivity provides access
to economic, social and political opportunity; impacts
transaction costs that facilitate market integration,
competition and cooperation; delivers enabling
infrastructure in education, health and freedoms;
and supports the technological platforms that smart
infrastructure requires to take advantage of advances
in engineering sciences and ecologically sound systems
design. This goal should include considerations of access
and quality, environmental impact (smart infrastructure)
and non-traditional ways of connecting (for example,
group banking or mobile phone use) that are more
difficult to measure. As conceptualized by Wonhyuk Lim (2012), the goal
could be to establish universal connectivity with three
specific targets: affordable and reliable energy systems;
access and safe transport network; and ubiquitous and
technically updated information and communication
technology systems. These targets could be customized
to best address national priorities in accordance with
national capacities for accessibility and affordability;
safety and quality control; and technology innovation and
environmental friendliness. For a detailed description of
the proposed framework for connectivity, see Annex 9.
28
28
Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
Figure 4: One Goal, Three Targets, Six Indicators and Modal Sub-Indicators
Goal t arGet IndIcator
Internet (wire & wireless)
telecommunication
Internet (wire & wireless)
telecommunication
air & sea route
land (road & rail)
w ater
electricity
air & sea route
land (road & rail)
water
electricity
affordable accessibility
reliable quality
Ubiquitous capability
technology Updates
safety & quality
convenient accessibility establish
Universal
connectivity
affordable & reliable energy system
accessible & safe
t ransport network
Ubiquitous & t echnically
Updated Ict system
The third group of four goals deals with the effective
provision of global public goods.
A starting point for the proposed twelve goals was
that development should be framed within a context
of freedom and justice. Conditions need to be created
to facilitate development not just within nations, but
across them too; indeed, progress on many issues
requires international cooperation. As the Millennium
Declaration states, “while globalization offers great
opportunities, at present its benefits are very unevenly
shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed” (UN,
2000). This final set of goals is about encouraging the
world community to take shared responsibility to help
people to lead productive and creative lives with dignity,
and to realize their rights while fulfilling their obligations
to respect others. The environmental sustainability goal
is the only one below with a corresponding MDG; the
other three goals arise from the meeting in Bellagio. Candidate Goal 9: Empowerment of People to Realize
their Civil and Political Rights
Guarantees of civil and political rights are enshrined
in the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which recognizes that “In accordance with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of
free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom
and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if
conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his
civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social
and cultural rights” (UN, 1966). This provided the basis
for the Millennium Declaration and, in turn, the MDGs.
Several of the existing goals align with the nine core
international treaties on human rights and include goals
addressing economic, social and cultural rights, but none
of the current MDGs highlight civil and political rights.
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Civil and political rights are the cornerstones of
empowerment. In discussions at the Bellagio meeting,
however, it was concluded that “empowerment” could
not be distilled into a single goal. This reasoning resulted
in the formulation of three candidate goals to enable
conditions leading to civil and political empowerment.
The goal on civil and political rights focuses on people’s
ability to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control
and hold accountable the institutions that affect their
lives.
29 People are the prime agents of development
and need to be part of the decision-making process that
transforms the structures that created and contributed to
their poverty.
30
In June 2008, the UN Office of the High Council of Human
Rights released the Report on Indicators for Promoting
and Monitoring the Implementation of Human Rights (UN,
2008). The report undertook an extensive survey of the
use of quantitative information in monitoring human
rights, assessing the literature and prevalent practices
among national and international organizations. Lists of
illustrative indicators were elaborated for both civil and
political rights as well as economic, social and cultural
rights. Three types of human rights indicators were
identified: structural, process and outcome. Structural
indicators track ratification and adoption of international
treaties, their incorporation into domestic legislation
and the existence of basic institutional mechanisms for
realization of the rights; process indicators show states’
policy instruments and efforts to implement human
rights; and outcome indicators measure the result of
states’ efforts, the efficiency and effectiveness of their
policies and the enjoyment of rights by their peoples.
Although outcome indicators are more difficult to
measure, they would highlight the results of efforts of
governments and institutions. Furthermore, success
measured by structural and process indicators, such
as human rights treaties, norms and policies, do not
necessarily translate into practice. Ideally, the emphasis
should be on outcome indicators.
Six potential indicators address the dimensions of
people’s participation and government accountability.
Participation focuses on rights holders: people and their
ability to influence and participate in decision making.
This includes indicators on free and fair elections, freedom
of association and freedom of expression. Accountability
focuses on duty bearers: governments, national and local
authorities, public officials and service providers and the
ways in which they are held to account.
29 Equitable economic rules and governance of international
institutions are the other two enabling goals.
30 This framing of development is not accepted universally across
the world.
Indicators for people’s participation are:
• Percentage of voter turnout in national and local
elections, by sex and target groups.
• Number of journalists and other media persons
who reported sanctions, political or corporate
pressure for the publication of information.
• Percentage representation of different minorities in
public, private and civil sector bodies.
Indicators for government accountability are: • Percentage of people who have been solicited for a
bribe in the past month (proxy for transparency/
corruption in institutions).
• Percentage of people with access to effective
mechanisms for redressing violations of their civil
rights — both judicial and non-judicial.
• Percentage of people who reported experiencing
discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion
or disability.
There are considerable challenges with data for this goal.
Several indicators are quantifiable and can be obtained
from administrative data, while the bribe and redress
indicators are qualitative and derive from surveys or
subjective expert assessments. Accountability data
should come from sources external to the government
to ensure it is reliable and unbiased, but most MDG
statistics come from national statistics agencies and, as a
further challenge, there is no incentive for governments
to provide information that reflects poorly on them. The
number of reported violations may be misleading, as the
most oppressive regimes can have the worst reporting
mechanisms. Civil and political rights are inherently a
quality issue; selecting indicators that provide a reliable
measure on any of these dimensions will be difficult.
Annex 10
31 provides examples from the Mo Ibrahim
Index and the World Governance Indicators. Mo Ibrahim
includes indicators on the categories of participation,
rights and accountability in a composite index that
compiles data from various sources. This makes it
difficult to track over time and to know what exactly is in
the indicator. The Worldwide Governance Indicators are
for cross‐country comparisons of governance, and they
consist of six composite indicators of broad dimensions
of governance covering over 200 countries since
1996. These indicators are based on several hundred
variables obtained from 31 different data sources,
capturing governance perceptions as reported by
survey respondents, non‐governmental organizations,
31 Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
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commercial business information providers and public
sector organizations worldwide (Kaufmann, Kraay and
Mastruzzi, 2010).
Candidate Goal 10: Sustainable Management of the
Biosphere for Enabling People and the Planet to Thrive
Together
One of the era’s most pressing challenges is the
environment and managing climate change. The
governments of Colombia and Guatemala are promoting
the idea of replacing the MDGs with Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). They suggest a “process
that could converge with the revision of the MDGs given
that it will soon be necessary to undertake this exercise
as the MDGs have a deadline of 2015” (Government of Colombia, 2012: 2). The Preparatory Committee for
Rio+20 published a “zero draft,” The Future We Want,
which proposes that SDGs would reflect an “integrated
and balanced treatment of the three dimensions of sustainable
development, are consistent with the principles of Agenda
21, and are universal and applicable to all countries but
allowing for differentiated approaches among countries…
could include sustainable consumption and production
patterns as well as priority areas such as oceans, food security
and sustainable agriculture; sustainable energy for all; water
access and efficiency; sustainable cities; green jobs, descent
work and social inclusion; and disaster risk reduction and
resilience…should complement and strengthen the MDGs
in the development agenda for the post-2015 period, with a
view to establishing a set of goals in 2015 which are part of
the post-2015 UN Development Agenda” (UNSCD, 2012).
Table 9: Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target
Indicators
7. A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development
into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of
environmental resources
7. B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant
reduction in the rate of loss
• Proportion of land area covered by forest• CO 2 emissions, total, per capita and per $ GDP PPP • Consumption of ozone-depleting substances• Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits• Proportion of total water resources used • Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected• Proportion of species threatened with extinction
7. D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers • Proportion of urban population living in slums 1
1 The actual proportion of people living in slums is measured by proxy, represented by the urban population living in households with at
least one of the four characteristics: lack of access to improved water supply; lack of access to improved sanitation; overcrowding (three or more
persons per room); and dwellings made of non-durable material.
One option is to mainstream environmental sustainability
across all goals: income, jobs and growth must be green;
food and water considerations must be sustainable.
Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi identify four ways to measure
sustainability: large and eclectic dashboards; composite
indices; indices that consist of correcting GDP in a
more or less extensive way; and indices that essentially
focus on measuring how far resources are currently
“overconsumed,” including the ecological footprint
(2009). There is no dispute with eclectic, broad and
diverse sources, but the larger the dashboard, the more
impractical and ineffective it will be, while composite
indices suffer from arbitrary measurements and the
impenetrability of sensitivity calculations. Correcting
for imperfections in GDP is the least controversial of
the approaches, and overconsumption indices have the
advantage of apparent simplicity.
The OECD has a long history of constructive work
on environmental indicators, including the recent
Environmental Outlook to 2050, which focuses on four areas:
climate change; biodiversity; freshwater; and health
impacts of pollution and assesses trends in these areas in the future (OECD, 2012). The OECD Environmental
Data Compendium is revised regularly and “presents
data linking pollution and natural resources with activity
in such economic sectors as energy, transport, industry
and agriculture. It shows the state of air, inland waters,
wildlife, etc., for OECD countries and describes selected
responses by government and enterprises” (OECD, 2008:
para 1). Ten key environmental indicators were selected
from the compendium’s core set of indicators. These
include the environmental pollution issues of climate
change, ozone layer, air quality, waste generation and
freshwater quality; and the natural resource and asset
issues of freshwater, forest, fish and energy resources,
and biodiversity. The selection of these indicators was
based on their policy relevance with respect to major
challenges for the first decade of the twenty-first century;
their analytical soundness; and their measurability.
The Global Footprint Network has developed its own
methodology for measuring ecological resources. The
Global Footprint “measures the amount of biologically
productive land and sea area an individual, a region, all
of humanity, or a human activity requires to produce the
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resources it consumes and absorb the carbon dioxide
emissions, and compares this measurement to how much
land and sea area is available” (2009: para 2). Current
Ecological Footprint Standards use global hectares as
a measurement unit, which makes data and results
globally comparable. “The Ecological Footprint, as
defined by the Ecological Footprint standards, calculates
how much biologically productive area is required to
produce the resources required by the human population
and to absorb humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Approximately 90 percent of all leading Ecological
Footprint practitioners worldwide have joined Global
Footprint Network and have agreed to adhere to these
standards and to use a common set of data” (2009).
Another approach is to argue that energy is a central,
if not the central, variable in achieving environmental
sustainability. The UN Sustainable Energy for All
Initiative, launched by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
has three interlinked objectives that it aims to achieve by
2030:
• Ensure universal access to modern energy services;
• Double the global rate of improvement in energy
efficiency; and
• Double the share of renewable energy in the global
energy mix. (UN, 2012)
This energy-centric approach would deal with the
biodiversity, oceans and forestry issues by using
indicators from the Convention on Biological Diversity
(2012) targets, including: • trends in extent of selected biomes, ecosystems and
habitats;
• trends in abundance and distribution of selected
species;
• coverage of protected areas;
• change in status of threatened species; and
• trends in genetic diversity of domesticated
animals, cultivated plants and fish species of major
socioeconomic importance.
The three Sustainable Energy for All Initiative objectives
would have as their respective associated indicators: • the number of people in each country without
access to energy;
• the amount of renewable energy from various
sources and as a share in the energy mix of each
city, region, nation and globally;
• the number of: new or retrofitted buildings with
new renewable sources of energy and meters to monitor, and manage grid use and contributions;
power storage units utilized within buildings;
electrical- or hydrogen-powered vehicles sold;
and extent of use of digital grids developed and
utilized; and
• CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $ GDP PPP.
Mohan Munasinghe (2011) tabled the Millennium
Consumption Goals (MCGs) in January 2011 during
preparations for Rio+20. The MCGs emphasize the
need to change to more sustainable consumption and
production patterns in economic, environment and social
terms. They apply to both developed and developing
countries, but primarily focus on motivating the world’s
rich to change their consumption habits. The MCG
Network launched the MCG Initiative at the United
Nations and is aiming to establish an international
mandate for their proposal at Rio +20.
32
Candidate Goal 11: Establishing Rules for Managing
the World Economy for the Fairly Shared Benefit of All
Nations
The purpose of this goal is to redress imbalances in the
world economy, ensure fair trade rules and equal access
to markets and international financial institutions. Such
rules come in many forms, for example, subsidies and
restrictions of various kinds on exports and imports,
foreign investments, intellectual property, concessional
finance, competition, procurement, capital requirements
and health and product safety. The formal institutions
and informal arrangements shaping these rules include
the World Trade Organization (WTO), the IMF, the
World Intellectual Property Organization, the FAO,
and the WHO. The purpose of the WTO was to get an
agreed set of rules, a “level playing field,” for economic
transactions within the global economy. Fair economic
rules should create conditions enabling economic
growth, which is required for progress in a variety of
areas, and maximizes the potential for countries to
participate in the global economy. The goal for “fair”
rules applies to the substantive outcome of the decisions
of these institutions. Goal 12 deals with the fairness of
the deliberative and decision-making processes of these
institutions.
32 Robert W. Kates, Thomas M. Parris and Anthony A. Leiserowitz
(2005) summarize 12 indicator initiatives on sustainable development:
Commission on Sustainable Development; Consultative Group on
Sustainable Development Indicators; Well-being Index; Environmental
Sustainability Index; Genuine Progress Indicator; Global Scenario
Group; Ecological Footprint; US Interagency Working Group on
Sustainable Development Indicators; Costa Rica; Boston Indicator
Project; State Failure Task Force; and Global Reporting Initiative. See
Annex 11 for full description. Report annexes are available at: www.
cigionline.org/project/toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
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Table 10: Current MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership
for Development
TargetIndicators
8. A: Develop
further an open,
rule-based,
predictable, non-
discriminatory
trading and
financial system
• Proportion of total developed
country imports (by value and
excluding arms) from developing
countries and least-developed
countries, admitted free of duty
• Average tariffs imposed
by developed countries on
agricultural products and textiles
and clothing from developing
countries
• Agricultural support estimate for
OECD countries as a percentage of
their GDP
• Proportion of official development
assistance provided to help build
trade capacity
This will be a very contentious domain — especially
the definition of “fairness” (See Ringius, Torvanger and
Underdal, 2002; and Jagers, Löfgren and Stripple, 2009).
Complications to establishing fairness include the reality
of very unequal endowments, dramatically different
states of economic development and diverse national
systems and points of view. Most people would agree
that fairness means respecting the rights and interests of
all the stakeholders — but it is much more difficult to
gain agreement to definitions.
The report of the World Commission on the Social
Dimension of Globalization and its Significance suggests
that, in terms of global social regulation, “the rules of
the global economy should be aimed at improving the
rights, livelihoods, security and opportunities of people,
families and communities around the world. That
includes fair rules for trade, finance and investment,
measures to strengthen the respect for core labour
standards and a coherent framework for the cross border
movement of people” (ILO cited in Cantillon and Marx,
2005: 177).
The ILO has further argued that “uniform rules for
unequal partners can only produce unequal outcomes,”
that “fairness” involves affirmative action where the
obligations of countries are a function of their state of
development (ILO, 2004: 85). Dani Rodric (2011) suggests
that: What we need are traffic rules for the
global economy that help vehicles
of varying size, shape, and speed
navigate around each other, rather than
imposing an identical car or a uniform
speed limit. We should strive to attain maximum globalization consistent with
the maintenance of space for diversity in
national institutional arrangements…
the architects of the next global economic
order…must comprehend the ultimate
paradox that...Globalization works best
when it is not pushed too far.
The TRIPS Agreement allows governments to make
exceptions to meet social goals. For example, the 2001
Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health enables
countries that cannot make pharmaceuticals themselves
to import pharmaceuticals made under compulsory
licence. The WTO provides for special and differential
treatment for developing countries. Perhaps indicators
are required that reflect the appropriateness and
effectiveness of those measures. Are there indicators that
gauge whether the rules have delivered the envisaged
outcomes?
Agricultural export credits and subsidies disadvantage
less-developed countries. Perhaps the target should be
to phase out these measures, much like the G20 call to
end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. Indicators could the
track progress on this commitment. In addition, tariffs
and discriminatory tariff rate quotas for products that
originate in developing countries could be decreased
over time. It appears that it will be difficult to improve
on the current four MDG indicators relating to market
access.
A significant share of products from developing countries
still faces substantial tariff barriers. Agricultural support
in OECD countries remains high, reaching US$366
billion in 2010 and distorting trade. In particular, support
to agricultural producers in OECD countries has a strong
adverse impact on production and trade of developing
countries. Aid for Trade commitments have not been
met.
Potential indicators could be derived from the principles
of the most-favoured-nation trading system: treating
other people equally; national treatment: treating
foreigners and locals equally; predictability: through
binding and transparency; promoting fair competition;
and encouraging development and economic reform
(WTO, 2012). One could argue that there are still
significant gaps in terms of equitable rules.
The World Bank publishes five categories of indicators:
trade policy, external environment, institutional
environment, trade facilitation and trade outcome (World
Bank, 2011). The World Bank’s Trade Restrictiveness
Index could also be a useful source. • Some candidate indicators are: proportion of
total developed country imports (by value and
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excluding arms) from developing countries and
least developed countries, admitted duty free;
• Average tariffs imposed by developing countries
on agricultural products and textiles, and clothing
from developing countries;
• Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries
as a percentage of their GDP;
• Proportion of official development assistance
provided to help build trade capacity; and
• Number of claims filed for/against individual
countries in the Dispute Settlement Body or
something about the number of WTO agreements
upheld.
The formulation of “rules” is very contentious in the areas
of intellectual property rights, access to concessional
finance, provision for adequate liquidity and
emergency responses in terms of global macroeconomic
management, prudential regulation of international
financial markets and institutions, and restrictive
business practices and abuse of dominant power. The
selection of indicators will be no less contentious.
Candidate Goal 12: Good Global Governance for
Transparent and Accountable International Institutions
and Partnerships
33
Global governance arrangements include the structure
and functions of individual international organizations
and the other forums and mechanisms in which the
“rules of the global game” are made and monitored, as
well as the relations among these various organizations,
forums and mechanisms and other state and non-state
actors who influence and are influenced by the rules
of the global game. In formal international institutions,
characteristics suggested for the definition of good
governance include participation, transparency and
accountability, consensus-oriented, follows the rule of
law, efficiency and effectiveness, responsiveness and
equity (ESCAP, n.d.). Currently, the major concerns
range from voting rights to leadership selection in
international organizations. Indicators must assess the
effectiveness with which each individual organization,
mechanism and forum is able to produce “good” global
governance as well as the collective performance of these
arrangements.
Because global governance is a complex aggregated
concept, it is difficult to identify clear, easily measured,
objective indicators of quality. Nevertheless, four factors
and associated indicators, each requiring a considerable
degree of judgment and likely to be the object of intense
33 Danny Bradlow conceptualized much of this section.
debate, offer a means for assessing global governance.
The four factors are:
• definition of a holistic vision of the goal of
development;
• respect for applicable international law;
• coordinated specialization; and
• good administrative practice.
The ultimate objective of global governance is
to promote “development” for all societies and
individuals. This, of course, begs the question of what
is meant by “development”? To some extent, the sum
of the other goals amount to a reasonable definition
of “development” for these purposes. Development
is a comprehensive and holistic process in which the
economic, social, political, environmental and cultural
aspects are integrated into one dynamic process. The
ability of global governance institutions to help all states
achieve their developmental objectives depends on
how effectively they incorporate this holistic vision of
development into their operating policies, procedures
and practices. Global governance has to be assessed at
three levels: the global, the national and the local. This
is necessary, because if global governance is functioning
well, it will be possible to see development opportunities
expanding at each of these levels.
The institutional arrangements for international
governance should comply with three sets of
international legal principles. The first is respect
for national sovereignty. While it is inevitable in an
integrated global system that states forego some
autonomy, the principle of national sovereignty helps
preserve as much independence and policy space as is
consistent with effective global governance. The second
is non-discrimination, which ensures both that all
similarly situated states and individuals are treated in
the same way. In the case of states, this requires adapting
the principle of special and differential treatment to
international governance. This may require the creation
of special communication and accountability mechanism
that enable weak and poor states to meaningfully
participate in international decision-making structures
and institutions. It will also require states to accept
responsibility for the way in which they treat all natural
and legal persons, regardless of their national origins,
within their borders. It is important to note that different
states may have different obligations, depending on
which human rights treaties they have signed and
ratified. The third requires all international governance
institutions to fully understand the environmental and
social impacts of their operations and practices.
Coordinated specialization acknowledges that
international governance requires institutions with
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limited and specialized mandates. It requires, first, the
mandate of each of the institutions of international
governance must be clearly defined; and second,
transparent and predictable mechanisms for coordination
and dispute settlement with other organizations.
The arrangements for global governance should be guided
by the same principles — transparency, predictability,
participation, reasoned and timely decision making
and accountability — as are applicable to any public
institution. They must conduct their operations pursuant
to transparent procedures that provide all stakeholders
with opportunities for participation and which produce
results that are predictable and understandable. Finally,
stakeholders should be able to hold the institutions
accountable for decisions and actions.
Indicators — Vision:
• Does each global governance institution have
an official document that articulates its vision of
development and how its policies/operations/
activities contribute to the promotion of that vision?
• Is there independent evaluation of policies/
operations/activities contributions to the
promotion of the vision?
Indicators — Rule of Law: • Do the foundational instrument and policies and
procedures for global governance address the issue
of respect for the sovereignty of each member state?
• Does each institution or arrangement of global
governance require both equal treatment for each
similarly situated member state and special and
differential treatment for weak and poor member
states?
• Does each explicitly require that its policies and
actions respect the internationally recognized
rights of all natural persons affected by its policies
or operations?
• Does each institution or arrangement of global
governance explicitly require its member states,
based on their international legal obligations,
respect the rights of those natural and legal persons
subject to their jurisdiction?
• Does each require environmental and social impact
assessments?
Indicators — Coordinated Specialization: • Does the foundational document clearly delineate
the mandate of each institution or arrangement for
global governance? • What mechanisms exist for facilitating coordination
between all institutions or arrangements that are
active within or relevant to a particular sector or
topic area?
• Are the available coordination mechanisms used?
• Do they, in fact, comply with the guidance/
decisions/recommendations of the coordination
mechanism?
• Do these coordination mechanisms offer a grievance
process for stakeholders who are not satisfied with
the decisions of the coordination mechanism?
Indicators — Administrative Practice: • Does each arrangement for global governance
have a transparent and participatory rule-making
procedure?
• Does each arrangement for global governance have
a decision-making process that is transparent, easy
to understand and that offers all stakeholders a
meaningful opportunity to participate?
• Does each arrangement for global governance offer
each of its stakeholders access to an appropriate
independent mechanism through which it can be
held directly accountable for its own decisions
and/or actions, as opposed to those of its member
states?
One World Trust conducts research, develops
recommendations and advocates reforms to make policy
and decision-making processes in global governance
more accountable to the people, and to ensure that
international laws are strengthened and applied equally
to all. They recently revised their Global Accountability
Framework to employ a graded scoring system. It
employs 65 qualitative indicators of five dimensions of
good practice standards: transparency, participation,
evaluation, complaint and response mechanisms
and evidence of an organization’s ability to exercise
leadership on accountability (See Annex 12).
34
conclUsIon
The United Nations has a challenging task over the next
few years. A future set of development goals and their
corresponding targets and indicators must be decided
upon to succeed the MDGs. There is an enormous
amount of technical and political work required to
construct the future set of goals. There are major gaps
in data, challenges with measurement and complex
questions on process, context and content.
34 Report annexes are available at: www.cigionline.org/project/
toward-post-2015-development-paradigm.
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As a continuation of previous work on a potential
future set of goals, participants in Paris reflected on
the 12 proposed goals and provided expert advice
on indicators that could be employed to measure
progress. The objective was not to select indicators, but
to identify potential indicators and identify some of
the key problems with measurement in each goal area.
Goals 11 and 12 were criticized most heavily based on
their inclusion in the framework (“this is not the place
to deal with international institutional reform”) and the
difficulty in finding measureable indicators. There was
a debate about separating hunger from poverty. Health
advocates were concerned about consolidating the three
MDG health goals into one goal. There was concern that
the framing of food and water positioned water in a less
prominent position and that it would be crowded out
by food (just as hunger was crowded out by poverty in
MDG 1). At this very preliminary stage, there is need
for highly technical work on smart and parsimonious
indicators for every single candidate goal. Participants’
future work will maintain the 12-goal structure —
though not advocates for a framework or any particular
goals — in order to inform the process that will select the
post-2015 goals. Since credible future goals will require
a persuasive case for associated targets and indicators,
it is helpful to present a menu of options on potential
indicators for a wide range of goals.
A future set of goals should apply to both developed
and developing countries. The new agenda should be
as universally applicable as possible. This is a crucial
consideration for identifying indicators (for example,
over- and under-nutrition, relevance of US$2 per day
poverty line). The discussion paper needs to evolve to
better account for this, that is, to propose indicators that
are relevant to everyone.
There are political challenges with some of the current
goals and indicators. Goals should be about the world we
want — aspirational — but the impact on acceptability
must be considered. For example, some countries will be
averse to a goal on civil and political rights; others will
dislike goals on restructuring international institutions.
Information can be obtained from people’s perceptions
and expert assessments or from administrative data
(for example, from national statistical agencies, UN
stats). There are major problems with data availability,
reliability and usability. Survey data could complement
administrative data on key parameters, but it is
expensive, subjective and could not be obtained annually
(although it could be timed to align with UN needs).
There are trade-offs with relying on solely on one or
the other. Moreover, value judgments are embedded in
statistics, surveys and questionnaires. Norms influence
data collection, selection of wording and interpretation
of statistics. Goals and indicators should focus on outcomes, versus
inputs or outputs. For some goals, selecting outcome
indicators will not be possible, but the premise is that if
an indicator focuses on an outcome then the country can
decide what inputs it uses to reach the desired outcome.
Outcome indicators avoid a prescriptive means-based
approach.
Some voiced concern that, in jumping from goals to
indicators, the discussion “missed the core of the whole
thing” — targets. If so, there are potentially three options:
allow every country to set its own targets; internationally
define areas where targets should be set and then
countries can determine the pace and balance at which
they move towards them, setting the framework within
which targets can be set, but leaving the actual targets
to countries; or whatever countries set for themselves as
targets there should be a global standard below which
no country should be allowed to fall.
Targets are the mobilizing factor. They inspire and
mobilize the agenda with a determination of the
destination. Proposing indicators first, however,
identifies the measurability of the goal; additionally,
targets cannot be set globally when each country
determines their targets. Further thinking is required on
this issue.
Disaggregation did not work in the original MDGs and
must be better handled in the post-2015 framework.
Where individual data is available, the amount of
disaggregation that can be done should be maximized
(for example, gender, income quintile). Even with
household data, we are aggregating.
The United Nations has an unenviable task. There are
high expectations for a future framework to improve
upon the amount of progress already made. The MDGs
made a significant impact on development policy,
perhaps more so than anyone originally anticipated. The
world continues to change rapidly: the majority of the
world’s poor now live in middle income countries, the
burden of disease has changed and technology advances
unpredictably. The next set of goals must address current
challenges and anticipate future ones. Difficult decisions
are required for addressing the trade-offs in metrics,
structure, and content. CIGI, KDI and partners will
continue to work on these issues.
Over the next six months, this working paper will
facilitate discussions in China, Korea, South Africa, India
and Brazil. The objective is to solicit regional responses
to the potential goals and encourage the debate to
contribute to the post-2015 framework.
AGENdA 27
poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICAtoRS
aGenda
Post-2015 develoPment Goals: PotentIal t arGets and IndIcators
Experts workshop hosted by the OECD/DAC | Paris, April 10-11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Co-Chairs: Brian Atwood/DAC Chair & Barry Carin/CIGI
09:30 Welcome / Opening (Angel Gurria/OECD SG, Brian Atwood/DAC Chair, Mukesh Kapila/
representative of the Bellagio Group)
10.00 UN approach to post 2015 (Rob Vos/UNDESA)
10.30 OECD messages to post 2015 (Chair: Rintaro Tamaki/OECD Deputy SG)
• Messages from the DCD (Serge Tomasi/DCD Deputy Director)
• Messages from the STD (Martine Durand/Director STD)
• Messages from the OECD Development Centre (Mario Pezzini/Director DEV)
• Importance of impacts (Howard White/Executive Director 3ieimpact)
11.30 Introductory Remarks / Pitfalls and Challenges of Choosing Metrics
(Barry Carin/CIGI, Marcelo Neri/Getulio Vargas Foundation)
12.00 12 proposed goals
Four goals dealing with the effective provision of global public goods
Proposed goal no. 12: Good global governance for transparent and accountable international institutions and
partnerships
Speaker: Danny Bradlow/University of Pretoria
Discussants: Kjetil Hansen/DCD
Proposed goal no. 11: Establishing rules for managing the world economy for the fairly shar
ed benefit of all
Speakers: Tom Bernes/CIGI, Xiaoyun Li/IPRCC
Discussants: Ben Dickinson/DCD
13:00 Buffet lunch hosted by DAC/DCD
14:00 Potential indicator and target design continued
Proposed goal no. 9: Empowerment of people to realize their civil and political rights
Speaker: Nicole Bates-Eamer/Centre for Global Studies
Discussants: Zsuzsanna Lonti/GOV
2nd group of four goals concerned with protecting and promoting collecti
ve human capital
Proposed goal no. 5: Security for ensuring freedom from violence
Speaker: Mukesh Kapila/ HCRI/University of Manchester
Discussants: Erwin van Veen/DCD
Proposed goal no. 6: Gender equality for enabling males and females to par
ticipate and benefit equally in society
Speaker: Janka Andaharia/Tata Center for Disaster Management
Discussants: Patti O’Neill/DCD, Somali Cerise/DEV
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Proposed goal no. 7: Resilient communities and nations for reduced disaster impact from natural and technological
hazards
Speakers: Mukul Bhola/IFRC, Astier Almedom/Copenhagen School of Global Health, Janki Andharia/
Tata Center for Disaster Management
Discussants: Monica Brezzi/GOV
Proposed goal no. 8: Connectivity for access to essential information, ser
vices and opportunities
Speaker: Wonhyuk Lim/Korea Development Institute
Discussant: Pierre Montagnier/STI
17.30 Stocktaking: Richard Manning, Serge Tomasi/Deputy Director DCD
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Co-Chairs: Mario Pezzini/Director DEV & Barry Carin/CIGI
09.30 – 12.30 Potential indicator and target design continued
Four goals concerned with the necessary endowment for individuals to ach
ieve their fuller potential
Proposed goal no. 1: Adequate livelihoods and income levels for dignifie
d human existence
Speakers: Sabina Alkire/Director OPHI, Kaushal Joshi/Asian Development Bank, Emma Samman/
ODI
Discussants: Bill Nicol/DCD, Johannes Jutting/DEV, Jonathan Brooks/TAD, Marco Mira D’Ercole or
Conal Smith or Romina Boarini/STD
Proposed goal no. 2: Sufficient food and water for active living
Speakers: Carlo Cafiero/FAO, Lynn Brown/WFP, Mike Muller/Global Water Partnership
Discussants: Karim Hussein/APF, Anthony Cox/ENV
Proposed goal no. 4: Good health for the best possible physical and mental
well-being
Speaker: Tony Redmond/HCRI/University of Manchester
Discussants: Marc Pearson/ELS, Elisabeth Sandor/DCD
Proposed goal no. 3: Appropriate education and skills for productive participation in society
Speakers: Denise Lievesley/King’s College London
Discussants: Andreas Schleicher/EDU, Koji Miyamoto/EDU, Michael Ward/DCD
Fourth goal dealing with the effective provision of global public goods
Proposed goal no. 10: Sustainable management of the biosphere for enabling people and
the planet to thrive together
Speaker: Colin Bradford/CIGI
Discussants: Helen Mountford/ENV, Shardul Agrawala/SGE/SHPA
12.30 – 13.00 Concluding Remarks: Jan Vandemoortele, Brian Atwood/DAC Chair
pARtICIp ANt lISt 29
poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICA toRS
PartIcIPant lIst
Sabina Alkire, Director, OPHI
Astier Almedom, Professor, Copenhagen School of
Global Health
Janki Andharia, Professor, Tata Center for Disaster
Management
Nicole Bates-Eamer, Research Associate, Centre for
Global Studies
Laure Beaufils, Senior Advisor, DFID
Tom Bernes, Executive Director, CIGI
Roger Bracke, Under Secretary General, IFRC
Colin Bradford, Senior Fellow, CIGI
Danny Bradlow, Professor, International Development Law
and African Economic Relations, University of Pretoria
Lynn Brown, World Food Program
Barry Carin, Senior Fellow, CIGI
Carlo Cafiero, Statistician, FAO
Greg Chin, CIGI
Kaushal Joshi, Senior Statistician, ERD/ERDI, Asian
Development Bank
Mukesh Kapila, HCRI
Megan Kay, CIGI
Paul Ladd, UNDP
Minha Lee, Research Associate, KDI
Li Linyi, Program Office, IPRCC
Li Xiaoyun, Senior Advisor, IPRCC
Denise Lievesley, Head, School of Social Science & Public
Policy, King’s College, London
Wonhyuk Lim, Director of Development Research, KDI
Lu Liqun, Head of General Affairs Division
Richard Manning, Independent Consultant
Mike Muller, Independent Advisor, Member of Global
Water Partnership
Marcelo Neri, Chief Economist, Center for Social Policies,
Getulio Vargas Foundation
Tony Redmond, Deputy Director, HCRI
Emma Samman, Research Fellow, ODI
Jan Vandemoortele, Independent Consultant
Paul Wafer, Team Leader, Poverty Response Unit, DFID
From the OECD
Shardul Agrawala, SGE/SHPA
Brian Atwood, Chair, DAC
Monica Brezzi, GOV
Jonathan Brooks, TAD
Somali Cerise, DEV
Anthony Cox, ENV
Ben Dickinson, DCD
Martine Durand, Director, Statistics Directorate
Angel Gurria, Secretary General, OECD
Kjetil Hansen, DCD
Karim Hussein, APF
Johannes Jutting, DEV
Brenda Killen, Head of Division, DCD
Hildegard Lingnau, Senior Policy Advisor, DAC
Jon Lomoy, Director, DAC
Zsuzsanna Lonti, GOV
Koji Miyamoto, EDU
Pierre Montagnier, STI
Helen Mountford, ENV
Bill Nicol, DCD
Patti O’Neill, DCD
Mario Pezzini, Director, Development Centre
Elisabeth Sandor, DCD
Andreas Schleicher, EDU
Conal Smith, Statistics Directorate
Rintaro Tamaki, Deputy Secretary General, OECD
Serge Tomasi, Deputy Director, DCD
Erwin van Veen, DCD
Michael Ward, DCD
Howard White, Executive Director, 3ieimpact
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toward a Post-2015
develoPment P aradIGm
Project
Barry Carin, Mukesh Kapila and Wonhyuk Lim, Project Leaders
Toward a Post-2015 Development Paradigm is now in its
second phase, following a successful initial stage of work
in 2011. The project aims to conduct critical examinations
of policy options for a future set of development
goals. The first phase, spearheaded by CIGI and the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC), convened expert groups
to shape international policy approaches to succeed
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in 2015. The final product of the first phase was
a proposed set of future development goals to provoke
debate on the post-2015 agenda.
With additional partners, including the Korea
Development Institute (KDI), the project will build on
the past work by CIGI and IFRC, reviewing the potential
goals, determining their associated quantifiable targets
and indicators, and gauging their acceptability in
different regions around the world.
backGroUnd
In 2011, CIGI and IFRC assembled a group of development
and governance experts to explore a range of research
questions and create a set of recommendations for
international action. These experts considered issues of
development and sustainability, in the spirit that efforts
should be measurable and enduring. This work resulted
in the first set of potential successor goals to the MDGs.
Described as “the most interesting specific proposals,”
they have been cited by a number of national governments
and international development organizations.
actIvItIes
In 2012, the objective is not to provide the answer to post-
2015 MDGs, but to filter through some of the challenging
questions and issues involved in designing a new set of
global development goals leading to the best policy choices.
An initial baseline report on the current state of
indicators and measurement for development was
produced and served as a background report for a
gathering of experts at the OECD in Paris on April 10-
11, 2012. Regional consultations hosted by Brazilian,
Chinese, Indian and South African partners will follow
this initial meeting, in order to sharpen a draft options
paper. The final publication of the collaboration will be
presented to UN officials in the fall of 2012.
related PUblIcatIons
toward a Post-2015
develoPment ParadIGm (II)
jUne 20−24, 2011 bellaGIo, Italy CoNfERENCE REpoRt
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Waterloo ontario N2l 6C2 Canada
519 885 2444 | cigonline.org
Toward a Post-2015
Development Paradigm (II)
Conference Report,
June 20-24, 2011,
Bellagio, Italy
Barry Carin and
Mukesh Kapila
PDF available at: www.cigionline.org/
publications/2011/8/toward-post-2015-development-
paradigm.
Post-2015 Goals, Targets, and Indicators Draft
Background Paper
Barry Carin and Nicole Bates-Eamer
PDF available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm.
Post-2015 Goals, Targets and Indicators Annexes
Barry Carin and Nicole Bates-Eamer
PDF available at: www.cigionline.org/project/toward-
post-2015-development-paradigm.
ABoUt CIGI 35
poSt-2015 GoAlS, tARGEtS ANd INdICAtoRS
aboUt cIGI
The Centre for International Governance Innovation is an independent, non-partisa
n think tank on international
governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics
, CIGI supports research, forms networks,
advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda
of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and
academic communities around the world.
CIGI’s current research programs focus on four themes: the global economy; the environment and energy; development;
and global security.
CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, then co-CEO of RIM (Research In Motion), and collaborates with and
gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canad
a and
the Government of Ontario.
Le CIGI a été fondé en 2001 par Jim Balsillie, qui était alo
rs co-chef de la direction de RIM (Research In Motion).
Il collabore avec de nombreux partenaires stratégiques et exprime sa reconnaissance du soutien reçu de ceux-ci,
notamment de l’appui reçu du gouvernement du Canada et de celui du gouvernement de l’Ont
ario.
For more information, please visit www.cigionline.org.
cIGI mastHead
Managing Editor, Publications Carol Bonnett
Senior Publications Adviser Max Brem
Publications Editor Jennifer Goyder
Publications Editor Sonya Zikic
Media Designer Steve Cross
commUnIcatIons
Communications Specialist Kevin Dias
kdias@cigionline.org
1 519 885 2444 x 7238
Public Affairs Coordinator Kelly Lorimer
klorimer@cigionline.org
1 519 885 2444 x 7265
execUtIve
President Rohinton Medhora
Vice President of Programs David Dewitt
Vice President of Government Affairs Mohamed Hamoodi
Vice President of Public Affairs Fred Kuntz
Post-2015 Goals, tarGets and IndIcators
ApRIl 10 -11, 2012
pARIS, fRANCECoNfERENCE REpoRt
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Waterloo ontario N2l 6C2 Canada
519 885 2444 | cigonline.org