 What we do
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The Millennium Development Goals
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are international targets to halve world poverty by 2015, agreed upon by all 189 United Nations member states at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. However, there is a genuine risk that the MDGs will not be met if international donors continue to pursue single issue 'global causes', instead of building an aid system that will respond to the complex needs of poor communities. Progress in health and education is dependent on access to safe water and effective sanitation. And yet the failure to recognise this interrelationship means that global spending on health and education has nearly doubled since 1990 while the share allocated to water and sanitation has contracted. As part of MDG seven there is a target to halve the proportion of people living without access to water and sanitation. But at the mid-way point to 2015 the target on sanitation is way off-track. In sub-Saharan Africa, at the current rate of progress, it will not be met until 2076 - 61 years late. The costs, and opportunity costs, of failing to implement the water and sanitation MDG targets are huge - in the area of US$38 billion per year in lost productivity and healthcare costs. And yet, our research states that the global return on investment in sanitation is roughly $9 for every $1 spent, with even higher returns for universal coverage. So why does the neglect continue, when sanitation, along with access to safe water, is frequently at the top of poor people's priorities? The answer is that the international aid system is only weakly responsive to poor people's demands. The tendency is for rich, developed countries to impose single issue plans that resonate well with their domestic constituencies. This flawed approach is undermining progress on all of the MDGs and must give way to a renewed focus on the articulated needs of the poor. Access to safe water and sanitation will underpin success in achieving all the MDGs and must be part of an integrated approach to development. How our work relates to each of the eight goals - in brief
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are international targets to halve world poverty by 2015, agreed upon by all 189 United Nations member states at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. They are:
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