UN Millennium Development Goals - Singapore

UN Millennium Development Goals - Singapore Foreign Policy

SINGAPORE AND THE UN'S MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

During the Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new partnership to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women, and agreeing to a set of measurable goals and targets to be achieved by 2015. Expanding on the proposals in the Millennium Declaration, the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with specific time-bound and measurable targets, were identified. More information is available at the UN's MDG website

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development

Singapore supports the achievement of the MDGs and recognises the challenges that many developing countries face in achieving them. We are happy to share our development experience with other developing countries, if they find it useful. The Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) is one of the main means through which we provide development assistance to other countries. Since 1992, Singapore has sponsored training courses and study visits for more than 56,000 officials from developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean regions under the SCP. The courses that we have conducted include areas such as education, environment and healthcare, and cost more than S$280 million. We believe the training will contribute to the achievement of the MDGs in the countries of the participants.

Examples of Singapore's contributions towards the MDGs

• We have been active in promoting the MDG of environmental sustainability and working with others to achieve its objectives. Singapore and China are currently cooperating to build an Eco-City in Tianjin, which is intended to be a model for sustainable development which can be replicated in other parts of China.
• Through hosting international conferences such as the inaugural World Cities Summit in June 2008 and the establishment of the Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore is also committed to sharing its expertise and development experience with countries interested to learn from Singapore in areas such as good governance, urban and environmental sustainability and efficient transport systems.
• Water will be a critical resource in the 21st century and we have singled it out as an area for critical attention. Through events such as the Singapore International Water Week, the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize and the newly formed Institute for Water Policy, Singapore hopes to promote innovative solutions to address water shortages around the world. In August 2007, Singapore and the World Health Organisation (WHO) signed a partnership agreement to jointly promote the safe management of drinking water globally. Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) is also working with the Asia Pacific Water Forum and Asian Development Bank to help the region attain water and sanitation-related MDGs.
• Another initiative to help developing countries is the Initiative for ASEAN Integration , which was launched at the ASEAN Informal Summit in Singapore in 2000 to help narrow the development gap among ASEAN countries. The IAI is targeted towards capacity building in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, and covers areas such as human resource development, regional economic integration and tourism. Today, there are more than 200 projects under the IAI.

http://www.onesingapore.org/
ONE (SINGAPORE) is dedicated to raising public awareness and taking concrete actions to Make Poverty History. Every three seconds a child dies from extreme poverty.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  The resources and technology exist in the world today to transform the hopes and dreams of an entire generation.  From 17th to 19th October 2008, ONE (SINGAPORE)’s supporters joined 117 million people from 131 countries in “Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty” to call on world leaders to do the right thing and honor their commitments to end poverty.

http://standup.sg/
Stand Up 2009 is a powerful symbolic action that can have real impact. It's a global initiative to remind world leaders to honour their promise to end poverty, to meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals.

 Be a part of the global movement to end poverty within one generation! Please add your voice to the millions who say "it's not right that we live in a world where every three seconds a child dies from extreme poverty." Please take a moment to commit yourself to a better world. Please Stand Up on 16, 17 or 18 October to remind world leaders of their commitments to end poverty. It's easy to do. Learn how.

http://www.indexmundi.com/singapore/millennium-development-goals.html
About this Site
Mundi, home of the Internet's most complete country profiles.
This site contains detailed country statistics, charts, and maps compiled from multiple sources.




http://www.nvpc.org.sg/Pgm/Content/NVPC_F_CMS_SubPage.aspx?PID=6

The National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) is the national body, established in July 1999, to promote volunteerism and philanthropy in Singapore, working in partnership with the public, people and private sectors.

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A Giving Nation

Mission

NVPC leads and catalyses transformational initiatives in volunteerism and philanthropy to build a sustainable future for all in Singapore.

NVPC leads initiatives to fill the gaps in the community, specifically in volunteerism, philanthropy and capacity building. NVPC also creates opportunities for partners to collaborate and bring about changes. The changes must be significant, not just incremental.

NVPC primarily works through partners to implement new initiatives and programmes.

NVPC seeks to build a caring and an engaged community for all, across sectors and segments such as age groups and income levels. The primary benefit should be in Singapore.

The National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre logo is an interesting interplay of two stars, the golden star shadowing the purple. The star is universally recognised as a symbol of light and hope, providing direction and bearing. At another level, it is also a mark of excellence, brilliance, achievement and recognition. The star symbol as such captures the spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy beautifully.

Other Useful Links
http://www.nvpc.org.sg/Pgm/Content/NVPC_F_CMS_SubPage.aspx?PID=6

UN Millennium Goals Progress

How can we track MDG progress?

Tracking Global Progress

• UN Statistics Division: Millennium Development Indicators
• DevInfo
• Paris 21
• UNICEF MDG Monitoring & Statistics
• World Bank Global Data Monitoring System
• World Bank Global Monitoring Report 2009
• United Nations Development Group's More MDG Tracking tools and Databases

Are we on track to meet the MDGs by 2015?

So far there are significant advances together with important set-backs. Every region faces particular challenges but has the opportunity to work together in order to achieve the MDGs. Although there is a long way to go, we know that the goals are achievable with global political support, strong partnerships and coordinated efforts. We also know that if some trends persist, some of the goals will be very difficult to reach.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger

The goal of cutting in half the proportion of people in the developing world living on less than $1 a day by 2015 remains within reach. However, this achievement will be due largely to extraordinary economic success in most of Asia.

In contrast, previous estimates suggest that little progress was made in reducing extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. In Western Asia, poverty rates were relatively low but increasing. And the transition economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and South-Eastern Europe were still recovering from the rise in poverty in the early 1990s.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

In almost all regions, the net enrolment ratio in 2006 exceeded 90 per cent, and many countries were close to achieving universal primary enrolment. The number of children of primary school age who were out of school fell from 103 million in 1999 to 73 million in 2006, despite an overall increase in the number of children in this age group. These successes underscore that much can be accomplished with the political will of governments and with adequate support from development partners.

In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the net enrolment ratio has only recently reached 71 per cent, even after a significant jump in enrolment that began in 2000. Around 38 million children of primary school age in this region are still out of school. In Southern Asia, the enrolment ratio has climbed to 90 per cent, yet more than 18 million children of primary school age are not enrolled.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality & empower women

As part of its success in raising the total primary enrolment rate, Southern Asia has made the most progress in gender parity since 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Northern Africa have also made strides in reducing gender disparity. At the same time, Oceania has taken a step back with a slight deterioration in gender parity in primary school enrolment. Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia have the largest gender gaps in primary enrolment.

In Western and Central Africa, where high repetition and low retention rates are common, girls in particular fail to enrol in and stay in school. Drought, food shortages, armed conflict, poverty, lack of birth registration, child labour, and HIV and AIDS contribute to low school enrolment and high dropout rates for both boys and girls in those subregions, but prove to be especially devastating for girls.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

In 2006, for the first time since mortality data have been gathered, annual deaths among children under five dipped below 10 million. Nevertheless, the death of millions of children from preventable causes each year is unacceptable. A child born in a developing country is over 13 times more likely to die within the first five years of life than a child born in an industrialized country.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about half the deaths of children under five in the developing world. Between 1990 and 2006, about 27 countries – the large majority in sub-Saharan Africa – made no progress in reducing childhood deaths. In Eastern Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, child mortality rates are approximately four times higher than in developed regions. Disparities persist in all regions: mortality rates are higher for children from rural and poor families and whose mothers lack a basic education.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high across much of the developing world. In 2005, more than 500,000 women died during pregnancy, childbirth or in the six weeks after delivery. Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths occurred in the developing regions, with sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia accounting for 86 per cent of them. In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s risk of dying from treatable or preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth over the course of her lifetime is 1 in 22, compared to 1 in 7,300 in the developed regions.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases

Every day, nearly 7,500 people become infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS, mostly due to a lack of HIV prevention and treatment services. Despite these staggering numbers, some encouraging developments have sparked small victories in the battle against AIDS. Thanks to improvements in prevention programmes, the number of people newly infected with HIV declined from 3 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2007. And with the expansion of antiretroviral treatment services, the number of people who die from AIDS has started to decline, from 2.2 million in 2005 to 2.0 million in 2007. However, largely because newly infected people survive longer, the number of people living with HIV rose from an estimated 29.5 million in 2001 to 33 million in 2007. The vast majority of those living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Carbon dioxide emissions reached 28 billion metric tons in 2005 and continued upward, resulting in increased atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Globally, emissions increased by 30 per cent from 1990 to 2005, with annual growth from 2000 to 2005 greater than in the preceding decade.

From 1990 to 2005, changes in emissions ranged from a 38 per cent decline in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States to an 82 per cent increase in South-Eastern Asia. Per capita emissions remain the highest in the developed regions, about 12 metric tons of CO2 per person per year, compared with about 3 metric tons in developing regions and 0.8 metric tons in sub-Saharan Africa. Emissions per unit of economic output fell by more than 20 per cent in the developed regions, while they increased by 35 per cent in South-Eastern Asia and by 25 per cent in Northern Africa.

While no area can escape the adverse impact of climate change, the Arctic, small islands, mega deltas in Asia and Africa, and the African region overall seem to be especially vulnerable because of their high exposure to the effects of climate change, their populations' limited capacity to adapt to the consequences, or both.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

At current exchange rates, official development assistance (ODA) continued to drop from an all time high of $107.1 billion in 2005, to $104.4 billion in 2006 and $103.7 billion in 2007. This is mainly the result of a decline in debt relief grants. Adjusting for changes in prices and exchange rates, aid disbursements fell by 8.4 per cent in 2007 compared to 2006.

Excluding debt relief grants, net aid rose by 2.4 per cent in constant dollars. At the 2005 United Nations World Summit and related meetings, developed countries pledged to increase aid from $80 billion in 2004 to $130 billion in 2010 at 2004 prices. While the majority of these commitments remain in force, a few countries have announced new targets, some involving increased aid flows and others suggesting reductions.

With debt relief grants unlikely to return to 2005 or 2006 levels, bilateral aid and contributions to multilateral development institutions will need to increase rapidly over the next three years if developed countries are to meet their commitments for 2010. Even a sudden escalation of aid flows will not compensate for the failure to provide the continuous and predictable build-up in official development assistance that was implicit in their 2005 commitments.

Non-governmental organizations, the private sector and a number of developing countries are becoming increasingly significant sources of development assistance. Special purpose funds - such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - have become important channels for some of these resources.

Extract from http://www.undp.org/mdg/progress.shtml 

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

What are the Millennium Development Goals? The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. These eight time-bound goals provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions. They include goals and targets on income poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and the Global Partnership for Development. Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the MDGs are both global and local, tailored by each country to suit specific development needs. They provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy. The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development Implementation of the MDGs At the midpoint in MDG timeline, great progress has already been made. Reducing absolute poverty by half is within reach for the world as a whole. With the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, primary school enrolment is at least 90 percent. Malaria prevention is expanding, with widespread increases in insecticide-treated bed-net use among children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. In 16 out of 20 countries, use has at least tripled since around 2000. One point six billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 1990. Alongside the successes are an array of goals and targets that are likely to be missed unless more action is taken urgently: about one quarter of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight and are at risk of long-term effects of undernourishment; more than 500,000 prospective mothers in developing countries die annually in childbirth or of complications from pregnancy; in Sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of people living on just over a dollar a day is unlikely to be cut in half. Additionally, in middle income countries like Mexico, Brazil, Romania, Macedonia, and Indonesia, inequality has also led to ‘pockets of poverty’ – socially-excluded groups that will need specific attention if their countries are to reach the MDGs. The global economic crisis also threatens to destabilize progress, as a better future for the world’s most vulnerable people could fall victim to contraction of trade, remittances, capital flows and donor support. At a time when investing in development is more vital than ever to ensure social stability, security and prosperity, donor governments are called upon to renew rather than revoke their commitment to reaching the MDGs. At the international level, UNDP works with the UN family to advance the Global Partnership for Development. At the national level, UNDP works in close collaboration with UN organizations to: Raise awareness of MDGs and advocate for countries and sub-national regions to adopt and adapt MDGs. Provide leadership and UN coordination to develop capacity in countries to assess what is needed to achieve the MDGs, to conceptualize policies and to design strategies and plans. For this purpose, UNDP organizes consultations and training, conducts research, develops planning and information management tools. Provide hands-on support to countries to scale up implementation of initiatives to achieve the MDGs, in areas such as procurement, human resources and financial management. Assist countries to report on their progress. Extracted from United Nations Development Programme on 13 July 2010. Citation from http://www.scwo.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=87 on 09-Dec-2010 Further reading MDG Report 2010 Asia-Pacific Regional Report 2009 / 2010

What about us?

Background

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
For more details, please use the hyperlinks http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml and report on the good works done to-date http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml

Get involved

With only a few years left until the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, every push to accelerate progress counts! Get involved, make your voice heard, and make a difference!

Make a donation
Fill a cup with food for a hungry person.
Support UNICEF's work for children.
Send a malaria-preventing bed net to Africa.
Donate $5 to help a girl with access to school supplies, clean water, or life-saving health services.
Help end fistula, a childbirth injury affecting an estimated 2 million women in developing countries.
Donate $1 to immunize a child against polio.
Give to projects you feel passionate about -- and see the impact of your donation.

Stand Up Against Poverty
Join millions worldwide as they Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals, telling world leaders, "we will no longer stay seated or silent in the face of poverty and the broken promises to end it!’"

Join the Millennium Campaign!
Join the growing global movement asking governments to honor their commitments to achieve the MDGs by 2015! – Why me? Every voice counts! – Why now? Millions still live in extreme poverty, yet the world has enough money, resources and technology to end poverty. – What’s different? The MDGs are a unique opportunity to end poverty with achievable, time-bound and measurable targets.

What about us?
If you've come across individuals who had done something on the above that benefits someone, why not share their good deeds in this blog so that others could also learn from them and do the same.

Citizens of the world, Unite.
Let's help those who are less fortunate than us.
Do something in your own way, that could help lessen the suffering to someone, staying somewhere, we called "Mother Earth".

Feel free to drop me a note if you've other suggestions.

Thank you