From Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):Towards overcoming development challenges

Shylet Yvonne Chivanga; Priscilla B. Monyai

Shylet Yvonne Chivanga University of Fort Hare Department of Development Studies Private bag X1314 Alice. 5700 South Africa
Priscilla B. Monyai University of Fort Hare Department of Development Studies Private bag X1314 Alice. 5700 South Africa

Keywords: Poverty reduction, Sustainabledevelopment, Official Development Assistance, Corruption, Gender equality

Abstract

The concept of development has undergone a series of significant shifts over time. The main influences, which have conferred meaning and determined the general understanding of development have been the nature of the obstacles to promote development, and to a certain extent, the failures of previous developmental strategies. The strategies which have been formulated and implemented to overcome developmental problems have significantly determined the shifts in general perceptions and assessments of development. There are several strategies which were implemented to overcome development challenges but this paper focused on MDGs and SDGs. In 2001, the MDGs were adopted and in 2016 the SDGs were adopted, the main agenda was to overcome development challenges. This paper looks back through MDGs and looks forward through the SDGs in order to adopt integrated approaches to combating development challenges. This article adopted qualitative methodologies of interviews and focus groups involving 80 selected research participants to tap their insights and perceptions on MDGs and SDGs.The findings indicated that the strategies which have been formulated and implemented to overcome developmental problems have significantly determined the shifts in general perceptions and assessments of development. Despite the help from developed to developing countries, unacceptably high levels of poverty persist in many developing countries.

References

Ali, M. (2017). Implementing the 2030 Agenda in Pakistan: The critical role of an enabling environment in the mobilisation of domestic and external resources discussion Paper,14/201. April 15.

Andrews, N., Khalema, N.E., and N'Dri, T. (2015). Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) in Retrospect: Africa’s Development Beyond 2015.Social Indicator Series, 58:1-15

Booth, D, and Cammack, D. (2011). Governance for development in Africa: Building on what works. Policy Brief 01. London: Overseas Development Institute,Africa, Power and Politics Programme.

Chancel, L., Voituriez, T., and Hough, A. (2017). Reducing inequalities within

countries: converting the global debate into action.Paris: Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relation Study, 01/2017:1 – 26

Chivanga, S. Y., & Monyai, P. B. (2020). Scramble for mutual partnerships? The case of China and Zimbabwe. Journal of African Foreign Affairs, 7(2), 7-20.

Deacon, B. (2016). Assessing the SDGs from the point of view of global social governance. Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, 32(2): 116- 130.

Dornan, P. (2017). Children, poverty and the sustainable development

goals. Children and Society, 31(2):157-165.

Durojaye, E. (2014). When Poverty Is Not a Sin: An Assessment of the Human Rights Council’s Guiding Principles on Poverty and Human Rights. African

Journal of International and Comparative Law, 22 (3): 468-491.

Feeny, S., and McGillivray, M. (2008). Do Pacific countries receive too much foreign aid?. Pacific Economic Bulletin, 23(2): 166-178.

Ford, L. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals: All You Need to Know. The Guardian, January 19.

Fukuda-Parr, S., Yamin, A.E., and Greenstein, J. (2014). The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of Millennium Development Goal Targets for Human Development and Human Rights .Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 15(2):105-117.

Honniball, A. and Spijkers, O. (2014). MDGs and SDGs Lessons Learnt from Global Public Participation in the Drafting of the UN Development Goals. Vereinte: Nationen- German review on the United Nations, 62, (6):251-256.

Hussain, M., Bagci, K., Tintin, C., Karaman, A, and Farasin, F. (2016).

Ibrahim, M. (2013). Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Kweifio-Okai, C. (2014). Will these Sustainable Development Goals Do the Job? The Guardian, August 6

Kumar S.N, and Vivekadhish, S. (2016). Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Unfinished Agenda and Strengthening Sustainable Development and Partnership. Indianicine, 41(1): 1–4.

Kumi, E., Ibrahim, M., and Yeboah, T. (2017). Aid Volatility and Structural Economic Transformation in sub-Saharan Africa: Does Finance Matter: Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) Working Paper 655:1-27

Oestreich, J.E. (2017). Development and Human Rights: Rhetoric and Reality in

India. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Phimister, I., and Pilossof, R. (2017). Wage labor in historical perspective: A study of the de- proletarianization of the African working class in Zimbabwe, 1960– 2010. Labor History, 58(2):215-227.

Rodrigues, T., Maciel, T., and Duarte, J. P. (2020). Peace Forged by Warfare: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 70 Years After. Contexto Internacional, 42(2), 217-236.

Roy, M. (2020). Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Sachs, J.D. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379(9832):2206-2211.

Samuel,K, Alkire, S.Diego Z, Mills,C, and Hammock,J (2018) .Social isolation and

its relationship to multidimensional poverty, Oxford Development Studies, 46:(1) 83-97

Saunders, P (2018). Alleviating poverty. Australia will be called to account.AQ-

Australian Quarterly, 89(1):26-33

Willies, K. (2005).Theories and Practices of Development. Oxon: Routledge.