Progress towards the target of universal access to basic education by the year 2000, set by two global conferences in 1990, has been too slow in many countries. Most of the reasons for this inadequate progress are country-specific. However, in virtually all countries one explanation stands out:...

Jan Vandemoortele, Santosh Mehrotra and Enrique Delamonica argue that children have the right to basic social services and that poverty reduction must start with ensuring that children have a good start in life. Development (2000) 43, 16–22. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110111

Several misunderstandings have arisen about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Most widespread is the view that each and every country must achieve the same numerical targets. This is obviously incorrect because the global performance is the aggregate of MDG-plus and MDG-minus countries....

Jan Vandemoortele in the face of the different views about the MDGs asks that we should not ask what we can do for the MDGs but what the MDGs can do for our cause – that is, the realization of fundamental economic and social rights. He suggests we can compensate for the slow start of the 1990s...

The MDGs are being misappropriated to gain support for a specific development strategy, agenda or argument, mostly being used as a call for more aid or as a Trojan horse for a particular policy framework. As relative benchmarks, they are extremely difficult to meet in countries with low human...

Jan Vandemoortele argues that universal coverage of an integrated package of good quality basic social services is one of the most effective and least expensive ways for reducing poverty. The international development goals for 2015 will not be met if inter-sectoral complementarities are not...

type="main" xml:lang="en" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>This article gives an insider's view of the origin of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the aim of which was two-fold: to rescue the Millennium Declaration from oblivion and to expand the development narrative beyond economic growth. The former has been...</p>

"Come and Hope with me!" Com essas palavras, o Sul-Africano Mongane Serote chamou a atenção do mundo para a batalha travada por seu povo contra o Apartheid. E com esse mesmo espírito, os leitores são convidados a explorar a edição especial da Política em Foco. Esta edição é dedicada à...

Os projetos de conservação ambiental do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD) no Brasil apresentam um forte componente de desenvolvimento local e inclusivo e contemplam iniciativas inovadoras de uso sustentável da biodiversidade. Vários são os exemplos de projetos nos...

Mulheres Protagonistas destaca exemplos de mulheres que tomam iniciativas em uma sociedade antagônica. As mulheres protagonistas existem nas barreiras da sociedade, encabeçando uma revolução, já bem estabelecida, de cunho social, cultural e econômico. Essa revolução é voltada,...