Development Experts Assess the Millennium Development Goals
11 December 2008
SOAS staff delivered a mixed verdict on the validity and progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at a stimulating conference organised by the London International Development Centre. The speakers provided diverse insights on a range of topics, including aid, agriculture and politics, on 5 November at the event called No Goals at Half-time: What Next for the MDGs? The presentations were a timely assessment of the MDGs at the mid-point towards their target date of 2015 and contributed to a discussion of how different academic disciplines can be combined to achieve a more integrated approach towards development.
Professor Terry McKinley, Director of the Centre for Development Policy and Research (CDPR) at SOAS, broadly praised the MDG framework. He said its strengths include its broad human development approach (including health and education) and its promotion of the public sector. Professor Andrew Dorward, the Economic Programme Director at the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy (CeDEP) at SOAS, focused on MDG1 and showed how sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are not on course to halve the number of hungry people by 2015. Moreover, Professor Tony Allan, of SOAS and King’s College London, emphasised the neglected importance of politics and governance within the MDG project.
Reports of the presentations, PowerPoint slides and audio recordings are available online.
Listen to LIDC podcasts featuring SOAS Professors Terry McKinley, Andrew Dorward, Tony Allan and SOAS' Research Fellow Colin Poulton.
