The Millennium Development Goals

The Developing World 202-10

Michael Call and Rachel Graves (Adopted into Tobago and Libera)

1. Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger

The first Millennium Development Goal is to Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger. The first step of this goal is to halve the amount of people (from 1990 to 2015) who live on less than $1.25 a day. The second step of this goal is to achieve decent employment for men, women, and young people. The third step of this goal is to halve (between 1990 and 2015) the proportion of people who suffer from extreme hunger.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people living on less than US $1.00 a day. Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Decrease the prevalence of underweight children under five. Indicators: Prevalence of low birth weight infants, proportion of Population below Minimum Level of Dietary Energy Consumption.

Tobagos Goals
Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than US$1.00 per day. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Indicators: Prevalence of low birth weight infants, proportion of Population below Minimum Level of Dietary Energy Consumption.

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Currently the proportion of the population that survives on less than 1 US dollar a day is at 66.81%. the target is 27.55%. Obviously this is a long way to go. The Poverty gap ratio is currently at 40.78 and the target is 20.39%, which is roughly half of the way there. The proportion of the population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption is roughly 20% less than what it should be.

Tobagos Progress
In 2005 the number of people classified as extremely poor had been significantly reduced from the 8.3% of the early 1990s. They claim this was due to the growth in employment opportunities along with increased income transfer programmes and other social programmes targeted to the poor and vulnerable. In 2009 the GDP person employed went down roughly 25%. They claim that one major challenges that keep them from progressing is a lack of specific data on the community level.

2. Achieving Universal Primary education

The second step (to achieve the goal of universal primary education) is a full course of primary schooling for young girls and boys by 2015.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary level schooling. Indicators: Increase net enrollment from 49.3% to 100% by 2015 with an average annual increase of 10.14 percentage points. Increase literacy rates of 15-24 year olds from 74.8% to 80% in 2015 with an average increase of 1.04 percentage points.

Tobagos Goals
Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary level schooling. Indicators: Net Enrolment Ratio in Preschool Education, Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education, Proportion of Students Starting Grade 1 who reach last grade of Primary, Literacy Rate of 15-24 year olds, Tertiary Level Participation Rate.

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Overall, the area that needs the most improvement is net enrollment in primary education. As of now, Liberia has not even met half of its goal of 100%. Otherwise, Primary education rates, and literacy rates are between 20% and 15% behind.

Tobagos Progress
Tobago considers this goal a success in terms of universal access to primary and secondary education. In 2008 the literacy rate increased to 99.5% for both sexes ages 15-24.

3. Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women

The third goal is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, and by all levels by 2015. This goal will be accomplished through male to women ratios, a fairer share in womens wages, and women in parliament.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, and at all levels of education by 2015. Indicators: Ratio of girls to boys in primary from 0.88 to 1 by 2015. Increase ratio of women in secondary education from 0.69 to 1 in 2015 with an annual increase of 6.2% Increase share of womens wages.

Tobagos Goals
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all level of education no later than 2015. Indicators: Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education, Ratio of Men and Women in different disciplines in Tertiary Education, Share of Women in Wage Employment in the Non-Agricultural Sector, Proportion of seats held by women in National Parliament, Proportion of women in different sectors of the labour market, Age and Sex Specific Unemployment Rates, Sex Specific Occupational Wages

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
On a whole, Gender equality seems very likely. The ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education is between 0.69 and 0.88 to 1. However, the ratio of girls in tertiary education is 0.38 to 1 which could definitely use improvement.
Tobagos Progress During 1995-2005, the share of women in wage employment in the Non-agricultural sector increased from 39 % to approximately 43%. The Global percent is 40% making them above the average. However The ratio of estimated female to male earned income was 0.46:1 indicating that women earned less than half of the income of their male counterparts.

4.Reducing Child Mortality Rates

The next goal is to reduce by two thirds the under-five mortality rate (between 1990 and 2015). The first step is to immunize against measles.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015 the under-five mortality rate Indicators: Under five mortality rates,reduced from 114 to 64/1,000 by 2015, with an average annual decrease of 10/1,000. Increase the immunizations against measles annually by 8.06 percentage points.

Tobagos Goals
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015 the under-five mortality rate Indicators: Under five mortality rates, Infant Mortality Rate, Proportion of 1 Year-old Children Immunized against Measles,

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Success in achieving this goal falls under the unlikely category. Per 1000 births, there are 73 deaths, despite the 39 goal. Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) is 114, and the goal is 64.

Tobagos Progress
As of 2009, infant mortality rates have been cut almost in half. The goal is to cut them by two thirds by 2015. It is likely they will succeed in this goal. They have seen success due to initiatives that put emphasis was placed on the treatment of diarrheal conditions, nutrition and immunization of children against infectious diseases.

5. Improving Maternal Health

The main focus of this goal is to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio (between 1990 and 2015). Another aspect to this goal is meet the need for family planning, and provide universal access to reproductive healthcare.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Reduce by three-quarters, the maternal mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015, and universal access to reproductive health. Indicators: Adolescent Birth Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel.

Tobagos Goals
Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio Achieve by 2015 Universal access to Reproductive Health

Indicators: Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, Maternal Mortality Ratio.

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Maternal mortality rate (per 100,00 live births) is 994, and the goal is 145, which makes this goal very unlikely. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personell is 46, and the goal for 2015 is 97. Adolescent birth rate is 38%

Tobagos Progress
Tobagos maternal mortality rate has declined. They have not yet reached their goal but are close. Most women die from infections from the birthing process. The number of midwives involved with labor needs to decrease and doctors needs to increase.

6. Combating HIV/AIDS and other Diseases

The main goal is to have HIV/AIDS halted by 2015 and reverse the spread of the disease. Steps to this goal include using condoms, and sex education especially in population ages 15-24.

Goals That Have Been Made

Tobagos Goals
Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS. Achieve by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the incidence of malaria and other major diseases. Indicators: HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years, Condom use at prevalence rate, death rates associated with Tuberculosis.

Tobagos Goals
Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS. Achieve by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it Have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the incidence of dengue, diabetes and hypertension. Indicators: HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years, Condom use at last high risk sex, Proportion of Population with access to antiretroviral drugs, Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with Dengue, Incidence prevalence and death rates associated with Hypertension and Diabetes,

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress HIV prevalence among adults (15-49) is 1.5% and the goal is .75% The prevalence rates associated with tuberculosis (incidents per 100,000) is at 282 and the goal is 141. death rates associated with tuberculosis (incidents per 100,000) is 62 and the goal is 31.

Tobagos Progress
Trinidad and Tobago has been successful in achieving a substantial decline in the HIV morbidity rate and, a substantial decrease in AIDS related deaths due to universal access to antiretroviral drugs and intense public awareness campaigns.

7. Insuring Environmental Sustainability

The main focus of this goal is to reverse loss of environmental resources, including biodiversity loss, and species that are threatened with extinction. This goal also includes halving the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water and basic sanitation Indicators: Maintain the proportion of Land Area Covered by Forest, CO2 Emissions, Total, Per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP), Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits, Proportion of Species Threatened with Extinction. Increase the proportion of people with sustainable access to improved sanitation from 44% to 69.5% in 2015.

Tobagos Goals
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water and basic sanitation By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers Indicators: Proportion of Land Area Covered by Forest, CO2 Emissions, Total, Per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP), Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits, Proportion of Species Threatened with Extinction

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Proportion of land covered by forest is currently at 59%, and the goal is 42%. People living with sustainable access to water sources is at 75%, and the goal is 77.5%. According to these numbers this goal is unlikely achieved.

Tobagos Progress
Tobago has been successful in the sanitization of their water supply and waste systems but has not succeeded yet in the other goals involving carbon emissions. There has been a decrease in consumption of Ozone depleting resources.

8. Developing a Global Partnership for Development

The final Millennium Development Goal focuses on developing an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system. This also focuses on addressing the needs of landlocked developing countries and countries in debt.

Goals That Have Been Made

Liberias Goals
Deal comprehensively with the Debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term In cooperation with the pharmaceutical companies, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications. Indicators: Internet users per 100 people, Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people, public sector external debt outstanding including arrears percentage of GDP.

Tobagos Goals
Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system Deal comprehensively with the Debt problems through national and international measures to make it sustainable in the long term In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications. Indicators: ODA (Official Development Assistance) received in Small Island Developing States as a proportion of their gross national incomes, proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity

Progress That Has Been Made

Liberias Progress
Success for the goal is likely. 32 people out of every 100 have a cell phone subscription. 15 out of every 100 people use the internet. Aid per capita is 101.2 US dollars.

Tobagos Progress
The number of internet users also increased

steadily from 32 users per 100 persons in 2007 to approximately 46 users per 100 persons in 2010. This means that each person has access to more than one mobile phone, on average, at the same time. This show some accomplishment in the goal to improve availability of communication technologies in the private sector. The nature of the goals Tobago has set makes it difficult to say whether they will meet their them.

What do the Countries have to say about their Progress?

Liberia:
Liberia can execute adequate data collection and analysis of its MDG goals. However, data analysis and subsequent reports are only as reliable as the data collected. Investment in current capacity and exposure to best practices in data collection is required. Strategies and tools must be reflective of the environment, stakeholders and implementers. There is a renewed focus on strengthening the National System for Data and Statistics. Liberia will look to the experiential knowledge of its neighbors and development partners to advance this process.

Tobago:
At this juncture in the quest for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, Trinidad and Tobago is well poised to meeting most of the established targets of the goals. This is primarily due to the strong supportive environment in terms of policy, legislation and programmes/projects which serve to facilitate the achievement of each goal. Tremendous strides have been made in addressing the cross cutting issue of gender and in achieving universal primary and secondary education, as well as in increasing the tertiary level participation rate.

Work Cited
http://www.undg.org/docs/12461/2011-MDG-Report-Final-email-version.pdf http://www.lr.undp.org/Documents/RecentPublic/MDG%20Report%20_Final.pdf http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml http://www.undp.org.tt/Publications/Global/%282011_E%29%20MDG% 20Report%202011_Book%20LR.pdf